Hi I'm sorry but I think I posted my first message on the wrong board. If anyone in charge would like to delete the other thread feel free. Not sure where this belongs. anyway, here was my first post. Sorry again. #-o



Hi,

I’m new to the board and I’ve been learning about space for the last few months and find it very interesting. I have however been a little curious about all the recent meteor sightings from around the World. I’d like to know if this is normal. I’m not sure about it all, but from what I’ve read, one or two or common a year but to have quiet a few fireballs blazing across American air space in only a few months is strange. And no mention of them in our media is a little disconcerting in my opinion. Are we going to get hit by anything else that could be bigger than the ones lately?

If you have a look at the news stories I’ve found, you will see what I mean. Any info would be great thanks.

Crashed meteor in Washington, on June 3rd, which made national headlines, http://www.goanacortes.com/articles/...ews/news14.txt , which was reportedly the size of a baseball upon impact.

The following week, reports of a meteorite in New Zealand: http://www.inq7.net/brk/2004/jun/14/brkafp_2-1.htm which crashed through a home and nearly killed a child sitting on a couch.

A week later, reports of a meteor-strike in Australia, which according to several published news reports, was the size of a HOUSE. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...55E421,00.html

Then on June 19th, a report from Missouri of a CAR-SIZED METEORITE, which received no coverage in the national media. http://freeinternetpress.com/article...mp;mode=thread

June 20th, in Oklahoma, the Alva Review Courier runs a story which apparently can no longer be found on their site or anywhere else, of a FIREBALL which lit up the midnight sky. (Visit this link to see the article description on Google news, as well as a thumbnail pic of what appears to be a FIELD ALFAME WITH GLOWING FIRE. http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&am...;q=la+fireball

Also on June 20th, in Seattle, WA, we have the report of an "unprecedented meteor shower" and multiple UFO sighting by Cliff Mickelson of Rumour Mill News. http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin...cgi?read=50825

June 28, 2004 Terang man rocked by drop-inBy JACLYN DENSLEY http://the.standard.net.au/articles/...274657543.html
Today In New Zealand News Residents Report Meteor 27/06/2004 12:07 PM NewstalkZB http://xtramsn.co.nz/news/0,,3882-3469666,00.html

Wednesday, June 30, 2004. 3:14pm Meteorite reported in southern WA
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems...6/s1143829.htm
ALIEN ROCKS
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/..._meteor06.html

A BURST OF METEORS OVER FINNISH COASTAL WATERS EARLY ON
Posted By: NASAGUY end E-Mail> Date: Tuesday, 13 July 2004, 9:16 a.m.
http://www.news24.com/News24/Technol...556905,00.html

MORE METEORS Date: Wednesday, 14 July 2004, 4:36 p.m.
More meteor showers over the past 24 hours. Here is a report of "a burst of meteor showers" over Finnish coastal waters. http://www.news24.com/News24/Technol...556905,00.html

DID A METEORITE STRIKE CENTRAL FLORIDA?
Posted By: Never_Surrender Date: Friday, 16 July 2004, 11:26 a.m. http://www.wesh.com/news/3537421/detail.html

Welcome.

I don't have the numbers, but I have every reason to believe the rate of meteors hitting Earth is perfectly normal.

You personally aren't seeing more meteors, you (and others who follow the news) are seeing more reporting of meteors. That is what is not normal -- except it is normal in a way.

Sometimes journalists simply cover a story because other journalists have recently covered a similar story. It's an easy call to make, if somewhat intellectually lazy: It must be news, because the same thing was news last week.

Do you remember the many stories about children dying of influenza on Autumn of 2003? It seems like every other day or so, I'd read of another poor child who had died in my state, and see summaries of deaths around the nation and world. A lot of people were getting quite upset about it. Why were we seeing all those abnormal deaths? This influenza was really something to be reckoned with! People were practically freaking out.

But it was a normal influenza season. It was well within the normal effects of influenza for a year. The children's deaths, though tragic, were not exceptionally tragic in number over other years. They just got more coverage. And the more coverage they got, the more coverage they would get; the story became the story. It was herd journalism.

And then the flu season ended and journalists moved on to covering other topics.

So, yeah, even this large number reports of fireballs is normal -- not because it is an average number in the news, but because it is normal for journalists to report the sort of things that are being reported on.

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Right. Thanks for adding that. It was this Against the Mainstream topic.

Since there are more responses there, I urge anyone else interested in contributing to the discussion, to do it there.

[Newcomers (and oldcomers like coberst), please, start but a single topic on a subject. Thanks.]

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If you want to see a meteor just go outside and look up. Well its a little more complicated than that, find a dark sky spot, with minimal light pollution, bring a blanket, some coffee or hot coco, and a portable lounge chair. Probably bring a star char for your location also, so you do not get bored, unless you are good at sitting and staring into space. No cigs or flashlights though, they are both bad for night vision. It will take about an hour to fully adjust your night vision. Sit and wait. In a 4-5 hour period, you will see around 10 lesser events, and maybe, if the heavens are aligned just right you will see a real whopper. I see the big ones about every third observing session.

Did I say look up? um sorry, don't do that, lay on your blanket so that it is easy to stare at sky for a 4-5 hour period.

Edited for post coffee proof reading

It will be even better to be "looking up" around August 11-12 as the Perseids peak. Plus there will be no Moon interference.

BTW, the OP is a duplicate of one posted in ATM.

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On the subject of media herd reporting, another example is what happened a few years ago in the wake of that kid in Florida who was attacked by a bull shark. Every single shark attack incident afterwards was made a prominent news story. One magazine even dubbed that summer the "Summer of the Shark."

Then the reports whispered out indicating that shark attacks were at an average level for a summer. There may have even been a decrease...I don't remember. But there was no increase in attack intensity or frequency at all.

As far as the report of the so-called house-sized meteor, that one was sufficiently debunked. How big would the explosion/crater have been had a house-sized object blown up or impact in that area? I don't remember the exacts, but I know it would have been big.

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Besides, it would have really upset the Wicked Witch of the West. :P

Ain't that the truth.

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as a number of people explained at the time of the sighting: the size of the fireball is many times the actual size of the object. most flashes you see in the sky are grains of sand size .

the 'house sized' sighting in Australia has not resulted in anyone finding a crater, or feeling an impact (which would have been huge if really house sized) so at best it was maybe fist sized.

(and as the BA is wont to say: there's a website attached to this bulletin board with more info)

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