"VERY LARGE METEOROID" A very Near Miss

Frenchman

Tenderfoot
Jun 5, 2003
9
0
Western U.S.A.
"VERY LARGE METEOROID" A very Near Miss

In the very early 1980s while I was on a extended treasure hunting trip in Arizona, I witnessed the unbelievable. It was 3:30 in the afternoon on a beautifull clear blue sky sunshiney day, and it happened. I was standing on a ridge above a acient indian ruins and as I looked to my left, a flying mountain came into my view from the horizon. I watched it from horizon to horizon.? It must have taken at least 10 or 15 seconds to transverse the sky before me. In the front was a mountain, or maybe bigger. Bigger I think. About 3 or 4 times the size of the rising full moon.? As it moved across the sky there were pieces breaking off, all with fire like you can not amagine. The trail behind it was pieces breaking off getting smaller and smaller.? The fire was trailing the pieces breaking off as well. But way back toward the tail end of pieces breaking off, the pieces were smaller and smaller and moving slower and slower, as they did not have the weight and mass to carry them on by the earth. Mankind is very lucky, I would guess that at the nearest point it was only 10 or 15 miles from striking the earth. The meteoroid itself with the bigger parts of it kept right on going back into space. But, a few of the pebbles off from it came down. After six months of searching, I believe I found a piece of it. The piece weighs over 17 pounds. Here are a few pictures. You can see where it has the fusion crust from coming into our world. This is the first time I've put any pictures on treasurenet, so I hope they come through. Happy Hunting and Best Wishes.
 

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Re: "ASTROID" A very Near Miss

You should check with NORAD and see if they tracked anything the day of your incident.

I have witnessed 2 fireballs. Pretty amazing sights. One was big news around these parts (Thanksgiving day a few years ago).
 

Re: "ASTROID" A very Near Miss

I think what we would want to call what you have is a meteorite, neat find.

Here's what I found to help illustrate the difference:
Asteroid: A relatively small, inactive body, composed of rock, carbon or metal, which is orbiting the Sun.
Comet: A relatively small, sometimes active object, which is composed of dirt and ices. Comets are characterised by dust and gas tails when in proximity to the Sun. Far from the Sun it is difficult to distinguish an asteroid from a comet.
Meteoroid: A small particle from an asteroid or comet orbiting he Sun.
Meteor: A meteoroid that is observed as it burns up in the Earth's atmosphere - a shooting star.
Meteorite: A meteoroid that survives its passage through the Earth's atmosphere and impacts the Earth's surface.
 

Re: "VERY LARGE METEOROID" A very Near Miss

After reading your post, I went back and changed it to fit the description. The meteoroid itself went back into space. The 17 pound chunk I found could be described as a stoney meteorite. I hope it is described properly now. Thanks a bunch for the information as I do not wish to mislead anyone. Happy Hunting and Best Wishes.
 

Re: "VERY LARGE METEOROID" A very Near Miss

Good report..I can't tell from photo from hemetite/meteorite...maine difference, former is rock meteorites are METAL. my desert detectiing is always pickingup Hemitite some appear exactly like iron/metal....need better photos... Yes 1980's I saw Comet wizz over Santa Cruz CA sky 10am.. huge!! 3/4 the moon, but fast..2'' across horizon.. If it hit we'd be dead before contact!!!! that's what got me interested.. Wilson observatory was closed for the day, not a peep from them or anyone news/witnesses,,nada...my wife/friend saw it.. as usual the friend says UFO! no logic there..what one sees is what it is..Right? bugger all! Luego...
 

Re: "VERY LARGE METEOROID" A very Near Miss

lupe here again..forgot to describe Comet..Round/orb, pure white/like moon, zipped across sky leaving NO tail/trail could sense/see that object was between moon & earth..
 

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