[meteorite-list] New Article About Alabama Superbolide of Dec.5, 1999

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:21:07 2004
Message-ID: <200307222156.OAA20924_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

>
> In the latest issue of Eos (American
> Geophysical Union), there is a detailed
> article about about fireballs (bolides)
> seen all across Alabama on Dec. 5, 1999.
> It is:
>
> King, D. T., and Petruny, L. W., 2003,
> The Trans-Alabama Superbolide of 5
> December 1999.Eos, vol.84, no. 27,
> p. 253, 257 (July 1003)
>

I just obtained a copy of the article. It is interesting because a DOD
satellite also observed this fireball. The DOD measurements of the flight
path differed from the ground observations by about 90 degrees, just like
with Park Forest. The author concluded that the DOD measurements were wrong,
but like Park Forest, it is probably just an observing effect.

The article also mentioned that three adjacent ground fires occurred at about
the same time as the fireball passage. No meteorites were found at the burn sites.
The author surmised the fireball was the cause of the fires due to an electrical
discharge was created by the fireball's ionized wake. However, checking
the lightning data for the area showed no discarges had occurred.

Ron Baalke
Received on Tue 22 Jul 2003 05:56:08 PM PDT