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WHERE DID THE DEBRIS GO? Sky watchers in western parts of North America were startled on Feb. 24th when a decaying Chinese rocket flew in glowing pieces across the early morning sky. Coincidentally, a geomagnetic storm was underway, so the fragments cut across curtains of Northern Lights on both sides of the Canadian border. It was one of the most scenic re-entries in many years. Now observers are wondering, where did the debris go? To help answer that question, analyst Rob Matson has plotted weather radar echoes of the fragments. "I put together a composite image of all the Doppler radar returns I could find," he says. "There are actually quite a few distributed into two main clusters, both in western Montana."  "Most of the returns are from debris at altitudes between 10 km and 18 km," says Matson. "A few are between 4 and 5 km--quite close to the ground. I also found a solitary hit up in Canada, probably something good-sized to continue so far north." Matson is also examining seismic records. "I've managed to find sonic boom signatures on three seismic stations so far, Missoula, Bozeman and Yellowstone. I suspect I'll find a few more as I dig through the stations closest to the ground track." No one knows what fraction of the rocket body disintegrated completely in Earth's atmosphere, and what fraction survived the descent to scatter across the landscape of Montana and Canada. Matson's maps may provide some guidance for fragment-hunters. |
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The debris is probably in my bedroom. That's where I find most of mine. GBU, Gavin
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Very interesting!!
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