[meteorite-list] Canon City Meteorite - Huss 1973 NPA

[MARK BOSTICK]

Hello all,

I have a couple other Canon City NPA's on my website.  This however is the 
first one I have seen that tells the name/color of the cat and gives details 
on the impact itself. (Good Huss.)

Clear Skies,
Mark

Paper: The Argus
City: Fremont, California
Date: Friday, November 9, 1973
Page: 14

Meteorite came 60 million miles

     DENVER (UPI) - Scientists said Thursday a three-pound meteorite that 
crashed through the roof of a private garage in southern Colorado originated 
in an asteroid belt 60 million miles from earth.
     "The asteroids banged together and broke off pieces into a very 
elliptical orbit around the sun," said Glenn Huss, director of the American 
Meteorite Laboratory. "This just banged into us."
     The chunk of rock hit the Canon City garage Oct. 27, ripping a six-inch 
hole in the roof and scaring a calico housecat named Misty behind a pile of 
old furniture, Huss said.
     He said the meteorite "must have sounded like a rifle shot. I'm sure 
she (the cat) got peppered with fragments. The only thing we didn't do was 
vacuum Misty's fur."
     Huss said the object was "the most highly crystallized meteorite we've 
ever seen.''
     He said the rock shattered into more than 57 fragments from the impact- 
and pieces were sent to the Chicago Natural History Museum for analysis.
     Huss said the meteorite was composed primarily of magnesium olivine, 
iron pure pyroxene and crystallized troilite. He said it was traveling about 
5** mile; an hour when it struck the garage carving a two-inch gash on the 
concrete floor.
     Huss said the meteorite was the third "witness fall" in Colorado 
history. The name is given for a meteor observed as it drops earthward or is 
discovered shortly after landing.
     The first occurred near Johnstown, Colo., in 1927. In 1967, a 2 ½ pound 
meteorite smashed through a warehouse in, Denver.
     Huss said that the meteorite once was part of an asteroid swarm - the 
name given to chunks of rock formed by disintegration eons ago in space.

(end)