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Wednesday, July 24, 2019, 9:30 pm – If you live near Bancroft, Ontario, you may want to take a look at the space!
Early in the morning of Wednesday, July 24, the sky over southern Ontario was lit up, as strong as the full moon, as a bright fireball pbaded over his head.
According to NASA records, the meteoroid at the origin of this fireball – a space rock nearly 30 cm wide – has plunged into the atmosphere with an energy of more than one half kilotonne of TNT. It then pbaded west from Toronto to Peterborough, and north to west of Bancroft, Ontario.
Look below to see this brilliant fireball cross the sky.
Related: Do you think you've found a meteorite? Here's how to know for sure
<img src = "http://images.twnmm.com/c55i45ef3o2a/6lKLOu59AOtlONin32DuwM/df201c31bec0883f09769b8329458ce8/Bancroft-Fireball-Map-NASA.jpg?w=680&q=10&fm=jpg" alt = "Bancroft-Fireball-Map-NASA" data-img = "// images.twnmm.com/c55i45ef3o2a/6lKLOu59AOtlONin32DuwM/df201c31bec0883f09769b8329458ce8/Bancroft-Fireball-Map-NASA.jpg)Map of southern Ontario showing the trajectory of the Bancroft fireball. Credit: NASA
According to Professor Peter Brown of Western University, when the fireball finally blinked – slowed enough to not compress the air to the point that it was no longer shining – pieces of meteoroid could have survived and touched floor!
"This fireball probably dropped a small number of meteorites in the Bancroft area, especially near the small town of Cardiff, and we believe the meteorites hit the ground because the fireball was very low in the Just west of Bancroft and has significantly slowed down It's a good indicator that the material has survived, "Brown says.
<img src = "http://images.twnmm.com/c55i45ef3o2a/4vpMyn5f4eCZzP0flGyoor/8ac4fb65b5652151601e418a759abfcb/Bancroft-Fireball-Map-closeup-NASA.jpg?w=680&q=10&fm=jpg" alt = "Bancroft-Fireball-Mapa- NASAEnlarged map of the end of the trajectory of the Bancroft fireball, showing the area where meteorites may have been. Credit: NASA
If you read this article and live north of Peterborough, Ontario, west of Bancroft, it may be time to go in search of meteorites.
Peter Brown posted a map of the best place to watch, on his Twitter account.
If anyone finds anything that could be a meteorite, the best way to find out is to take it to the Royal Ontario Museum, as part of one of its clinics. identification of rocks, gems, minerals, fossils and meteorites.
WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE?
Every day, several tons of dust, ice and rocks are swept by the Earth's atmosphere as it moves in space. Much of this is just tiny grains of dust and ice A small portion consists of slightly larger pieces, such as grains of sand, pebbles and gravel – the larger the size, the less there is .
From time to time, maybe several times a month, something bigger annoys us when the Earth is flying around the Sun. The size of these larger meteoroids varies from the size of a golf ball to giant asteroids of several meters in diameter. The Chelyabinsk asteroid, dating from February 2013, was probably about 20 meters in diameter!
A primer on meteorites, meteors and meteorites. Credits: Scott Sutherland / NASA JPL (Asteroids Ida & Dactyl) / NASA Earth Observatory (Blue Marble)
When one of these meteoroids reaches the top of the atmosphere, it moves at a speed of tens to hundreds of thousands of kilometers per hour and quickly compresses the air in its path, so much so that the air ignites, warm white! This glow is the "meteor" we see flying through the air, high above the ground. During all this time, the air presses back on the meteoroid, slowing it down and sometimes exerting sufficient force on the meteoroid to break it! Once the meteoroid has slowed to the point where it can no longer heat the air to the point of shining, the meteor disappears.
Sometimes, with larger objects, it ends very suddenly with an explosion when the meteoroid breaks. This is known as a racing car.
The bigger a meteoroid, the more it can plunge into our atmosphere and survive. Thus, the object, or pieces of it broken, can reach the ground, as meteorites.
Related: Want to find a meteorite? Expert Geoff Notkin tells us how!
Meteorites, when they fall on Earth, do not tend to be hot. They are pretty cold. When meteoroids fly into space, they tend to cool down to their core at extremely cold temperatures. So, they can not be identified by burning or smoking.
Here's what to look for to find a meteorite:
- Magnetic: Due to their high metal content, most meteorites stick to a magnet (those of the Moon and Mars have less iron and will not attract a magnet)
- Melting crust: the outer surface of a meteorite has a dark and very bright crust, ranging from gray to brown and black, while the interior can be of a much lighter color.
- Regmaglypts: some large meteorites, especially iron, will have impressions on the surface that look like a thumbprint pressed into putty
- Shape: Meteorites generally have smooth, rounded surface features, but are rarely spherical or symmetrical (and some melt crusts may have a rough feel).
- Fragments: Larger meteorites frequently separate through the atmosphere and are found as irregularly shaped fragments, with the melting crust covering only a portion of their surface.
- Interior: the ferrous meteorites will be shiny like steel inside, the stony iron will be identical, with small particles resembling precious stones embedded in the metal, while the stony stones will usually be uniform or will look like tiny spherules packed together.
- Meteors: There are many rocks of the Earth, natural and artificial, that can share the characteristics of meteorites. Hematite, magnetite and mining or industrial slags are usually mistaken for meteorites. If it is not magnetic, it does not have a melting crust, it has tiny holes on the surface or it looks like it is in the air. to be composed of layers of material, it is probably a bad meteor.
Sources: Western University | NASA | With WeatherMedia files
Look below: intense strikes and lightning nonstop: ALBERTA SKY
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