HURTLING BODY

Waikato Times, Volume 196, Issue 22549, 6 January 1945, Page 4

HURTLING BODY

VELOCITY OF METEOR ASTRONOMER’S REPORT (By Telegraph.—Press Association) HAWERA, Saturday The first report from an astronomical observer of the meteor seen on Saturday night comes from a Hawera resident who is on holiday at Mokau. Calculating from what h 2 saw of the meteor’s course in conjunction with reports frcm the Wellington district, he finds that the mass could not have struck the earth, that it was travelling at a speed in the vicinity of 50,000 miles an hour at a height of 80 or 90 miles, and that it was a body probably weighing thousands of tons, according to its density. The explosion reported to have been heard by Wellington district observers is explained as being the concussion of the meteor’s entry into the atmosphere. The point that the sound w&s not heard until the meteor passed from view was accounted for 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 its course was traced from south-west or west from Mokau to the east. It was visible for about 20 seconds, in which time it was estimated to have travelled 300 miles. Calculations from the angle of sight and the distance from Mokau to Castlepoint, where the meteor was last reported to have been seen, gave the'figures of height and speed. Seen in Waikato Several people in the Waikato have reported seeing the brilliant meteor which was observed in the Wellington district on Saturday night. A party of Hamilton people returning by car from Morrinsville on Saturday night state that they saw the meteor at approximately 8.45 p.m.