[meteorite-list] Frequent Fireballs

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 3 Dec 2006 21:58:55 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <200612040558.VAA19603_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://spaceweather.com/

Frequent Fireballs
spaceweathter.com
December 3, 2006

HOW MANY FIREBALLS? Have you ever stepped outside after dinner
to walk the dog--just in time to see a bright fireball streak
across the sky? It makes you wonder, how often does that happen?

Pretty often, according to astronomer Bill Cooke of the Marshall
Space Flight Center. Using a computer model of Earth's meteoroid
environment, he made this plot showing the global number of
fireballs per day vs. the brightness of the fireball:

[Plot]

According to his calculations, fireballs as bright as Venus
appear somewhere on Earth more than 100 times daily. Fireballs
as bright as a quarter Moon occur once every ten days,
approximately, and fireballs as bright as a full Moon once
every five months.

The vast majority are never noticed. About 70% of all fireballs
streak over uninhabited ocean. Half appear during the day,
invisible in sunny skies. Many are missed, however, simply
because no one bothers to look up. So grab a leash and a dog
(optional), and head outside. The chance of a fireball is
better than you think.
Received on Mon 04 Dec 2006 12:58:55 AM PST