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Re: (meteorobs) memorable meteors



    I guess one meteor that stands out in my mind was a brilliant greenish 
fireball that I observed swept from Cassiopeia to Cygnus on the peak night of 
the Perseids in 1969.  It was my first real "dazzler."  I saw it from my 
backyard in The Bronx . . . it was at least -10 magnitude.  I was only 13 
years old at the time, but seeing such a sight from my "urban observatory" 
made a very deep and lasting impression on me.  Later, in the October 1969 
S&T, it was reported that a "Jan Finkelstein of Brooklyn, New York" saw a 
spectacular greenish fireball of -10 magnitude at 12:59 a.m. on the morning 
of August 12th.  "My" meteor!  

    Then, about five or six years later, while attending City University, 
somebody in the Earth and Planetary Science Department noticed that I had a 
strong interest in astronomy and casually commented that, " . . . oh, you 
ought to meet Jan Finkelstein."  Shortly thereafter we did finally meet and 
discussed the events of that August night in 1969:  Two kids watching the 
famous Perseid meteors; one in The Bronx, the other in Brooklyn.  

    Jan also took the cover shot of the May 25, 1975 total lunar eclipse for 
the July 1975 S&T (trailed images of the eclipsed Moon in Scorpius).  I've 
since lost track of 
him . . . but I think he changed his last name to Curtis and he now lives in 
Alaska.

-- joe rao 
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