10-11-2007, 01:11 AM
September 15th 2007, a fireball streaked across the skies of Peru and soon thereafter a [url "http://spaceweather.com/swpod2007/08oct07/crater.jpg"]watery crater[/url] was discovered by local residents near the town of Carancas. At first experts dismissed the connection; the crater didn't look like a meteorite impact. But since then minds have changed:
"Without reservation this is definitely a meteorite," says astronomy professor Peter Brown of the University of Western Ontario. "We found some [url "http://aquarid.physics.uwo.ca/infrasound.htm"]infrasound[/url] data recorded by a station in La Paz about 70 km away. From the size of the the airwave we can work out the kinetic energy of the impactor--about 0.03 kton TNT."
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"Something like 20 to 30 kg of the meteorite have already been recovered, but odds are good a multi-ton monster lurks at the bottom of the crater," he continues. "The bad news: It is below the water table, the rainy season is coming and unless some action is taken ASAP, the rock will quickly oxidize and crumble."
Meanwhile, he says, "we are digging for seismic data of the actual impact--the first actual seismic recording of a terrestrial meteorite impact!" Stay tuned. [/center] [center] [/center] [center]![[Image: gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=30102;]](http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=30102;)
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[font "Arial"][size 2][url "http://spaceweather.com/swpod2007/08oct07/07_09_21_Carancas_meteorite.pdf"]http://spaceweather.com/...rancas_meteorite.pdf[/url][/size][/font]
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"Without reservation this is definitely a meteorite," says astronomy professor Peter Brown of the University of Western Ontario. "We found some [url "http://aquarid.physics.uwo.ca/infrasound.htm"]infrasound[/url] data recorded by a station in La Paz about 70 km away. From the size of the the airwave we can work out the kinetic energy of the impactor--about 0.03 kton TNT."
[center]
"Something like 20 to 30 kg of the meteorite have already been recovered, but odds are good a multi-ton monster lurks at the bottom of the crater," he continues. "The bad news: It is below the water table, the rainy season is coming and unless some action is taken ASAP, the rock will quickly oxidize and crumble."
Meanwhile, he says, "we are digging for seismic data of the actual impact--the first actual seismic recording of a terrestrial meteorite impact!" Stay tuned. [/center] [center] [/center] [center]
[font "Arial"][size 2][url "http://spaceweather.com/swpod2007/08oct07/07_09_21_Carancas_meteorite.pdf"]http://spaceweather.com/...rancas_meteorite.pdf[/url][/size][/font]
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