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View Full Version : Dec. 29, 2008 New England Fireball Sightings


GaiaLove
01-01-2009, 04:46 AM
from spaceweather.com

Location: North Bay Shore, New York
Comments: Dan Linek: "At approximately 2130 EST, I was sitting in a car and noticed a quick bright light right in front of my eyes. It took me a couple of seconds to realize I had just seen the brightest meteor of my life. It came out of the eastern sky heading to the north about 20-30 degrees above the horizon near the constellation Cancer. It was a bright blue color with a hint of green and lasted about a half second to a full second. In that short time, it seemed as though there were a few pieces falling right below it but I do not think anything reached the ground. I estimate it was about a -9 magnitude based on -8 magnitude Iridium Satellite Flares I have seen."

UPDATE: "Almost twenty-four hours after the event," says Dan Linek, "I have read through all of the eyewitness reports and have created a hand drawn map of the locations of the reports along with the direction the eyewitnesses reported the fireball to move in. Through this method, I have plotted an area that seems most likely to have been the location of the fireball when it exploded."
http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2008/31dec08/NewEnglandFireball_strip450.jpg

Source and more eye witness accounts: http://www.spaceweather.com/glossary/fireballreports_29dec08.htm?PHPSESSID=8vr2giudjmb7 4gn86g49vrnmc7

Dantheman62
01-01-2009, 05:26 AM
One of the three best, but least-observed, meteor showers will be making an appearance Friday night to early Saturday morning.

The Quadrantid shower offers up a veritable flotilla of bits of comets, with more than 100 meteors visible an hour.

I know it's a little early but they will show blue and green colors too.

http://www.amsmeteors.org/showers.html