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(meteorobs) My 15 seconds of Fame
After seeing tonights mysterious fireball I have been glued to the radio/TV
for any news of confirmation of it being just plain old space junk. However,
I keep running into news media that want to say that this is "the start of
the Leonids". Well, I was watching channel 12 in Cincinnati when Tim
Hedrick(anyone Cincinnatians on this list?) comes on and lists the
possibility--the top one being the Leonids. Well, at this point, I'm ready
to tell these news media that they're WRONG. So I call channel 12 and get
someone in the news room. I then explain how and why this ISN'T a Leonid and
am told to hold on...which somewhat irritates me as I hear weird noises on
the phone. Next thing I know Tim Hedrick is on the line. As I try to keep
my heart out of my throat, I calmly explain to him about why this wasn't a
Leonid(time/direction) and we discuss it for 2-4 minutes and I even talked
about this mailing list and all the scientists on here. Anyways, next thing I
know, he has another call and we hang up. About 5 minutes later, he returns
to do the weather again and mentions the meteor again. He mentions some
calls from "Astronomers" he has gotten, and tries to explain how different an
Astronomer is from a Meteoroligist. Anyways, he then describes EXACTLY what
I had just told him. He said how this meteor would have been going east to
west if it was a Leonid and went on to say that it could be part of the
Leonids, but he was now leaning away from that possibility. Anyhow, I felt I
had done my share to straighten this mess out, at least for the viewers of
one TV station in one city.
Clear skies,
Jeremy(non-Astronomer)
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