Meteorite in our midst

Meteorite scientist Dick Pugh talks with Mika Morton and her son Owen following a presentation at the Cook Memorial Library Monday night. - Observer photos/DICK MASON

Don’t laugh. Pugh’s knowledge of meteorites that have hit earth is so comprehensive he can make it seem like the sky is collapsing.

Pugh spoke in La Grande Monday night, not to sell meteorite insurance but to urge people to look to rooftops in their quest to find pieces of the fireball that hit Northeast Oregon at 5:31 a.m. Feb. 19

Pugh, who is with Portland State University’s Cascadia Meteorite Laboratory, believes the meteorite hit somewhere between Tollgate and Elgin. He said its fragments could be as far east as the mouth of Lookingglass Creek and as far south as Summerville.

The meteorite’s fragments hit with such velocity they could have easily punched golf ball-sized holes in roofs.

The meteorite’s pieces could be as large as a basketball or as small as BBs. They will have a fusion coating created by their explosive entry into the atmosphere. Just below the thin fusion coating the rock’s color will likely be significantly different, Pugh said.

The fusion coating will range in color from brownish black to greenish black.

“(The small fragments) will look like black olives,’’ Pugh said.

The Feb. 19 meteor entered the atmosphere about 25 miles above Northeast Washington as a 1- to 2-ton object and moved south, dropping at a 62-degree angle. Pugh based this on the more than 70 reports from people who saw or heard the meteor and recorded images of its five-second sky appearance.

The images include photographs by Canada’s meteorite surveillance system. Two of its cameras spotted the meteor, one in Calgary and another 40 miles east of Vancouver, B.C. Cameras in Boise and Portland also recorded the meteor.

The meteor had its greatest impact over Helix where its luminosity was blinding and sonic booms deafening .

“It blew people out of bed in Helix,’’ Pugh said.

This stony meteorite is likely the kind that probably hit Northeast Oregon Feb. 19. - Observer photos/DICK MASON

The multiple sonic booms and pictures indicating that it blew up three times indicate that the meteor was breaking up. This means it was likely a stony meteorite, which 95 percent of those hitting earth are. Iron meteorites do not break up in the earth’s atmosphere.

People did more than see and hear the Feb. 19 meteor. Pugh said some people reported smelling sulfur. Someone in Meacham said they had a metallic taste in their mouth after the meteor flew by.

Pugh spoke at Cook Memorial Library. His presentation was sponsored by Libraries of Eastern Oregon and a grant from NASA.

Since the fireball’s appearance, two professional dealers have been scouring the Elgin-Tollgate area, Pugh said. They have flown over it looking for black dust that would have been created by the explosion of the meteorite, and for holes in snow. The searchers have also spent hours on snowmobiles.

“One-hundred man-hours have been spent looking for it,’’ Pugh said.

People conducting more casual searches are advised not only to check roofs but also to grab a golf club and attach magnets to it. Next they should comb the golf club over rocks and collect all the rocks that stick to the magnet. There is a possibility that anything sticking to the magnets could be a meteorite.

Pugh encourages anyone finding rocks drawn to the magnets to call him so he can examine them. He can be reached at the Cascadia Meteorite Laboratory, 503-287-6733.

If the meteorite is found here it would be a first for Eastern Oregon. Four have been found in Western Oregon. None have been discovered in this region because fewer people live here, Pugh said.

Searching for meteorites in Oregon is difficult because there is so much basalt, which many meteorites resemble.

Dick Pugh of PSU’s Cascadia Meteorite Laboratory. - Observer photos/DICK MASON

Still, the Feb. 19 fireball is the buzz of the meteorite world. Pugh will attend a meteorite conference in a few months and he expects everyone attending to ask the same question.

“Where is it?’’

Pugh eagerly awaits an answer. He does know that its interior would have chilled even a snowbank. The interior is frigid since seconds earlier they came from space, where the temp is 200 degrees below zero. Some meteorites found seconds after landing had frost on them, Pugh said.

“It is a myth that meteorites start fires. ... You have a better chance of getting frost bite from a meteorite than of getting burned.’’