You are at the A. Ol'khovatov www-page: www.geocities.com/olkhov/gr1997.htm (or www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Cockpit/3240/gr1997.htm, which is the same)
The last update: October 4, 2006
This www-page is devoted to the phenomenon, which can be called "geophysical
meteors" (or "geometeors"). They are meteor-like luminous events, but of
non-meteoroidal (i.e. terrestrial) origin. Just two centuries ago every
meteor was thought to be of terrestrial origin, as "stones can not fall
from the sky", and those few, who said about stones fallen from the sky
considered as heretics.
Then it was discovered that stones can fall, and they are of extraterrestrial
origin (meteorites). The previous dogma was quickly forgotten, so the pendulum
has swung into the extreme opposite position, and a new dogma was born
declaring that every fireball/meteor/bolide in the sky is of meteoroidal
origin, and is caused by a chunk of extraterrestrial rock/ice, etc., or,
at least, manmade space debris.
Just recently, the pendulum began to move to the equilibrium position.
An article on the item appeared even in astronomical journal METEORITICS
& PLANETARY SCIENCE (you can read the
scanned article).
It seems that the Nature used to keep the Truth in between!
The main problem with geophysical meteors (geometeors) is that, unlike
the meteoroidal meteors (astrometeors), their physical mechanism is not
known. We can just suppose that probably the origin has some resemblance
with a ball-lightning. But the latter one is a problem for modern scientists
too! Many scientists try to avoid the problem, just ignoring it, while
groups (not very large) of enthusiasts work hard over it. Wish them success!
Several examples of geophysical meteors can be found in
my tectonic Tunguska article.
Detailed info on geophysical meteors is in my rather large www-article http://olkhov.narod.ru/gr1997.htm ( if the www-page is slow, then its mirror: http://olkhov.siteburg.com/gr1997.htm ) .
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