[meteorite-list] The Story of the Colby Meteorites

[Mark Langenfeld]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ron Baalke" <baalke at zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>
To: "Meteorite Mailing List" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2007 3:59 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] The Story of the Colby Meteorites


> 
> http://www.wsaw.com/home/headlines/8581532.html
> 
> Eye on the Sky: Colby's Visitors From Outer Space - the Story of the
> Colby Meteorites
> 
> Katie O'Brien
> WSAW
> July 18, 2007
> 
> On a dark night, if you look up at the sky, you may see a streak of
> light as a meteor flashes through the atmosphere.
> 
> Meteoroids, which are often fragments of comets or asteroids, become
> meteors once they enter earth's atmosphere.
> 
> If they hit the ground, they are called meteorites.
> 
> People often see meteors flash across the night sky, but on rare
> occasions, people actually see them fall to earth.
> 
> That's what happened on July 4, 1917 in Colby.
> 
> Around 6:30 p.m., loud explosions were heard with the fall of two
> meteors, and according to the book "Colby Wisconsin Centennial," some
> people came out expecting to see a Zeppelin dropping bombs.
> 
> Two meteorites, possibly from the same meteor, struck at Colby.
> 
> One weighed about 75 pounds.
> 
> "It was west of the Zion Lutheran Church, but more-so way in the field,
> not where the church was," says Pearl Vorland of the Colby Historical
> Society.
> 
> The larger of the two fell in a pasture, and was embedded about five
> feet into the ground.
> 
> This meteorite was very cold and frost formed on it after it was dug out
> of the ground.
> 
> The combined weight of the meteorites was more than 200 pounds.
> 
> Fragments of the meteorite still exist in the University of
> Wisconsin-Madison's Geology Museum, and the Milwaukee Public Museum.
> 
> If you'd like to see a meteor shower, there's a good one coming up in
> August which you can watch for in a future "Eye on the Sky" segment.
> 
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> 
>
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