Bowling Ball Dropped From Airplane Simulates Meteor
Impact
On Feb. 13, a single-engine Cessna flew low over the Utah desert
toward the Bonneville Seabase at 80 knots. Pilot Patrick Wiggins
checked his altimeter. As planned, he was just 820 feet (250
meters) above the surface. The mission's bombardier, Ann House,
readied a 14-pound (6.5-kilogram) bowling ball in her lap and
opened the right-side window. This was a test to see if she could
safely manage getting the ball out the window. Wiggins is a
volunteer "solar system ambassador" for NASA, working to spread
good words about astronomy and the space program. But his
colleagues -- other amateur astronomers and meteorite hunters with
the Salt Lake Astronomical Society -- say he's involved in the
current project more