The Meteor Cam on the roof of the College of the Rockies tracked this huge fireball last Saturday at 2:17am. From 75 km high the fireball rocketed overhead at hypersonic speeds at 20 km per second, flaring and lighting up the dark skies for miles around like daylight, then hurtled into the clouds to the West towards the town of Creston. A couple of minutes later there was rumbling, supersonic booms and the ground shaking. It was visible from Montana to Idaho to Washington, British Columbia and Alberta. People called in about seeing a bright green meteor from Spokane, Coeur d'Alene, Calgary, Pentiction and Cranbrook. Oddly, it hasn't been reported on the radio or TV, so many people are still wondering what they saw that morning.
Latest updates say it hit North of Bonners Ferry, Idaho, about 15 miles North of the small Canadian town of Creston BC. Reports estimate two big chunks and a spray of gravel. Meteor hunters will be searching for these rare and expensive rocks. If they find one it could be worthwhile. Common iron meteors can range from $.50/gram to $5/gram, rarer stoney meteorites $2 to $20/gram, and really rare ones $100 or $1000/gram or more, depending if they have embedded gems or if they're from Mars or the Moon. And meteors are dense and heavy, so they go a long way.
See the College's press release on this page: http://www.cotr.bc.ca/press/fullhdLine.asp?IDnumber=582
We belong to http://www.bcmeteors.net/ and I'll post more info there as we get reports.
