[meteorite-list] Light and sound event over North Eastern Pennsylvania 20...

From: Mike Hankey <mike.hankey_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 17 Apr 2011 14:15:10 -0400
Message-ID: <BANLkTi=7a-awO=s_34h9nULsaWrBXUxeWQ_at_mail.gmail.com>

one ams report was submitted from VA that matches the time. so maybe
it wasn't the storm. kind of an odd report...

DATE, TIME
----------------
Timezone = EDT
fireball_date = 2011-04-16 18:48:00
time_type = DaylightSaving
record_date = 2011-04-17 12:33:07

LOCATION
---------------
location_name = South four mile run drive arlington, VA 22204 United States
lookingDirection =316.8481150277513
movingDirection = UpRightToDownLeft

ALT / AZ
------------
initial_az =320.8778031462096
initial_alt = 50
final_az =218.04752709661315
final_alt = 45

FIREBALL INFO
----------------------
Magnitude = >-13
Brightness = Greater_than_the_full_moon
Duration = >10
Color = White
Train = I dont know
Train_Duration = 120
Train_Color = White
Train_Length = 20
Train_Remarks = Observed a bright fireball, with long contrail about
three or more diameters of the moon through a break in the clouds. At
first I thought it was an aircraft but then realized it was moving at
very high speed--it was the fastest object I have even seen. Object
was leaving a very bright white contrail which dissipated rapidly,
vapor trail was whitish gray in color. At the mid point in the
observation, the object increased to a very bright point and appeared
to break up into at least point sources, but they continued moving to
the south until obscured by the cloud deck. My wife and I observed
the object continue south through a second break in the clouds until
we could no longer see it. I am retired USAF and have had
astronomical training in college. This object appeared to be above
100,000 feet in altitude, made no detectable sounds. Apparent speed
was above Mach 6, perhaps higher, since the total period of
observation was approximate 2 minutes--the object crossed half the
sky.
fragmentation = Yes
Terminal_Flash = No
Concurrent_Sound =
delayed_sound =
sonic_remarks =
general_remarks =
bolide_notes =Object went from a dark point source to a very bright
point about as bright as an arc welder, this lasted about two seconds,
the object appeared to break into two objects, which dimmed back to a
dimmer point and continued for another thirty seconds until obscured
by the cloud deck

On Sun, Apr 17, 2011 at 9:48 AM, Mike Hankey <mike.hankey at gmail.com> wrote:
> I witnessed this too. There was a massive storm that rolled through
> the north east last night. It was most likely lighting from the storm.
>
>
> On Sun, Apr 17, 2011 at 9:38 AM, ?<GeoZay at aol.com> wrote:
>>>>The light was so intense I saw it ?through my closed eyelids indirectly
>> reflected
>> off the walls inside ?walls. ?4-5 ?seconds later "(flash-to-bang) was a
>> huge
>> rumbling, ?echoing, and persisting ?report-- very unlike a normal
>> lightening and
>> thunder event. ?Given we ?were in the midst of an intense rain ?storm which
>> otherwise had no ?thunder and lightening, I held off on ?making a report .
>>
>> However in a ?conversation with a friend ?who was 25-30 miles away, he
>> mentioned
>> a huge ?flash and loud sound ?also. I am therefore mentioning it should a
>> fireball ?have fallen ?during a rainstorm and might other-wise go
>> unnoticed.>>
>>
>> It seems to ?me that to hear loud sonics ?within about 5 seconds after the
>> bright lite ?appearance, is rather too short of a period to be meteorite
>> related. It could be ?I guess, but it just seems too short.
>> GeoZay
>>
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>
Received on Sun 17 Apr 2011 02:15:10 PM PDT