Wishing on a (Shooting) Star

November 24, 2008

There's an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in which Willow and her girlfriend, Tara, are gazing at the constellations one night atop a grassy knoll. Quite unexpectedly, they spot a meteorite streaking across the sky, and crashing to Earth. This being a world filled with supernatural creatures, the meteorite has a soft, chewy demon center: a creature that vomits a sticky substance onto its victim's face to suffocate said victim. It is quickly dubbed the Killer Snot Monster from Outer Space, and naturally, it meets the usual fate at the hands of the Slayer.

I thought of that episode over the weekend after news broke of a meteorite falling to Earth last Thursday night in Western Canada. Meteorites, more commonly known as shooting stars, are pretty nifty objects, in part because when they leave fragments, we have the rare opportunity to touch and study something billions of years old that literally came from outer space, whether they are fragments from the Moon, Mars, or even further afield.

A meteor's spectacular light display -- not always visible, especially in the daytime, although some are as bright as the sun -- is the result of friction/impact pressure as it hits the Earth's atmosphere, heating the object up so much it forms a streaking fireball as it falls to Earth. The surface melts from the intense heat, so a meteor can take on many different shapes as it lands. And as the object breaks up, it creates shock waves or sonic booms, and some observers have reported whistling and hissing sounds. For reasons not yet fully understood, the fireballs can act as radio transmitters.

All these elements were present for the meteorite fall last week. The Globe and Mail reported it's the largest to land in Canada in 12 years, its re-entry was visible for hundreds of miles, and it packed as much energy as 100 tons of TNT. Fortunately for the local residents, it did not contain a Killer Snot Monster. Here's a nifty video of the fall captured by a police dashboard camera in Edmonton, Alberta (via io9):

Comments

[Michael I]

Grassy knoll?

Didn't think Sunnydale was anywhere NEAR Dallas...

:-)

[Lee Kottner]

Whoa! I've seen meteor showers, but that was really spectacular!