[meteorite-list] Suffolk man says he saw meteor hit

From: Meteorites USA <eric_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat, 04 Apr 2009 12:57:08 -0700
Message-ID: <49D7BB94.5080801_at_meteoritesusa.com>

P.S.

His comment "..."The shape of it, it was just too perfect to be a piece
of junk.." is also a clue to the speed it was traveling. Could he see
the shape clearly enough if it were moving at super sonic speed? In
addition he reported he did NOT hear a sonic boom.

Or I could be spending too much time on this and have nothing better to
do right now.

Taking a day off is good... ;)

Eric





Meteorites USA wrote:
> There are a few things left out of the report.
>
> Duration of the event, distance from his location, angle of decent,
> speed and azimuth. If the guy witnessed the entire event from
> beginning to end and the fireball was very far away at first sighting,
> that explains why he may not have heard the boom. It could be that it
> reached the retardation point long before coming close to him. The
> whistling noise reported is also intriguing.
>
> The report does NOT state that the ball of fire hit the water. Only
> that he witnessed a ball of fire.
>
> EXCERPT:
>
> "The shape of it, it was just too perfect to be a piece of junk. It
> looked just like a miniature comet, pretty much," he said. "It was
> really, really white with blue flames. It was pretty wild."
>
> Butler said he didn't hear the boom, only a whistling roar as the
> object flew past. The wind-blown water was really choppy, he added,
> but he could see the splash when it landed.."
>
>
> He did give a clue as to the direction of travel although it is
> extremely vague as he doesn't say which direction he was looking but
> rather the direction he was traveling (SOUTH). He stated the object
> was "..coming right at my car.."
>
> He could have been looking East or West or in his rear-view mirror for
> that matter.
>
> The point is it's a eye-witness report, and it's interesting enough to
> investigate further.
>
> Even if it does turn out to be nothing.
>
> Eric
>
Received on Sat 04 Apr 2009 03:57:08 PM PDT