AKA – August 10, 1972 Bolide.
During a recent trip to a nearby observatory the presentation highlighted this little number, a comet that streaked across the sky in early August 1972 over the Tetons.
Notice the trajectory. They don’t call this thing an earthgrazer for nothing. This small bit of space rock (about 9′ in diameter or so) actually flew through the Earth’s atmosphere for about thirty seconds before heading back out into space! Impressive rock.
What’s more is that before the days of pocket-sized cameras and phones with built-in high definition video recorders the wife of the guy that took the above, stunning photograph – Linda Baker – managed to capture most of the earthgrazing on video.
Photo credit:James M. Baker. Also featured on NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day in March 2009.