RE: Fireball over Texas

From: Chris Zietkiewicz (mtnresearch@gmail.com)
Date: Thu Feb 02 2012 - 23:04:03 UTC

  • Next message: Benjamin Monjay: "Re: Fireball over Texas"

    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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