Small meteorite strikes Nicaragua, government says

[Judi Lynn]

Small meteorite strikes Nicaragua, government says
Sep 7, 6:20 PM EDT

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) -- Nicaragua's government says a loud boom heard overnight by residents of the capital was made by a small meteorite that left a crater in a wooded area near the city's airport.

Government spokeswoman Rosario Murillo said Sunday that a committee formed by the government to study the event confirmed it was a "relatively small" meteorite that "appears to have come off an asteroid that was passing close to Earth."

Murillo said Nicaragua will ask international experts to help local scientists in understanding what happened.

The crater left by the meteorite had a radius of 12 meters (39 feet) and a depth of 5 meters (16 feet), said Humberto Saballos of the Nicaraguan Institute of Territorial Studies. He said it is still not clear if the meteorite disintegrated or was buried.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LT_NICARAGUA_METEORITE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-09-07-18-20-03

(Short article, no more at link.)

[NYC_SKP]

1. Longer story here from Washington Post:

This story begins pretty much with what's in the OP and then goes on further...

...Humberto Garcia, of the Astronomy Center at the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua, said the meteorite could be related to an asteroid that was forecast to pass by the planet Saturday night.

“It could have come off that asteroid, because it is normal for that to occur. We have to study it more because it could be ice or rock,” he said.

Wilfried Strauch, an adviser to the Nicaraguan Institute of Territorial Studies, said it was “very strange that no one reported a streak of light. We have to ask if anyone has a photo or something.”

Local residents reported hearing a loud boom Saturday night, but said they didn’t see anything strange in the sky...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/small-meteorite-strikes-nicaragua-government-says/2014/09/07/8c8b3f7c-36dd-11e4-a023-1d61f7f31a05_story.html