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(meteorobs) LA area fireball
Here's a pretty good account of the fireball that happened on Sept. 10
about 19:25 PDT, from an observer in Huntington Beach:
"I have observed many meteors, and this was by far the most
brilliant one I have seen in 40 years of amateur astronomy.
This meteor passed directly over Los Angeles, so there should
be many qualified observations.
I observed this fireball or bolide in bright twilight and I
estimate it would have been visible in broad daylight.
The meteor had a very short "tail" of sparks and glow that
tapered to a point shortly behing the meteor. The tail gave
a conical appearance as the head of the meteor actually appeared
to subtend a resolvable size. This could have been some ionization
as the outer portion seemed flame colored and white, while
the central portion was a brilliant green color.
The meteor at first look appeared like a roman candle or
aerial display on the 4th of July only it was traveling straight
and at a constant high rate of speed. It seemed to slow
slightly before dimming and disappearing in the east about
40 degrees above the horizon. No persistant train was observed
and no sound was noted.
A co-worker of mine observed the same object from Fullerton, CA
and he indicated that it appeared nearly directly overhead from
Fullerton, and headed east. He observed it for more than 5
seconds also."
----------------------------------------------------------------
James R. Bedient wh6ef@pixi.com
Operations Supervisor jamesdot bedient@faa.dotdot gov
Honolulu CERAP http://www.pixi.com/~wh6ef
Federal Aviation Administration http://www.serve.com/meteors