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A farmer's five billion year old meteorite
Broadcast Date: June 14, 1994
People across Ontario, Quebec and the northern United States see the gleaming fireball cross the night sky but only a congregation of cows are there to witness it fall to the earth with a dramatic boom. Moments later, Quebec farmer Stéphane Forcier wanders out into his field. Surrounded by curious cows, he discovers an embedded stone which the Geological Survey of Canada has now confirmed to be the largest meteorite to have landed in Canada.The cold, black stone weighs 2.3 kilograms and is believed to be approximately five billion years old. CBC News has this report on how the stone fell through the atmosphere and produced the spectacular and historic meteor shower.
A farmer's five billion year old meteorite
• The Geological Survey of Canada purchased the meteorite from Stephane Forcier for $10,000. It is now part of the National Meteorite Collection of Canada.• Scientists started to keep track of the number of meteorite showers in Canada in 1887. The St-Robert meteorite was the 12th recorded Canadian fall.
• It is believed that hundreds of fragments of the St-Robert meteorite fell to the earth. Only 20 pieces have been found.
Also on June 14:
• 1617: Canada's first family arrives at Tadoussac in New France (Quebec). Louis Hébert, his wife and their three children. Hébert would become Canada's first doctor and herbalist.
• 1919: British pilots John William Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown take off from St. John's, N.L.on the first non-stop transatlantic flight. They land in a peat bog on the west coast of Ireland after flying about 3,100 kilometres in just over 16 hours. Their plane is a modified twin-engine Vickers Vimy IV.
• 1937: CBC's “The Happy Gang” debuts, beginning a 22-year run on daytime radio of nearly 4,900 shows.
A farmer's five billion year old meteorite
Medium: Television
Program: Prime Time News
Broadcast Date: June 14, 1994
Guest(s): Pierre Chastenay, Daniel Forcier, Stephane Forcier, Michel Plante, Blythe Robertson
Host: Peter Mansbridge
Reporter: Kevin Tibbles
Duration: 2:20
Last updated:
March 30, 2007
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A farmer's five billion year old meteorite.
The CBC Digital Archives Website.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Last updated: March 30, 2007.
[Page consulted on Feb. 13, 2012.]