[meteorite-list] Your top meteor sightings!

From: Jeff Kuyken <info_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 21 Feb 2010 14:40:31 +1100
Message-ID: <0652AF4A2F7546B99C10E4DD91146DF3_at_JeffPC>

Hi Gary,

Indeed it does sound like you experienced electrophonic sounds. Many years
ago Bernd helped me put a meteor sound page together using his famous
database of info. It's amazing as when you read through them you start to
see a definite pattern in the descriptions. The witness descriptions of many
falls are here:

http://www.meteorites.com.au/odds&ends/sounds.html

Cheers,

Jeff


----- Original Message -----
From: "Gary Fujihara" <fujmon at mac.com>
To: "Shelly" <shelly1999 at msn.com>
Cc: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Sunday, February 21, 2010 10:57 AM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Your top meteor sightings!


> 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
>
>
>
>
>
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Received on Sat 20 Feb 2010 10:40:31 PM PST