On Sunday November 8, at 8:37 p.m., a particularly bright fireball shot across the sky, making its presence known to most of eastern Saskatchewan, western Manitoba and parts of North Dakota.
As is my luck, I was at my computer sipping on coffee and finished up my article encouraging readers to keep an eye out for Taurid fireballs. The next morning, I turned on my pc to find out that I should be spending more time following my own advice.
Meteorites (meteors that make it to the ground) are plentiful. The next time you brush the grit out of your eaves troughs in the spring, touch the pile with a magnet. The bunch that sticks are probably meteorites. Tons of meteor dust hits the Earth every day.
With a brilliant fireball comes the chance that we get rocks rather than dust. If the Sunday fireball was actually part of the Taurid shower, as it appears, and rock-sized pieces made it to the ground, which is possible, it’s scientifically valuable for a number of reasons. Comets are not from here; they were formed in the Kuiper Belt out beyond Pluto. One of the theories on how life began on the Earth is that the basic building blocks arrived on a comet. Finding comet parts is like finding something alien.
There are three sources of information one uses in the search: visual sightings, photographs and videos. By comparing the information from all of these, one can narrow down the search to a manageable area.
A photograph and a couple of videos surfaced in the news media almost immediately. Since then, I’ve spoken with many who saw, and even heard, the meteor. As well, many businesses with outdoor security cameras are co-operating by checking their recordings for that time. This will continue until a manageable search area emerges. With winter upon us, that search would be postponed until the snow is gone in the spring.
Photos and video are invaluable in establishing the fireball’s path across the sky, so if you, or someone you know, has either, or if you just have questions, give me a call (306-783-5634) or drop me an email. Relevant information will be passed along to the U of S, and to Western University in London, Ontario, where the search is being co-ordinated.
Whether it’s rocks or just a scattering of dust, pieces of Comet Encke are lying around somewhere in Saskatchewan. We are literally looking for a piece of the universe in our own back yard.
