(meteorobs) Deep penetrating fireball observed over middle Tennessee last night - June 8, 01:48:12 AM EDT

[Bill Cooke]

At 05:48:12 UT on June 8, 4 NASA all sky meteor cameras detected a bright (-6 magnitude) fireball north of Tullahoma, Tennessee, moving slightly east of north at 24.5 km/sec. Even though it was first picked up at an altitude of 87.4 km, the meteor penetrated unusually low in the atmosphere, reaching 30.5 km altitude before track was lost. A crude estimate from the preliminary light curve puts the meteor mass in the kilogram size range.

Event summary:

Start position: 85.961 W, 35.518 N at an altitude of 87.4 km
Loss of track at: 85.923 W, 35.789 N  at an altitude of 30.5 km
Average speed: 22.2 km/s
Initial speed: 24.5 km/s
Speed at loss of track: 9.5 km/s
Tisserand parameter of 3.4 indicates an asteroidal origin

More details, including movies and composites, can be found at http://fireballs.ndc.nasa.gov/20120608.html

Bill Cooke
NASA Meteoroid Environments Office
Marshall Space Flight Center