Catch a falling star?

Did you catch a falling star?

NASA wants to know.

Officials say a 60-pound meteor that streaked across the skies over Northeast Alabama about 9:44 p.m. on May 18 could have come down near Scottsboro.

The meteor could have broken up as it neared the ground but sizable pieces probably made impact, said Dr. Bill Cooke, head of the NASA meteoroid environment office at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

"We picked up a meteor about 50 miles up over Huntsville. It was moving to the east at about 8 miles per second and we lost track of it somewhere northeast of Gurley when it was only about 22 miles up," said Dr. Cooke, a graduate of Rossville High School.

The Walker County Science Center in Chickamauga, Ga., also tracked the meteor, giving NASA a reasonably accurate fix on the landing area, he said.

"The amount of light it produced shows that it survived intact," he said.

So far, though, no one has reported finding it, officials said.

The meteor was going about 200 mph, "so if it landed in a farm field, somebody's probably going to notice it because it would have knocked loose a lot of dirt," Dr. Cooke said.

Gurley Police Officer Barry Childers said Friday that he hadn't heard of anyone seeing the meteor or finding a meteorite in the area.

"It must not have made too big of a disturbance," Officer Childers said. "No one's brought it up."

Gurley resident Janet Younger lives in the area where trackers lost the space rock's trail. She said she "didn't hear a thing" that night, though she was intrigued by the idea that a visitor from space came calling.

"I'm glad it didn't hit my house," laughed Mrs. Younger, 69.

Dr. Cooke said the meteorite will look out of place to anyone who spots it.

REPORT YOUR LOCAL METEORITEIf you find anything you believe might be the meteorite that struck between Gurley and Scottsboro, Ala., on May 18, contact the Marshall Space Flight Center at 256-544-9136 or e-mail Dr. Bill Cooke at william.j.Cooke@nasa.gov.

"It should look kind of reddish with a fusion crust; it may look like it had been melted," he said. "Or it could be an iron meteorite -- which are extremely rare -- and that would look like a black stone that melted."

In either case, the meteorite should respond to a magnet or metal detector, he said.

The meteor is from the solar system's main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, he said.

Dr. Cooke said whoever owns the land where the meteor fell will own the wayward rock. But NASA would like to get more information, and maybe a small sample, if the rock's new owner is willing.

"We don't want the whole thing, we just want a little piece of it," he said.

Follow this link to the NASA website.

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