First radar-detected meteor fall observed in Maine, NASA confirms
A fireball that caused loud sonic booms and even lit up the daytime sky on Saturday was the first radar-observed meteorite fall seen in Maine, NASA confirmed.
–“Booming”== noises were heard near Calais, Maine, shortly after the fireball was seen moving through the sky. This apparent meteorite fall occurred at 11:56 a.m. local time, NASA said.
NASA’s radar was able to observe the event for nearly five minutes and calculated fallen meteorite masses from 1.59 — ==322– grams, or less than a pound, “although larger masses may have fallen.”
Because of this, the Maine Mineral & Gem Museum in Bethel is offering a $25,000 reward for the first meteorite they get weighing one kilogram or more, the Bangor Daily News reported.
So far, no meteors or pieces have been reported found.
With winds of up to 100 mph at the time of the event, smaller meteorites may have been carried into Canada, NASA said.
The outlet said the most likely area for recovering any meteorites is a mile-wide field extending from just north of Waite, Maine, to the border town of Canoose in New Brunswick, Canada.
Shawn Laatsch, the director of the Versant Power Astronomy Center at the University of Maine in Orono, told the Machias Valley News Observer that he speculates the fireball was maybe a larger kind of meteor called a bolide because those are often visible during the daytime.
“If it’s visible in the daytime, it’s usually a large meteor that hits that atmosphere and lights up," Laatsch told the Observer. "The different colors you see depend on what it was made up of."
Some described the meteorite’s fall as a “red flare” or like a “firework,” according to the Machias paper.
This meteorite fall is recorded in American Meteor Society eyewitness reports as number 2002 for the year 2023, according to NASA.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/first-radar-detected-meteor-fall-155808805.html