[meteorite-list] Arkansas fireball, July 07, correction

From: Stephen McMann <stephen_mcmann_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Jul 8 12:44:14 2004
Message-ID: <BAY17-DAV6n1pdAnfFy0006736e_at_hotmail.com>

Dear list,

I tried to send this post earlier, but it had a few factual errors and it
did not seem to go through properly. Let's see if this one works.

For what it is worth, I saw the fireball last night (9:21 pm CDT) that was
seen over parts of the south central USA. I saw it as I was driving
Northwest on Rt. 63 towards Jonesboro, Arkansas. Unfortunately, I can
provide little reliable information on its angle, direction of travel, etc.
As I was driving in heavy traffic, I first thought that I was being passed
by a truck as a brilliant yellowish light appeared to my left. When I
realized that it was not a truck, I turned my head towards it and saw it
moving downwards and to the right before going to extinction within 20
degrees of the horizon (it was more or less towards the southwest of my
location). I never really had a chance to put it on my fovea as I was
driving at high speed in heavy traffic. However, I can say a few things:

1. It was much brighter than the full moon.
2. It probably did not go to extinction nearby, as it descended to a very
low angle.
3. I first thought that it might be fireworks, but the fact that it
illuminated cirrus clouds in that part of the sky
        indicated otherwise. It took me a few seconds to sort that out,
however.
4. It was rather orange
5. My wife also got a very brief look at it when I shouted about it. She
thought that it fragmented before the
        extinction. She also noted patches of orange light within the
fireball.
6. I did not crash the car.

Anyway, I hope that this thing produced some meteorites and that somebody
has the good luck to find them.

Sincerely,
Stephen McMann
Received on Thu 08 Jul 2004 12:41:31 PM PDT