[meteorite-list] October's fireballs

From: Matson, Robert <ROBERT.D.MATSON_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:28:19 2004
Message-ID: <AF564D2B9D91D411B9FE00508BF1C86901B4EDB8_at_US-Torrance.mail.saic.com>

Hi All,

I concur with Steve, and will even go one step further to
request that any list members who have the time and clear
skies pay particular attention to the nighttime (and daytime!)
skies over the next few days watching for bright, sporadic
meteors. If you have a camera and a tripod (or better yet
a camcorder) -- have them ready to swing into action to
record any bolides. If you don't have a camera, at least
familiarize yourself with the constellations so that you
can reconstruct any bright trajectories you're fortunate
enough to observe. Also -- synchronize your watch to WWV,
and get in the habit of recording the exact time a bolide
appears. The chances of recovering a new meteorite fall
increase dramatically with the quality and quantity of
visual data recorded.

If you DO see a whopper, don't forget to listen for a sonic
boom and record its time as well. Sonic booms can occur as
early as 15 seconds after a bolide appears to several minutes
later, depending on the range. An accurate measure of the
sonic boom time delay is extremely helpful as it augments a
single observer's angle-only data with range information.

Good luck and clear skies!

--Rob
Received on Wed 01 Oct 2003 04:29:27 PM PDT