[meteorite-list] NPA 12-11-1946: Meteorites Burn Over Midwest Sky

[MARK BOSTICK]

Paper: Council Bluffs Iowa Nonparell
City: Council Bluffs, Iowa
Date: December 11, 1946


Meteorites Burn Over Midwest Sky

     A fiery meteor - said to resemble everything from "a blue streak of 
light" to "a pale green ball with a very bright red tail"  Tuesday night 
illuminated skies over Council Bluffs for  the second time in 14 hours.
     Similar meteorites were sighted by five mid-western states.  
Astronomers said the brief displays, which brilliantly lighted the skies, 
were part of an annual shower from the Gemini constellation.
     Astounding reports were still being made Wednesday from points as far 
east as Springfield, Ill., and west as far as Hastings, Neb. Displays were 
sighted at Shenandoah, Hamburg and other southwestern Iowa towns.

     Municipal airport officials in Omaha said the meteor passed over this 
area at 7:06 1/2 p.m.  The other meteor, less brilliant, was reported here 
at 5:15 a.m. Tuesday.
     The two fiery displays traveled in different directions.  Tuesday 
morning's meteor show eastward through the skies, while the one at night 
flashed in a westerly direction.

     Descriptions of the blazing meteorites varied considerably.  Many local 
persons said the evening display appeared like a blazing softball shooting 
through the sky."
     "It looked like a blazing softball," said John Campbell, 3400 West 
Broadway.  "It left a long luminous tail.  For a moment I thought it was a 
flaming plane plunging toward the ground."
     Eye-witnesses at Hamburg reported a blinding meteor lit up that town 
about the same time as the one seen here.  Moments later it was seen zooming 
to earth.

     "The meteor hit about 20 miles northwest of Hamburg, probably in the 
vicinity of Thurman or Percival," C. C. Mincer of Hamburg said.  Other 
Hamburg eye-witnesses offered these comments:
     "It was just like having an immense number of flash bulbs go off."
     "When the meteor struck, fire three or four blocks long blew into the 
air."

     Before dawn, the sky was brilliantly lighted for a 250-mile stretch 
between McPherson, Kan., and Garden City, Kan., spectators said, At Garden 
City, freight handlers reported hearing a roar accompany the flashing light. 
At McPherson, a long white trail of smoke hung in a windless sky for 30 
minutes after the meteorite passed.
     Although the sight was observed at approximately the same time.  
Tuesday night in Springfield, Ill., and Council Bluffs and Omaha, an 
observer at Yerkes observatory, Williams Bay. Wis., said it was doubtful 
that the same meteorite was see in both places, since most burned out by 
atmospheric friction in "a fraction of a second to five seconds." Prof. 
Oliver C. Rollins, University of Nebraska astronomer, said the Gemini meteor 
was scheduled to appear from Dec. 10 to 12.
     Many persons in Topeka, Kan., were alarmed at the phenomenon, and 
called newspapers and police. Reports were prevalent in Lincoln, Neb., that 
an explosion, which caused houses to shake and windows to rattle, followed 
the light. Astronomers, however, said most meteorites were sighted at an 
average distance of 50 miles.


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