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Tampa Fireball

  Hi gang,
   Read the following in the sci.astro.amateur group today:
(Note he actually saw a fireball since Bolides make noise)

Regards,
Tom Randall

Quoting:

"WOW! What a Bolide!!!

Actually it was the best bolide I have ever seen in my 25+ years observing!
On 17 June, 1998 I was working on some deep sky images and found a dead spot 
in my telescope control around M-27. I went outside to set the finder's 
crosshairs on M-27. I had just knelt down and removed the dust caps from the 
finder and was just about to put my eye up to the eyepiece when an extremely 
bright light caught my attention. At first I thought it was an aircraft on 
approach to TPA but THE TRAIL!!
It appeared from the north, over the rolled off roof at about 05:20 UT.
I immediately stood up and watched this bolide as it appeared in Draco, 
passed to the west of Vega, continue south down to the west of Altair and on 
& on!
I had to move a few steps to the northeast corner of the observatory to 
follow it.
The rock finally broke into several pieces before it faded out in eastern 
Sagitarius.
I tried to make note of as many things as I could.

Brightness: Hard to estimate because it was SO bright... Even the trail was 
in the negative magnitudes. ~ Best guess -7.5!
Total Distance visible: >80°. When I first saw it coming over the observatory 
roof it was about RA 17h 35m DEC +63° and it disappeared near RA 19h 20m DEC 
-15°!
Total Time visible: 15+ seconds! The bolide was moving north to south and 
seemed very slow. Below 15km per second?
Color: Blue-White. The plasma was looked white at the nucleus as well as the 
center of the trail. Near the nucleus the edges looked blue while the trail's 
edge looked greenish farther away. Just as the body disintergrated, the color 
turned to a dull orange.
Length of trail: >30° I kept my attention on the nucleus so I could only 
estimate where it ended. Could have been even longer.
Length of Jumping Up & Down by the observer: 10 to 15 seconds!
Other notes:
I am one of those few observers who can "hear" meteors occasionally . I did 
not "hear" anything with this event. I have also read of some people who hear 
a low rumble a number of minutes after seeing a bright meteor or bolide. I 
waited in the observatory for about ten minutes but did not hear any rumble 
either.

It was my typical summer night sky. Limiting magnitude was about 5.2 at 
zenith and the Milky Way was barely visible. 

I'm sure that some of the pieces impacted somewhere south and east of Tampa. 
Most likely in southern Florida or even out in the Atlantic.

I'd be interested in knowing if anyone else saw it.

I'd be even more interested if fragments are found. Sure would like a piece 
for my meteorite collection.

I've also posted this info on my observatory's page  as well as a 
chart showing the path.
-- 
Richard Kowalski    bitnik@bitnik.com"