(meteorobs) Various fireball reports

[Bruce McCurdy]

    Here is a collection of reports of tonight's fireball over Western 
Canada. Besides being fortunate enough to see it myself, I also polled our 
Thursday night adult astronomy class and wasn't surprised that one member of 
the class saw it; this event will have been seen by thousands. For those in 
the Edmonton area, she and I were interviewed by Global TV for their 11 p.m. 
newscast.
    The phone at the science centre was ringing off the hook.
***

    www.spaceweather.com  reports:
SASKATCHEWAN FIREBALL: A brilliant green fireball startled onlookers across 
western Canada on Nov. 20th at 5:30 pm MST when it split the evening sky and 
exploded somewhere over Saskatchewan in a thunderous blue-white flash of 
light. The nature of the fireball is uncertain, but it was probably a small 
asteroid disintegrating in Earth's atmosphere. Stay tuned for updates.
***

    CBC.ca has the following story, with many eyewitness accounts in the 
comments section.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2008/11/20/alberta-meteor.html
***
    CTV.ca has their own story here (I shrunk it into a tiny URL):
    http://tinyurl.com/6kawy6
***

    I received these comments in my Inbox from various sources:

    Just sitting here in my living room minding my own business at 17:27 MST 
when a bright flash caught my eye out the picture window. I looked up and 
saw a second, probably brighter flash just above the eastern horizon, 
probably 100 degrees azimuth, only 5-10 degrees above the horizon at that 
point and dropping. It was an intense orange colour reminiscent of 
flickering firelight, but in my split second judgement possibly brighter 
than the Full Moon, certainly in that range. There are lots of reflections 
in my picture window, and by the time I finished going "holy $#!+" and 
stepped outside there was no evidence of any sort of persistent train.
    Within 30 seconds my telephone rang, and it was local RASCal Yves 
Lamarre who had been outside with his wife near their home in Sherwood Park, 
30 km east of me. They too had seen the fireball to _their_ east, presumably 
even brighter than what I saw. They saw it a little higher in the sky though 
it ended fairly near the horizon for them as well. She got the better look 
of the two, so I suggested that she write down the details of what she 
observed. Yves will forward it to the Astro list.
    No doubt we will be getting a lot of reports at the science 
centre/university about this one. There will be tons of eastbound traffic at 
that time of day, such as Sherwood Park commuters. I hope that some of the 
fireball cameras will have caught it as well.
    In a word: WOW!!!
    Bruce McCurdy, Edmonton, AB
***

    I was just leaving my work in SE Edmonton just before 5:30PM. As I 
walked to my car the sky lit up like a long lighting flash. My view to the 
south and east was blocked by the building but it was pretty bright. Another 
guy in parking lot was also looking around. I thought that was strange. I 
got in the car and headed home. About two minutes later my cell rings. One 
our sales people is on the phone telling me he just saw a fireball that 
appeared to be heading straight down. He's near Leduc on Hiway 39. I ask was 
this just a couple minutes ago, he says yes. I tell him about the flash. I'm 
at home now and the TV news has lots of reports of this thing. I hope there 
are pictures of this.
    Geoff Robertson, Edmonton, AB
***

    Anyone else see the HUGE fireball over Edmonton tonight? Saw it at 1729, 
driving home from work. Started about 20 deg above the W horizon, heading a 
few deg S of W, tracked it until obscured by buildings so it may have made 
it to earth. Large head, very bright, at least 1-3 deg across at its peak, 
thought it might have been a plane on fire!
    Tim Dixon, Edmonton. AB
***

    My name is Greg and I met you a few years back watching the Leonids at 
blackfoot.  Called Lance Taylor as my heartbeat was slowing down after the 
show tonight...  He suggested I get you the details of my fireball sighting.
    Fireball started directly overhead - travelled to about 95-100 degrees 
(just south of due east.)  I was located at intersection of Roper Road / 
50st facing east.  Watched the whole show through 3 color changes, when it 
finally broke up into orange chunks about 10 degrees over the horizon. 
Could swear I heard a roar... might just have been my blood pressure though.
    I have reported to AMS and IMO.
    Greg Scratchley, Edmonton, AB
***

    WOW just like Bruce said.
    Today at 05:27 pm, my wife and I were heading west into a walkway on the 
east side of Heritage Hills in Sherwood Park, when she turned around, as I 
had stopped to let my dog do his thing, and noticed a fireball moving at a 
shallow angle from approximately 40 degrees to the northeast.  Based on our 
location, my wife noticed this fireball as it was travelling somewhere below 
Cassiopeia, near Leo.  The sky to the north from there was obstructed by a 
two story home.  She described it a red to yellow fireball with a tail that 
would have measured about two feet, when holding  her arms out at shoulder 
height to get a sense of the length of that ball.  She said at the tail end 
of it was somewhat of a white tip.  As it headed from the northeast horizon 
to the east it disappeared behind a two story home some 100 feet east of us. 
We were standing downhill from this house, which would place us about 15 
feet below the level plane in front of that house.  Its then that I turned 
around and with her saw a bright white flash, followed by darkness
    I called Bruce right after checking what time it was and he asked if we 
had seen a trail of smoke, but we had not.  Bruce was also fortunate enough 
to have been looking east when this event occured.
    I wished I had been facing east to see the whole event.   Well next 
time.
    Yves Lamarre, Sherwood Park, AB
***

    On my way home from work, travelling north on Groat at around 5:30 pm 
and as I was turning west on 107 Ave, the sky to the northeast ( the only 
part of the sky in my field of view at that particular moment) flashed 
twice, once bright and longer, the other less bright and shorter. I remember 
thinking, "Odd time of year for lightning. Or maybe it was a fireball." I 
looked around as much as I could safely do in the middle of traffic, but 
didn't see anything else.
    Dave Cleary, Edmonton, AB
***

    At about 6:27 I was taking a picture of Jupiter and Venus and saw the 
ground light up with what looked like two flashes.  I looked up but saw 
nothing in the sky.
    Tenho Tuomi, Saskatoon, SK
***

    Did any one see a fireball this evening?
    I was laying on the couch reading (well..ok watching Judge Judy) and 
noticed the sky outside light up..
    It was so quick I thought I must have imagined it.
    About 10 minutes later my daughter called from work and said she saw the 
sky light up and a friend of hers said she saw fire in the sky.
    So the really weird thing here is the two of us saw a fireball from 
inside a building.
    Jeff Swick, Saskatoon, SK
***

    There was caller to radio station CKRM (Regina) from a lady who says she 
saw a fireball. She did not use the term fireball, but her description was 
clear. She gave no direction or duration info, but she said she was 
travelling on Highway 6, near Wilcox, SK at the time. Her description also 
mentioned it "hitting the ground", FWIW.
    Anonymous, Wilcox, SK
***

    hmm. more fireball news... we have a video clip of it 56 second, 4mb avi 
from a camcorder.
    We went looking through the MIAC site and came across a newer reporting 
form  with a fax number for David Pattison at the University of Calgary... 
does this sound right?
    We are waiting for the observer to forward details and his permission to 
be contacted by MIAC.  You may actually see this on spaceweather as well...
    canon A510 camera on movie mode, north to south
    53 degrees 32' 54.3" N and 113 degrees 28' 37.1" W  elev. 665m
    Anonymous, Edmonton
***

    More to come, no doubt.

    Bruce
    *****