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BRILLIANT FIREBALL SEEN ON SATURDAY
Sky Visitor Explodes 60 Miles Away.
An exceptionally ldrgo and brilliant
fireball; fell about 00 miles to' the oast-
ward of Melbourne at 9.44 on Saturday
night.
Many pcoplo-must' huve scon. the.
fluHb. wbleb' oast u shadow more In-
Tenso 'than full mobnliglit. The color',
of the meteor, .was an lutonso blulsli.
white, and. red fragments were left In
-'Its' train just before It disappeared.
Jlovlng compahitlvely slowly, ' if fell
from iiorth-eust to cast across a third
the '.distance (rem zenith to horizon.
It- -then burst with it loud explosion,;
which was heard clearly by Ilstoners.ln.
Melbourne five mlnutoB Iutcr. . '
Sound travels iL iullo In five seconds,
iippruxlmhtely, so tho-firoball, when It
exploded, wits nearly 00 miles from 'Mel-
bourne. At tlio moment of - disruption
Its diameter' -appeured about lmlf that
of the moon. At GO miles tills corre
sponds to a real diameter, of more then
a quarter of- a mile. -
Although most of this largo, volume
of flume wus no doubt gaseous, the in
candescent body which ' caused It must
have beei) of unusual size, and may
havo scattered Its fragments over a'
wldo nrca,"1- 1 '
Fireballs itro big meteor's — ' generally
composed of mnterlals similar to those
found in 'tlio fourth's orust. They are'
drugged from their paths ' around: tho
sun by the earth's attraction.' ' Their'
speed In falling through thc-ulr sets up
friction sufficient to 'reprice: them lpcnn-
dcsccnt. 'Meteor swarms follow In the
truck of.eoinets. . ..
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