[meteorite-list] Deep Impact from Earth

[Mark Miconi]

My son and I spent the night fishing Bartlett Lake in Cave Creek Arizona 
last evening with my best friend in our float tubes. The sky was incredibly 
clear.  We saw 20 or more shooting stars but even with 10 power binos we 
were unable to see anything of the comet. It may be because the largemouth 
were biting like crazy and we really could have spent more time skyward.

On a sadder note the Cave Creek Complex fire has devastated the area. We 
were there after the first part of the fire and though the undergrowth had 
been burned there was lots left to recover. After the fire worked its way 
back through the area last week it is a virtual moon scape. Only badly 
browned Saguaros and the remenants of trees are left. My 11 year old son 
cried when he saw the destruction. It is very unlikely that anything will 
recover from the burn and it will take 20 years or more to regrown the 
desert here and we may have lost 1000's of Saguaros including the largest 
ever on record the "Grand One" which was badly scrorched and burned.

Anyone on the list that has ever been to Arizona or hunted in our deserts 
will tell you there is nothing like it in the world. Two lightning strikes 
rekindled what some moron with a car originally started when they parked on 
dry brush.

Mark M.
Phoenix AZ
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <MexicoDoug at aol.com>
To: <cynapse at charter.net>; <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Monday, July 04, 2005 12:45 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Deep Impact from Earth


> Darren G. wrote:
>>Any word yet on wherther  Earth based "mere mortal" back-yard
>>telescope observers were able to make  out any sign of the impact?
>
> Hola Darren,
>
> Luck was pretty  bad for most in the Americas due to cloudcover and being 
> low
> onthe  horizon.  Down here in Northeast Mexico it was an obligatory 
> futility
> that none-the-less was great fun to participate in, with a 15 degree above
> the  horizon impact (I had my 16X binoculars:-)).  It looks like a 
> backyard
> astronomer needed a 10-12" Dobsonian or so for a decent chance in the 
> Southern
> portion Pacific US time zone.  Reports that the comet it was so diffuse at
> around 11 magnitude, that it couldn't  be seen even when 12th magnitude 
> stars
> were discernable.  But that right after the impact, it in fact  "appeared" 
> like
> magic with averted vision, comments of a 1.5 or 2.0 magnitudes  before and
> after in the two hours.
>
> The Hubble images showed that the  tektites produced were racing out at 
> 1800
> km/hr, and there are hopes of  something better tonight as it expanded, 
> though
> I haven't seen any reports  posted from Asia, and it is a little 
> discouraging
> from what Rosetta said  according to Sky and Telescope: That they saw the 
> 2
> magnitude increase, but then  it was losing a two-thirds of the increase 
> within
> a five hours.
>
> So not so  great a forecast on one hand, but that I'm sure won't stop the
> legions of us who  hope to get lucky tonight...
> Saludos, Doug
>
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