Meteor strike again?!

What is up with all the meteor reports these past few weeks in NZ?

Would all these reports be caused by the June Bootids?


Residents Report Meteor

A South Island radio station is being swamped with reports of a meteor strike in the Mackenzie Country.

People from Christchurch to Timaru say they saw a bright light streaking across the sky around 9.30 on Saturday night.

Port FM announcer James Valentine says he has taken dozens of calls describing the dramatic end of the meteor's journey.

He says it exploded before it hit the ground, and flames and debris were seen in the sky.

James Valentine says a consensus is building around the idea the meteor crashed to earth somewhere near Twizel.

source

frankly, yes. this shower has potential of up to 100 meteors per hour. it's the same as any meteor shower: some may not entirely burn up in the atmosphere.

EDIT: spelling

[edit on 6/27/2004 by cmdrkeenkid]

thanks for the answer cmdrkeenkid....

but were the bootids supposed to be passing over NZ?

yes, along with the rest of the northern hemisphere. here's a website with some info: spaceweather.com...

i think that there may be a thread on ATS that references that site, actually.

Good Lord quadricle!! I can't take another meteor this month. I just lived through the last ones.

Seriously though the meteor showers throughout the year are so wonderful to watch. My husband and I camp most weekends and our telescope is always in tow, unless their is a meteor shower occuring. You really can't have an appreciation for how many of these suckers fall every hour unless your out of the city lights.

thanks dude...


I posted that info awhile back myself......but the site doesn't really mention the bootids position (am I missing something?) other than it favors north american "viewing"

I agree Bleys, but these recent meteor reports aren't meteor showers but strikes (or so they claim)..

are "meteor" strikes also common when out camping?

[edit on 27-6-2004 by quadricle]

you're not missing anything. the constellation bootes lies to the north of the ecliptic (the line in the sky the sun and planets roughly follow). this means that the meteors will mainly be seen by those living in the northern hemisphere. it just happens though that at the predicted time of their peak that the earth happens to be pointing the western portion of north america towards their direction.

meteor=shooting star
meteoroid=small particles and chips of rock that cause those
meteorite= meteoroid that survives through atmosphere

27/06/2004 12:07 PM
NewstalkZB
A South Island radio station is being swamped with reports of a meteor strike in the Mackenzie Country. People from Christchurch to Timaru say they saw a bright light streaking across the sky around 9.30 on Saturday night.
xtramsn.co.nz...

Are the meteor sightings that are continually being reported just normal events that are being over reported as a result of the "Aussie Bloke" hysteria? Or is the volume of reports truely a significant increase?

And some more from spaceweather.com.

"FIREBALLS: Sky watchers in eastern parts of North America saw an impressive display of meteor-like objects around 10:52 p.m. EDT on June 26th. These were probably fragments of a Russian rocket motor decaying and breaking apart in Earth's atmosphere. The pieces were bright, slow-moving, with "incandescent sparking tails," according to some observers. "

It's definitely true that when more people look to the sky the bigger propabality of seeing more objects.

BTW, in last 1½ year there have been three meteroids surviving to lower atmosphere over Finland. (and exploding there)
Well, it's equally propable that they might even qualify as meteorites. (that some parts of them have survived to ground)
Parts of one these might have even landed to about 20km southwest from where I live, and "landing area" of other one was calculated to about 60 km northwest from here.

[edit on 27-6-2004 by E_T]