[meteorite-list] "Typical" Eyewitness Accounts From Meteor Observers

From: Charles Viau <cviau_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2009 06:01:33 -0500
Message-ID: <20090125110125.C079E1056A_at_mailwash5.pair.com>

I live in Braintree, MA
By searching the net for observers of this fall, and plotting 16 relative
vectors using only 8 cardinal headings (N,NE,E,SE...) from where they were
to where they saw this bolide, it points to an area of interest centered
around Foxboro MA in a 10 mile radius. Interesting but that is a very
large area. This thing was huge and probably dropped some rocks. Biggest
one ever seen around for sure. Perhaps someone has a video from a security
cam that may provide better info.

-----Original Message-----
From: meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com
[mailto:meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com] On Behalf Of Robert
Woolard
Sent: Saturday, January 24, 2009 9:00 PM
To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
Subject: [meteorite-list] "Typical" Eyewitness Accounts From Meteor
Observers

All,

  For those interested, here is a bit more on yesterday's New Eng. fireball.
And, in regard, to the last person's comments below, I'm sure we all "hope
that no one was hurt by this thing" ;-)

Summary: On Jan. 23, 2009, at approximately 8:48 pm EST a meteoroid of
unknown size hit Earth's atmosphere over New England. Its blue-green
disintegration was widely observed by motorists on the Massachusetts
Turnpike and in neighboring states.

Eyewitness Accounts:

Location: near Auburn Massachusetts
Comments: James Vasalofsky: "I saw the fireball on 1/23/09 around 8:48pm. It
was blue-ish green when it first appeared, then it was a bright light that
lasted about 2 seconds. I was on the Mass Pike heading East near Auburn and
it was off to the right in the direction of the South. It was an amazing
sight! I've seen meteor showers before but this seemed really close. I
assume it was a meteor."

Location: Foxboro, Massachusetts
Comments: Robert Russell: "I was driving home with my family at about 9pm on
Friday, Jan 23rd, and we saw what looked to be a huge fireball coming
straight down from the black sky. All four of us saw the same thing and were
all shocked. It was much bigger than a typical shooting star and was
certainly going straight down as opposed to shooting horizontally across the
sky. It had blue and green colors in it too. It appeared to have landed or
struck down just north of Rt 495 and just east of Rt 95 somewhere in Foxboro
or Mansfield."

Location: Lexington, Massachusetts
Comments: Mark A. Abel: "On January 23 at 8:48PM EST I was traveling on I-95
South bound in the Lexington area near the Hanscom Airfield when I saw the
bluish-green fireball out of the corner of my eye. At first I thought I may
had caught a glimpse of an airplane landing flood light since I was in the
Hanscom Airfield area but then it emerged from behind the low level clouds
again and I could see that it indeed was a brilliant fireball."

Location: Wakefield, Rhode Island
Comments: Donna & Randy Swanson: "We observed a huge pulsing blue green
fireball through the clouds tonight _at_ 8:48 PM dropping past the horizon, due
NE into the Atlantic ocean towards Cape Cod. Bright enough to be seen
through heavy cloud cover!"

Location: Agawam, Mass.
Comments: John B Byerly: "At 8:50 pm from Agawam Massachusetts looking
easterly I saw a blue green fire ball through a pretty thick cloud cover. It
lasted maybe a second with a significant tail. I am a total amateur but It
looks similar to the video that was posted a couple of days ago."

Location: North Windham, Connecticut
Comments: Paulette Harwood: "My husband and I observed the fireball while
heading southeast on Rt. 6 in North Windham, CT. It was quite large and had
a green glow."

Location: MassPike between exits 11 and 11A
Comments: E. Szymczak: "I was driving east on the MassPike and at a few
minutes before 9 between exits 11 and 11A and saw a huge green fireball that
appeared to come from the north fairly close to the horizon. It was
spectacular!"

Location: Warwick, Rhode Island
Comments: Joe Malachowski: "My son and I saw the fireball at 8:48pm on
1.23.09 in Warwick, Rhode Island. It was blue-green and lasted approximately
3 seconds - ended without a flash. This was the brightest meteor I've seen
in my 46 years, brighter even than the one I saw at the Grand Canyon 2 years
ago."

Location: Little Compton, Rhode Island
Comments: Anthony Russi: "I was sitting in my den and through my window I
saw a dazzling fireball drop from the night sky. I live in little Compton,
Rhode Island on the Sakonnet River, the object was east of me. It came
straight down and looked like huge flare. Sometime around 8:30."

Location: Connecticut
Comments: Briana: "At approx. 8:45pm, our family was driving north on route
395 between route 97 & 169 in CT. My husband said, 'Look, Look, Look!!' And
there, straight ahead, was a very bright object heading for the ground. For
me it was gone quickly, but my husband said he saw it above the clouds, then
it disappeared for a moment behind some clouds, then he saw it again below
the clouds. Because of this we both think it had to have hit the ground.
Most likely someplace in NE CT, possibly between Danielson and Thompson. It
was very cool, but I hope no one was hurt."






      
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Received on Sun 25 Jan 2009 06:01:33 AM PST