[meteorite-list] Fireballs Streak Across Colorado Sky For Second Night In A Row

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:06:57 2004
Message-ID: <200210081756.KAA00266_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E53%257E910080%257E,00.html

Fireballs streak across sky for second night in a row
By Will Ryan
The Denver Post
October 8, 2002

For the second night in a row - and at almost the exact same time -
people across Colorado state saw a streaking fireball shoot across
the sky early Monday night.

Experts said the brilliant object was probably another meteor
burning up in the atmosphere.

Eyewitnesses described the Monday fireball as having similar
brightness and size as the object seen across the Western
United States on Sunday. However, reports said Monday
night's fireball was moving in the opposite direction - west to
east - compared with the one Sunday.

Around 7:15 p.m., law-enforcement dispatchers began
receiving reports from most corners of the state, including
Grand Junction, Durango, Boulder and Douglas County.

"It was definitely a fireball," said Bryan Golding, who was
driving south on Broadway in Highlands Ranch. "It was white
in front with orange around it, with little pieces coming off it."

It was 1 to 2 inches in diameter as viewed through his
windshield, Golding said, with about a 3-inch long tail.

Karen Byrd, staff duty officer with the Federal Aviation
Administration in Seattle, said she had received reports of
meteor showers.

Firestone resident Ginny Shaw was driving east of Longmont
when she saw a "big ball of fire" streaking eastward across
the sky from the direction of the mountains.

"To me it looked like it dropped down, in my mind, in the
northeast Denver area,' she said.

Robert Stencel, a professor of astronomy at the University of
Denver, said two similar events on consecutive nights was not
necessarily unusual, especially for this time of year.

"We are into about a six-week period where two highly
prominent meteor showers are occurring," Stencel said.

Two annual meteor showers - the Giacobinids, which peak
yearly in mid-October, and the Leonids of November -
increase the probability of meteors striking Earth's
atmosphere, he said. Stencel said asteroids, which have
passed relatively close to Earth in the past year, could have
smaller debris around them.

"If one large chunk flies by, it's possible that smaller pieces
are traveling in similar orbits," Stencel said. "There might be a
modest armada of boulders around it."

Stencel also noted that the asteroid named 1997 XF11, which
will pass within 5.9 million miles of Earth later this month, and
peripheral debris associated with it could also be responsible
for the recent meteors.

While the appearance of such prominent fireballs two nights in
a row is interesting, Stencel said, it is not an extraordinary
event.

"It's probably a 1 or 2 on a scale of 10," he said.
Received on Tue 08 Oct 2002 01:56:41 PM PDT