(meteorobs) Another Bishop Bolide: Sonic boom - 2008 Dec 27th~01:50AM PST

[Ernie Iverson]

Hi Robert,

Give the USGS a call.  The sonic boom may have triggered one or more of 
their seismic sensors.  There was an event a couple of years ago that 
triggered several sensors east of Los Angeles.  The timing data helped 
establish a direction because I only had a couple of eye witness reports and 
my all sky camera video to work with.

Ernie


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Robert Verish" <bolidechaser at yahoo.com>
To: "Meteor Observers" <meteorobs at meteorobs.org>
Sent: Monday, December 29, 2008 8:12 PM
Subject: (meteorobs) Another Bishop Bolide: Sonic boom - 2008 Dec 
27th~01:50AM PST


> Hello all and Wayne Watson in particular,
>
> A lot of you may already have seen this, but if not, here is a 
> Spaceweather report on yesterday's fireball over CA.
>
> CALIFORNIA FIREBALL: A remarkable fireball blazed across Califonia on Dec. 
> 27th around 1:50 am PST. Its brilliant blue-green light caught the 
> attention of onlookers (some inside their homes) all the way from San 
> Francisco Bay in the north to the Los Angeles metropolitan area in the 
> south--a range of more than 340 miles. According to one account, the 
> object exploded with a thunderous boom, producing a spray of 
> golden-colored fragments.
>
>
> Dec. 27, 2008
> Location: Bishop, California
> Comments: Grant Bentley: "I got up to go to the bathroom this morning 
> around 1 AM and, as luck would have it, my bathroom's west-facing window 
> framed an intense fireball in the sky about 30 degrees in declination over 
> the Wheeler Crest. It was as if someone had set off a rescue flare that 
> instantly bathed the countryside around Bishop in whitish blue-green 
> light. You could see portions of the object disintegrating as it trended 
> left to right at an angle of about 15 degrees below horizontal. At one 
> point, the path of the incoming meteor went behind a cirrus-stratus cloud 
> that it backlit in snowy green light. After a brilliant show of less than 
> three seconds (time enough to register the impressions I am describing 
> now) it was gone without a trace. It was easily the most massive object I 
> have ever seen burning up as it entered the Earth's atmosphere."
>
> Location: Corona, California
> Comments: Will Wilkens: "At 1:50 a.m. PST I witnessed what appeared to be 
> a large meteor over Southern California. I am located in South Corona in 
> western Riverside County. Sitting at my computer facing my window (blinds 
> were open) which looks north, saw a very bright descending ball of light 
> towards the northwest…..I stood up to look closer and watched it descend 
> quickly behind the nearby hills. Angle of descent was 60 deg. Very bright. 
> Saw it for about 8 seconds."
>
> Location: San Jose, California
> Comments: George Shirakawa: "I was driving in San Jose on Interstate 280 
> and saw the event...I have never seen anything like it!"
>
> Location: Merced, California
> Comments: Erika Knorn: "Close to 2:00 a.m. I got up from watching TV to 
> let my dog outside. As she was walking around the grass I was looking up 
> over our house and what I saw was the most beautiful ball of light I have 
> ever seen!!!! As it came over my house I saw the ball of light get more of 
> a trail behind it. Then it got brighter and looked like it strated to get 
> bigger, then it blew outwords into a perfect big green circle that formed 
> around the ball. I then saw the green circle flash a couple quick flashes 
> of green/blue light then it looked like the fireball blew gold and white 
> flashes behind it and disappeared! I was so surprised from what I had just 
> seen that I stood outside for a couple of minutes to see if maybe what I 
> had just saw was some kind of missile or flare. Then I heard about 50secs 
> or so later a loud distant boom and a slight rumble like a thunder clap! 
> We had no rain or thunder in our area lastnight so I knew it wasn't 
> thunder! It also
>
> sounded like a sonic boom. I have been in Merced for along time and when 
> Castel Air Force Base was active, I did get to hear a few sonic booms and 
> that is what it also sounded like. I called my brother-law Ken in Modesto 
> California north of Merced this morning and I told him what I had 
> witnessed. He then told me he heard something while he was on his computer 
> around the same time I was outside seeing this all happen!!! I have seen 
> meteor showers before, but I have NEVER seen something like this! I'm 
> still in complete wow on the how big it was."
>
> Regards,
> Bob Verish
> <http://meteorite-recovery.tripod.com/2005/jan05.htm>
>
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