[meteorite-list] RE: (meteorobs) east coast sonic boom

From: Robert Verish <bolidechaser_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:54:04 2004
Message-ID: <20020212221341.77905.qmail_at_web10407.mail.yahoo.com>

Sorry to interrupt the "Mohammed Meteor-wrong List",
but while you guys are fiddle-faddling with your
magnetite and email virus threads, there are some
actual meteorites falling on the ground:

------------ Forward Messages ------------------

Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2002 22:34:03 -0500
From: "Greg Redfern" <gredfern_at_earthlink.net>
Subject: RE: (meteorobs) east coast sonic boom

Peter,

   Wow! I bet Dr. Nininger would be on the case if he
were around! If we are all lucky someone else will try
and discover the remnants (if any). But one would
think that something large enough to cause sonic booms
(or
detonations in all probability) would reach the
ground. If there are residents in the area in might be
worth running some ads/news pieces educating the
public to
be on the look out for "strange looking rocks".
I just wish that something like this would hit my way.

  Thanks for the reply Peter.

Greg

- -----Original Message-----
From: owner-meteorobs_at_atmob.org
[mailto:owner-meteorobs_at_atmob.org]On
Behalf Of peter scherff
Sent: Sunday, February 10, 2002 9:56 PM
To: meteorobs_at_atmob.org
Subject: RE: (meteorobs) east coast sonic boom


Hi Greg,

        I was at the Arunah Hill Natural Science
Center in Cummington, MA when I heard the sonic booms.
At the time I didn't know what caused them. Since
there was a plane visible in the sky at the time I
assumed that it had broken the sound barrier. However
when I went to work this morning I saw that the front
page of the Springfield Republican had a story about a
fireball being sighted. The quotes in the paper are
the typical "it landed in the woods over there" type
(see link -

http://www.masslive.com/springfield/unionnews/index.ssf?/news/pstories/ae210sky.html
).

There was also similar coverage in the Berkshire
Eagle.

Many people in the area that I have talked to heard or
felt the sonic booms but I can't find any one saw the
fireball.

Thanks,

Peter Scherff


- ----------
From: Lew Gramer[SMTP:namn_at_atmob.org]
Sent: Monday, February 11, 2002 2:00 PM
To: Meteor Observing Mailing List

Subject: Fwd: FIREBALL[?], Boston MA USA - 02/09/02 at

2:14 pm EST


I have already forwarded requests for additional
information to our local astronomy club email lists,
and asked Brooks to submit an online report of his
sighting. So far, I have no other confirmation as to
what this was.

If anyone else has any information on this possible
daytime fireball, please drop us a line at NAMN, via
'namn_at_atmob.org'. Clear skies!

Lew Gramer - NAMN <namn_at_atmob.org>
Boston MA USA

- ------- Forwarded Message

Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2002 14:47:40 -0500
Subject: FIREBALL, Boston - 02/09/02 at 2:14 pm EST
From: Brooks Garner <brooks.garner_at_verizon.net>
To: <meteorobs_at_atmob.org>

Hi,

Has anyone heard news about the fireball that fell
into the sky in Boston on the 9th of Feb at 2:14 pm?
It looked too big to be just a space rock.
I wonder if it was space junk or something related
falling into the atmosphere.

I was walking home from the market when I noticed a
flash directly overhead, then saw an incredible -26
magnitude fireball slash across the afternoon sky
to the horizon. It had a two inch long tail (at arms'
length) that emitted sparks and barely visible smoke
that seemed to evaporate as quickly as it formed. This
occured at 2:14pm, 02/09/02 and appeared to be heading

either
west, or south of west. You can view an artistic
rendering I created at
http://brooksgarner.com/fireball.jpg

The whole event seemed to last about 2 seconds.

Any info would be appreciated!

Thanks!

Brooks Garner
bg_at_brooksgarner.com

- ------- End of Forwarded Message

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 17:04:07 -0500
From: Lew Gramer <namn_at_atmob.org>
Subject: (meteorobs) Fwd: AP article: New England USA
daytime fireball[?] 09 Feb 2002

It now seems clear this was a significant atmospheric
event... The only question that remains is whether it
might have been an artificial object reentry, or
whether it might instead be of celestial origin?

Please forward any further reports to NAMN at
"namn_at_atmob.org".

Clear skies!
Lew Gramer <namn_at_atmob.org>
Boston MA USA

- ------- Forwarded Message #1

Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 14:52:00 -0500
From: Eric Pauer <...>
To: atmob-discuss_at_atmob.org
Subject: Globe Article - Daylight fireball

Here's the article on-line:

Area residents report hearing sonic boom, seeing
fireball
By Associated Press, 2/10/2002 13:32

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/041/region/Area_residents_report_hearing_:.shtml

Regards,
 --
Eric Pauer - pauer_at_bit-net.com -
http://www.bit-net.com/~pauer


Gene McAuliffe wrote:

> Lew,
> See this morning's Boston Globe, p. B2.

- ------- Forwarded Message #2

From: Christopher Nicholl <...>
Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 14:44:21 -0500

Subject: RE: (NSAAC) Daylight fireball?? [Boston MA
USA, 14:14pm EST 09 Feb]


Have you seen this thread on SAA?

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&threadm=X7P98.49%24w67.1096%40bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net&prev=/groups%3Foi%3Ddjq%26as_ugroup%3Dsci.astro.amateur

In case the link doesn't work, the name of the thread
is Anyone See or Hear Anything Strange in Western MA
Yesterday Afternoon? by William Falcone.

Chris

- ------- End of Forwarded Messages

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 22:53:16 +0000
From: Alan Pickup <alan_at_wingar.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Re: (meteorobs) Fwd: FIREBALL[?], Boston MA
USA - 02/09/02 at 2:14 pm EST

This could not have been a satellite re-entry. The
direction of motion (westwards) would demand a rare
retrograde orbit, and the brief duration
(a "flash"; a fireball "slashing across the sky"; "2
seconds") is much too short for a re-entry (typically
30-90 seconds). Also, I know of no satellite that was
re-entering around that time.

Alan
- --
Alan Pickup / COSPAR 2707: 55.8968N 3.1989W +208m
  (WGS84 datum)
Edinburgh / SatEvo & elsets:
http://www.wingar.demon.co.uk/satevo/
Scotland / Decay Watch:
http://www.wingar.demon.co.uk/satevo/dkwatch/
          *
------------------------------

Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 18:37:01 -0500
From: Lew Gramer <dedalus_at_latrade.com>
Subject: Re: (meteorobs) Fwd: FIREBALL[?], Boston MA
USA - 02/09/02 at 2:14 pm EST

>Also, I know of no satellite that was re-entering
around that time.

Thanks for the feedback, Alan! At this point, would
you say the satellite-watch community is ready to rule
out a reentry with fairly high degree of certainty?

Clear skies,
Lew Gramer

------------------------------
End of meteorobs-digest V4 #861
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Received on Tue 12 Feb 2002 05:13:41 PM PST