Re: Fireball? (fwd)

Larry Klaes (larryk@ns.village.com)
Tue, 25 Jun 1996 16:28:08 -0400 (EDT)

---------- 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