(meteorobs) Various fireball reports

Fri Nov 21 03:21:46 EST 2008

It seems that in the last 6 months there has been more & more large bright 
fireballs in the early evening hours. Many seem to occur when the sky is 
still too bright from the setting Sun for good camera detection.

Or is this just my imagination?

YCS

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bruce McCurdy" <bmccurdy at telusplanet.net>
To: "Global Meteor Observing Forum" <meteorobs at meteorobs.org>
Cc: <rascals at lists.rasc.ca>; "Astronomy Discussion list" 
<astro at mailman.srv.ualberta.ca>
Sent: 2008/11/20 21:35
Subject: (meteorobs) Various fireball reports

>
>    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
>    *****
>
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