[meteorite-list] RE: Not space junk

From: Joel Warren <marley2010_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:37:32 2004
Message-ID: <381431512.976153975179.JavaMail.root_at_web597-mc>

Hi Rob and all,
I attempted to fill out the fireball report, but when it came to telling the
coordinates, I was stumped. Best way I can describe it. I was walking
almost due south when all of the sudden I saw, and the best way i can
describe this is from my vantage point, the bright fire ball appox 30 feet
or so above a group of houses, not thirty feet about the ground ofcourse,
but what appeared about 30 feet to me, certainly not straight up in the sky,
but much lower towards the horizon. Ok, now, facing due south, in Amarillo,
the path it took appeared to be towards the SW, like toward Portales NM, in
that direction. And, like I said, I saw it dropping parts, much like the
Peekskill video. I was thinking "hot damn, that has to be close" but as I
watched it trail off to the SW, I realized there was no way it could be.

Best...
Joel



------Original Message------
From: "Matson, Robert" <ROBERT.D.MATSON_at_saic.com>
To: "'Jake Marley'" <marley2010_at_usa.com>,
"'meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com'"
<meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: December 7, 2000 1:40:31 AM GMT
Subject: Not space junk


Hi All,

Jake wrote:

> No, no beers. Serious observation. Best way to describe it would be like
a
> very bright flare traveling in a straight line and changing colors. One
> other thing is that it moved much slower than a "shooting star".

....and earlier:

> While I was going for a walk tonight, here in Amarillo, TX, ABOUT 5:40
CDT,
> in the south sky I saw a BIG ASS FIREBALL, the sun hadn't set yet and
> there was still a large amount of sunlight. It was changing colors from
> Green to white, and here is the coolest part, I saw it dropping pieces,
> much like the Peekskill fireball. This is the first fireball like this I
> have ever seen, nothing like a "shooting star". I followed it across
> the sky, it was headed, what looked like S to SW.

A couple people have offered up space-junk reentry as a possibility, but
I think that can be ruled out due to the direction of motion (SW). One
question: when you say it was headed "what looked like S to SW",
do you mean it started in the south and was headed toward the SW,
or that the direction of travel was somewhere intermediate between
S and SW (i.e. SSW)? If the former, then it wasn't space junk. If
the latter, it's remotely possible. However, I've done a search of all
8300+
orbiting bodies, and nothing was expected to reenter close to Amarillo
at that time. --Rob


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Received on Wed 06 Dec 2000 08:52:55 PM PST