Re: Fireball over Texas

From: Benjamin Monjay (ke7dkg@gmail.com)
Date: Thu Feb 02 2012 - 23:22:29 UTC

  • Next message: David Tiller: "Re: Fireball over Texas"

    It might be due to the quality of the camera and the fact that the iris was
    probably closed pretty tight due to the bright lights. That's my best guess.
    
    
    On Thu, Feb 2, 2012 at 3:04 PM, Chris Zietkiewicz <mtnresearch@gmail.com>wrote:
    
    > Thank you for posting.
    >
    > Yes, a fireball over Texas; I read a few witness reports this morning (some
    > posted below).
    >
    > This is a strangest looking fireball video I have ever seen; slow but very
    > bright (magnitude -13) without a prominent plasma tail.  Can anyone
    > speculate why "white plasma" debris is not observed trailing from a
    > reentering object this bright?
    >
    > Chris Zietkiewicz
    >
    >
    > >From www.spaceweather.com
    >
    > Eye-witness Daryn Morran reports: "At approximately 756pm CST, over
    > Abilene,
    > Texas, I saw an object falling from the sky much brighter and long-lasting
    > than anything I've seen. [The fireball] lasted close to 8 secs before
    > completely burning out. At first, it was bright white, and then started
    > slowing down and getting brighter. Then it exploded like a firecracker
    > artillery shell into several pieces, flickered a few more times and then
    > slowly burned out... awesome!!!"
    >
    > Another observer in Coppell, Texas, reported a "double boom heard at
    > 8:00:30
    > CST. [The object appeared to be] 1/2 the size of the waxing moon, and broke
    > into two major chucks with many smaller pieces. It had a 'white plasma'
    > (sun-colored) look with a long golden tail." (This report was relayed by
    > NWS
    > meteorologist Joe Harrris in Frt Worth.)
    >
    > According to Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office, this was
    > probably a natural object--a small asteroid about the size of a car or
    > bus--not a decaying satellite or other manmade space debris. The fireball,
    > which disintegrated in the general vicinity of Dallas-Fort Worth, was
    > bright
    > enough to be seen on NASA cameras located in New Mexico more than 500 miles
    > away. "It was about as bright as the full Moon (astronomical magnitude
    > -13)," estimates Cooke, who is still analyzing data and sighting reports in
    > hopes of calculating the object's orbit. He might yet figure out where the
    > Texas fireball came from. Stay tuned for updates.
    >
    >
    > -----Original Message-----
    > From: seesat-l-bounces+mtnresearch=gmail.com@satobs.org
    > [mailto:seesat-l-bounces+mtnresearch=gmail.com@satobs.org] On Behalf Of
    > Jesus Leonardo Pacheco Fajardo
    > Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2012 3:15 PM
    > To: seesat-l@satobs.org
    > Subject: Fireball over Texas
    >
    >
    > A fireball was observed by a police car camera last night
    >
    >
    > http://www.spaceweather.com/images2012/02feb12/dashcam.mov?PHPSESSID=9esf2fd
    > pkuumlcs7dkva6350f3
    >
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