[meteorite-list] NPA 10-16-1996 Meteor Enters, Orbits and Lands, Wasson

[MARK BOSTICK]

Paper: The Intelligencer Record
City: Doylestown, Pennsylvania
Date: Wednesday, October 16, 1996
Page: A-12

Meteor enters atmosphere, orbits and lands in California

     LOS ANGELES - The eerie green flash that light up night skies 
throughout the West two weeks ago was a meteorite that skimmed off the 
Earth's atmosphere like a skipping stone, scientists said Monday.
     The big chunk of space rock apparently entered the atmosphere over New 
Mexico and Texas, bounced back into space and orbited the Earth before 
re-entry in a blaze of light northeast of Los Angeles.
     "It's two events, the same object," said meteorite specialist John 
Wasson of the University of California, Los Angeles. Scientists had never 
before observed a meteorite's re-entry, but theorized it was possible.
     He and Mark Boslough, a physicist from Sandia National Laboratories in 
Albuquerque, N.M., announced the scenario after comparing observations 
reaching their electronic mailboxes from lay observers.
     Under their scenario, the object first entered Earth's atmosphere about 
8 p.m. MDT Oct. 3 east of Las Cruces, N.M., headed east-northeast and slowed 
while it descended at a shallow angle toward the Texas Panhandle.
     It came the closest to Earth's surface near Artesia, N.M., where it 
began breaking apart, spraying a brilliant shower of lesser meteorites 
extending at least as far as Lubbock, Texas.
     The biggest fragment hurtled back into space at 18,450 mph - too slow 
to escape Earth's gravity - and briefly became a small moon making a single, 
100-minute orbit of Earth.
     It re-entered the atmosphere above the Pacific Ocean and passed over 
the California coast near Point Conception. The mass, glowing with heat from 
re-entry, continued its journey just north of Bakersfield.

(end)

Clear Skies,
Mark Bostick
Wichita, Kansas
http://www.meteoritearticles.com
http://www.kansasmeteoritesociety.com
http://www.imca.cc

http://stores.ebay.com/meteoritearticles

PDF copy of this article, and most I post (and about 1/2 of those on my 
website), is available upon e-mail request.

The NPA in the subject line, stands for Newspaper Article. The old list 
server allowed us a search feature the current does not, so I guess this is 
more for quick reference and shortening the subject line now.