Texas Fireball Likely A Pickup Truck-Sized Meteor

[babylonsister]

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2009/02/faa_says_texas_fireball_was_meteor_not_a_ufo.php

FAA says Texas fireball was meteor, not a UFO

Astronomer says Texas fireball was big meteor, not debris from satellite collision

JEFF CARLTON
AP News

Feb 16, 2009 16:58 EST


The fireball that streaked across the sky and alarmed numerous Texas residents was likely just a big meteor and not wreckage from colliding satellites, experts said Monday.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Roland Herwig said the fireball seen across a wide stretch of the state Sunday morning probably was a natural phenomenon and not debris from last week's collision between an Iridium communications satellite and a Russian military space vehicle.

And Preston Starr, observatory manager at the University of North Texas, said it probably was a meteor about the size of a pickup truck with the consistency of a chunk of concrete.

The Williamson County sheriff's office in central Texas said it received so many emergency calls about the light in the sky that it sent deputies out in a helicopter to look for a plane crash.

The FAA had said during the weekend that the fireball possibly was caused by falling debris from the satellites. It also posted a weekend warning telling pilots to watch out for satellite debris but rescinded the warning Sunday, Herwig said.

Starr said the object's trajectory was wrong for it to have been satellite debris. And he said such objects would be too small and moving too slowly to produce a flare so widely visible during the day.

"It would have looked like a blip, and nobody would be able to notice if it were a daytime entry," Starr said.

Starr said objects as large as his estimate for the one spotted Sunday enter the atmosphere about eight or 10 times a year. It was probably moving between 15,000 and 40,000 mph, he said.

Despite its initial large size, if any of the object survived the fiery descent through the atmosphere, it would be smaller than a fist, he said.

Source: AP News

[HowHasItComeToThis]

1. IT WAS AN INVASION FROM OKLAHOMA, NO DOUBT

[happyiowan]

2. The remnants of the Bush presidency, babylon.

It took a little longer than expected.

[Ian David]

3. I'm glad that they relate this to something Texans can relate to. n/t

[babylonsister]

6. For you, that'd be a big concrete snowball.

;)

[gratuitous]

4. Okay, I was driving a LITTLE fast

But meteor speeds? Ossifer! No I drinkn't been having.

[Jackpine Radical]

8. A meteor-sized pickup

loaded with rednecks & moonshine--Ghost Assholes in the Sky...I bet Willie Nelson could do something with that theme.

[jdadd]

10. Maybe a Gun Rack in the back.....

[Jackpine Radical]

11. Oh, definitely a gun rack.

[jobycom]

5. Not aliens, not Jesus. Guess we'll all have to wait longer for both those answers.

:hangover:

[babylonsister]

7. Nah, neither. Space dross supposedly, but it wasn't that either.

Just a silly meteor.

[Regret My New Name]

12. Maybe Jesus or the aliens drive a puckup truck...

[BlooInBloo]

9. If only it was gawd, striking down white folks who run over black folks.

[MagickMuffin]

13. So, where did it end up landing?.?.?

You would think that a meteor the size of a truck would leave a mark somewhere to be found. I wonder if google earth has the info.:shrug:

[RagAss]

14. The article states that it is most likely the size of a fist after all the burn-off

[MagickMuffin]

17. D'oh

:blush:

I guess I was thinking about some of the meteors that have crashed to Earth and they were very large and left gaping holes in the surface of our planet.

[babylonsister]

16. Yes, the size of a fist, but it was big (apparently) and many people

saw it before it crashed and burned/melted. :P

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6265822.html

Starr described the object as a bolide, a term used by astronomers to describe a meteor with an exploding brightness. That's the description given by those who saw the fireball, saying it was reddish orange and left a trail of white smoke.

Starr said it's likely the meteor struck ground somewhere. He doubted it would have left a crater and guessed what's left of it would be smaller than the size of a fist.

[IDemo]

15. Then it WAS a "Palin 2012" sticker I saw on it

[TiaCarrera]

18. Here's a video of the Texas fireball, as well as the same flying object seen from Italy

A short video clip of the Texas fireball , as well as the same flying object seen from Italy (in the comments). Interesting to observe, it could drop anywhere on Earth.. I'm glad there were no victims. I also saw a reportage from Fox where they show a place in Dallas with a burnt area still smoking.. Could it have fallen there?