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(meteorobs) Denver Meteor (Meteorite?) Eyewitness



Hello Folks, this is what I saw of the Denver fireball:

On Saturday night I was driving down Golden Gate Canyon just 2 mi. NW of
Golden, Colorado with my very beautiful girlfriend.  We were heading
directly East after topping Guy Hill and so the horizon was still pretty
low (compared to much lower down the canyon where the canyon walls are
steep and sky visibility is severely reduced).  It was just after midnight
(Mountain time) on Sat/Sun the 10/11 of January 1998 when I saw a flash of
light through the winshield of my '88 Pathfinder.  Becky, looking SE out
the passenger window, saw a large, bright object that was "round and bigger
and brighter than the moon".  In fact, she said: "cool, look at the moon!"
But the 96% waxing gibbous moon could be seen almost directly overhead
through a light layer of high cirrus clouds.  I said that I saw the flash
of light and that it was probably a big meteor that she saw.  I myself
didn't actually see the object, but Becky said that it "didn't appear to be
moving" and that it lasted for "more than a second" and that it "flashed" a
couple of times.  She thought that it might have flashed because it went
behind some trees as we drove by.  I figured that the duration of the flash
that I saw was a fraction of a second and that it appeared to last longer
for her because it was such a unique event.  Later that morning (approx 3am
on Sunday, Jan 11) the TV news announced that a "large meteorite came from
the north over Denver and that pieces landed south of Denver between
Highlands Ranch and Castle Rock".  They also reported that people all along
the frontrange as far south as Pueblo had reported hearing a sonic boom
associated with the event.

I haven't heard anything about it since, probably because the local media
is saturated with the fabulous Denver Bronco tour of revenge, crowning as
AFC Champions and plans to kick some cheesehead butt in the Superbowl -- Ha
ha haaah!!!  :o)   

Did anyone else witness the event?

The elk-hunting, sederite-seeking Keith Evanson.

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