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(meteorobs) Re: Big Leonid Train Lit Up

Bob,

I noticed the date on Jerry's picture said November 17. I saw the
fireball on the morning of the 16th, the same date as your train
picture.

If this is the same fireball with the wrong date it appeared much higher
in our sky, stating near the zenith and going toward the west ending
perhaps still 50-60 degrees high in the west. 

Clear Skies!

Bob Lunsford
 

B Yen wrote:
> 
> 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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