Month: February 2007

Unfortunately, I don’t have any juicy updates to yesterday’s meteorites story. (No tri-pods yet.) However, a New York Times Web article titled “Orbiting Junk, Once a Nuisance, Is Now a Threat” caught my eye. The article explains and illustrates what a huge problem the man-made space junk littering space around our planet has become.

During an eight year period ending in 2002, the solar panels on the Hubble Telescope were struck by space debris at least 725,000 times. Five thousand of these left craters and holes large enough to be seen by the naked eye.

In addition, experts believe that a piece of orbital debris might one day create a large enough collision capable of starting a chain reaction, “a slow cascade of collisions that would expand for centuries, spreading chaos through the heavens.” Apparently, China recently tested an antisatellite rocket that shattered an old satellite into hundreds of large individual fragments that could trigger this chain reaction sooner than later.

If nothing is done, a kind of orbital crisis might ensue that is known as the Kessler Syndrome, after Mr. Kessler. A staple of science fiction, it holds that the space around Earth becomes so riddled with junk that launchings are almost impossible. Vehicles that entered space would quickly be destroyed.

On the bright side, if the Kessler Syndrome does come to pass, we won’t have to worry about those pesky Martians and their tri-pods coming down to attack us any longer. Right?

Last night at approximately 8:30 central time, streaks of flaming objects were seen illuminating the skies throughout the Midwest. (No, this is not about the Bears’ Super Bowl flame-out. )

The State Journal-Register, my local newspaper, reports the official word from NORAD…

A preliminary report from the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which watches for airborne threats to the U.S. and Canada, also indicated the lights Sunday evening were from a meteor, spokeswoman Maj. April Cunningham said.

Of course, this is exactly how “War of the Worlds”, “The Blob”, and every other space-based monster movie ever started out, right?

In addition to this astral activity, a seismic event was reported yesterday afternoon in Menard County, northwest of Springfield. Supposedly, the ground shook for just a second or two as if there was a large explosion in the area. Yikes!

Clearly the Tri-Pods are on their way… I’ll let you know when I see the first one wreaking havoc and destruction throughout downtown Springfield.

And in case you still believe the “official” news sources for this story, here are a couple…

• Puzzling flash that lit up night sky possibly meteor (State Journal-Register)
Spectacle in Midwestern sky was probably meteor, military says (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)