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Re: (meteorobs) memorable meteors



     This has been a fun thread to follow though I've resisted the urge to post
my own memorable/disappointing meteor experiences only because I've already
posted them on this forum before.  But still, at the risk of causes yawns and
ho-hums, here goes....

    1)  The '94 Persieds:  Myself and two good friends pulled an all nighter out
on a scrub oak sand hill.  It was really less a serious observing session and
more like an impromptu party but the rates were excellent and kept us glued to
our lawn chairs
until dawn's early light.  At around 4:30 AM local time an electric blue ( I
mean BLUE, really blue) fireball of perhaps -6 or -7
streaked above us and left a persistant train of about two minutes.  This was
the first truely long lasting train I'd seen, and I watched in amazement as the
upper atmospheric winds coiled and twisted it into snakelike patterns.

     2) The Fireball of Fear:  While I missed the Leonid night of fireballs in
98, the weather did clear the following night in time for the designated "local"
peak.  At around 3:30 AM,  a monster of a fireball made its swift appearance --
not exactly a pointer but still headed seemingly in our direction!  As for
myself, I was stunned...I was not expecting to see such a beast -- I was out
hoping for high rates and the occasional bright shower member.  This thing was
wider than the full moon and unlike any meteor I had yet to see (though another
one similar to it would occur about twenty minutes later).  It was like the
death ray from a Star Wars movie..dot it had a silvery-colored matrix but all along
the length of the wake there were sparkles of every color-- blues, reds,
oranges, greens, violets, yellows.  My observing partner verified this
multi-colored aspect.  The train endured for well over ten minutes.  A few
minutes after it passed, my friend Johnny admitted to being a bit afraid when he
saw it.  I still to this day have no real reference to accurately gauge it's
magnitude but as I've observed more and more and seen several FB's between -4
and -8 since then -- and realizing that the light given off by this fireball was
a good deal more *intense* than the full moon, I have gradually upped my
estimate from -12 to probably -15 to -18.

    3)  The Exploding Lyrid.  While observing the '99 Lyrids I witness a -5
fireball that grew in intensity from perhaps +1 all the way up to -5 before
exploding in a terminal burst that lit up the entire southwestern sky.  I never
attempted to put any magnitude estimate on the actual burst and I was too
stunned to noticed how many stars vanished in the light of the explosion or if
there were any strong shadows cast.  In fact, I was too excited at the moment to
even think about listening for any sonics.  I remember seeing a train behind it
in the light of the fireball, but it did not persist for more than a second, if
that long.

      4) My least memorable -- missing out on what Anna Barclay got to see last
year (see below)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kim Youmans

Anna Barclay wrote:

> My most memorable:  The VERY first shower I observed: the Leonids 2000.  I
> took a group of "kids" (18 yrs+) about 20 miles out of town in the dark.  We
> spent the entire nite pointing and saying, "ooh, aaaahhhh, look over there!"
>   They were not as good as years before.  However, I had never seen anything
> like that.  I have decided it will be a yearly "star party".
>
> Anna
> Phoenix, AZ
>
> >From: GeoZay@aol.com
> >Reply-To: meteorobs@jovian.com
> >To: meteorobs@jovian.com
> >Subject: Re: (meteorobs) memorable meteors
> >Date: Thu, 8 Mar 2001 20:28:27 EST
> >
> >
> >Three memorable nights come to mind:
> >1) In Dec of 1993 I saw a  -15 sporadic accompanied by a sonic boom.
> >
> >2) The 1998 Leonid fireball night.
> >
> >3) The 1998(or was it the 1999?) Geminids where other observers got
> >themselves drunk.  They then loudly filled the air with lots of profanity
> >within earshot of the people who were kind enough to allow me to build an
> >observatory on their property and also turned off any bright night lights.
> >The event disgusted me enough to leave early. I have to say it was a
> >memorable night.
> >GeoZay
>
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