[meteorite-list] Large fireball in PA!

From: Darren Garrison <cynapse_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:39:40 -0500
Message-ID: <3kk4551cj9s79at0jo49d7bhugsi5qv4re_at_4ax.com>

On Mon, 6 Jul 2009 10:40:56 -0700 (PDT), you wrote:

>
>Alright you aspiring meteorite hunters on the east coast, a large fireball with explosions that shook houses in PA was reported at 1:10 am this morning! If there are explosions, it is close and can be found.
>No excuses, as some of us are busy in Arizona.
>Michael Farmer
>
>http://www.wgal.com/news/19966650/detail.html

More:

http://weblogs.marylandweather.com/2009/07/a_masondixon_meteor.html

A Mason-Dixon meteor?

We have been receiving reports today of a likely meteor over north-central
Maryland and southern Pennsylvania early Monday morning. (Not the one in the
Flickr.com image above.)

Below are the first reports we have received. If you heard or saw something
similar, around the same time, please leave a comment. Include the time, your
location, which direction you saw the object or flash, a description of what you
saw, and note any boom or other sound you heard, as well as the time lapse
between flash and boom.

The York Dispatch: In York County, Pa., police officers from Penn Township,
Southwestern Regional and Newberry Township reported seeing a flash and hearing
a boom around 1:15 a.m. Monday, July 6, according to local 911 centers.
Officials in Harford County, Md. also reported seeing a flash and hearing a boom
near the Mason-Dixon Line.

Capital Gazette: An Annapolis city police officer reported that she and her
partner both saw what she described as a "bright blue light in the sky" just
after midnight. It was followed by "a light with a tail, falling from the sky,"
according to our informant. Annapolis police reported hearing a similar report
on Baltimore County police radio.

Gary Moon, reporting to The Sun's News Tips: "I heard and felt a deep earth
blast similar to an earthquake, which shook my home in Glen Rock, Pa., early
Monday morning. I thought I would hear MUCH more about this one ... nothing."

Deborah Markow, Havre de Grace: "Last night, couldn't sleep, went out on back
deck, laid on lounge, eyes closed and then it was like someone pointed a flash
light in my eyes it was so bright. I saw another one streak through the sky ...
It was one of the most thrilling sights to behold a ball of fire flying through
the sky."

I have not yet seen any meteor reports of this event on the American Meteor
Society's Fireball Sightings Log, but it's early yet, and this fireball, coming
in the wee hours after a long holiday, probably did not catch many people out
and about.

Which makes reports like these, and yours, all the more important. If you saw
this object, be sure to leave a report with the AMS, too.

But judging from the descriptions, it almost certainly was a fireball, which is
simply an especially bright meteor, vaporizing with an impressive flash.

Here's a pretty good example on video.

They are sometimes followed by a sonic boom, which would explain the booming
noises in the reports. Some fireball observers - though none yet for this event
- also report a crackling or hissing sound that is concurrent with the meteor's
flash and which has never been fully explained scientifically.

Although meteor rates begin to pick up in July, this is not the peak time for
any particular meteor shower. It seems likely this was a "sporadic," or isolated
meteor that just happened to be especially big and bright. Big ones like this
are always unexpected, always startling to witness, and always a thrill.
Received on Mon 06 Jul 2009 03:39:40 PM PDT