Earth shattering kaboom?

gllitz · Unread post by **gllitz** » Tue 12/09/2006 15:06

Anyone else hear this today????
Around 2:50 or so??
(sorry about putting this in multiple rooms....)

TonyT · Unread post by **TonyT** » Tue 12/09/2006 15:25

Probably a meteorite. Definitely south of here, one big boom then a series of smaller more distant sounds like distant explosions, probably about ten of them all told over about 5 seconds duration.

Paul Mallinson · Unread post by **Paul Mallinson** » Tue 12/09/2006 15:27

gllitz wrote:Anyone else hear this today????
Around 2:50 or so??
(sorry about putting this in multiple rooms....)

We have had several reports. One from an aircraft 15 miles east of Cape Campbell heading south to Christchurch. At 2:55pm an object was seen to pass overhead and explode in the distance (towards CHCH) at an elevation about 30degrees above the horizon. Smoke trails and pieces were seen falling and then a second explosion occurred.

Sounds to me like this was probably a fireball (or perhaps a piece of space junk?).

Paul

Manukau heads obs · Tue 12/09/2006 15:35

unfortunately there is now 2 threads on this....
this thread needs to be joined with the one in the off topic section?

gllitz · Unread post by **gllitz** » Tue 12/09/2006 15:39

Manukau heads observer wrote:unfortunately there is now 2 threads on this....
this thread needs to be joined with the one in the off topic section?

my apologies for that...just scared the bejesus out of me and went for the "shotgun" scatter approach....

Flutterbye · Unread post by **Flutterbye** » Tue 12/09/2006 15:40

Understandable gllitz.

TonyT · Unread post by **TonyT** » Tue 12/09/2006 15:41

Unfortunately moderators dont have the ability to merge threads, only split them

This is not the first time I wished it was otherwise.

Manukau heads obs · Tue 12/09/2006 15:44

nevermind then

Paul Mallinson · Unread post by **Paul Mallinson** » Tue 12/09/2006 16:11

Object seen to fall into a field south of Hinds by truck driver on SH1 at about 3:15pm.

Paul

Manukau heads obs · Tue 12/09/2006 16:14

an intact meteor (if it is one ) is a big find!

the loudest noise associated with it would necassarily be where it landed
yes?

Paul Mallinson · Unread post by **Paul Mallinson** » Tue 12/09/2006 16:18

Maybe not. Fireballs often break up during their entry into the atmosphere and likely at quite high altitudes (tens of kilometres), so it may be that several sizable but smaller pieces would then fall to the ground.

Paul

Manukau heads obs · Tue 12/09/2006 16:21

i am thinking that the loud noise was the sonic boom.....i.e as it was going faster than the speed of sound.....
but as it slowed down more and more it would slow to less than the speed of sound , before hitting the ground..
i.e people in the hinds area did not hear a loud boom sound....

TonyT · Unread post by **TonyT** » Tue 12/09/2006 16:35

From the sequence of sounds I heard I would suggest one large object went past, then broke up into a series of smaller pieces some distance further on, which fits with the observations from the aircraft.

03Stormchaser · Unread post by **03Stormchaser** » Tue 12/09/2006 17:00

Yea I heard it, I thought maybe I heard two 'booms' one quickly after another. How building shaked, and for a split second you couldnt hear anything other than a boom, then silence. Had at first thought it was a plane crash, but coldnt see smoke any were so quickly gave that idea up.

Storm Struck · Unread post by **Storm Struck** » Tue 12/09/2006 18:13

I heard it as well was in sumner thought maybe a plane had hit a building in christchurch or a big truck had rolled on the hills and blown up.
Once I heard what it was I never thought that it could be that.
All sorts of stories floating around of course that a metreote hit near Hinds and on the news just then that it was caused by metreotes flying past in the sky

.
Surly if it hit land a huge area would be destroyed if not blasted with soil and rock and other debris going by the sound it wasn't the size of a house.
It was one huge kaboom followed by a 5 second rumble.
Cheers
Jason.

mikestormchaser · Unread post by **mikestormchaser** » Tue 12/09/2006 18:26

yes! i certainly heard it aswell. I was on sumner beach playing some rugby when all of a sudden i heard this awsome BOOM, i felt the shock wave from it.
i had thought it was a bomb somewhere but obviously turnd out to be a metorite.Was kinda scarey though thats for sure!

Manukau heads obs · Tue 12/09/2006 18:44

yup, watched the tv1 news
still some uncertainty?

you guys are lucky to have one of mother natures treats occur today

just shows you how we could easily one day be hit by the big one!
i wonder how big this one was today?

NZ Thunderstorm Soc · Tue 12/09/2006 19:31

I was dozing on the sofa just after reading the latest MetSoc's Newsletter and Weather and Climate magazine, which arrived in the post today...

...and then BOOOOM. I thought it was an earthquake at first as the house shook and especially the sash window behind the sofa.
but then it was a solid sort of shake/vibration unlike what an earthquake would produce.
The local rubbish truck was working around the neighbourhood...and one line of thought was maybe it exploded as the boom sounded local.

...but then tuning into the news later and hearing it was heard and felt over much of Canterbury, it must of been a sonic boom by something passing overhead exceeding the speed of sound.
Looks like a meteorite or fragments from it according to the TV One news.

JohnGaul
NZTS

NZstorm · Unread post by **NZstorm** » Tue 12/09/2006 19:46

An astronomer on TV1 Closeup suggested the sonic boom was initiated at about 10000m. I thought it would have been higher than that.

There was an incident in Kohimarama about 2 years ago where a meteorite landed in the middle of somebodys kitchen. Strangely there was no sonic boom with that one.

Manukau heads obs · Tue 12/09/2006 20:05

i guess if earth caught up with a meteorite going in the same direction, then it would just "fall to the ground",i.e at a speed less than the speed of sound???
also, for this sonic boom today to be so loud, it must have been a big obect (e.g the size of a bus)?...or is it the faster it goes the bigger the boom...or?

NZstorm · Unread post by **NZstorm** » Tue 12/09/2006 20:30

Apparently the speed of the meteorite would have been something like 60 km/sec. Get your calculator out for km/h, thats very quick! Considerably faster than the speed of sound.

gllitz · Unread post by **gllitz** » Tue 12/09/2006 20:49

NZstorm wrote:An astronomer on TV1 Closeup suggested the sonic boom was initiated at about 10000m. I thought it would have been higher than that.

There was an incident in Kohimarama about 2 years ago where a meteorite landed in the middle of somebodys kitchen. Strangely there was no sonic boom with that one.

Not sure who they had on TV1, but on TV3 they had an astronomer from the University of Canterbury who referred to the object as a "bolide"...I had never heard that term before, but here ya go:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolide

There are some really interesting links on that page (stuff like the big one which killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, etc...).
Happy reading!

mikestormchaser · Unread post by **mikestormchaser** » Tue 12/09/2006 20:56

yes 60km per second is very fast, particular faster then the speed of sound.Obviuosly isnt nearly as fast as speed of light.

speed of light is 298,000 km per second?

borris89 · Unread post by **borris89** » Tue 12/09/2006 21:16

this sounds exactly like wat happened here in Hawkes Bay a few weeks ago and by wat you guys said about the boom it sounded the same to. the only difference is the one here was at night so there was a big flash some time before the boom.

Michael · Unread post by **Michael** » Tue 12/09/2006 21:24

I am not sure in km but its 186000 mps

tornadoman18 wrote:yes 60km per second is very fast, particular faster then the speed of sound.Obviuosly isnt nearly as fast as speed of light. speed of light is 298,000 km per second?

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Earth shattering kaboom?

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