[meteorite-list] Alberta/Saskatchewan bolide of July 14, 2012: sonic booms

From: Matson, Robert D. <ROBERT.D.MATSON_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2012 14:08:01 -0700
Message-ID: <7C640E28081AEE4B952F008D1E913F1705B246BA_at_0461-its-exmb04.us.saic.com>

In addition to the 7 reports on the AMS website, here is a report
from Lake Newell, Alberta, for this fireball:

"I was fishing at Lake Newell Friday night, at about 12:30, suddenly
something light up the lake and I saw an object flying pass the lake
in 2 seconds without any sound, I thought the object only 50-100m above
the lake. 2 minutes later, I heard 2 huge boom sound. Basically the
exact same thing (seen) by the guy at Dinosaur Park. I have never
been a believer of UFO before, but I changed my mind after I saw that
thing."

(Note: Friday Night 12:30 is actually *Saturday* morning 12:30am on
July 14th, so this is the same event.)

Here is the report from Dinosaur Park (referenced above):

"We were camping at dinosaur park, having a fire. Around 1 am something
flew over us, it acted as a shooting star except it was fairly low to
the ground and light up the campground as it went past. Then about
10 min later we heard a huge boom sound. First we initially thought
it could have been some kids with fireworks, but it was totally silent.
Usually fireworks make a sound like a missile and some crackling. When
this thing flew over us it was absolutely silent and beautiful. It was
green and had fire."

Unfortunately, neither report has directional information, but it's
encouraging that both experienced sonic booms. --Rob
Received on Tue 17 Jul 2012 05:08:01 PM PDT