[meteorite-list] Bright Meteor Seen In The Skies Of 3 States

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:54:05 2004
Message-ID: <200202151639.IAA18661_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.post-gazette.com/healthscience/20020215fireball0215p3.asp

Meteor seen in the skies of 3 states
By Byron Spice
Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
February 15, 2002

Ryan Mercer caught sight of it from the corner of his eye -- a bright,
bluish-greenish light headed north and travelling fast. Driving along the
Parkway North near Camp Horne Road about 8 p.m. Wednesday, he and his wife
watched the fireball streak across the sky.

"It went over a hill; it looked like it was pretty close," said Mercer, of
Cranberry. He suspected a meteor; his wife thought it was a plane. Both
thought it had struck ground.

Looks can be deceiving, however. Based on reports of observers in
Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan, the object likely was a fireball -- a very
bright meteor -- blazing a trail 25 miles high, said James Richardson Jr.,
of Tucson, Ariz., operations manager for the American Meteor Society.

Most of the reports said the fireball was as bright as a full moon and
generally travelling north or northeast, he said.

The reported colors varied -- white, bluish-white, reddish-orange --but
that's typical of most meteor reports, because of differences in location
and how well observers' eyes are adapted to the darkness.

William Cassidy, a meteorite expert at the University of Pittsburgh, said
it's not unusual for people to misjudge the distance of such a bright object
in a dark sky, often mistaking it to be much closer than it is. Because the
image tends to linger on the retina, people also often think they see the
object hitting ground.

But no one reported hearing a sonic boom.

That leads Richardson to suspect this meteor, unlike a fireball that tore
across central Pennsylvania last July, probably burned up in the atmosphere
without producing any meteorites to fall to earth.

"Bright fireballs are not unusual," Richardson said. Several hundred are
reported to the society each year.
Received on Fri 15 Feb 2002 11:39:31 AM PST