Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-14

LASHES OF hght IN URANIUM gum.
mer skies. "A shooting star
you say meteor, dead fragment
of q star has burned itself out IN
the earth's atmosphere, like spark
thrown of by passing locomotive
But some day there may be the roar Oh
a million express trains as massive chunk
of sky dust projects itself out OF the heavens
and lands in the middle Of great city.
True, practically all the large metecrs tnat
have Scared the earth's surface during the
memory of man have landed IN comparatively
remote and sparsely settled parts Of the giope.
Yet. due to the earths constant revolving.
thee destructive bodies might have landed
I'm the heart Of some world metropolis II they
had fallen Just q short time sooner or later.
More interesting than worldly disaster how
ever. Is the hint that these meteors are frag-
ments of other solar systems, other groups OF
planets surrounding the stars OF the sky.
A few months ago there was discovered In
South Africa huge meteorite. So far, It's
size can only be estimated, as 1t Is stih al
most entirely buried in the earth. However,
DR. w, j. Luyten stationed at the Harvard
College Obseryatory's South African branch,
has estimated it at so tons.
In the American Museum OF Natural HIS
tory in New York City, is the famous Ahnighito
meteorite. which weighs 36la tons. Until the
discovery in South Africa this was the largest
meteorite known.
In a museum in Stockholm Is another huge
meteorite It was discovered In Greenland IN
1870 by the Swedish explorer A. E. Norden-
skiold It weighs 81 tons.
RUT even these huge stones are small COM
~ pared TO two other famous falls. On june
40. 1908. at q O'Clock in the morning in the
Yenisei Province Of Siberia a meteorite, or
falling star" was seen to land Though this
is a comparatively sparsely settled region OF
the globe thousands Of people saw It, St1U
more heard the thunderous roar that accom-
panied its passage and the sound waves were
recorded on Paragraphs at the towns OF Kirensk
and Irkutsk. At Irkutsk, also, g seismoeTaph,
used for recording earthquakes, registered the
vibration which it caused.
Nearly 20 years after this msteorite fell,
group Of Russian scientists succeeded in reach
ing the scene and studying it. They found the
country torn up for miles around, the trees OF
the forests had been knocked over and lay ON
the ground in rows, stripped Of bark and
branches, with the tops pointing away from
the center Of the meteor's fall.
For miles farther the trees showed evidence
Of forest fire. Altogether, an area about 40
miles in diameter is affected. So far the me-
teor itself has not been located. Probably it
is buried deeply In the ground and only as
the expense Of much more labor can it be
found.
But even the Siberian meteorite is probably
smaller than the famous one that caused the
meteor crater in Arizona. Nobody knows when
this fell-perhaps it was thousands of years
ago. It formed great crater, four fifths OF
q mile across the top and about $50 feet deep
below the surrounding plains.
Piled up around the outside is rim Of
quartz and rock fragments so that 1t has an
inside height Of about $40 feet company
has been formed, and is now at work, trying
to locate the mass Of iron Of the meteor itself.
ME can predict weather and eventually may
w control Il. Even earthquakes may in
time, be predicted. but the great meteorite is
no matter how rare It may be. A great me
teorite may, fall on ycur house while you are
reading this; on the other hand. one may
never fall anywhere near your location for