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News briefs
Montrose fireball: Chris Peterson has posted a beautifully illustrated report of a fireball at 2:44am MDT today caught by at least four Colorado all-sky cameras as well as the camera at Sandia National Lab, far south in Albuquerque, New Mexico (589Kb movie). For the camera at Montrose High School, head-on to the flight path, he says “almost no movement was seen at all, simply a very large explosion directly overhead.” And there is “an excellent chance” that meteorites landed within town boundaries, so residents are requested to be on the lookout for black stones.
Bits & pieces: A brief MosNews item today from RIA Novosti, “Customs Officials Confiscate Meteorite,” tells about a meteorite weighing “about a kilo” found in the possession of a woman at the Khabarovsk airport in far eastern Russia. It is reported valued “at more than 40,000 rubles (about $1,380),” and a fine of 50-200% of that value could be imposed for “trying to transfer it to Japan.” (The accompanying meteorite photo appears to be unrelated.)
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Cover details: The Sierra Nevada observations were made with a clear filter and had a measured magnitude of V=22.1. Magnitude at OAM was measured at R=21.4. These images are courtesy of the observers and come via Reiner Stoss, who was involved in measuring the OAM results (along with Jaime Nomen) and reporting the astrometry from both observatories. See also an A/CC “cover” with 67P/Chury in February from the 3.5m NTT telescope at La Silla, where magnitude was reported as approximately V=22.3 and R=21.6. In the OAM image above, Main Belt asteroid 32001 2000 HF51 can be seen to the lower left as the one bright streak that isn't parallel with, or as long as, the star trails.
KOB-TV Albuquerque has an Associated Press item today, “Asteroid named ‘Nemsu’ in recognition of NMSU,” named by David Levy's wife, an alumna of New Mexico State University. This is Main Belter 24778 Nemsu (1993 KW1), discovered by Carolyn Shoemaker and David Levy at Mt. Palomar. (The report says “Approval of the name came last month,” but it was actually in the March 5th namings.)
Some reading: Astronomy.com has an item today about “Radar echoes reveal asteroid details.” And New Scientist and Space.com have reports about the “new second rock from the Sun” (see more links).
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