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Bright, Booming Meteor Vanishes in Colorado Mountains
By SPACE.com Staff
posted: 01:05 pm ET
30 August 2001
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meteorite_search_010830Brighter than the full Moon, as loud as a sonic boom, and weighing as much as a ton when it arrived, a fireball that fell on Colorado on Aug. 17 has proven difficult to find. Geologists from the Denver Museum of Nature & Science have been searching the rugged La Garita Mountains for meteorites, remnants of the fireball, but with little success, it was reported Thursday. The searchers are hopeful that some fragments remain intact because the meteor's steep angle of descent suggest it was made of dense, durable iron, as opposed to rock. The museum team has interviewed 200 witnesses so far but is becoming more disheartened as the search goes on, according to the Associated Press. The fireball earlier this month impressed those who witnessed it. "It was so bright, I could see into the neighbor's yard," Mike Valdez of Monte Vista, Co., told the AP. "It was 10 times brighter than the Moon." Valdez said that he first saw a bright white light from the fireball, which sprayed red fragments as it went by, and then heard a low rumble. Patty Powers, who lives near the town of Creede, Co., told the AP she had a similar experience. "It went from horizon to horizon," she said. "You're waiting to hear thunder following that, but that didn't happen. Seconds later, I saw a ball that looked like a full Moon that came down. Cascading off it was sparks on both sides." She said that minutes later she did hear three loud booms. "Maybe some camper or some cowboy up working up there saw something," museum geology team leader Jack Murphy told the AP. "Otherwise I think we're sunk."
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