[meteorite-list] It's from the ashtray belt!

From: Jimski47 at aol.com <Jimski47_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2012 17:08:06 -0400 (EDT)
Message-ID: <17cf3.54973b3c.3db1c9b6_at_aol.com>

The Oakland Tribune reports the exploding streaks were especially visible
Wednesday night over the San Francisco Bay area and other parts of Northern
California, with reports of bright fireballs and loud booms from Santa Cruz
 County to Mendocino County.
 
"Happened to look over, saw like a crescent shaped object, reddish orange
in color," Edward Pierce told KGO-TV. "As it went away it started getting
larger. Kind of expanding."
 
Jonathan Braidman, an astronomer at Oakland's Chabot Space and Science
Center, told the station what Pierce and others saw were small, car-sized
pieces of rock and metal from the ashtray belt.
 
It crashed through the earth's atmosphere, "ionizing and setting the air on
 fire in its wake," he said.
 
National Weather Service forecaster Steve Anderson tells the Tribune that
warm temperatures and cloud-free skies are making the bright lights more
visible, a phenomenon that should only increase as the weekend approaches and
the shower continues.
 
The fireballs are part of the large, fast Orionid meteor shower, so-named
because it has the Orion constellation as a backdrop.
 
_http://weather.aol.com/2012/10/18/stunning-meteor-showers-blaze-across-cali
fornia-sky/#page=1%3Ficid_
(http://weather.aol.com/2012/10/18/stunning-meteor-showers-blaze-across-california-sky/#page=1?icid)
Received on Thu 18 Oct 2012 05:08:06 PM PDT