[meteorite-list] Fireballs & Known Meteor Showers

From: Chris Peterson <clp_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 15 Apr 2010 15:54:49 -0600
Message-ID: <7E68EFDF377D49248F05D9276A376D21_at_bellatrix>

Meteor showers can, and sometimes do, produce massive fireballs. So if a
fireball occurs during a known shower, it isn't surprising to see some
reference to that in news reports. I always check the radiant of fireballs
against known showers to rule out the possibility that the fireball is a
shower member.

That said, fireballs from showers occur quite high and don't produce sonic
booms. Once multiple camera views are integrated to come up with an
atmospheric path for this event, it will be apparent that the meteor is not
connected with a shower.

Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com


----- Original Message -----
From: "Meteorites USA" <eric at meteoritesusa.com>
To: "Meteorite-list" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 15, 2010 1:52 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Fireballs & Known Meteor Showers


> I've been studying meteorites/fireballs for 3 years, but from everything
> I've studied the general consensus is that BIG fireballs are not
> associated with regular meteor showers... Here's the deal, everyone
> "knows" that big fireballs have nothing to do with known/famous meteor
> showers... right? So why is it every time there's a BIG fireball people
> tend to associate that fireball with a peak in the current meteor shower?
> Is it a coincidence that the peak of the Gamma Virginids was supposed to
> be these past two nights, and coincidentally a HUGE fireball lights up the
> night across 7-10 states during that peak? Is it that these fireballs are
> part of the meteor showers, or is it because people are actually looking
> at the sky more during the regular meteor shower events and when a
> fireball happens they associate it with the shower?
>
> The reason is that during my investigations, and fireball chasing, many a
> meteorologist have ask me if these fireballs are associated with regular
> meteor showers and I've always told them no, that the "general consensus"
> is they are not related. Am I telling them wrong information?
>
> Regards,
> Eric Wichman
Received on Thu 15 Apr 2010 05:54:49 PM PDT