[meteorite-list] Your top meteor sightings!

From: Gary Fujihara <fujmon_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat, 20 Feb 2010 13:57:11 -1000
Message-ID: <1EAD2E87-4855-4BCF-9A11-E5959D99C78E_at_mac.com>

Aloha meteor watchers,

My most memorable meteor sighting was on November 21, 2001, during the peak of the Leonids shower on the summit of Mauna Kea on Hawaii Island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Hawaii was in the perfect location to view the peak (of the 2001 shower and 33 year cycle), and I happened to be working at the 8.3m Subaru Telescope, operating the SuprimeCam wide field imager on the prime focus of the telescope. Night lunch is at 11:30 pm, and I took my break outside to get a glimpse of the meteor shower. I faced the eastern sky and observed as Leo slowly rose above the horizon. Several meteors were already appearing, with occasional earth-grazers traversing almost 180 degrees across the sky.

One I recall would appear as a bright greenish-blue streak that pierced the dark night sky, fading out before reappearing again this time as an orange-yellow meteor. This was probably an earth-grazer that skipped across and through the earth's atmosphere not unlike a stone across a pond or lake's surface. But that was not the most memorable meteor of the night.

At 12:09 am, there was a super bright bolide that appeared and got brighter and brighter in intensity, seemingly without moving at all in the sky. It was apparently traveling toward me, and its light cast shadows from the support building and railings that danced all around me. At its brightest, I would estimate that it was -13 v magnitude, or about equal to that of the full moon. While all this occurred I thought I could hear a buzzing sound associated with the meteor. Its intensity seemed to match that of the bolide I was watching. After what seemed like an eternity (but was probably only a few seconds at the most), the meteor spiked in brightness before extinguishing to darkness. Wow! I had to pinch myself to be sure I had not imagined that experience.

In retrospect I know that any sound emanating from a meteor could not coincide with the vision of it, because of the difference in speed of light and sound waves. But I know what I heard and and experienced and later learned of electrophonic sound phenomenon, which could explain what I had experienced. A most unforgettable meteor sighting!

Gary Fujihara
Big Kahuna Meteorites (IMCA#1693)
105 Puhili Place, Hilo, Hawai'i 96720
http://bigkahuna-meteorites.com/
http://shop.ebay.com/fujmon/m.html
(808) 640-9161
Received on Sat 20 Feb 2010 06:57:11 PM PST