No Further Trace Of U.S. Meteorite

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31169, 20 September 1966, Page 15

No Further Trace Of U.S. Meteorite

(N.Z.P.A -Reuter—Copyright) NEW YORK, Sept. 19. A huge meteorite whose fiery descent to earth was watched by thousands of people across the United States last night has apparently disappeared as abruptly as it appeared. Eye-witnesses a thousand

miles apart reported that the meteorite was "as bright as daylight” and "the brightest thing 1 ever saw” as it blazed a trail from New York to

But a search in northeastern Indiana, where a farmer reported that "a fireball as big as a barn” fell into a field, failed to turn up any trace of it.

The huge meteor, according to reports from two states and across the border in Canada. apparently exploded into fragments shortly before hitting the ground. Wrong Signal

Dr. Edward Henderson, curator of the division of meteorites at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, said reports that the meteorite appeared as bright as daylight were credible. He said he knew of a case when a photo-electric cell controlling a town’s street lights mistook a meteor for the rising sun. Dr. Henderson said the chemical composition of meteorites was well known to scientists, but nobody knew for sure where they originally came from.