(meteorobs) extremely bright possible Leonid

Richard Kramer kramer at sria.com
Thu Nov 17 15:42:08 EST 2011



This morning, approx 8:13 UTC, I was driving out of Boston MA, south 
on I 93 (at around mile marker 8) underneath a high overcast which 
was thick enough to produce a steady light rain when I saw an 
extremely bright meteor streak above the clouds through about 15 to 
20 degrees of travel. It was impossible to align a radiant since the 
clouds were fully obscuring the sky, but the speed, length vs. track 
location, and general direction was consistent with the Leonids. The 
track remained visible through the clouds for approximately 1 second. 
The streak appeared bright white (like the color of a camera strobe 
flash), wide (perhaps 1/4 degree wide), and much brighter than Venus, 
at least as bright as a full moon. Considering that I was seeing this 
much brightness through a fairly thick cloud layer which, itself, was 
illuminated to a considerable degree by the urban light pollution, 
this must have been quite a fireball!



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