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(meteorobs) Ecuador - possible Fire Ball



On Friday morning November 27, at 9:27 local time (14:27 UT) an explosion
in the air got the attention of many people in and around Cuenca, Ecuador,
79 W, 2.9S.  Many people in the area reported seeing a long thin white
cloud in the air when they looked up after nearing the explosion. This
"smoke trail" stayed in the air for ten or more minutes according to
observers.  I have interviewed over a dozen people living in this city, to
the west, to south west  and south of this city, who were able to give me
compass bearings and elevation angles of the "smoke trail" that they saw.
Exact GPS reading were also taken at the point where each person was
located at the time of the sighting. They were also asked about the
apparent direction of the sound. As time permits, more interviews are being
made further to the West.

Some  of these people compared this event with the meteorite sound head in
this area on December 9, 1995 and I personally think that this event could
also be a fire ball.

It would seem that the object traveled from about south west towards the
north east and exploded some 20 or more km. west of my location.
Seismograph reading might indicate that area too. The seismograph
recordings have been sent to the States for study. 

The main question that I have is regarding a preceived change in the
horizontal direction of the object along the flight path. Most witnesses
reported that the cloud curved towards the left of the apparent flight
path. I had supposed that a meteorite would travel in a straight direction
and only change the angle of its fall. Could the apparent change in flight
direction be just the result of where the observer was in respect to the
"smoke trail" or could the gravitational forces of such an entre actually
pull the flight to one side or another? No reported space junk fell that
day in this area.

Could this actually be a meteorite or some other object? Civil Defense
reports that there were no supersonic planes operating in the area at that
time and that there were no aircraft found on the ground in the area or
reported missing. 

No one saw the actual fire ball, only the smoke trail it left behind. Their
attention was called to the event by the explosion so there could have be
several minutes delay from the passing of the fire ball and the sound
reaching the observer. Could high altitute winds have caused the smoke
trail to have deformed in a few minutes time?

I would appreciate any ideas that the other meteorite people have as I
continue to collect data from other areas around here and plot them on a
map. The suspected area of explosion has peaks to above 3000 meters and
much of the area is uninhabited or has few people and also few roads.

Rober E. Meyer
Cuenca, Ecuador
2500 meters altitude
79W 2.9S
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