RECENT FIREBALL AT PALMERSTON.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1769, 6 June 1913, Page 6

RECENT FIREBALL AT PALMERSTON.

WHAT WAS IT? THEORY OF REAL METEORITE. (By OWocrnpli.— Special OorrcflpoililMiV) Palmorston N., Juno 5. As n result of investigations there is little doubt that tlio "thunderbolt" which struck Uaugitikoi Street, Pnlmorstou North, on Thursday, May 21, was of MOtcorio origin. This conclusion seems io bo established as tho result of experiments inado by Mr. Eliot Warburtou. It will bo remembered that tho "fireball struck a footpath a low chains beyond tho Family, Hotel, and that its action wis not confined to tho kerbing, but was extended to a tree on nil adjoining sec-

Tho Stricken Tree Examined. Mr. Warbwton secured a portion of tlio damaged bark and now, with the aid of a magnet, ho has discovered particles of iron in tho dust adhering to it. Ilis opinion is that tho body was a motoorito of tho kind which generally appears as a train of light rushing through tho fiir, and at one part of its course, bursting into fragments with a loud noiso. Tho ordinary meteor, seen on a clear night, enters the atmosphere for a brief spacc, and departs again into space. When, however, a meteorite enters tho air under certain exceptional conditions tho impression created is that of a ball of firo crossing the sky and leaving a trail of light which is visible (if it appears in tho day time) at a distance of many miles, and (if it appears at night) is often so brilliant ns to light up a whole district.

How An Eye-witness Saw It, Some light is thrown on the matter by tho description of the principal eyeWitness (Mr. C. Moore, of Rangitikci Street) who woe almost stunned, by tho concussion, tho effects of which he felt for threo days. Ho specks of the first appearance ot the phenomenon as "a dark cloud dropping from the eky, and assuming the form of a ball of fire as it approached the ground." He states that tho descent was not swift, tho fireball appearing to float downwards as a soap bubble might do. When it struck tho road, however, the impact was terrific, and the glowing substanco seemed to flow out in all directions. The centre of tho mass, as it appeared to Mr. Moore, was dark, whilo the surrounding material was inoandescent. When the impact with tho earth occurred tho fire cloud burst with a deafening roar. The glowing substance ran in all directions. The dark mass then disappeared, and it would be (difficult to say what became of it in the confusion, and a brown coloured cloud (possibly consisting of steam and gases) arose again to tho sky. The result of the collision was hi large hole in the footpath, the shattering of the kerbing, and damage to the nearest tree. Those observations tend to bear out the meteorito theory, and it is not at all -unlikely that a mass of iron lies buried many feet below tho footbath. The sides of the holo mado by the meteorite would naturally cave in, and the iron would be far out of sight before tho breach was filled in by tho borough workmen.