[meteorite-list] [UPDATE] Daytime Fireball in Southern Califo rnia (2005 Aug 24 Wed. 16:54:28 PDT)

From: Matson, Robert <ROBERT.D.MATSON_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri Aug 26 20:17:15 2005
Message-ID: <BE076B8CCE4CFE4D9598230D888B2ADF9383A9_at_0005-its-exs01.mail.saic.com>

Hi Bob and Lists,

Regarding the bolide trajectory, I'd like to add to your
statement:

> Everyones efforts resulted in confirming that the fireball
> passed over San Diego County, maybe as far south as Chula
> Vista, or even Tijuana.

My calculations favor a path that would not have taken the
meteoroid as far south as the Mexican border. The bolide was
probably close to passing over Azusa early in its trajectory.
At its closest approach to Carson, it was less than 40 miles
away to the northeast. It may have headed out over open water
along the Orange County or San Diego County coastline, or if
the trajectory was sufficiently shallow (i.e. closer to parallel
to the ground) it could have stayed over land paralleling the
southern California coastline.

Cities I would look to for the possibility of sonic booms
are (in no particular order): Azusa, Covina, Glendora, Pomona,
Ontario (any way to check Ontario Airport's radar?), Corona,
Mission Viejo, Tustin, Laguna Beach, San Juan Capistrano,
Oceanside, Carlsbad, Vista, Murrieta, Escondido and Temecula.

Unfortunately, I would not put the chances very high that any
meteorites were generated. The encounter velocity was extremely
high -- almost certainly greater than 30 km/sec and probably
more than 40 km/sec. --Rob
Received on Fri 26 Aug 2005 08:16:57 PM PDT