(meteorobs) Re: Meteors in Sacramento

• To: Meteor Observing Mailing List <meteorobs@latrade.com>, North Shore Amateur Astronomy Club <nsaac@latrade.com>
• Subject: (meteorobs) Re: Meteors in Sacramento
• From: Lew Gramer <lewkaren@tiacdot net>
• Date: Mon, 09 Mar 1998 18:50:29 -0500
• Reply-To: meteorobs@latrade.com
• Sender: owner-meteorobs

At 06:20 PM 3/9/98 -0500, John B wrote:
>Is this odd or what?!
>----------------------snip------------------------
>Meteor shower stymies traffic near Sacramento...

This sounds suspiciously like a satellite reentry to me, John... The
description (Griffith Observatory's "confirmation" notwithstanding) is hard
to match to any other sort of meteoric phenomenon I know of. Reentries (and
bright fireballs in general) have a tendency to fragment as they burn - and
this effect could have been easily produced by a very extensive fragmentation.

Also, satellites frequently have considerable retinues of "trailing" and
"leading" objects: boosters, leaked liquids, etc., which travel in nearly
the same orbit as the main satellite. If a tight group of such material
reentered roughly all together, it might produce this effect.

What do others think? Clear skies,
Lew Gramer

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