[meteorite-list] NPA's 8-2-1978 CO, NE & WY fireball, Jack Murphy

[MARK BOSTICK]

Paper: The Newport Daily News
City: Newport, Rhode Island
Date: Thursday, August 3, 1978
Page: 12 (of 28)

Daytime meteor sighted in West

     DENVER (UPI) - Officials of the Gates Planetarium are asking residents 
of northern Colorado and southern Wyoming to help confirm possible sighting 
of a rare daytime meteor.
     Planetarium curator Mark Peterson said he had received numerous reports 
from residents in central Colorado who sighted "a very bright spot in the 
sky about 3:15 Wednesday afternoon."

(end)

Paper: The Daily Intelligencer
City: Doylestown, Pennsylvania
Date: Wednesday, August 10, 1978
Page: 3

     North American Air Defense Command sensors picked up the explosion of a 
fireball somewhere over southeastern Wyoming on Aug. 2.  Scientists 
Wednesday pinpointed the suspected impact point in the vicinity of Pine 
Bluffs and officials of the Denver Museum of Natural History were in the 
field today in an effort to find it.
     Museum spokeswoman Veronica Burns said five staff members set up a 
display of meteorite fragments in a Pine Bluffs bank so residents would know 
what the scientists are looking for.
     The Wyoming meteor was reported by about 300 persons and museum curator 
Jack Murphy said it probably exploded about 11 miles above the earth.
     Meteors in the weekend Perseid shoe will do their streaking at 
altitudes ranging from 60 to 80 miles, hitting the atmosphere speeds of up 
to 40 miles per second.

(end)


Paper: Newport Daily News
City: Newport, Rhode Island
Date: Friday, August 11, 1978
Page: 16 (of 28)

Hikers search for meteorite

     PINE BLUFFS, Wyo. (UPI) - Three observers from the Denver Museum of 
Natural History plan to hike into a 100 square-mile area of southeast 
Wyoming this week in search of fragments from a meteorite that fell to earth 
last week.
     Museum spokeswoman Veronica Dolan said four museum employees flew over 
the area for two hours Thursday in a helicopter provided by Warren Air Force 
Base in nearby Cheyenne.  They failed to find any traces of the meteorite.
     "We now know there are no large meteorites in the area," she said. "By 
large, we mean two feet across or bigger."
     Hundreds of persons in Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska reported seeing 
the meteorite over southeast Wyoming on Aug, 2.  Museum officials said it 
exploded 11 miles above southeast Wyoming and fell to earth.
     Jack Murphy, curator of the museum's department of geology, was on the 
flight Thursday, said the observers found no meteorite or craters in the 
area near Pine Bluffs.
     Murphy said in all probability "we are looking for as many as three 
smaller pieces."
     Museum employees have circulated fliers in the area informing citizens 
of the search for the meteorite.

(end)

This does not match up with Tom's sighting, other then time frame and 
hemisphere, but it includes Jack Murphy quotes.

It also shows why I changed the subject e-mail yesterday to MI.  Postal 
state abbriations are used by me in my newspaper files and there is a need 
for me to be consistant in such things for search reasons.  In my files and 
the internet since the list is googled.

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