[meteorite-list] Re: Seems PF fell on 3/27 and NOT on 3/26...

From: Steve Witt <stelor96_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:22:34 2004
Message-ID: <20030606181438.22586.qmail_at_web9603.mail.yahoo.com>

Greetings Steve & List

Steve you wrote:
 
"Out of all the people I have talked with here (into the hundreds
now) many saw the flash, quite a few heard the sonic booms, but few
actually experienced the impacting first hand. Matt was the first
person that I know of who both saw the fireball and
witnessed (more or less) the impact".


I also had the good fortune of talking to a witness that saw and
heard the fireball and witnessed (more or less) the impact. Paulette
Garza was standing in front of her house when the event happened. The
first flash a bit to the south of PF was what caught her attention. I
believe this is the detonation that dropped meteorites in the Steger,
Crete area. She then saw a much brighter second flash nearly directly
overhead. (I feel this detonation dropped the meteorites that fell on
Park Forest and Olympia Fields). Surprisingly she did not hear the
meteorite crash into her house that almost hit her son Robert, but
when she walked back into the house that night it was immediately
apparent that all hell had broken loose.
 
You also wrote:
 
"Now, did the fireball extinguish at 12 mile up, or possible higher
or lower"?

Actually the bolide did not extiguish over Park Forest at all, there
were merely two detonation events over the south suburbs. The bolide
itself continued on for quite a bit longer (dropping meteorites all
along the flight path). The "main mass" is many, many miles downrange
of Park Forest. I continue to find and interview witnesses who
actually saw the bolide and hope (at some point in the not too
distant future) to pinpoint where the main mass actually made ground.

Back to the time and date of the actual fall; MAPS has it at 23:50
hours. My calculations from over 20 reliable witnesses (who made note
of the time thinking it was an Iraqui invasion) put the fall at
23:54. I was able to verify this somewhat by the times shown on the
various screens of police dashboard cams and news broadcast shots,
security cameras, etc... that actually were "filming" at the time of
the fall. (The time is always on the screen somewhere). To be honest,
I'm not sure if I've seen all of the "film" that was shot of the
fireball, but based on the above, 23:54 is what I'd call the official
time.

Now, what time did the meteorite hit the ground? I'm clueless.


Steve



=====
Steve Witt
IMCA #9020

http://www.meteoritecollectors.org

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Received on Fri 06 Jun 2003 02:14:38 PM PDT