[meteorite-list] RE: Massachusetts sonic boom / bolide

From: Matson, Robert <ROBERT.D.MATSON_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:54:04 2004
Message-ID: <AF564D2B9D91D411B9FE00508BF1C8698E59D2_at_US-Torrance.mail.saic.com>

Hi Bob,

> The PA Bolide fell in the most rugged and most densely
> forested area of the East Coast.

Yes, I should have pointed out that distinction. Certainly
the region within 400 miles of western Massachusetts is far
more promising than the assumed fall area for the PA bolide.

> I wouldn't discourage anyone from making an effort to track
> down and interview any eyewitnesses in that area.

Agreed. However, I'm discouraged by the fact that so far
no one reliable has come forward to say that they both
saw something AND heard something, despite the media
coverage. With the much more unobstructed views afforded
by the Massachusetts and eastern New York countryside,
I am surprised by the sparseness of the reports. There
is also (so far) no corroborating satellite data, and no
detailed directional eyewitness information to narrow the
search area.

Despite this, there is some remote legwork that can be
done. First step is to collate all the "earwitnesses",
and plot their locations on a map to see if a direction
of motion can be inferred. Preliminary information
suggests the direction of travel was similar to that
of the PA bolide -- i.e. roughly east to west, so I
would consider the westernmost sonic boom reports to
be the logical initial focus. Hopefully there were
enough sonic witnesses to plot a decent least-squares
fit to the flight azimuth.

Cheers,
Rob
Received on Tue 12 Feb 2002 06:45:55 PM PST