(meteorobs) Some radio data here - Re: April 9th Fireball

[James Beauchamp]

As you guys know, I've got a receiver running 24/7 with spectral capture images saving every two minutes.  It's an extremely sensitive setup.  I see almost every satellite and some extensive meteor spectrums.  I've even caught some really big vaporizing objects too.
 
On the off chance this was big enough to have "children" objects, or big enough to be seen prior to entry interface, I went back to approximately 1955 CDT (00:55 UTC).
 
Two images look peculair.  The first is a nice, classic meteor hit at around 00:51.  The second one was a ghostly trail a few minutes later, very similar to a large satellite with enough cross section to reflect off-axis energy.  Those tend to have constant amplitude, but linear doppler rate, as they pass through the base spectrum.
 
I posted both of these images openly in FB.
 
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30606770&l=cb7f47338c&id=1122357299
 
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30606771&l=c07cf2232e&id=1122357299
 
Now, the meteor hit could be just coincidental.  Without time tagged data from more than one station or some method of angular rate extrapolation, it just indicates something vaporized somewhere in the radar "fence" visible to OKC.  From about 2 months of observations, this object looks larger than the average meteor because it has a wide-spectrum, persistant trail - but it's a rather small member of the "persistant trail" family I see.    The larger ones exhibit "tendrils" in the spectrum, presumably from fragmented trails at different relative velocity vectors relative to the transmitter and receiver. 
 
The second "ghost" trail is more intriguing.  It could be the ISS or some other large satellite passing over me at an angle that grazes the "fence" beam - riding along a line of "isobeam".  However, the timing is still rather neat.  If it was the ISS, someone might have had a very rare view.  I don't have access to a tracker that could verify.  
 
An even neater thought:  If it was the ISS, if they were free-running the video cameras, they might have caught it from above.
 
James
 


--- On Tue, 4/13/10, Mike Hankey <mike.hankey at gmail.com> wrote:


From: Mike Hankey <mike.hankey at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: (meteorobs) April 9th Fireball
To: "Global Meteor Observing Forum" <meteorobs at meteorobs.org>
Date: Tuesday, April 13, 2010, 8:59 PM


http://localtvblogs.com/kfsm/weather/2010/04/meteor-sighting/


On Tue, Apr 13, 2010 at 4:35 PM, James Beauchamp
<ok113cmdr at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> Doing a quick plot of the first half, looks like somewhere along a line from Butler (N38 17 W94 28)  to  Holden (N38 42 W93 59).
>
> --- On Tue, 4/13/10, Robert Lunsford <lunro.imo.usa at cox.net> wrote:
>
>
> From: Robert Lunsford <lunro.imo.usa at cox.net>
> Subject: (meteorobs) April 9th Fireball
> To: meteorobs at meteorobs.org
> Date: Tuesday, April 13, 2010, 7:27 PM
>
>
> The American Meteor Society has so far received 21 reports of a substantial fireball over the mid-western region of the USA. It
> occurred near 7:55pm CDT on April 9th or 0:55 Universal Time on April 10. Most of the reports were from Missouri but outlying
> reports were also received from Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska. Most witnesses rate the maximum light output equal to that
> of the full moon.  A blue-green color was mentioned  in many reports as well as fragmenting with both concurrent and delayed sounds.
>
> Summaries of these reports may be viewed on the AMS website at: http://www.amsmeteors.org/fireball/fireball_log2010.htm
>
> Refer to event #180.
>
> Robert Lunsford
> American Meteor Society
>
>
>
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