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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Possible meteorites found after bang, light

By: Robin Booker

Posted: 08/17/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

Submitted Meteorite-like rock found near Neepawa.

BRANDON -- A woman living near Riding Mountain believes she found meteorites close to her home.

On Wednesday, she found two fragments with surfaces like "old elephant skin,"àone the size of a football, the other larger, weighing about 25 kilograms.

In the middle of the night on Tuesday, Nicole Nixon's house suddenly became bright and there was a loud bang. She thought something hit the house.

"It was a terrifying experience. At first I thought it was a bomb," she said.

In the morning, Nixon went outside to find her horses cut, likely from hitting barbed wire after being spooked.

While walking through her property looking for the cause of the ruckus, she found what she believes to be two meteorites lying on shale rock.

Nixon lives about 25 kilometres north of Neepawa on the southeast corner of Riding Mountain National Park.

"I don't know 100 per cent what it is, but because of the sonic boom and the light, I think it's probably a meteor."

Nixon sent pictures to professor Jeff Young from the University of Manitoba, but he was unable to verify they were meteorites using only a photo. Nixon intends to get the rocks tested to see if they really are meteorites.

Over the weekend, bits of rock from the tail of a comet plunged through our atmosphere at a rate of up to 80 each hour during the annual Perseids meteor shower -- one of the most spectacular meteor showers the Earth receives.

-- Brandon Sun

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 17, 2012 0

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