Sci Tech
Meteor In Arizona: Meteor Rattles Roofs (PHOTO)
Arizona residents reported hearing a ‘large bang’ on Tuesday night – raising concerns for many – before a bright white meteor shot across the sky, similiar to this stock image. Scientists are trying to work out whether it landed
A meteor streaked across the night sky outside of Tucson Arizona Tuesday night. The meteor entered earth’s atmosphere northeast of Phoenix, Arizona and broke up shortly there after.
Scientists are now in Tucson trying to find the remnants of the meteor which could give them clues as to the origin of it.
‘We were eating dinner and heard a good bang that rattled the roof of our house,’ Astronomer Tod Lauer posted to Facebook, CNN reported.
“It [the meteor explosion] was picked up by two of our meteor cameras in New Mexico as well as cameras in Arizona and the preliminary trajectory shows that it was definitely not a Geminid,” NASA meteor expert Bill Cooke told reporters Wednesday. “It was moving way too slow and coming from the wrong direction.” [See photos of the 2012 Geminid meteor shower]
The meteor reportedly rattled windows and caused a sonic boom before breaking apart and scattering over Tucson. A resident of Prescott, and avid meteor hunter, Robert Ward is currently searching for pieces of the meteor.
The shock wave rattled windows and scared local residents, who contacted local media and took to the Internet to inquire about “something suspicious.”
“My wife and I and my son were sitting in the house, and we felt this absolutely tremendous explosion,” Tucson resident Tony Kubrak told KGUN9-TV. “I mean, it shook the windows. It shook everything in the house. I stepped outside, and (it) had to be no more than 3 minutes later after I hear all of this, and I see this tremendous, white, bright light in the western sky. And it was just … it was absolutely enormous. I couldn’t believe it.”
Social media also erupted, with hundreds of people from Las Vegas to Tucson reporting a bright object streaking across the horizon.
He is working along side representatives from the American Meteor Society and NASA to try to find the meteorite so that it can be studied.
ABC15 Chief Meteorologist Amber Sullins said the meteor was likely part of a rare outburst of the Andromedids meteor shower.
Many researchers think that meteors hold clues to how the universe was formed. The researchers can only search for the meteorite on public land. They do not have the authority to go on to private land in order to collect, or examine, fragments of the meteor without the land owner’s permission.
However, Ward and the other researchers are encouraging residents to contact them if they find any meteorite debris on their property so that they can plot the meteor’s course. This may be able to tell researchers where the meteor came from.
On The Web:
Meteorite breaks up over southern Arizona
http://www.azcentral.com/news/arizona/free/20131211arizona-meteorite-breaks-up.html
‘It was absolutely enormous’: Meteor explodes over Arizona on the eve of the year’s biggest cosmic shower
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2522246/Meteor-explodes-Arizona.html
Loud boom heard, lights seen across Arizona
http://www.jrn.com/kgun9/news/Loud-boom-heard-green-lights-seen–235336141.html
Dazzling Arizona Fireball Sparks Weekend Meteor Shower Interest
http://www.space.com/23930-arizona-fireball-geminid-meteor-shower.html