[meteorite-list] Flash Seen Over Virginia Possibly a Meteor

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue Nov 1 17:32:39 2005
Message-ID: <200511012231.jA1MVE318446_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1128767871164

Flash seen in sky possibly a meteor?
Osita Iroegbu
Richmond Times-Dispatch
November 1, 2005

What was that? Did you see the flash in the sky last night?

Dana Coleman was anxious to know what was behind the "extraordinary
bright light" seen last night in Richmond and as far away as Goochland
and Dinwiddie counties.

"It was really, really strange," Coleman said, minutes after the sighting.

Coleman lives near Libbie and Grove avenues. She and three friends were
chatting outside about 9:25 p.m. when "the whole backyard suddenly
illuminated."

She said the bright blue light moved south with an orange and white
streak. It then exploded and disappeared, she said.

"We weren't afraid," Coleman said. "We were more in awe."

Reached last night, David Hagan, a museum scientist at the Science
Museum of Virginia, explained the sighting as a possible fireball or a
meteor that appeared to be burning as it changed colors and moved
through the atmosphere.

The explosion Coleman described, Hagan said, could result from the
disintegration of the meteor. "It's not unusual for it to break into
pieces."

Shooting stars are common, he said, but clouds obscure many of them. The
Orionid meteor shower peaked Oct. 21, and last night's sighting could be
related, he said.

It's rare that fireballs are seen but, when they are, hundreds of people
at a time usually witness them, he said. "It probably happens every few
nights somewhere around the world."

The Dinwiddie County sheriff's office received several calls. The first
caller asked if anyone had seen the commotion in the sky, said Dinwiddie
duty officer Ken Howerton. "He said, 'I just want to make sure I'm not
going crazy.'"

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http://www.charlottesvillenewsplex.tv/news/headlines/1936237.html

Sky Lights Up
Elizabeth Donatelli
Charlottesville NewsPlex
October 31, 2005

What you saw was probably a fireball, which is a bright meteor
streaking across the sky. There are reports of gold and blue
lights flashing in the sky around 9:00 pm.

Ed Murphy, an astronomer at UVa's students saw-it first hand
at the astronomy lab.

"They said it looked like a very bright light that was
streaking across the sky. They did not see small chunks or
pieces falling off which is common on the larger rocks that
you will actually see small pieces come off and burn up
themselves."

"Fireballs themselves are simply a small chunk of rock or ice
that are entering the earths atmosphere. They typically come
from asteroids or comets in the solar system. There are
billions of these things out there and many dozens of them
actually enter the earth's atmosphere everyday."

The largest fireballs can be seen over hundreds of miles--one
of the most famous one in recent times was in October 1992--
where a rock actually crashed into a car.
Received on Tue 01 Nov 2005 05:31:13 PM PST