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(meteorobs) RE: -19 Mag + more
Joe's description of the 1972 fireball,
>Let's not forget the famous "Grand Tetons Fireball" of August 1972. That
>object actually entered the upper layers of the Earth's atmosphere and then
>skipped back out into space (like a flat stone skipping across a pond).
has appeared numerous times before. I really doubt that it "skipped off,"
rather, its trajectory simply did not intersect the surface of the earth.
The closest approach was 36 miles which would be fairly deep in the
atmosphere. It would not have hit the ground even if there had been no
atmosphere. The same situation goes for the first earth-grazers from any
shower whose radiant is near the horizon.
What time zone did this occur in?
>On the morning of November 17, 1966, while I drove to
>work, I counted 14 fireballs falling to the west >in blue sky<. This was
>during the 30 minutes preceding sunrise.
>My guess now is that all 14 were magnitude -9 or brighter.
>
>George Kelley
Watching from Tallahassee, Florida that morning I had no good fireballs at
all. Ending at 6AM EST I had seen none brighter than -6m, and there had
been only 2 of those in the preceding 4 hours. The rates obviously
increased further west but at the time I don't recall mention of the Leonids
being particularly bright.
It has been 39 years since I started meteor observing, and I have yet to
hear any type of sound from a meteor. That certainly doesn't mean it never
happens. There were 2 spectacular Florida fireballs less than a year apart
seen by both me and Povenmire. Dates were 1972 Oct 8 and 1973 Aug 18. Both
of them occurred well east of me but nearly overhead for Povenmire, and he
heard delayed non-electrophonic sounds from each one. The second one also
had a sonic boom. I saw both fireballs as magnitude -8 but Povenmire went
much brighter, I think -15 and -12. He does have a major tendency to call
a meteor 2 magnitudes brighter than most other people.
Norman
Norman W. McLeod III
Asst Visual Program Coordinator
American Meteor Society
Fort Myers, Florida
nmcleod@peganet.com
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