(meteorobs) a fireball video

[Matson, Robert]

Wow!  Now *that* is a nice fireball!  Very slow, and definitely
looked like the type that would drop meteorites... --Rob

-----Original Message-----
From: meteorobs-bounces at meteorobs.org
To: meteorobs at meteorobs.org
Sent: 3/29/2006 10:33 PM
Subject: (meteorobs) a fireball video


Hi,

You can see the video of a recent fireball at:
http://www.ursa.fi/ursa/jaostot/meteorit/images/Tulipallo_20060326_19015
<http://www.ursa.fi/ursa/jaostot/meteorit/images/Tulipallo_20060326_19015> 
3_Vaala3.mpg

This happened in Mar. 26 at 19:02 UT.
This video is from Jarmo Moilanen at a distance of about 250km:s from
the fireball.
I also captured this fireball near horizon at a distance of about
700km:s.

Unfortunately these two observing stations are almost at the same line
with the fireball. So not very accurate entry path can be calculated.
It appears that probably an about one kilogram meteorite fell about 20
to 30 kilometers outside of the eastern border of Finland, in the side
of Russia.
We have also received quite a number of visual observations but these
all were from south to west of the fireball.

We have had quite a lot of fireballs since about Jan 19 here in Finland.

Two of them are expected to have been quite a lot bigger than the most
recent. One was a bright daylight fireball in Feb 14 (at about 06:50
UT), but meteorite fragments seem to have fallen to the sea area west of

Finland. Another BIG one appeared in Feb 7 at 01:47UT (03:47 local
time).
This is expected to hava fallen a considerable big meteorite in a lowly
populated area in northern Finland, but it weas not captured in fireball

videos (some light spot in the clouds(?) near horizon may appear in my
video data). There are only a few visual observations accurate enough
for the entry path modeling and only two near the end of track. These
two appear quite reliable, mutually consistent but will not pinpoint the

landing site exactly enough for a reasonable search. The end height
appears to be as low as about ten kilometers, and this with a relatively

low entry angle (about 20 degrees). This is one thing to tell on the big

size! This did not seem to fragment, except maybe a few small pieces
left behind.

Best wishes,
Esko