[meteorite-list] Meteor Fall July 30

From: almitt <almitt_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:52:05 2004
Message-ID: <3D4993FD.380926DF_at_kconline.com>

Hi all,

I haven't checked the meteor observer pages yet but I witnessed an impressive meteor
fall on July 30th of 2002. As I was driving home and on an north/south road heading
south I saw behind clouds an explosion of a sort, lighting up the night time sky (and
ground). Figuring this to be a simple lighting in the sky, didn't get too excited
until a few seconds after, saw a vapor trail go through the clouds and the trail
lingered for a few seconds afterward. Knowing what this was I slowed down and listen
for any noise associated with the fall for a couple of minutes but never did hear any
sound (probably too far away).

The fall was also witnessed by a co-worker who saw the same as I did but didn't notice

the vapor trail but he was 20 to 25 miles to my west also on a north/south road
heading south. The time of the fall was at aprox. 12:28 at eastern standard time
(05:28 GMT). From my location some 4 miles south of Warsaw, IN. the meteor fall seemed

to be at about 45 degrees up (half way between horizon and meridian) and at a
southeasterly direction, heading on an apparent south to north direction perhaps even
a bit northeasterly direction but more north. Since there clouds I was unable to plot
any path along constellation lines but could probably with a bit of accuracy show
about the location of the trail.

I am sure that this had to deliver a meteorite or meteorites to the ground from the
shear size of the explosion and vapor trail. If the clouds were 30 to 40 thousand feet

and this was visible something had to make its way in dark flight to the ground. I
haven't heard any news about this yet but wondering if others on the list had received

any posts or heard of anyone in eastern Indiana or western Ohio having something come
down. This is the second most impressive fall I have ever witnessed and I am sure
there is meteoritic material resting on the ground somewhere a hundred miles away. All

my best and hope to hear more from others.

--AL Mitterling
Received on Thu 01 Aug 2002 04:03:09 PM PDT