[meteorite-list] Bright Fireball Seen Over Northern California

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:28:19 2004
Message-ID: <200310011738.KAA14074_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/6903000.htm

Comet debris cited as fireball
METEOR SEEN MONDAY OVER THE SOUTH BAY
By Glennda Chui
The Mercury News (San Jose, California)
September 30, 2003

A bright fireball that streaked over the South Bay on Monday evening may
have been debris from a comet, according to an astronomer.

The meteor -- commonly called a shooting star -- traveled east to west at
7:57 p.m. Observers said it flared several times from three to 10 seconds
before disappearing over the horizon.

``It's by far the brightest and longest I've ever seen,'' said Jake Burkart,
29, of San Jose, an amateur astronomer who has been watching shooting stars
since he was a child. ``It was really amazing.''

Meteors are streaks of light left by bits of space dust as they enter the
upper atmosphere and evaporate. The dust may come from a rocky asteroid or
from a comet, which is a loose conglomeration of rock and ice.

Peter Jenniskens, an astronomer with the SETI Institute at NASA/Ames
Research Center, said the meteor's appearance is typical of comet dust,
which is more fragile than the dust from an asteroid and more likely to
break up and flare.

Five hours earlier, he said, another bright meteor was seen over Europe,
where it reportedly glowed green or blue, broke into fragments and left a
persistent, shining trail.

``So maybe we have a bit of a shower of bright fireballs going on at the
moment, which is interesting,'' Jenniskens said.

Although showers of meteors periodically light up the skies as the Earth
passes through a thick patch of cometary dust, no such shower was expected
on Monday night, he said. The next one, called the Draconids shower, is
supposed to arrive Oct. 9.

Jenniskens said whatever caused Monday's fireball appears to have landed in
the ocean.

Contact Glennda Chui at gchui_at_mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5453.
Received on Wed 01 Oct 2003 01:38:45 PM PDT