[meteorite-list] Possible Meteor Seen Streaking Over Michigan

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue Dec 13 11:33:57 2005
Message-ID: <200512131632.jBDGWE002551_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.mlive.com/news/sanews/index.ssf?/base/news-17/113448180497670.xml&coll=9

Meteor overhead? It's possible
THE SAGINAW NEWS (Michigan)
December 12, 2005

Officials and experts are chalking up reports this morning of a flaming
object flying high overhead to cold-weather optical illusions or even a
meteor streaking across mid-Michigan skies.

Upwards of a dozen mobile phone callers in Saginaw County and more in
neighboring counties described "fire in the sky," said Tom McIntyre,
head of Saginaw County Central Dispatch.

McIntyre said authorities contacted the Federal Aviation Administration
to ensure no aircraft was in trouble. "We eliminated the obvious," he said.

The Web site spaceweather. com reported that the Geminid meteor shower
peaks Tuesday -- although that's not necessarily what people saw, said
Greg Favaro, Channel 5, WNEM, meteorologist.

Favaro said a woman told him about 6 a.m. she saw "a green flash" that
"trailed off like a firework" to the north.

The effects of cold air on water particles can play tricks on moonlight
or sunlight at dawn, Favaro said.

"It has a lot to do with ice crystals in the air," he said. "They
reflect and refract light in weird ways. There are several different
optical effects."

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http://www.sooeveningnews.com/articles/2005/12/12/news/news540.txt

Meteor brightens EUP skies
By JACK STOREY
The Evening News (Michigan)
December 12, 2005

EASTERN UPPER PENINSULA - A smattering of early risers across a wide
area of the Eastern Upper Peninsula were startled by the brilliant light
from a falling meteor or some "space junk" in the northern sky about
6:05 a.m. today.

The bright light traced a lightning-fast path over the northern horizon
from west to east, briefly and silently illuminating the dark winter sky
for a few seconds in the pre-dawn cold.

One witness, Dixie MacArthur, said the object's path appeared to skim
the treeline from west to east, making no sound as it flashed through
the sky. Other similar reports were made by the few other observers up
and out of doors when the brightly-burning object crossed the sky.

A spokesman for the National Weather Service in Gaylord was not aware of
the early morning sighting today. He said the object would not register
on U.S. weather radar, since meteors usually burn up in earth's
atmosphere at an altitude of 40 to 70 miles, far above the reach of
weather radar.

He said it is difficult to tell from the ground if the object was a
meteor or "space junk" gradually working its way back to earth from some
orbit.

Another spokesman for the Abrams Planetarium at Michigan State
University confirmed that view, adding that the seemingly low trajectory
of the object actually means it passed a significant distance away from
observers. "If you see it very low, it has to be very far away," he said
today.

The MSU official added that the silent passage of the object across the
sky likely confirms the distance suspicion. He said a passage or landing
within 50 miles would have brought a sharp sonic boom from the burning
object, moving at speeds several times the speed of sound.

"If they're really close, you hear a kind of whistling sound," he added.

MacArthur said no sound accompanied her early morning sighting
suggesting whatever it was falling through the morning sky was up to
several hundred miles distant.

The MSU official said incoming "space junk" is tracked by the North
American Air Defense Command (NORAD) in Colorado Springs, Colo. NORAD's
public affairs office was not available for comment on today's early
morning anomaly by midmorning today.
Received on Tue 13 Dec 2005 11:32:14 AM PST