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Re: (meteorobs) Re: Big Leonid Train Lit Up
This must be the Leonid (taken at Anza Borrego):
http://www.skyphoto.com/comets/c23.htm
I was also at Anza Borrego. This thing "flashed" real strong (saw it
out of corner of my eye), & made me drop what I was doing. I pointed a
still camera, & got this picture of the dissipating meteor-train:
http://www.comet-track.com/meteor/leonids98/debris/debris_85.jpg
I also pointed my low-light B&W video camera at it. I still have to go
back and see what I got.
Around 3-5 am activity picked up, and there were Leonids all over the
sky. Lots of them in the west.
Robert Lunsford wrote:
>
> Dave & All,
>
> I did in fact see this event. It was an extraordinarily bright fireball
> which shot overhead toward the west and disappeared approximately half
> way up in the western sky. I was facing east and nearly got whiplash
> following the swift fireball as it shot behind me.
>
> The train lasted 11 minutes for me. It slowly became distorted, as most
> enduring trains become, due to the high altitude winds. For me it slowly
> faded into oblivion and as not seen again.
>
> It seems certain to me that Dave observed a train from another nearby
> meteor as there were many bright Leonids seen that morning. Dave,
> wouldn't you agree that this is a more likely scenario than having the
> same train become re-lit?
>
> Bob Lunsford
>
> Dave English wrote:
> >
> > In a resent private e-mail I realized I never related that the
> > big Leonid meteor on 16 Nov. '98, at 4h49m37sec, over San Diego
> > County, California, left a huge train that got lit up with another
> > meteor or perhaps an eletromagnetic discharge. All I can say is that
> > after I couldn't detect the train anymore, it became instantly visible
> > again several minutes later with light from within, just like a
> > thunderhead. I've never asked George Zay if he saw the train light up
> > too. He observes about fifty miles SE from me, so he may have seen a
> > meteor enter it or may have missed it while plotting another meteor. I
> > didn't see any sign of a meteor except for the "cloud" lighting up. Is
> > it possible that the ionized cloud could have caused high altitude
> > lighting?
> >
> > I would like to know what GZ would have to say and if Robert
> > Lunsford may have seen this event. George did say this was a -16 to
> > -19 magnitude meteor and that the train lasted for 8 1/2 minutes and
> > the time listed was his. Either way, it was an unsual sighting.
> >
> > Dave English
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