(meteorobs) Determining physical dimensions of a large fireballin the sky?

[Chris Peterson]

Mike-

Even if you know the fireball trajectory with high precision, this doesn't 
usually get you very close to a landing location. That depends primarily on 
the winds experienced by material during dark flight. That effect can be 
significant: a meteorite strewn field can lie in front of, to the side, or 
behind the point of retardation (or terminal explosion). The deviation can 
be miles. It is critical in analyzing any fireball with the intent of 
locating meteorites to obtain data for the most recent local radiosonde 
launch providing wind speed and direction at high altitudes. Otherwise, 
there is no way to accurately estimate the landing area.

Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Hankey" <mike.hankey at gmail.com>
To: "Global Meteor Observing Forum" <meteorobs at meteorobs.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 2009 9:30 AM
Subject: Re: (meteorobs) Determining physical dimensions of a large 
fireballin the sky?


> Pat,
>
> I would be very interested in seeing your spread sheet for calculating
> the trajectory and landing locations, even the simplified version.
> I've been working a fall in PA and I've recently been calibrating the
> original videos by re-shooting stellar objects from the same cameras
> (its turning out great).  I've gotten much better ALT AZ readings from
> them after doing the calibration. Your xls sounds very interesting to
> me and re-working the ground path is next on my list of things to do.