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Re: (meteorobs) Fire Ball over the Gila
In a message dated 7/15/03 4:09:02 PM Pacific Daylight Time, mirage@gilanet.com writes:
>>As to any noise just before...well there is a lot of thunder around here because of the monsoons...I may have heard something but if I did I would simply have thought it to be thunder.<<
The fact that it seemed to be about half way up from the horizon to the zenith, tells me that at that moment, it was probably relatively distant....perhaps over 50 miles. Since you didn't hear any loud sonic boom, it also tells me that it wasn't really that close to you....that it was still at least 15 miles or more above the earth....perhaps over 30 miles? I think if it was really below the clouds, you would hear an unmistakable loud boom....much like that made by a close lightning bolt. My opinion is that you either saw a relatively bright meteor over -6 magnitude thru some relatively thin clouds...or you saw a relatively bright meteor over -6 magnitude that was distant and high up, with clouds in the foreground or above you. The alignment was such that it appeared below the clouds, but wasn't really. In this case, there were relatively clear skies below the meteor, but cloudy above you. In either case, I suspect the meteoroid experienced total burn up with nothing but dust reaching the ground.
George Zay