(meteorobs) Nov 6, 2008 Starksboro, Vermont T

About 4:30 am in Starksboro Vermont on Thursday Nov 6, 2008 I was driving
north to work and my attention was drawn away from the road to the west
where I saw the longest ,brightest tail and a bright green ball that
exploded! It is dark on this highway and our airport in Burlington has very
little traffic. I walk out of my door in Lincoln Vermont at about 4:15 am
and have seen several bright shooting stars lately so I was not surprised at
what I saw but this was huge in the sky. When I entered the nearest town
there was a traffic light that was green at the time and I thought that it
was close to the size of the exploding ball I saw. I have no doubt of what I
saw but I am glad to hear others describing similar sightings. I was just
screaming with excitement - what a sight to see!

The above message is what I sent to Carl Hergenrother. The tail was going
across the sky not 'falling down'. It reminded me of a comet that I saw in
the Pasadena area back in the 1980's during the time when we were taking
trips to the desert to see Haley's comet. I saw the Perseid showers for the
first time then and have been looking up ever since! The explosion was a
real surprise that I did not expect to see.

Anne Parfitt

Lincon, Vermont

***

(meteorobs) FL Keys meteor observation Fri Mar 13, 2009 12:11 am

We have several reports of a green to fireball meteor traveling west to east in
the upper Keys of Florida near the city if Islamorada

Michelle Thornton
USCG Sector Key West
305-292-8727
305-292-8739 - fax
Michelle.M.Thornton@...

***
(meteorobs) AMS Fireball Sightings Log, Wed Jan 28, 2009 2:31 pm

Hello Bob,

Regarding this entry in the AMS Fireball Sightings Log for 2008:

705d Dec 27 0155 PST Andrew Modesto California
NW45-SE30 -11 5 Blue/Green N N Y Delayed sonic boom

We need to contact "Andrew" in Modesto in order to interview him about his
observations, specifically about his comment "Delayed sonic boom". Rob Matson
is formulating a model for this fireball based upon all of these observers and
is needing a more specific time range for this "delay".

Do you retain the email address for these eye-witnesses?
Is there any way that we can contact this person?

With best regards,
Bob Verish

***

(meteorobs) Various fireball reports, Fri Nov 21, 2008 2:21 am

It seems that in the last 6 months there has been more & more large bright
fireballs in the early evening hours. Many seem to occur when the sky is
still too bright from the setting Sun for good camera detection.

Or is this just my imagination?

YCS

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bruce McCurdy"
To: "Global Meteor Observing Forum"
Cc: ; "Astronomy Discussion list"

Sent: 2008/11/20 21:35
Subject: (meteorobs) Various fireball reports

>
> Here is a collection of reports of tonight's fireball over Western
> Canada. Besides being fortunate enough to see it myself, I also polled our
> Thursday night adult astronomy class and wasn't surprised that one member
> of
> the class saw it; this event will have been seen by thousands. For those
> in
> the Edmonton area, she and I were interviewed by Global TV for their 11
> p.m.
> newscast.
> The phone at the science centre was ringing off the hook.
> ***
>
> www.spaceweather.com reports:
> SASKATCHEWAN FIREBALL: A brilliant green fireball startled onlookers
> across
> western Canada on Nov. 20th at 5:30 pm MST when it split the evening sky
> and
> exploded somewhere over Saskatchewan in a thunderous blue-white flash of
> light. The nature of the fireball is uncertain, but it was probably a
> small
> asteroid disintegrating in Earth's atmosphere. Stay tuned for updates.
> ***
>
> CBC.ca has the following story, with many eyewitness accounts in the
> comments section.
> http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2008/11/20/alberta-meteor.html
> ***
> CTV.ca has their own story here (I shrunk it into a tiny URL):
> http://tinyurl.com/6kawy6
> ***
>
> I received these comments in my Inbox from various sources:
>
> Just sitting here in my living room minding my own business at 17:27
> MST
> when a bright flash caught my eye out the picture window. I looked up and
> saw a second, probably brighter flash just above the eastern horizon,
> probably 100 degrees azimuth, only 5-10 degrees above the horizon at that
> point and dropping. It was an intense orange colour reminiscent of
> flickering firelight, but in my split second judgement possibly brighter
> than the Full Moon, certainly in that range. There are lots of reflections
> in my picture window, and by the time I finished going "holy $#!+" and
> stepped outside there was no evidence of any sort of persistent train.
> Within 30 seconds my telephone rang, and it was local RASCal Yves
> Lamarre who had been outside with his wife near their home in Sherwood
> Park,
> 30 km east of me. They too had seen the fireball to _their_ east,
> presumably
> even brighter than what I saw. They saw it a little higher in the sky
> though
> it ended fairly near the horizon for them as well. She got the better look
> of the two, so I suggested that she write down the details of what she
> observed. Yves will forward it to the Astro list.
> No doubt we will be getting a lot of reports at the science
> centre/university about this one. There will be tons of eastbound traffic
> at
> that time of day, such as Sherwood Park commuters. I hope that some of the
> fireball cameras will have caught it as well.
> In a word: WOW!!!
> Bruce McCurdy, Edmonton, AB
> ***
>
> I was just leaving my work in SE Edmonton just before 5:30PM. As I
> walked to my car the sky lit up like a long lighting flash. My view to the
> south and east was blocked by the building but it was pretty bright.
> Another
> guy in parking lot was also looking around. I thought that was strange. I
> got in the car and headed home. About two minutes later my cell rings. One
> our sales people is on the phone telling me he just saw a fireball that
> appeared to be heading straight down. He's near Leduc on Hiway 39. I ask
> was
> this just a couple minutes ago, he says yes. I tell him about the flash.
> I'm
> at home now and the TV news has lots of reports of this thing. I hope
> there
> are pictures of this.
> Geoff Robertson, Edmonton, AB
> ***
>
> Anyone else see the HUGE fireball over Edmonton tonight? Saw it at
> 1729,
> driving home from work. Started about 20 deg above the W horizon, heading
> a
> few deg S of W, tracked it until obscured by buildings so it may have made
> it to earth. Large head, very bright, at least 1-3 deg across at its peak,
> thought it might have been a plane on fire!
> Tim Dixon, Edmonton. AB
> ***
>
> My name is Greg and I met you a few years back watching the Leonids at
> blackfoot. Called Lance Taylor as my heartbeat was slowing down after the
> show tonight... He suggested I get you the details of my fireball
> sighting.
> Fireball started directly overhead - travelled to about 95-100 degrees
> (just south of due east.) I was located at intersection of Roper Road /
> 50st facing east. Watched the whole show through 3 color changes, when it
> finally broke up into orange chunks about 10 degrees over the horizon.
> Could swear I heard a roar... might just have been my blood pressure
> though.
> I have reported to AMS and IMO.
> Greg Scratchley, Edmonton, AB
> ***
>
> WOW just like Bruce said.
> Today at 05:27 pm, my wife and I were heading west into a walkway on
> the
> east side of Heritage Hills in Sherwood Park, when she turned around, as I
> had stopped to let my dog do his thing, and noticed a fireball moving at a
> shallow angle from approximately 40 degrees to the northeast. Based on
> our
> location, my wife noticed this fireball as it was travelling somewhere
> below
> Cassiopeia, near Leo. The sky to the north from there was obstructed by a
> two story home. She described it a red to yellow fireball with a tail
> that
> would have measured about two feet, when holding her arms out at shoulder
> height to get a sense of the length of that ball. She said at the tail
> end
> of it was somewhat of a white tip. As it headed from the northeast
> horizon
> to the east it disappeared behind a two story home some 100 feet east of
> us.
> We were standing downhill from this house, which would place us about 15
> feet below the level plane in front of that house. Its then that I turned
> around and with her saw a bright white flash, followed by darkness
> I called Bruce right after checking what time it was and he asked if we
> had seen a trail of smoke, but we had not. Bruce was also fortunate
> enough
> to have been looking east when this event occured.
> I wished I had been facing east to see the whole event. Well next
> time.
> Yves Lamarre, Sherwood Park, AB
> ***
>
> On my way home from work, travelling north on Groat at around 5:30 pm
> and as I was turning west on 107 Ave, the sky to the northeast ( the only
> part of the sky in my field of view at that particular moment) flashed
> twice, once bright and longer, the other less bright and shorter. I
> remember
> thinking, "Odd time of year for lightning. Or maybe it was a fireball." I
> looked around as much as I could safely do in the middle of traffic, but
> didn't see anything else.
> Dave Cleary, Edmonton, AB
> ***
>
> At about 6:27 I was taking a picture of Jupiter and Venus and saw the
> ground light up with what looked like two flashes. I looked up but saw
> nothing in the sky.
> Tenho Tuomi, Saskatoon, SK
> ***
>
> Did any one see a fireball this evening?
> I was laying on the couch reading (well..ok watching Judge Judy) and
> noticed the sky outside light up..
> It was so quick I thought I must have imagined it.
> About 10 minutes later my daughter called from work and said she saw
> the
> sky light up and a friend of hers said she saw fire in the sky.
> So the really weird thing here is the two of us saw a fireball from
> inside a building.
> Jeff Swick, Saskatoon, SK
> ***
>
> There was caller to radio station CKRM (Regina) from a lady who says
> she
> saw a fireball. She did not use the term fireball, but her description was
> clear. She gave no direction or duration info, but she said she was
> travelling on Highway 6, near Wilcox, SK at the time. Her description also
> mentioned it "hitting the ground", FWIW.
> Anonymous, Wilcox, SK
> ***
>
> hmm. more fireball news... we have a video clip of it 56 second, 4mb
> avi
> from a camcorder.
> We went looking through the MIAC site and came across a newer reporting
> form with a fax number for David Pattison at the University of Calgary...
> does this sound right?
> We are waiting for the observer to forward details and his permission
> to
> be contacted by MIAC. You may actually see this on spaceweather as
> well...
> canon A510 camera on movie mode, north to south
> 53 degrees 32' 54.3" N and 113 degrees 28' 37.1" W elev. 665m
> Anonymous, Edmonton
> ***
>
> More to come, no doubt.
>
> Bruce
> *****
>

***

(meteorobs) Observation May 29/30 2008

Here's my report for May 29/30. This was a brief meteor session
covering the hour around midnight, following some casual observations
with scopes. Despite good sky conditions and a mag 6.5 sky, The
session had mostly dim meteors without anything noteworthy.

But the highlight came on my way back home. As I waited for a
traffic light to change, a magnitude -6 or -7 (!) fireball quickly
got my attention even with all the city light pollution. It started
about halfway up in the north, moved rather slowly and ended low in
the north-east. This was one of the most vividly multi-colored meteor
that I've even seen!!! Starting green and then turning deep blue and
then PURPLE!!!!! The end had a dramatic break-up of at least 4-5
orange colored pieces before fading away. Talk about a nice way to
end a beautiful night :0)

Pierre Martin
Ottawa, Ontario

DATE: May 29/30 2008
BEGIN: 0255 UT (2255 EDT) END: 0430 UT (0030 EDT)
OBSERVER: Pierre Martin (MARPI)
LOCATION: Long: -76 29' West; Lat: 45 23' North Elevation: 400 ft
City & Province: Bootland Farm, Ontario, CANADA
RECORDING METHOD: talking clock/tape recorder, plotting
----------------------------------------------------------

OBSERVED SHOWERS:_______________________________radiant position
ANT (Antihelions)_________________________________17:36 -23
SPO (sporadics)
----------------------------------------------------------

OBSERVING PERIODS: 0 = none seen; / = shower not observed

PERIOD(UT)___FIELD____Teff____F______LM___SPO_ANT

0255-0430___1508+09___0.92___1.00___6.48___7___1 = 8

Note: The first column (Period UT) refers to observing periods broken
down as close as possible to one hour of true observing, in Universal
Time. The second column (Field) is the area in in the sky where I
centered my field of view. The third column (TEFF) represents
effective observing time (corrected for breaks or any time not spent
looking at the sky). The column (LM) is the average naked eye
limiting magnitude, determined by triangle star counts. All following
columns indicate the number of meteors for each shower observed.
------------------------

MAGNITUDE DISTRIBUTIONS:

SHOWER
______+2__+3__+4__+5______AVE

SPO____1___2___3___1_____+3.57
ANT____1___0___0___0_____+2.00

Note: Magnitude -8 is comparable to a quarter moon, magnitude -4 with
the planet Venus, magnitude -1 with the brightest star Sirius,
magnitude +2 to +3 with most average naked eye stars and magnitude +6
to +7 are the faintest stars the naked eye can see under typical dark
conditions. A meteor of at least magnitude -3 is considered a
fireball. The above table contains the magnitudes from all observed
meteors, and the average (last column) for showers.
------------------------

SKY OBSCURED (FOV) (UT): None

------------------------

Dead time: 39.74 min (incl breaks and plotting time)

Breaks (UT): 3:16-46, 3:50-58

***

(meteorobs) Forwarded fireball report from Virginia, Wed Aug 6, 2008 9:50 am

Interesting had a report from an NJAA member at ~ the same time
"
Hi Wayne,
We saw a massive fireball last night: wanted to give you the
information and find out if you heard about it.

We were driving S on Hwy 87, near the Catskills. At approx. 10pm, a
huge fireball went across our view, going E to W. It looked like it
flared for a moment, dimmed and changed trajectory, then flared
again. The fireball was blue-green and the tail was yellow-orange,
and the ghost stayed in the air for a second or two.

It was awesome.

-------------- Original message --------------
From: Thomas Ashcraft

>
>
> I am forwarding this report that was sent to me by an observer in
> Virginia. - Thomas Ashcraft
>
> :::::::::::::::::
>
> Hello,
>
> I saw and heard(!) a bright fireball from Yorktown, Va on 04 Aug 2008 at
> 0159 UT. Does someone collect these types of sightings? I don't know
> if anyone is interested, but the particulars follow:
>
> My location: 76d 33m 22.5s W; +37d 16m 06.3s N; 3m elevation (Google Earth)
> Time: Aug 3, 2008 at 9:59 EDT (2008 Aug 04 0159 UT) - give or take 1
> minute.
> Description:
>
> I had just finished setting up a TeleVue sdf 4" refractor at a road-side
> pull-off from the Colonial Parkway to work on the Astronomical League's
> Double Star observing program, and was getting some eyepieces laid out.
> I try to avoid looking at bright lights so I can get dark adapted, and
> was annoyed that something was shining a bright light at me. With my
> head turned away, I saw enough light to see my shadow - I though it was
> a Park Ranger shining a spot or a car pulling into the turn off. Then I
> figured the illumination was coming from too high an angle - my shadow
> was cast down into my eyepiece box. When I turned, I heard a sizzling
> sound and saw two broken trails of meteor light, nearly colinear, but
> they were separate white and bright green streaks. Each trail was
> broken - dashes of varying lengths of green along one path or white
> along the other line.
>
> Since this illuminated my surroundings better than the full moon, I'd
> estimate it at brighter than -10 magnitude. The sections were running
> next to each other, reminiscent of the Shuttle re-entry breakup over
> Texas a few years ago. No post-event trails (smoke) were seen. When I
> turned, the light had been in progress for just a second or two
> (impression - not measured). The meteor path I witnessed ran below the
> W of Cassiopeia and into Camelopardalis. Afterward, I ran Starry Night
> and estimate the fireball was seen from Az = 38 deg, El = 23 deg over to
> down and northward at Az = 11 deg, El = 16 deg as it continued to break
> up. It must have originated much higher and more eastward. There is a
> body of water just about 90 yards away in that direction (York River),
> followed by more land (Gloucester shore is 2.5 miles east), and then the
> Chesapeake Bay (17 miles away). I did not see impact, as it appeared to
> burn out at 16 deg elevation.
>
> I'm confused by the audible report. I've heard just one fireball in the
> past, but that was more than 20 years ago. That one was more of a pop
> or bang as opposed to this fairly soft sizzle sound. The sound vs light
> speeds also would indicate this was nearby, but the sound quit before
> the visual faded. I heard the sound as I turned around - so it was
> delayed from me being cognizant of the light by only a few (< about 2?)
> seconds. This is by impression - not by timing. No photo or video
> records were made.
>
> Please forward as you see fit.
>
> Regards,
> Mark Croom
>
> mark.a.croom (at) nasa.gov
>
>

***

(meteorobs) Another Green Meteor?

* To: Meteor Observers Mailing List
* Subject: (meteorobs) Another Green Meteor?
* From: "Gary W. Kronk"
* Date: Wed, 1 Apr 1998 16:18:23 -0600
* Reply-To: meteorobs@latrade.com
* Sender: owner-meteorobs

While driving home last night I spotted a green meteor of my own. I don't
know if it is related to the central Arkansas meteor, unless the final
position of the meteor was given incorrectly by that observer. I haven't
done any calculations to check where my meteor would be located in central
Arkansas skies, or whether it would even be visible.

I was driving home from work heading south on a straight road that is
oriented due north to due south. The green meteor appeared near the top of
my windshield, but I am not sure if I saw the beginning or just the point
from where is appeared from behind the roof of my car. It was not directly
in front of me, but was slightly off to my right. Its motion was slow and
it moved toward the horizon, while drifting a little to the right. When
just above the treetops it fragmented into about a half dozen pieces. At
that point I was right at my driveway and pulled in. I quickly got out of
the car, but noted no train in that direction.

Important points:
--The time was very close to 7:15 p.m.
--The meteor passed just slightly left of Sirius and was definitely
brighter than that star.
--The meteor maintained a green color even when far below the tinting at
the top of my windshield.
--From where I sit, the top of the windshield lets me see everything up to
about 35 degrees above the horizon.
--The tops of the trees extend up to about 10 degrees above the horizon.
--An estimate from my driveway to about the spot in the road where I think
I first saw the meteor is about 2-4 seconds (This is rough because I didn't
break fast enough last night and almost missed the driveway thanks to the
celestial sight).

Sincerely,
Gary