Bright Meteor Reported in Far Norther Metro.

[petemn2004]

Bright meteor was reported at about 2:10 AM on Thursday December 20.

Not yet confirmed.


Mark Petersen

http://www.startribune.com/bright-light ... 503243111/

[Deane Clark]

I heard it! It made a loud boom, maybe even more of a THUD. I looked outside, but saw nothing.

EDIT: Also, I should mention I live in south Minneapolis, near crosstown and Xerxes.

[sandconp]

I heard there was one over Northern California too last night

[Deane Clark]

I heard there was one over Northern California too last night

The Strib article mentions that one too. Apparently, it was earlier; around 5:45 pm pacific time.

[Deane Clark]

Here’s the MPR story:
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2018/12/2 ... -minnesota

[petemn2004]

I know a guy who has a business of finding and repairing the leaks of flat commercial type roofs. On one job on a government building he found a "rock" on the roof that caused the leak. The roof was over three stories high. He said that paper clips would bend toward the rock when they got near the rock. He kept the meteorite for several years and then thew it away, not knowing any better.

I bet there are people searching for meteorites from the fireball last week.

Mark

[Deane Clark]

I know a guy who has a business of finding and repairing the leaks of flat commercial type roofs. On one job on a government building he found a "rock" on the roof that caused the leak. The roof was over three stories high. He said that paper clips would bend toward the rock when they got near the rock. He kept the meteorite for several years and then thew it away, not knowing any better.

I bet there are people searching for meteorites from the fireball last week.

Mark

I hope someone finds some pieces but given our thin and patchy snow cover lately I doubt it.

As for the roof repair guy, that sounds like a tall tale. Meteorites aren’t known for being magnets, and many people think that if a magnet is attracted to a rock, it must be a meteorite. But, of course, there are plenty of earth rocks with iron content.

[petemn2004]

He said the roof was leaking in just one punctured spot.

Another story: A friend of mine said his father-in-law in the 1950's was plowing a field (in the daylight) and observed a spot that was disturbed in a section that was just plowed. He found a potato sized meteorite. That this was a meteorite was authenticated. This was near North Branch. Just goes to show that meteorites may not be so rare, just hard to find.

Mark

[Deane Clark]

Yes, I think you’re right. They’re rarely found. That’s why the deserts of Saudi Arabia and snow fields of Antarctica are good hunting grounds - easy to see and not many people living there to find or disturb them.

[Sureshks]

NW Africa is another hot spot for meteorite collectors. So many meteors are found there now they’re simply called “NW Africa” and are designated by lot #.

We’ll learn more about them at the next MAS meeting.

Suresh

[RussD]

My mom used to work for a county in NW MN. One day a farmer came in with a BIG iron meteorite he found in a field around 1971. She used it as a door stop in the office for years until donating it to the local historical society. As a kid I recall visiting it at least once a year. It remained there for years until the society moved about 15 years ago and it had vanished. It was stored out in the open and I think someone just ran off with it. Weighed about 20 lbs or more. I shudder to think what that thing is worth now.

These days I have paid anywhere between 15 cents to a dollar or more per gram for meteorites.

Russ