[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
Re: (meteorobs)
Title: Re: (meteorobs)
In a message
dated 7/14/03 10:00:33 PM Pacific Daylight Time, mirage@gilanet.com
writes:
>>It is very overcast here from the monsoon
clouds...if it were above we never could have seen it.. This was a
bright ....big....green ball of fire.. We could not see stars
etc. It was really low and below the clouds.
Nevyn<<
Then it was very big....big enough to leave a
fairly good sized crater on the ground. I wonder if anybody has called
in to report a big disaster from the impact? To be still incandescent
below the clouds, it's velocity would have to be very high, thus mean
its size is also very large....at least well over 10 tons. I can't
figure how something this large hitting the ground at speeds great
enough for the "friction" to keep it still glowing would go
unnoticed on the ground?
George Zay
My thought is a little milder than George's and it is based on
some personal experience.
We had overcast skies during the entire 2001 Leonid display.
Where everyone else traveled to clear skies, my group sat it out on my
deck. Except for partly cloudy skies during the first 30 minutes, the
only thing visible in the sky for MOST of the night was Jupiter;
however, there were times when not even it was seen. Nevertheless, I
saw 80 meteors during the 6-hour session, several of which lit up the
sky and ground. I was amazed at how distinct the bright meteors seemed
to be despite the fact that they were above the clouds. Many of these
were green, thus indicating very bright objects.
I think the proper way to interpret Nevyn's account is to
acknowledge the fact that a very bright meteor was seen and that it
was so bright it appeared distinct through the clouds. With Jupiter as
a guide in 2001, I noted that the meteors that distinctly appeared
through the clouds were at least -6 in brightness. Not knowing the
thickness of the cloud cover during Nevyn's observation, the meteor
might have been similar or significantly brighter. We might be talking
about something the size of a softball or basketball, depending on its
composition, but I doubt that it weighed 10 tons.
Sincerely,
Gary
References: