(meteorobs) Fireball over East San Francisco Bay?

Ray Jones SayRayJ at cox.net
Mon Apr 4 11:09:36 EDT 2005


Dear List Members,

Did anyone see or hear of a fireball over the southeastern
San Francisco Bay Friday, April 1, 2005 (NOT an April
Fool's joke, btw <grin>)?

I was driving through San Jose at about 11:30 p.m.
(2330 PST; GMT -8:00, I think), and saw what appeared
to be a fairly slow-moving, greenish fireball travelling
from E to SE, at about 20 degrees above the horizon.
It moved at about a 30 degree angle downward, for about
10-15 apparent degrees across the sky.  It appeared to
be about -5 magnitude, but with the extreme light
pollution of downtown San Jose limiting magnitude it
may have been much brighter to an observer on the
East side of the Bay.

During the 2-3 seconds it was visible, it appeared to
be shedding sparks as well as leaving a distinct trail
for about 2 seconds.

Again, due to the extreme light pollution I was unable to
see what constellations were in the sky to determine a
radiant.  I could see only one or two stars in the sky at
all.

Hope someone else saw this...

Clear Skies,
                    Ray Jones,
                    Eureka, California


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