News: Digital Life
Twitter abuzz with meteorite news
04.02.2010
It came from the heavens and lit up the night sky. What did we do? Instead of standing glued to the spot in awe or cowering beneath the kitchen table we whipped out our phones and began tweeting about it.
This week's Twitter celebrity in Ireland is a fireball or meteorite, and goodness knows we need to track Twitter because at this moment in time the Astronomy Ireland website has crashed (in sympathy with the meteorite, posts one Twitterer) so our only clues as to its whereabouts will come from people on the ground.
Is it in a vegetable patch somewhere? Perhaps Co Cavan? Perhaps social media can help.
Remember that story of the lost digital camera from Electric Picnic found by setting up a Facebook group? Well GadgetRepublic.com has set up the Tweeteorite Ireland Facebook group plus a Twitter account if you have any information for us.
And for evidence of the jump in meteorite-related discussion on Twitter over the past 24 hours, check out stats from Geert Barentsen of the Armagh Observatory.
RTE reports that Valentia Coastguard had sightings from people living in Mullingar, Limerick, Ballybunion and Bantry.
Photo: A meteor during the peak of the 2009 Leonid Meteor Shower, courtesy of Wikipedia
By Marie Boran
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