Explanation:
What if you're driving down the street and an object from space shoots across the
sky right in front of you?
Such was the case last week for many people in south central Canada.
Specifically, an extremely
bright fireball,
presumably a desk-sized
meteor from deep space,
flashed across the sky just after sunset on 2008 November 20.
The bright fireball was recorded on many images and movies, including the spectacular
video shown above that was captured by a dashboard camera of a
police cruiser in
Edmonton,
Alberta,
Canada.
Because at least two streaks appear to be visible, the falling object likely broke
up into pieces as it fell deep into
Earth's atmosphere.
By
triangulating fireball
images from several simultaneously recorded sources,
astronomers hope to find an approximate orbit from whence
the object came, as well as the likely place(s) on Earth where large pieces
would have impacted, were they to have survived reentry.
In the best case scenario, pieces
would
be recovered
from a known deep space
comet or
asteroid,
giving humanity an unprecedented look at an
ancient object that likely holds
clues
to the early years of our Earth and the
Solar System.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
