[meteorite-list] Unidentified object from sky destroys car in Cottonwood

[Eric Wichman]

The plastic film might be melted but I can't tell by the photos. If it 
is then that would mean that the piece of debris was obviously hot while 
in flight. Since we are reasonably sure that a meteorite of this size 
capable of producing a hole the size of the one seen in the photo 
couldn't have been hot enough to melt the protective coating 
(particularly at the speeds needed to produce the hole) on the 
windshield then I would venture to say it might have been a piece of 
fiery -and heavy- debris from some Earthy and very terrestrial 
explosion. A burning piece of machinery or metal can fly very far 
(perhaps a mile or more) from the location of an explosion. Perhaps this 
is the answer. But this hangs on the supposition that the window coating 
is in fact melted, which you can't tell by the photos.

These excerpts from the article say most of it:

"...'There was a loud explosion and bright light,' Orsot said. Rustled 
from his sleep, Orsot looked outside but didn't see anything unusual, so 
he went back to bed.

Shasta County sheriff's deputies responded "...to a cluster of 911 calls 
in the neighborhood - all reporting a startling sound..."

"...'It was a big kaboom,' said Leroy Bolls, the couple's next-door 
neighbor. 'Like a sonic boom, but real close.'..."

He and his wife, Suzie, said the sound was strong enough to shake their 
house, and they thought a propane tank might have exploded..."

The piece pictured in the article is very small, maybe an inch or two 
and very light.

 "..The piece Birondo still has at his office weighs 0.07 of a gram.." 
This is not the main impactor.

"...Birondo said he sent one to the state Department of Justice crime 
laboratory. He hasn't heard back from scientists there on what the 
material might be..."

We'll just have to wait and see what the lab says, if they say anything 
at all..

Eric




Pat Brown wrote:
> Hi Eric and the List,
>
> Interesting photos. I highly doubt that the "windshield melted", it looks much more like the plastic film between the layers of glass (that make it safety glass as used in windshields) just stretched from the impacting object. 
>
> The photo of the 'debris' inside the car shure does not look like a meteorite or a re-entered piece of space junk. It also does not look like a blade from a big wood chipper like the last few 'meteorites' hitting cars and houses.
>
> Pat Brown 
> Hardware Reliability Engineer (and ex-materials engineer)
>
>
> --- On Thu, 3/12/09, Eric Wichman <eric at meteoritewatch.com> wrote:
>
>   
>> From: Eric Wichman <eric at meteoritewatch.com>
>> Subject: [meteorite-list] Unidentified object from sky destroys car in Cottonwood
>> To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
>> Date: Thursday, March 12, 2009, 9:06 AM
>> What?! A meteorite or space debris?
>>
>> "..A meteorite may have been what smashed into the
>> windshield of a Cottonwood couple's sport utility
>> vehicle late last month, destroying much of the dashboard
>> and melting some of the glass..."
>>
>> http://www.redding.com/news/2009/mar/12/unidentified-object-from-sky-destroys-car-in/
>>
>> The photos of the supposed "meteorite" look like
>> debris of some sort. Not like any meteorite I've ever
>> seen.
>>
>> Could it be a piece of Satellite, and who was the collector
>> offering $10K for the "meteorite"?
>>
>> Hmm....
>>
>> Regards,
>> Eric Wichman
>> Meteorites USA
>> www.meteoritesusa.com
>>
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>
>   

-- 
Regards,
Eric Wichman
Meteorites USA
http://www.meteoritesusa.com
904-236-5394