The fireball associated
with the Buzzard Coulee meteorite fall occurred on 2008 November 20 at
5:26.43 MST and was widely observed across the prairies. One week
later the first meteorites were recovered where our
photo journal begins.
A close-up of the "fish pond meteorite" which thrusts
through the ice like a small island. Note the
interesting melt/freeze pattern around the meteorite in
both of the above images. (Photograph: Frank
Florian,
Telus World of
Science - Edmonton (TWoS-E) /
RASC)
Recovery
Dr. Alan Hildebrand, Chair of the Meteorites and Impacts
Advisory Committee (MIAC), led the successful search
team out of the University of Calgary's Department of
Geology. Here Dr. Hildebrand admires the first specimen
of the still-to-be-named meteorite fall.
(Photograph: Bruce McCurdy, ESSF /
RASC)
The interest in the fireball, meteorite search and
recovery was unprecedented, achieving front page status
on the Edmonton Journal on at least four occasions. The
announcement of the recovery drew about 35 media
personnel in a 20-vehicle cavalcade from Lloydminster to
the site. CHED even sent their traffic helicopter. Here,
media crowd around Ellen Milley (unseen) as if she'd
just scored the Stanley Cup winning goal. (Photograph:
Bruce McCurdy, ESSF /
RASC)
The largest meteorite fragment to
be recovered in the first days was this 13 kg whopper
which creating a form fitting indentation 5-10 cm deep
before bouncing out and resting on the frozen ground a
few cm away. (Photograph: Bruce McCurdy,
ESSF /
RASC)
Dr. Alan Hildebrand of University of Calgary and leader
of the recovery team chats with Bruce McCurdy of the
Edmonton Space & Science Foundation / Royal Astronomical
Society of Canada next to the 13 kg meteorite.
(Photograph: Franklin Loehde,
ESSF / RASC)
Although thousands of meteorites
are expected to have rained down over a 20 square km
fall ellipse, they were difficult to find in the varied
terrain of Buzzard Coulee. Here, Bruce McCurdy of
Edmonton Space & Science Foundation / Royal Astronomical
Society of Canada displays two meteorites he recovered
from a frozen beaver pond, the only specimens the
amateur meteor observer recovered in two full days of
searching. (Photograph: Frank Florian,
TWoS-E /
RASC)
Our first meteorite in situ. (Photograph:
Frank Florian,
TWoS-E /
RASC)
Our first meteorite and its "crater".
(Photograph: Frank Florian,
TWoS-E /
RASC)
Frank Florian (TWoS-E) holds his first
meteorite. (Photograph: Bruce McCurdy,
ESSF /
RASC)
Bruce's first meteorite is next to the hammer. Nearby
clods of dirt also resembled meteorites until examined
closely. (Photograph: Frank Florian,
TWoS-E /
RASC)
Bruce McCurdy confirms his first meteorite holds a weak
magnetic charge.
(Photograph: Frank Florian,
TWoS-E /
RASC)
This is the largest fragment we recovered in the beaver
pond. All specimens have been turned over to the
University of Alberta for detailed analysis.
(Photograph: Frank Florian,
TWoS-E /
RASC)
All four meteorite specimens were recovered within the
25 meters separating Bruce from the photographer. Note
the impressive beaver lodge. (Photograph: Frank
Florian,
TWoS-E /
RASC)
Exiting the beaver pond after a successful search. The
ground is nowhere near as level as it appears.
(Photograph: Frank Florian,
TWoS-E /
RASC)
The location of the 13 kg fragment. (Franklin Loehde,
ESSF /
RASC)
Click on
topographical map for full size.
Specimen Gallery
The 13 kg Marsden Meteorite was
displayed the night of its discovery at the nearby
Marsden Hotel pub. Frank Florian of Telus World of
Science - Edmonton holds the human head-sized space rock
between its co-discoverers, the father-and-son
research team of
Les and Tom Johnson of Drayton Valley, Alberta. The
meteorite was returned to the landowner and the research
scientists.
(Photograph: Bruce McCurdy,
ESSF / RASC)
The 13 kg meteorite was roughly the size of a human
head, as can be seen in this candid shot taken at the
Marsden Hotel pub. (Photograph: Bruce McCurdy,
ESSF /
RASC)
Various fragments of the Buzzard Coulee meteorite fall. The
specimen in the centre is an example of an oriented
meteorite -- a fragment which achieved stable
orientation rather than tumbling sporadically on its
passage through Earth's atmosphere. In such cases,
material will ablate in an even manner creating what is
known as a shield or nose-cone shape. (Photograph:
Murray Paulson, RASC)
Two specimens photographed in situ by their
discoverer. (Photographs: McCartney Taylor)
A 183g specimen of the Buzzard Coulee meteorite
currently in a private collection.
(Photograph: Patrick Herrmann.
www.pallasite.ca)
This 7 kg fragment, the second largest (known) specimen
recovered to date, was found just off the side of the
road. Since this is crown land, it became the property
of the lucky finder. (Photograph: Murray Paulson, RASC)
One often gets the
opportunity to view astronomical objects through a
telescope, but a microscope also reveals plenty of
interest and of beauty. Here Bruce McCurdy examines the
largest of our recovered specimens. (Photograph: Murray
Paulson, RASC)
Analysis
The four specimens recovered by Bruce and Frank
were immediately turned over to researchers in the
University of Alberta's Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
Department. One of the two golf ball-sized meteorites
was sliced to prepare a thin section for microscopic
analysis. (Photograph: Bruce McCurdy,
ESSF /
RASC)
Here, Dr.
Erin Walton measures a greatly enlarged reproduction of
a meteorite slice.
(Photograph: Bruce McCurdy,
ESSF /
RASC)
At high power under cross-polarized light the meteorite
slice featured many irregular polygons of remarkable
colour, yielding an effect similar to stained glass.
(Photomicrograph: Bruce McCurdy, taken with permission
of Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences,
University of Alberta.)
The barred structure in the centre is a chondrule of
barred olivine. Chondrules are primordial grains from
the solar nebula which are thought to be slightly older
than the Earth itself. (Photomicrograph: Bruce McCurdy,
taken with permission of Department of Earth and
Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta.)
Dr. Erin Walton analyzes the above image. The results of
this and other research were submitted to the 40th Lunar
and Planetary Science Conference (2009) in an abstract titled
"Mineralogy, petrology and cosmogenic radionuclide
chemistry of the Buzzard Coulee H4 Chondrite", Erin Walton
et al. (see below)
(Photograph: Bruce McCurdy,
ESSF /
RASC)
This abstract and other abstracts on the Buzzard Coulee
meteorite fall at the 40th Lunar and Planetary Science
Conference (2009) may be found below:
CHARACTERISTICS OF A
BRIGHT FIREBALL AND METEORITE FALL AT BUZZARD COULEE,
SASKATCHEWAN, CANADA, NOVEMBER 20, 2008. A. R.
Hildebrand1, E. P. Milley1 , P. G.
Brown2, P. J. A. McCausland2, W.
Edwards2, M. Beech3, A. Ling4,
G. Sarty5, M. D. Paulson4, L. A.
Maillet1, S. F. Jones1 and M. R.
Stauffer5.
1 Department of Geoscience, 2500 University Drive NW,
University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4 (ahildebr@ucalgary.ca,
epmilley@ucalgary.ca), 2 Department of Physics and
Astronomy, The University of Western Ontario, London,
ON, N6A 3K7, 3 Department of Physics, Campion College at
the University of Regina, Regina, SK S4S 0A2, 4 Edmonton
Centre, Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, 5
Departments of Physics and Engineering Physics and
Department of Geological Sciences, University of
Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5E2.
A FIRST LOOK AT THE
PETROGRAPHY OF THE BUZZARD COULEE (H4) CHONDRITE, A
RECENTLY OBSERVED FALL FROM SASKATCHEWAN. M. L.
Hutson1, A. M. Ruzicka1, E. P.
Milley2, and A. R. Hildebrand2
1 Cascadia Meteorite Laboratory, Department of Geology,
Portland State University, 17 Cramer Hall, 1721 SW
Broadway, Portland OR 97207-0751, USA (mhutson@pdx.edu),
2 Department of Geosciences, University of Calgary, 2500
University Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4, Canada
(ahildebr@ucalgary.ca).
There has been great public interest in the meteorite
fall, a small amount of which has been spread by word of
mouth. Here Bruce McCurdy gives a presentation entitled
"Space Rocks!"
to an attentive audience in Yellowknife, Northwest
Territories, during his visit there in early January.
His presentation and that of fellow RASC member, Stephen
Bedingfield, on the total solar eclipse in the Canadian
Arctic on 1 August 2008, was the first
International
Year of Astronomy (IYA)
event to be held in Yellowknife. (Photograph: Stephen Bedingfield,
RASC)
This specimen from the private collection of Stephen
Bedingfield (pictured below, standing at rear) ...
(Photograph: Bruce McCurdy,
ESSF /
RASC)
... was passed among audience members during Bruce's
presentation ...
(Photograph: Lynn Bedingfield)
... where it received close attention.
(Photograph: Stephen Bedingfield,
RASC)
Bruce's photo of Ellen Milley and her find is featured
on the front cover of the February 2009 edition of the
Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.
Bruce, a Contributing Editor of JRASC since 2000, also
had the honour of writing the lead editorial on the
subject of the Buzzard Coulee meteorites.
(Photograph: Bruce McCurdy,
ESSF /
RASC)
Interest in the meteorite has been international, indeed
global in scope. Bruce and Frank's pictures have been
published in France's Astronomie magazine and the
Slovenian journal Spika. This website has been linked by
numerous websites and blogs in many different languages,
including Discover Magazine, Astronomy Magazine, The
Universe Today, the Society for Popular Astronomy, and
even Meteor Crater (AZ) News. At last count this website
at Skyriver.ca has had over 20,000 visits from 90
different countries, a most gratifying response.
(Photograph: Bruce McCurdy,
ESSF /
RASC)
Our pictures were also posted in a four-page spread in
the Finnish popular astronomy magazine "Tähdet ja
avaruus" (Stars and Space). It is the member magazine of
the National Astronomical Association Ursa, which
compromises 90% of its circulation of 16,500. It was a
surreal experience for Bruce to read quotations of
himself speaking (presumably!) perfect Finnish.
(Photograph: Bruce McCurdy,
ESSF /
RASC)
Once the 151 g specimen completed its stay in the lead
cave, it was returned to the discoverers for display at
Telus World of Science - Edmonton. It was a feature
attraction at the January 10 kick-off event for the
International Year of Astronomy, an event which drew
about 1,000 visitors. Here the news of that event is
captured -- and propagated -- in a story that appeared
in the next day's Edmonton Journal.
(Photograph: Bruce McCurdy,
ESSF /
RASC)
Maybe it was the "meteorite shooters" -- Sambuca, Kahlua,
and Grand Marnier -- that kept popping up on the house
during that unforgettable celebratory evening at the
Marsden Hotel pub that might have affected the
shutterbug, but this slightly out-of-focus shot of Bruce
holding the giant meteorite is an appropriate keepsake
of what has been a dizzying experience. At this moment I
realized I was simultaneously holding one of the oldest
rocks on Earth, and one of the newest. Little did I know
that in the days and weeks after touching and being
touched by this undeniably extraterrestrial object, I
would wind up making contact in some form or other with
intelligent life from all over our own exquisitely
fragile globe.
(Photograph: Frank Florian,
TWoS-E /
RASC)
Videos of
the November 20, 2008 Fireball
The fireball associated with the meteorite fall occurred
on 2008 November 20 at 5:26.43 MST. It was observed by
thousands of people across the prairies, and sparked a
range of reactions from delight and wonder to fear and
loathing. This video captured by a peace officer's
dashboard cam in Devon, AB, provides an excellent
electronic eyewitness account of the event. This video,
specifically the latter part as the fireball comes down
below the streetlights and through the cloud decks,
closely matches Bruce McCurdy's visual observation of
the fireball through my living room picture window in
central Edmonton about 40 km away, with multiple
brilliant explosions illuminating previously unseen
clouds. (Photo credit: Global Television)
Another video of the fireball recorded by Andy Bartlett
of Edmonton. (Photo credit: CBC)
Fireball
as Seen in Biggar, Saskatchewan -
CBC Online
Notes:
1. This webpage previously
made reference to the Lone Rock strewn field (and Lone
Rock meteorites, and so forth). This was prior to
the Meteoritic Society officially naming the meteorite
fall after Buzzard Coulee.
