'Meteorite' scores a strike

Unlike the stony or nickel-iron types that come scorching down from outer space, this object was smooth, round and reddish-black — a bowling ball dropped from a Cessna in a test to discover how real meteorites would behave when they slam into the Bonneville Salt Flats.

The target wasn't the Salt Flats, as the amateur astronomers who are carrying out the project still need federal approval for that target. The bowling ball was dropped onto nearby private land, with the permission of the landowner.

Pilot Patrick Wiggins said this was a preliminary test. But the results seemed encouraging.

Experimenters want to know how meteorites react when they hit a similar crust because that information may steer them toward certain areas when searching for meteorites. Do they punch through the salt crust to be lost beneath? Do they sit on top, where they are easily spotted?

As with scientists who look for rocks from space that land in snow-covered Antarctica, they believe meteorites may show up well against the bright white salt crust if they don't go through.

"Although there is an aspect of fun to it — everybody likes dropping heavy things from tall places — there is also science to it as well," Wiggins said.

The "bombardier" on the flight was another amateur astronomer, Ann House. They flew 800 feet above the runway operated by Bonneville Sea Base near Grantsville, and she released the ball when they had passed the end of the runway.

Wiggins estimates the ball hit the ground at more than 90 miles an hour.

"It didn't bounce, which surprised me. It just stayed in the hole. But the hole wasn't deep," he added. A report and photos are posted on the Internet at planet.state.ut.us/METEOR01.HTML.

The experimenters plan to keep dropping objects, maybe rocks and iron or slag that more closely simulate meteorites. They also want to try different altitudes, but they believe it won't be necessary to soar to great heights for their tests. After falling a certain distance, an object stops accelerating because of air resistance. So higher won't get it dropping faster.

Most of the bowling ball remained above ground, a promising start if meteorites on salt behave the same way. But that's a big if.

Wiggins' conclusion: "Now we know what a frozen clay surface might be like" if struck by a meteorite.

Kim Hyatt, a Salt Lake amateur astronomer, drove on the Salt Flats looking for meteorites in October 2000 but found none. Hyatt and another space fan drove about 10 miles in the search.

"I was surprised how much stuff there is on top of the salt," recalled Hyatt, who was not involved in Friday's bowling ball drop. They found rocks, probably carried onto the salt from storms on mountains to the north. They also discovered spent 50-calibre ammunition casing perhaps used in military practice drills during World War II.

A meteorite small enough not to punch through the salt layer probably would remain on top a long time, Hyatt said, "but we didn't find any."

E-mail: bau@desnews.com

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