Bright fireball may have dropped meteorites in Niagara region

A cosmic drama unfolded over southern Ontario on the night time of Friday, Nov. 18, triggering a world collaboration and a meteorite hunt. Simply earlier than midnight Japanese time, the Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona detected a small object heading towards Earth.

This small asteroid, now designated 2022 WJ1, was adopted by many observatories all over the world for the subsequent three hours earlier than it impacted over southern Ontario at 3:26 a.m. EST on Nov. 19.

The few hours of advance warning concerning the asteroid impact allowed for a number of members of the Western Meteor Physics Group and the Institute for Earth and Area Exploration (Western Area) to maneuver exterior and discover clear climate to observe the incoming object.

David Clark, a geophysics doctoral pupil, drove to the anticipated fall space within the early morning hours and managed to see the fireball along with his personal eyes, parked close to Niagara-on-the-Lake on the intersection of Hwy 403 and Niagara Regional Street 55 (previously Freeway 55).

“It handed proper overhead on the predicted time and was distinctly inexperienced in colour,” stated Clark. “A number of minutes later a noticeable sonic growth could possibly be heard.”

Physics and astronomy professor Paul Wiegert was additionally alerted early sufficient to see the fireball.

“I watched from Brescia Hill on the Western campus. Although chilly and windy, the hill had a transparent view to the east, the place I anticipated to see solely a distant flash. Then the fireball immediately appeared, passing nearly overhead. Wow! It was simply seen between damaged clouds and noticeably orange-red,” stated Wiegert.

The intense fireball produced by the terminal plunge of 2022 WJ1 was additionally noticed by Western’s All-Sky Digicam Community throughout southern Ontario at 03:26 a.m. on Nov. 19, simply as predicted. The meteoroid entered the Earth’s ambiance simply south of Woodstock, continuing eastwards as a vivid fireball till its finish at about till its finish at an altitude of 20 kilometers north of the city of Vineland.

Evaluation of the video knowledge, additionally captured by cameras offered by Curtin College (Australia) throughout the Western community, means that fragments of the meteor are more likely to have made it to the bottom close to the southern shore of Lake Ontario, primarily to the north of St. Catharines.

“This fireball is especially important because the dad or mum meteoroid was noticed telescopically earlier than it hit the ambiance. This makes it a uncommon alternative to hyperlink telescopic knowledge of an asteroid with its breakup conduct within the ambiance to glean perception into its inner construction,” stated Peter Brown, Canada Analysis Chair in Planetary Small Our bodies at Western.

Solely six different asteroids in historical past have had advance warning of their influence, with all circumstances having been detected simply hours previous to their atmospheric entry. That is the primary predicted occasion to happen over a closely populated space and inside vary of devoted devices for fireball measurement.

Regardless of widespread cloud cowl in southern Ontario throughout that interval, six cameras within the All-Sky Digicam Community detected the fireball together with Western’s Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar, offering an unprecedented document of this small asteroid’s disintegration within the ambiance.

“This outstanding occasion will present clues concerning the make-up and energy which when mixed with telescopic measurements will inform our understanding of how small asteroids break up within the ambiance, essential data for planetary protection,” stated Brown.

The final piece to this cosmic puzzle is recovering meteorites related to the 2022 WJ1 fireball and researchers are requesting public help. Residents within the space between Port Weller and Virgil, specifically, needs to be looking out.

“We all know from digicam data and climate radar which tracked falling particles from the fireball that meteorites nearly actually made it to the bottom close to or east of Grimsby. What we’d like now to finish this story is to get better a few of these rocks and discover out what sort of materials made up asteroid 2022 WJ1,” stated Brown. “That is very very similar to a pattern return space mission, however on this case the pattern fell on us.”

Meteorites might be acknowledged by their darkish, typically scalloped exterior, a fusion crust that’s solely a millimeter deep, masking a grey stony inside. Often, they are going to be denser than a ‘regular’ rock and can typically be drawn to a magnet as a result of their metallic content material. Meteorites should not harmful, but when recovered, it’s best to position them in a clear plastic bag or wrap them in aluminum foil. They need to even be dealt with as little as attainable to assist protect their scientific worth. In Canada, meteorites belong to the proprietor of the land upon which they’re discovered. If people plan to go looking, they need to all the time get hold of permission of the landowner earlier than venturing onto personal land.