[meteorite-list] Seems PF fell on 3/27 and NOT on 3/26...

From: dlj0202_at_access-4-free.com <dlj0202_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:22:38 2004
Message-ID: <1055552025_16541_at_det1>

Hello List,

I have some interesting information regarding this thread. I
saw the Park Forest meteor just after it came below the
cloud deck (the Chicago area was overcast at the time), and
the main fireball and 3 fragments extinguished about 1
second after I spotted it. I just got off the phone with our
local NWS office to find out what the cloud ceiling height
was at that time. I was told that it was 7000 (seven
thousand) feet. So, the upper limit for when the fireball
extinguished is 7000 feet. I saw this between 11:50 pm and
11:51 pm (my car clock is about 30 seconds fast and it
showed 11:51 pm when I looked at it immediately after seeing
the fireball). Hope this is helpful.

Regards,

Dave Johnson

----- Original Message Follows -----
Greetings Steve & List

Steve you wrote:
 
"Out of all the people I have talked with here (into the
hundreds
now) many saw the flash, quite a few heard the sonic booms,
but few
actually experienced the impacting first hand. Matt was the
first
person that I know of who both saw the fireball and
witnessed (more or less) the impact".


I also had the good fortune of talking to a witness that saw
and
heard the fireball and witnessed (more or less) the impact.
Paulette
Garza was standing in front of her house when the event
happened. The
first flash a bit to the south of PF was what caught her
attention. I
believe this is the detonation that dropped meteorites in
the Steger,
Crete area. She then saw a much brighter second flash nearly
directly
overhead. (I feel this detonation dropped the meteorites
that fell on
Park Forest and Olympia Fields). Surprisingly she did not
hear the
meteorite crash into her house that almost hit her son
Robert, but
when she walked back into the house that night it was
immediately
apparent that all hell had broken loose.
 
You also wrote:
 
"Now, did the fireball extinguish at 12 mile up, or possible
higher
or lower"?

Actually the bolide did not extiguish over Park Forest at
all, there
were merely two detonation events over the south suburbs.
The bolide
itself continued on for quite a bit longer (dropping
meteorites all
along the flight path). The "main mass" is many, many miles
downrange
of Park Forest. I continue to find and interview witnesses
who
actually saw the bolide and hope (at some point in the not
too
distant future) to pinpoint where the main mass actually
made ground.

Back to the time and date of the actual fall; MAPS has it at
23:50
hours. My calculations from over 20 reliable witnesses (who
made note
of the time thinking it was an Iraqui invasion) put the fall
at
23:54. I was able to verify this somewhat by the times shown
on the
various screens of police dashboard cams and news broadcast
shots,
security cameras, etc... that actually were "filming" at the
time of
the fall. (The time is always on the screen somewhere). To
be honest,
I'm not sure if I've seen all of the "film" that was shot of
the
fireball, but based on the above, 23:54 is what I'd call the
official
time.

Now, what time did the meteorite hit the ground? I'm
clueless.


Steve



=====
Steve Witt
IMCA #9020

http://www.meteoritecollectors.org

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Received on Fri 13 Jun 2003 07:51:13 PM PDT


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