1938 Fireball Explosion Over W PA Remembered

Pieces of the Russian meteorite fall are seen in a laboratory in Yekaterinburg on Monday, Feb.18, 2013.

Black shock veins are visible in the broken specimen in the background if you look closely.

Credit: AP Photo/ The Urals Federal University Press Service, Alexander Khlopotov

By The (Oil City) Derrick
Published: Saturday, February 16, 2013, 4:48 p.m.
Updated: Sunday, February 17, 2013  

CHICORA — Russia's “big bang” meteor on Friday morning caused a light burst big enough to blaze up the sky and a noise boom loud enough to shatter windows and damage buildings. 

While Western Pennsylvania falls into the rest of the northeastern United States as witness to periodic meteor showers and occasional one-shot spectacular celestial events, the last one that really perked up the public was nearby in Chicora, Butler County. 

About 6 p.m. June 24, 1938, a huge fireball exploded over the small borough of Chicora. At first, the commotion was thought to have been caused by an explosion in a nearby building used to store gunpowder.

Had it progressed closer to Earth before exploding, note the studies, it would have destroyed much of nearby Pittsburgh and resulted in very few survivors. (Special Note: When this event happened, Pittsburgh's original Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science was under construction, in the center of the North Side's business district.)

The fist-size meteor fragments were split into two collections, one set going to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington and the other to the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh.

More - Link >>> http://triblive.com/state/pennsylvania/3495296-74/meteor-chicora-1938#axzz2NBbMEGo6

Letter-to-the-Editor regarding memory of event:
Link >>> http://triblive.com/opinion/letters/3507791-74/meteor-memories-backyard#axzz2NBbMEGo6

Sources: The Derrick of Oil City PA, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

Special Thanks: David Vater.

Photographs of some of the meteorites in The Carnegie Museum of Natural History collection, as displayed in the Hillman Hall of Minerals and Gems in 1999:
Link >>> http://andrewcarnegie.tripod.com/CMNHHillmanmeteorites.JPG

Fifth largest meteorite fragment from the Barringer Meteor Crater in Winslow, Arizona, originally displayed at Pittsburgh's original Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science:
Link >>> http://buhlplanetarium2.tripod.com/Buhlexhibits.htm#meteorite

Photographs of construction of Pittsburgh's original Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science:
Link >>> http://buhlplanetarium3.tripod.com/photoalbumBuhl.htm#1937

Related Blog Posts -- 

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Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2013/03/nasa-asteroid-search-program-decade.html

Could a Comet Hit Mars in 2014? (2013 March 2):

Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2013/03/could-comet-hit-mars-in-2014.html

 

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Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2013/03/rare-40-pound-meteorite-found-in_1.html

Russia Meteor's Origin Tracked Down (2013 Feb. 26):

Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2013/02/russia-meteors-origin-tracked-down.html

 

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Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2013/02/rocket-to-smack-asteroid-planned-by.html

Russian 'Meteorite Rush' Begins as Scientists Find Fragments (2013 Feb. 18):

Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2013/02/russian-meteorite-rush-begins-as.html

Russian Meteor: Fragments Found; NASA Revises Estimates; UN Action? (2013 Feb. 17):

Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2013/02/russian-meteor-fragments-found-nasa.html

Meteor Fall Recovery Begins in Russia (2013 Feb. 16):

 Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2013/02/meteor-fall-recovery-begins-in-russia.html

Asteroid Buzzes Earth in Record-Breaking Flyby (2013 Feb. 15):

Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2013/02/asteroid-buzzes-earth-in-record.html

Meteorite Hits Central Russia, 500+ People Hurt  (2013 Feb. 15):

Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2013/02/meteorite-hits-central-russia-500.html

 

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Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2013/02/space-miners-earth-buzzing-asteroid-may.html

 

Feb. 15: Close Earth Flyby of Large Asteroid (2013 Feb. 4):

Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2013/02/feb-15-close-earth-flyby-of-large.html

 

gaw

Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director,
Friends of the Zeiss < http://friendsofthezeiss.org >
Electronic Mail - < gawalsh@planetarium.cc >
About the Author: < http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/#GAW >
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Facebook: < http://www.facebook.com/pages/SpaceWatchtower/238017839577841?sk=wall >
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Author of History Web Sites on the Internet --
* Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh:
  < http://www.planetariu p.m. m.cc >
* Adler Planetarium, Chicago:
  < http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Astronomer, Educator, Optician John A. Brashear:
  < http://johnbrashear.tripod.com >
* Andrew Carnegie & Carnegie Libraries:
  < http://www.andrewcarnegie.cc >
* Civil War Museum of Andrew Carnegie Free Library:
  < http://garespypost.tripod.com >
* Duquesne Incline cable-car railway, Pittsburgh:
  < http://inclinedplane.tripod.com >
* Public Transit:
  < http://andrewcarnegie2.tripod.com/transit >