METEOR’S COURSE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21605, 6 January 1945, Page 2

METEOR’S COURSE

ASTRONOMER’S REPORT TREMENDOUS SPEED , p.A ) HAWERA. Jan. 6. The first report from an astronomi - cal observer of the meteor seen on Saturday night comes from a Ha worn resident who is spending a holiday at Mokau. Calculating by what he saw of the meteor's course, in conjunction with reports from the Wellington district he finds that the mass could not have struck the earth, that it was travelling at a speed of somewhere in (he vicinity of 50,000 miles'an hour at a height of 80 or 90 miles, and that it was a body probably weighing thousands oi' tons, according to its density.

Tlie explosion reported to have been heard by Wellington district observers he explained as being, the concussion of the meteor’s entry into the atmosphere. The point that the sound was not heard until the meteor passed from view was accounted tor by the time taken for the sound of the impact to reach the earth. The meteor was first seen at 8.45 p.m. as a bright star gradually growing in size and brilliance as the course was traced from south-west of west from Mokau to the east. It was visible for about 20 seconds, in which he estimated that it travelled 300. miles. Calculations from the, angle of sight and the distance from Mokau to Castlepoint, where the meteor was last reported seen, gave the figures of the height and speed.