* Astronomy

on Saturday, May 20, 1848, one Charles Blaisdell, a yeoman mechanic who lived about a mile outside Castine, was early out and about. At 4:30 a.m. the sky became Biblically ominous: dark clouds gathered from various points amid a great flash of lightning, and a bright moon-like object fell through the sky trailing a vivid wake. Neighbor Giles Gardiner joined Blaisdell in the road in front of his house while above them sounded a report ''like a cannon'' followed by a series of sharp explosions, climaxing in a long whistle.
Suddenly an object forcibly struck the road a few feet away, bounded once and buried itself two inches deep in the dirt. Being a curious man, Blaisdell dusted himself off, walked over and picked up a charred egg-sized and wedge-shaped meteorite wavy on one side and smooth on the other. He broke off a piece, revealing silver-white specks of bright nickel and iron. Being a practical man - after all, it had missed - he then threw it away.
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