(meteorobs) Large fireball over New Mexico Oct 9, 2009

Thomas Ashcraft ashcraft at heliotown.com
Fri Oct 9 23:53:42 EDT 2009


Larry wrote:
> Thomas, that looks a (LOT) brighter than the moon!. What is the peak light 
> graph amplitude in pixels?.......30,000 ?
>
> I suspect it was as bright as the Sun!!!!
>
>   

Larry,

I might be wrong but my understanding of fireball magnitude is that you 
assess the bright core of the meteor without necessarily factoring in 
the fainter surrounding flash.  Maybe a magnitude expert could address 
this question?  At least in this specimen the Moon is in close proximity 
to the fireball and it is a known magnitude of -10.92 at that exact 
moment ( without extenuating factors which might bump the mag higher in 
this case due to altitude, atmospheric extinction and other possible 
factors).

Thomas
>>
>> http://www.heliotown.com/Fireball_20091009_Ashcraft.html
>>     




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