[meteorite-list] Daytime Fireball Seen Over Thailand

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 2015 09:41:25 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201509071641.t87GfPW6017281_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://bangkokpost.com/news/general/683596/fireball-hurtles-over-thailand

Fireball hurtles over Thailand
Bangkok Post
September 7, 2015

[Image]
Image captured from a video clip uploaded on YouTube by user Porjai Jaturongkhahun,
who said the fireball was seen on Sept 7 at 8.41am, and videos from an
outbound lane on Ngam Wong Wan road.
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A large, bright fireball was seen streaking across the northern sky of
Bangkok about 8.40am on Monday, leaving a trail of smoke, with sightings
also reported in Korat and Kanchanaburi.

Excited netizens immediately began posting messages, photographs and video
on social media.

In Bangkok reports came from many different localities, including the
Khlong Tan intersection, Phetchaburi road, Victory Monument and Vibhavadi
Ransit, Rama 9, Sukhumvit and Rama 4 roads.

Netizens in Kanchanaburi in the western part of the country also said
they also saw the flaming object pass over.

The Kanchanaburi deputy governor said there was no report of a helicopter
or aircraft crashed in the province. He assumed the light was the same
fireball seen over Bangkok.

There were also reports on Twitter that the fireball was seen over Nakhon
Ratchasima about the same time.

Jor Sor 100 radio cited an astronomer in reporting that the fireball might
be a meteor streaking down through the atmosphere.

An official at the Bangkok Planetarium, however, said there had been no
reports of a meteorite landing. Most meteors completely burn up in the
atmosphere. If one did crash to earth, it would probably be noticed, he
said.

What was seen across the sky this morning could be a burning balloon,
the official suggested

However, information on the website satview.org suggested the flaming
object was space debris falling back to earth.

Space junk Flock 1B-11 object number 40459U was due to burn through the
atmosphere on its way to earth about that time, according to the website.
http://www.satview.org/?sat_id=40459U

Saran Poshyachina, the deputy director of the National Astronomical Research
Institute of Thailand, said the fireball could be a meteorite landing.
But he also did not rule out the possibility it could be space junk.

Video clips and other evidence sent to the institute had been closely
examined. It was believed the fireball was 80 to 120 kilometres above
the earth, as it could be seen from many areas of Thailand.

"It was almost certainly a good-sized rock burning up in our atmosphere,"
Phil Plait, a former member of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope Team and
science popularizer, told dpa.

"It only took two seconds or so for it to go from being visible to it
flaring as it disintegrated. It may have had a steep angle of entry."
Received on Mon 07 Sep 2015 12:41:25 PM PDT