Pre-A/CC Asteroid/Comet News

Links to some news events in minor object history before the Asteroid/Comet Connection began regular reporting in March 2002. This page is initially being used mainly to publish an accumulation of links to bolide/fireball events.

8 November 1999

Atmospheric explosion over northern Germany. See A/CC report on Infrasound observation.

Just after 6pm Central Time, "an extraordinary fireball" blazed across the evening sky over the U.S. Midwest. See Science@NASA's 17 Nov. 1999 report, "Huge Fireball Dazzles Midwest."

Goodwater bolide aka trans-Alabama super bolide – A fireball crossed Alabama, lighting up the night sky early on a Sunday. See items in the Cambridge Conference Correspondence editions for 7 Dec. 1999, text of an MSNBC/WVTM-TV report, and 17 July 2003, notes about an article coauthored by David King. See also the U.S. DoD report, disputed by King, dated 16 March 2000 in Peter Brown's archive.

Yukon fireball & Tagish Lake strewn field
(updated 22 July 2003) At about 8:43am local time on 18 Jan. 2000, a fireball was seen across the Yukon and from parts of Alaska and British Columbia. It was also heard and was recorded by seismographs, and some witnesses even reported a smell. Seven days later, remnants were found and preserved in excellent condition, and hailed by scientists as one of the most pristine, and most primitive, meteorite finds ever.

• Tagish Lake Meteorite/Fireball Investigation consortium study page

• "A Meteor's Protective Bubbles?" 2 March 2003 Astrobiology Magazine article
• "Meteorite 'ready-made home' for life," 25 Dec. 2002 CNN article
• "Primitive Housing: Potential Homes for Earth's First Life Found in Space Rock," 13 Dec. 2002 Space.com article
• "Researchers find possible precursors to early life on earth in meteorite," 11 Dec. 2002 NASA Johnson Space Ctr. news release
• "Sights, Sounds and Smells of the Fireball," 12 Oct. 2000 Space.com article
• "Primordial meteorite defies known categories," 6 Sept. 2000 CNN article
• "Arctic Asteroid!" 1 June 2000 Science@NASA report
• "Largest meteorite find in Canadian history," 31 May 2000 joint news release from U. of Calgary & U. of W. Ontario + more photos
• "Rare meteorite promises glimpse into dawn of creation," 17 March 2000 CNN article
• "Pristine Yukon Meteorite A Rare Find," 16 March 2000 Space.com article
• "Yukon Meteor Flash Caught on Film," 28 Jan. 2000 Space.com article
• "Yukon Meteor Blast," 25 Jan. 2000 Science@NASA report
• "NASA Plane Probes Yukon Skies for Meteor Particles," 21 Jan. 2000 Space.com article
• "Meteor Explosion Brightens Skies Near Alaska," Reuters wire on Space.com 19 Jan. 2000

• Hiroi, T., M.E. Zolensky & C.M. Pieters. Sept. 2001. The Tagish Lake meteorite: A possible sample from a D-type asteroid. Science 293(5538):2234-2236
• U.S. DoD report, dated 19 Jan. 2000, in Peter Brown's archive

Atmospheric explosion over the Pacific Ocean. See A/CC report on Infrasound observation.

A fireball was seen over Alberta southeast of Edmonton just after sunset, and was captured on video by the University of Alberta All-Sky Camera Group, as reported on a page with video links, and in a school news item, "'Low-tech' camera."

Atmospheric explosion over the Pacific Ocean. See A/CC report on Infrasound observation.

The Great Daylight Fireball: A widely viewed bolide flew much of the length of Pennsylvania after 6pm, causing an atmospheric explosion that broke windows. There is a scientific controversy over whether this event could have and did cause a fire (see item from David T. King in Cambridge Conference Correspondence for 17 July 2003).

• CNN 24 July article, "Meteorite leaves trail of fire, confusion"
• Science@NASA's 27 July report, "Meteorites Don't Pop Corn"
• Geology professor Keith Shepard's eyewitness account and investigation

Described as the brightest fireball over Colorado in recorded history, [it] fell nearly vertically over the San Luis Valley at 10:44 PM. See Chris Peterson's August 17, 2001 Fireball page, and also his Meteor Research page with a map of the path according to witness reports.

Alberta fireball: A daylight fireball from a meteor estimated at one to ten tons was heard and seen from Alberta and British Columbia around 2:30pm local time on 14 Oct. 2001. It exploded, probably over Banff National Park, with pieces believed to have survived to land somewhere near Lake Louise.

• "Scientists hunt meteor fragments," 17 June 2002 CBC article (has photo, reports video of explosion)
• "Meteor may have landed near Lake Louise," 18 Oct. 2001 Rocky Mtn. Outlook article, archived on Digital Banff
• "Experts search for asteroid," 16 Oct. Canoe news

North Sea bolide over the northern end of the English Channel. See Laslo Evers' report.