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(meteorobs) the august 12th 1998 bolide - a forgotten meteorite?
Hello Albino,
my name is Hans Guenter from D64354
Reinheim/Georgenhausen. I'm an amateur and interested in meteor-observation
since the outburst of the june-bootids last year. During this event i saw a
exploding fireball - and as it was my first one it was very impressive to me. So
i've tried to build a vlf/elf-receiver to detect fireball-events automatically.
This project is still in an early state of progress.
Now back to my intention:
Searching the internet for fireball-related sites (searching
for vlf/elf and meteor), i found your report about the August 12th 1998 bolide
with its path along the croatian costline just to weeks ago. After reading your
paper (http://www.fis.uniprdot it/~albino/documenti/bolide12_08_98.html
- i did not understand everything) i believe that this may be an answer to a
question i carry with me since August '98. And this is the story of the August
12th 1998 near Dieburg [approx.: 49.8° north; 8.8° east].
... i've heard a double (sonic) boom and
thunderlike noises (not to loud; ~ 10km west of Dieburg) - a couple of minutes
before Midnight (MESZ).
... asking a friend about his perseid-observations some days
later he told me something about a 'very near' meteor: A single fireball was
seen over Bad Koenig (20km before Dieburg; also on evening August 12th - but he
could not remember the time). He reported that he noticed a hissing sound
simultaneously, a curved trajectory and a "curling" trail. The color
was yellow. He could not estimate the magnitude but "bright". The
direction was given with ~NW (the direction to the cities of Gross Umstadt and
Dieburg).
... fragmentation was reported by an observer near Beerfelden
(40-50km before Dieburg; unprooved information)
... three more reports of peoples in my neighborhood mentioned
a "falling star" on wendnesday (i should ask them
again!!!)
I think that the possible impact area of this (possible)
meteorit (may be that it was the bolide you observed) was close to the city of
Dieburg - within a forrest area in the south-east. So i've seen a strange
looking stone (more cylindrical or egg-shaped; sized ~ 150mmx80mm) partially
broken and scattered arround 2m beside a highly frequented road three days
later. Unfortunately i missed to collect it and i'ts fragments due to the
traffic conditions. Now (eight months later and after reading your paper) i'm
going to start my third field excursion to this place - hope that something's
left. If nowbody has kicked this 'stone' into the near bushes or collected it
for himself - this 'extraterrestric' probably ended in the inner side of a
orange-painted gigantic vacuum-cleaner - forever. Perhaps your bolide travelled
some more km in NW as you predicted - or not - i did not heard more about it.
Please let me know if there is more information available. Such an real
medium-sized meteorite (>1000kg?) mentioned in your paper should not become a
forgotten meteorit!
Best regards, clear skies and a heavy stone fall,
Hans Guenter