Scientists ask: Did a meteor fall in Jacksonville 448 years ago?

[spuwho]

Hmm... I've found a potential issue with the chronology.

Laudonnière's lighting strike is recorded for August 29, 1564.

However, the comet seen by the Spanish occurred on August 27, 1565. It is recorded in Francisco López de Mendoza Grajales' The Founding of St. Augustine:

On Monday, August 27, while we were near the entrance to the Bahama Channel, God showed to us a miracle from heaven. About nine o'clock in the evening a comet appeared, which showed itself directly above us, a little eastward, giving so much light that it might have been taken for the sun. It went towards the west - that is, towards Florida - and its brightness lasted long enough to repeat two Credos. According to the sailors, this was a good omen.

http://mith.umd.edu/eada/html/display.php?docs=lopez_de_mendoza_staugustine.xml&action=show
(Section III, 19)

There's no way both accounts are talking about the same thing.

I am trying to see if there was a Perseid Meteor shower on those years. If that is the case, it is possible that they saw similar events a year apart as the Earth was at/near the same place in its solar orbit.

[Tacachale]

Hmm... I've found a potential issue with the chronology.

Laudonnière's lighting strike is recorded for August 29, 1564.

However, the comet seen by the Spanish occurred on August 27, 1565. It is recorded in Francisco López de Mendoza Grajales' The Founding of St. Augustine:

On Monday, August 27, while we were near the entrance to the Bahama Channel, God showed to us a miracle from heaven. About nine o'clock in the evening a comet appeared, which showed itself directly above us, a little eastward, giving so much light that it might have been taken for the sun. It went towards the west - that is, towards Florida - and its brightness lasted long enough to repeat two Credos. According to the sailors, this was a good omen.

http://mith.umd.edu/eada/html/display.php?docs=lopez_de_mendoza_staugustine.xml&action=show
(Section III, 19)

There's no way both accounts are talking about the same thing.

I am trying to see if there was a Perseid Meteor shower on those years. If that is the case, it is possible that they saw similar events a year apart as the Earth was at/near the same place in its solar orbit.

Yes, I think this would be the proper time frame for the Perseids.

[spuwho]

The Perseids are an annual meteor event typically from mid-July to the end of August based on materials from the comet Swift-Tuttle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perseids

On July 25th, 1565 (30 days prior) a large meteor shower was also recorded in Japan.

It is rare for a Perseid based meteor to reach the ground as they usually burn up at a high altitudes. However, anything is possible if a splinter of the comet occurred in 1564. That might also explain the large amount of meteor activity the following year in Japan and the southern part of North America.

As far as trying to determine if the area here is an impact zone, read the story on how Chicxulub was located and it might provide insight on how to analyze this one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicxulub_crater

Here is a gravity anomaly map at Chicxulub.