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(meteorobs) Fireball over Berne, Switzerland
Last night I was on my way home when I saw a fireball going down.
I saw it when I was some 500 meters away from the railway station
which is situated in the city of Berne. This happended at about 21.45
local time (19.45 UT) - I never wear a watch therefore I can't tell the
exact time.
It was not completly dark yet and of course lights of the city did no
good for observing. It took me a moment to see the big dipper and
bootes because of the daylight that was still around. Therefore I can't
tell the exact path of the fireball. Actually a good portion of its path
passed behind a pinetree just in my line of sight - but I could even see
it through the branches of the tree.
I saw it when it passed some 10 degrees east of the main star of the
corona borealis. It went to the south-east. As there were absolutely no
stars visible yet, I can't tell the end of the path. The color was
orange.
I did not hear any noise, and I could see no train.
Difficult to estimate the magnitude -3, -5? It certainly was very, very
much brighter than Arctur. It took about two seconds to travel over 60
degrees - it did look quite slow.
It was really a pity that I was in the city and not in a dark oberving
site
- it would have been spectacular.
Ueli