ALSACAT:

ARE WE IN THE YEAR OF THE METEORS*?

At the end of February, we received the information from a witness that a ball, very bright and yellowish in color reportedly crashed near Colmar. The article of the Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace for February 20 confirms these facts to us and that several witnesses telephoned to the gendarmeries, but also to the editorial staff of the newspaper. Several Gendarmerie brigades were put on alert in order to locate the site of a possible crash, but to no avail. A second DNA article of February 22 informs us that this phenomenon was not only visible from the Haut-Rhin, but also from the Bas-Rhin.

At the request of our Colleagues of the Vosges, who opened an investigation in collaboration with the Observatory of Epinal, we ask Mr. Willy Bodenmuller of DNA, but also the newspaper L'Alsace to publish a call for witnesses in their pages, this to locate the possible spot of fall of this meteorite. The first investigations locate this place beyond the Vosges, but before the Haute-Marne. On February 25, the date of publication of the call for witnesses, the telephone at SPICA's office had very little respite. More than 60 telephone testimonials, and more than 40 E-Mails have reached us.

Although all the witnesses describe a phenomenon that can be identified with a meteorite, it should be noted that several colors are described, but it is also noted that there were similar phenomena at other dates and times. Indeed, with a maximum of testimonies were about the date of Friday, February 18, witnesses also describe to us an atmospheric reentry (because we are not sure that these are meteorites and we owe it to ourselves to be able to tell the difference between a natural object, the meteorite, and an object of artificial origin, such as rocket debris for example) on Friday, February 11, but also on Saturday 26 February. At the end of March, other calls arrive. This time a new reentry on Friday March 25, then again through the intermediary of DernièRes Nouvelles d'Alsace a new reentry on Tuesday, April 5.

Although all the descriptions seem to correspond to a meteorite fall, we nevertheless carried out investigations on the ground to, in the first place, give more concrete information to our friends in the Vosges, but also to confirm the trajectories in order to keep the memory of these observations, which as we know, in a few years, will have become possible observations of UFOs. But let's go into more detail on the various observations.

February 11 around 10:30 p.m., it's an orange ball, followed by a large trail that crossed, according to the description, the Bas-Rhin sky. For the witness, it would have passed over Nordheim and would have disintegrated just before falling on the horizon.

February 18 brings the greatest number of testimonies. It was 10:22 p.m. when several hundred people observed a luminous ball moving from east to west. If for these data all the witnesses are unanimous, they differ on other apsects. For many witnesses, this

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reentry illuminated the environment"..... The phenomenon illuminated the surroundings very widely, in a blue reminiscent of nightfall color....", another witness tells us "... My husband and I were invaded by an intense, white light. We first thought of the lighting of a plane in the landing approcah." At the sight of all the testimonies, we note that all the people did not have this impression of an environment lit by the luminous ball, however one cannot locate the places of observation by a possible passage above the witnesses.

Indeed, these descriptions are made by many witnesses from Duttlenheim (South West of Strasbourg) to Cernay (West of Mulhouse). Yet between these places, no one has noticed this illumination. The only thing in common between these witnesses was that they were all in cars. Another unusual thing, only a few witnesses saw two balls, three of them described the bursting, separation of the ball into two parts, one large and one small, making approximately, in apparent size, half of the first part. There too, nothing allows to give a trajectory, the witnesses are in Strasbourg Robertsau, Kogenheim and Colmar. A witness, having only a field of vision towards the West saw the two balls, without having observed the separation (see computer reproduction). The colors also differ, from the white ball with a blue trail, the blue ball with a white trail, to the emerald green ball without trail, through the turquoise ball or even in different colors (see drawing of a witness). Some had a halo and some didn't. Only one witness noticed a noise, like that of a blast, after the passage of the meteorite. Was he on the trajectory?

When I put this information on paper, I had no news from our colleagues in the Vosges, except the information from the newspaper L'Alsace where we learn that the meteorite could have fallen in a triangle between Vittel, Neufchateau and Bourdons-sur-Rognon. Their research has remained unsuccessful so far. We will certainly come back to this fall during our next review.

February 26, we also have the testimony of another atmospheric reentry, again a green ball having approximately the same trajectory as the previous ones. The witness had the impression that it crashed in Quatzenheim.

Then it was on March 25, several people again saw a white luminous ball cross the Alsatian region. Here too the trajectory was from East to West.

It was on April 5 that several people made the most recent sighting. It was young people from Rosenwiller who observed an

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atmospheric phenomenonsimilar to those already described, shortly after 11:00 p.m. Always the same descending curve, this time again in green color. Although this sighting was for these witnesses of very short duration, they saw it between two houses. There is a rather interesting and to the very least a strange thing. After their observation, they thought they would see it again on the way up to the highest point in the village, which took them two or even three minutes. Obviously, given the speed of entry of a meteor, it was already far away by this time.

But a few moments after arriving at the last crossroads in the village, they heard an explosion and felt a vibration coming from the ground. Naturally, our witnesses made a connection with what they had just observed. But, although we are still investigating the origin of this noise and vibration, it can hardly be attributed to the observed phenomenon. Indeed with a speed of approximately 72,000 to 180,000 km / h - if it is indeed a meteorite, the latter was already very far away. If the explosion and vibration were due to the impact, it would have been felt more strongly if it had crashed in the immediate vicinity of the observation site. Currently we are still awaiting some answers on this matter.

As I write these few lines, I learn from a witness that a new sighting, of what appears to be a meteorite, has been made from Rothau on April 21. It was a bluish ball, without a trail, which came from St-Dié (88) to move towards Natzwiller (67). The witness did not hear any noise.

And think that during these months from February to April 1, there is no very active metero showers! Nothing that is worth sticking out your necks in the coolness of the nights. Too bad, because we missed some great shows! On this point all the witnesses agree, it was grandiose, sublime, impressive, majestic and I forget the terms given by the witnesses of these small pieces coming from space and entering our atmosphere, a small residue of the planet formation of 4.5 billion years (sic L'Alsace).

* For info: some solid extraterrestrial bodies arrive in the vicinity of the Earth but, either made up of gas solidified at the very low interstellar temperature, or tiny mass, they vaporize in the upper atmosphere, only signaling themselves by a fleeting luminous trail, at an altitude of 120 km; they are meteorites, the luminous phenomenon called meteor.
The maximum speed of a meteorite in space is 42 km/s. The average speed of the Earth is 30 km/s. If the Earth were deprived of atmosphere and did not have a force of attraction, the speed of arrival on the ground would be the vector sum of the two speeds, that is to say approximately 12 km/s if the meteorite "caught up" with our planet, and 72 Km/s if they came upfront. But the atmosphere will slow down the meteorite according to its coefficient of aerodynamic penetration. In addition, the earth's attraction will also change the speed at any time.
Source: Alain Carion's booklet on meteorites

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