(meteorobs) Fireball over East San Francisco B

[GeoZay at aol.com]

Ray>> Did anyone see or hear of a fireball over the  southeastern
San Francisco Bay Friday, April 1, 2005  <<
 
Ray...I didn't see it...but that might have something to do with me being  
home in bed at the time. :O) I live in the Sonora, Ca. area.
 
 
Ray>> 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. <<
 
Sounds like it was fairly far off. From your location and the direction  the 
meteor was traveling, if there should have been any meteorites dropped, they  
would most likely fall into the ocean.
 
Ray>> 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.<<

 
You are probably looking at something with a magnitude in the  neighborhood 
of not over -8.
 


Ray>> 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.<<
 
Not satellite debris, so still probably a meteor. Possibly could be a  
Virginid, most likely a sporadic.
GeoZay