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Re: Overnight Fireball in Connecticut


>>Actually, it is usually extremely difficult to accurately judge the distance
>>to a bolide, particularly at night.  Some people have observed a bolide which
>>they think is only 100 yards away, when in fact, it is 400 miles away.
>>The accurate way to get the distance to a bolide is to have people observe
>>the bolide from different vantage points, and triangulate the position of the
>>bolide.

>Yes.  While it is true that it is very difficult to judge the distance of a
>bolide, my particular statement referred to the 'comparitive analysis' of a
>bolide and ball lightening.  Ball lightening is only the size of a
>grapefruit or orange.

True. But since it is difficult to judge the distance to the bolide, it is
equally as difficult to judge the size of the bolide.  Saying it is the
size of a grapefruit implies you know accurately know the distance to the
object, which as I already pointed out, is extremely difficult to do at
night from a single observation.

Ron Baalke

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