Nexus - 0403 - New Times Magazine-pages

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its final downwards-arcing plunge. or impact scenario, we began to joke that the Aum sect had proba- Almost exactly one hour after the first big event, three observers bly sent a cruise missile with a pulse jet engine and detonated a located at the Banjawarn station buildings saw a second, much nuclear weapon on the uninhabited desert fringe immediately north smaller fireball which they described as being more of a blue- of Banjawarn station... green-white colour. It appeared to rise from ground level, but defi- Meteors usually travel at hypervelocities, greater than 25,000 nitely rose from behind distant trees well south of the station mph, and do not normally fly low-speed, "nap-of-the-Earth", low- perimeter, and then flew to the north in a high mortar-shell-type are —_ level (1,000-to-2,000-metre-altitude) trajectories. They usually before coming down to ground level behind distant bush. Its flight have long, luminous tails and drop-off fragments, and are not docu- path was divergent to the north-northeast when compared to that of | mented as triggering earthquakes. the first major fireball event of that night. Pressure changes due to storms (or, possibly, pressure waves cre- This later event then created a second but very small explosion ated by a meteor flypast) are known to trigger quakes in stressed- and concomitant minor ground shake, similar to the first event but _ plate regions of the crust, but this region can hardly be assigned a much smaller in size and with no resultant rising hemisphere of high-stress fault signature, given the total lack of such quake events opaque light. A prospector located north of the Mulga Queen in human memory. It is a very stable Archaean Age cratonic shield Aboriginal settlement also reported seeing parts of this second area, with the nearest location demonstrating quake activity being event. located in the Fraser Ranges, some 500 to 600 km to the south, east This second event does not appear to have been of sufficient of Norseman. enough magnitude to register on AGSO seismographs. However, In response to recent ABC radio interviews given by the author, analysis of the best AGSO seismic records three truckies reported seeing yet another fire- by USGS (US Geological Survey) energy tos ball soon after starting work at 5.00 am one day conversion equations suggests that the ener- The main fireball (exact date unknown) in May or June of 1993. gy involved in the first main event quake H " H Their "Moon-sized" fireball flew from south to was probably of the order of one to two eyewitness explosion north at low level (some 1,000 metres) with a kilotonnes of TNT equivalent. The blast ground zero was located high-speed jet-plane velocity. It was yellow- itself was probably bigger, as not all such orange-red in colour and had a very small blue- explosive energy is transmitted efficiently near to the northern edge white tail. It lit up the early morning dark sky into the ground and along the Earth wave of Banjawarn station... in an intense blue- white light flash that silhou- path to the seismic observatories. etted the countryside as it headed immediately sega evitnes “losin | Banjawarn is arguably the | wo! Laston dey fr Baowan caton ern edge of Banjawarn station, whereas the most isolated station area engines of their own, they do not know if this calculated AGSO quake epicentre fix was | in the Eastern Goldfields third Banjawarn fireball made any pulsed, roar- close to the southern perimeter of . . ing noise. Banjawarn station, the difference region of WA. This sheep This third fireball held a course that reflecting the difficulties involved in i i would not only pass over Banjawarn but calculating accurate quake epicentres station has gained might ultimately have reached the from remote seismographic locations. notoriety since its Exmouth Peninsula in far northwest WA. purchase the same year (1993) by the Japanese In spite of the excellent eyewitness Now, for three fireballs to be heading "ground zero impact" cross-fixes, a towards Banjawarn is just too much of a Aum Supreme Truth (Aum Shinrikyo) sect... considerable time in the air ina coincidence for a meteor-type event. Cessna-172 failed to find any crater or Meteors of this size are very rare events, ground anomaly of any kind there or let alone three heading around May-June anywhere else in a 300-km-diameter 1993 into one small space on the Earth's search area. Ground and air examina- surface at Banjawarn. If we assume that tion of the nearby Celia fault linea- fireball no. 3 was seen at 5.00 am on 29 ment produced no evidence of any May 1993—and thus followed fireball no. movement on this structure. 1 by six hours, as in, say, a south-to-north- Banjawarn is arguably the most isolated station area in the travelling chain of bolides (rather like the recent Comet Eastern Goldfields region of WA. This sheep station has gained Shoemaker-Levy 9 impacts on Jupiter)—we have a problem with notoriety since its purchase the same year (1993) by the Japanese __ the meteor theory, for in that six-hour period the Earth would have Aum Supreme Truth (Aum Shinrikyo) sect—of 1995 Tokyo sub- rotated 90 degrees about its north-south axis and fireball no. 3 way gas-attack fame. Research soon showed that a Japanese Aum should have come in over East Africa! Supreme Truth sect representative—deputy leader Hayakawa—had been inspecting sheep stations for sale, around and including OTHER FIREBALL EVENTS IN AUSTRALIA AND NZ Banjawarn, in early April 1993. Since the May 1993 event, there have been many other reports Hayakawa initiated purchase procedure for Banjawarn in late (in excess of 1,000 and often of multiple events) concerning aerial April 1993, desiring to "conduct experiments there for the benefit fireballs and associated light-energy emissions. They involve exot- of mankind". The station actually changed hands when papers ic, spherical fireballs making diesel freight-train noises (although were signed and a bank cheque was provided on 1 June 1993—only there are some noiseless variants), flying long trajectories over dif- three days after the fireball event. However, the agreement regard- ferent parts of Australia. Isolated but similar reports have also ing the sale to the Aum sect was completed on 23 April 1993— originated recently from New Zealand. some 35 days prior to the fireball event. These fireballs have been observed in all our Australian states (as As the 28 May 1993 event did not appear to fit any normal mete- late as 4 February 1997), and in many cases have exhibited varia- OTHER FIREBALL EVENTS IN AUSTRALIA AND NZ Since the May 1993 event, there have been many other reports (in excess of 1,000 and often of multiple events) concerning aerial fireballs and associated light-energy emissions. They involve exot- ic, spherical fireballs making diesel freight-train noises (although there are some noiseless variants), flying long trajectories over dif- ferent parts of Australia. Isolated but similar reports have also originated recently from New Zealand. These fireballs have been observed in all our Australian states (as late as 4 February 1997), and in many cases have exhibited varia- APRIL - MAY 1997 NEXUS - 55 The main fireball of Banjawarn station...