(meteorobs) fireball report

[Ed Cannon]

The AMS online fireball report form was not working
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7/8 November 2009

18:46:00 November 7 local (Central Standard) time
00:46:00 November 8 UTC (within about 5 seconds)

San Antonio, Texas, USA (29.40 North, 98.66 West)

magnitude estimate -8

appeared near zenith, crossed Cygnus near Alberio
going northwest, disappeared at about 60 degrees 
altitude at azimuth about 315; traversed about 30 
degrees of sky; track pointed back towards Pegasus

lasted about 2 seconds

color was yellow-white to orange with some green 
fringing

had a wake or train

a bit of minor sparking (minor fragmentation?)

I was showing a Hubble Space Telescope pass to 
my mother when this fireball appeared.  A few 
minutes earlier we had watched a very bright 
(-4) pass of the International Space Station.
Of course Jupiter was very prominent in the 
sky.  This fireball was obviously way brighter 
than they were!  I had time to say, "Look! 
Look!", and she said "Where?" and did see the 
last one-half to one second of the fireball.

Fireballs are great!

Ed Cannon - Austin, Texas, USA