[meteorite-list] Re: Meteor Showers Reported Over Parts Of North And Central California

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:21:02 2004
Message-ID: <200307102053.NAA09350_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

Here's the eyewitness account.

Ron Baalke

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At 10 p.m. July 9, 2003, several people in Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo
County, California, saw a burning object fall out of the sky. It
appeared so much like a burning airplane that some called the local law
enforcement agency to report. One woman heard an explosion and believes
she saw the burning object land near her home. A web search on meteor
showers, as this was reported in local news to be, led us to a
photograph of the Yukon meteorite in Jan. 2000, which shows a burning
object similar to what was witnessed here.

Those of us who saw the burning object are curious what exactly we saw,
since the sight bears no resemblance whatsoever to meteor showers we've
seen in the past. This was a large fireball, a tumbling, yellow-orange
flaming object that depending on distance made some of us think of a
burning small aircraft or large aircraft falling from the sky.
We can find no reliable discussion in the astronomy sites of last
evening's event. Can you help?
Received on Thu 10 Jul 2003 04:53:06 PM PDT