---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 25 Jun 1996 09:02:53 -0400 From: Mark St.George <mstg@EXECULINK.COM> To: astro@netbot.mindspring.com Subject: Re: Fireball? At 11:48 PM 6/24/96 -0400, Paul Goelz wrote: >In a message dated 96-06-24 20:32:24 EDT, you write: > >>OK, so...... Anyone else see the meteor of early Sunday morning June 23rd? >> I saw it from Hastings Michigan (north of Kalamazoo). I believe it was >>about 1:00AM EDT and it began at about azimuth 160 and elevation maybe +30 >>degrees. It ended about azimuth 90 and elevation about +20 degrees Very >>bright..... maybe magnitude +3 or more, bright green with a short orangish >>trail that lasted about a second. I can't swear to it, but my memory is I'm responding to both of your messages Paul. A friend of mine was out Sunday morning at Fingal, Ontario, Canada, which is on the western shore of Lake Erie, and saw a bolide. Here is what he posted on the RASClist.... Start quote..... I was observing Comet Kpoff and Hale-Bopp when at 1:54:50 or so, as I was moving to get a different eyepiece, the ground began flickering with a brightening blueish green light. I quickly looked up to the south and saw just over Jupiter the Brightest Bolide I have ever seen. Chris responded to my shout and saw the last bit of the track. None of the other stars were visible as it crossed the sky and it had a large apparent visual diameter, midway between the Moon and Venus, much brighter than a Full Moon! Brighter than the Starfest Bolide too. Maybe -17 to -18. It moved quickly east, ending just east of the eastern most stars of Capricornus. It was almost constant magnitude for most of it's flight, with a silvery blue trail about twenty to twenty five degrees long. At the end it suddenly faded to yellow, then broke up into six or eight pieces which further yellowed to deepining red and arced towards the ground for maybe a degree or two. There was no persistent train visible to my eyes. My Binos were in the car, and by the time I got there any weak train was gone. We did not hear any sonic boom, but I had my tape running by the time one would have arrived, so we recorded our breathless and excited conversation instead. Time of Bolide 1996 06 23 01:54:50 EDT Duration: 3.5 seconds Start point of my observation: 18:55h -19d40s A-175d E27.5d Bolide end point: 21:55h -16d A130d E16d Trail: 20 to 25 degrees white and silvery sparkling Fragmentation: 6 to 8 pieces seen briefly Speed: Fast (4) Sounds: None heard End quote.... I was hosting a star night Saturday evening in the city but unfortunately had to work a graveyard shift Sunday morning. Alas, if I had gone out to Fingal the bolide would have never happened :-(. Mark St.George mstg@execulink.com