BRIGHT METEOR

Southland Times, Issue 25564, 6 January 1945, Page 6

BRIGHT METEOR

MANY REPORTS FROM CHRISTCHURCH

The sky over Christchurch had a visitor on Saturday night to brighten what was otherwise a quiet New Year week-end. A meteor —it may have been a meteorite if it is found to have reached the earth—shot across the sky. It is not yet definitely established whether it was the same meteor as that seen at Wellington, as conflicting reports have been received by the Christchurch Magnetic Observatory. Whereas the meteor was sighted in Wellington between 8.30 p.m. and 8.45 p.m., Christchurch residents report its appearance from 8.45 p.m. onwards, and that it was moving slowly northwards. A Richmond resident described it as a pinkish white ball of fire with a welldefined tail, travelling towards the north-east. A Sumner resident said she saw the meteor just as the moon left the horizon. It made no noise and was travelling slowly between north and north-east. It was coloured green. A Stanmore Road resident said he saw the visitor just after 8.45 p.m. It was travelling low in a northerly direction. A Belfast resident reported that its colour was purple, while a Stewarts Gully resident reported that at nine o’clock it looked like a sky rocket and travelled from west to east out to sea. It was very bright. LIKE V2 WEAPON In ancient and medieval times the passage of a brilliant fireball or the fall of a meteorite was considered as an omen, and viewed with superstitious dread. This one, coming at the end of the year, was viewed according to how the observers were spending the festive season. Like the porpoise which is mistaken for a submarine, some observers’ thoughts ran to the V2 weapon of the Germans. Most persons who saw it were just puzzled, promptly telephoned the Christchurch meteorological and observatory centre, and were advised to commit their impressions to writing and send them in. When all arrive, a scientific assessment will be made. The meteorological observatory at Wellington was besieged with calls. These came from Blenheim, Wellington, and Martinborough, and were still being received on Sunday. Several letters have been received, one from a resident of Berhampore, who said the meteor came from the direction of Happy Valley, and when over the city split into two sections. Soon after, this observer heard two explosions. A Kelburn man wrote to say the meteor looked like a star shell and appeared to be burning out. All witnesses have remarked on the long trail of sparks which was left behind for some time. Many varying estimates of the time of the meteor’s appearance have been given, the average being established at about 8.45 p.m. MAY HAVE EXPLODED Where the meteor went after it passed out of sight at the head of the Hutt Valley has not yet been determined. No reports so far have come from anywhere north of Carterton, and there seems to be a possibility borne out by the noise of the explosions, that the object may have landed somewhere in the Rimutaka or Tararua Ranges. However, there is a stronger likelihood that the meteor exploded in the air while still many miles above the earth.

Some observers said the meteor was at tree-top height. Meteors can pursue a horizontal course, but the tendency is to come down. Otherwise they would not come into the earth’s atmosphere. If of sufficient size they can shoot right across the earth’s atmosphere because the heat generated would not wear them out. It has not yet been discovered —and it may never be —whether Saturday night’s phenomenon was a meteor or a meteorite. The difference, according to one theory, is that meteorites are large enough to survive their fiery transit through the air; meteors are not. The meteorite is described as a mass of matter from outer space which has fallen on the earth’s surface. These masses are usually made up of stony matter with varying amounts of metallic iron containing nickel; more rarely of nickeliforous iron alone; much more rarely of stony matter with little or no metal. Before coming into contact with the earth, these bodies have been travelling through space with planetary velocities of many miles a second. It is not surprising, therefore, that their arrival in the earth’s atmosphere is heralded by startling phenomena of light and sound. METEORITES RARE There is nothing new about meteorites, but none the less they are rare. Accounts of the fall of stones from the sky are found in Chinese and classical literature running back 2600 years. The Chinese also recorded single brilliant meteors as well as showers of shooting stars. In Europe many of the latter have been recorded for 1500 years. Before 1833 the ignorant were filled with terrible fear by great meteoric showers and were convinced that the end of the world had come. Today such phenomena are viewed with keen delight and every effort is made to observe them in the interests of science. Till early in the last century scientists were convinced that meteorites came from space and not till 1833 was it proved that ordinary meteors or shooting stars also had a cosmical origin. That same year the study of meteors began to a great start. On November 13, 1833, there occurred a meteoric shower of the greatest brilliance, seen from all parts of North America. It was estimated that more than 200,000 shooting stars were seen at one place between midnight and dawn. Many were very bright, leaving persistent trails, yet there is no record of one having reached the earth.