[meteorite-list] Meteor over north central Missouri on 11 March 2016

From: Matson, Rob D. <ROBERT.D.MATSON_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2016 20:46:15 +0000
Message-ID: <4A4FA25E4DFE584AA580F4F069F9B440B525EF14_at_EMP-EXMR104.corp.leidos.com>

Hi All,

AMS event # 994-2016 did not have a large number of witnesses (no doubt due to it
occurring at 2:15 am CST) but it appears to have been a potential meteorite dropper.
Dan B. from Albany, MO, reported: "This was the second brightest meteor that
my cameras have ever recorded. The other was from a Taurid back in the late Fall of
2015. I am still going over video and stills of this." (I have yet to see any videos of
stills materialize for this fall, so Dan's video/images would be very helpful!) Dan
goes on to post: "The sonic boom was picked up on the microphone of my system.
It was a low muffled deep boom. Meteor entered at 2:15:33 and the delayed boom
was heard on the recording at 2:19:20. It got to me 3:47 seconds after entry if my
math is correct." Assuming Dan's times are correct, it would put his line-of-sight
distance at about 68 km from the point of closest approach.

Another witness Neil B. (who did not directly observe the meteor) heard/felt
the sonic boom less than a minute after the meteor -- putting him quite close
to the terminus. He wrote: "A loud, distant boom, much like very powerful distant
thunder. An almost rumble, with a distinct sound of 1 larger explosion followed by
at least 1 softer explosion, followed by an echo. From the time the ground lit up to
the time I heard the sound was approximately 50 seconds. It was an unforgettable
sound and an unforgettable sight."

The nearest seismic station to the fall location was US.SCIA in State Center, Iowa.
It recorded a weak sonic boom at 8:24:37 UT, 9 minutes 4 seconds after the
meteor (assuming Dan B.'s time is accurate). (I've created an image of the
seismic trace if anyone is interested.) The implied range is 163 km. Acoustic
triangulation puts the fall somewhere between Princeton, MO and the
Missouri/Iowa border. (The trajectory estimated by the AMS algorithm is
probably too far north and has it travelling too far to the east.)

Unfortunately, I see nothing compelling on radar near the acoustic triangulation
point from either Davenport, Des Moines, or Kansas City Dopplers. It would be
valuable to have Dan B.'s video or still image in order to confirm the sky
location is a match to the acoustically-determined area. Witness Tim C. in
Chariton, Iowa, also reports that he has stills and video, so between his
imagery and Dan's, a very good triangulation solution should be possible.

--Rob
Received on Tue 15 Mar 2016 04:46:15 PM PDT