Re: [meteorite-list] Fireball rattles the east coast(2001).

[Elton Jones]

Don Merchant wrote:

Hi List. I was organizing some old papers and came across an article 
that brought back memories of something I will never forget. On July 
23rd, 2001 (almost 6 years ago) ...


Yes, quiet the excitement for a few weeks in a particularly warm summer 
for Pennsylvania.  Several list members worked on this for a while, 
tracking down witnesses, conducting interviews, collecting photos, 
coordinating with the State Emergency Action Center, etc.   We had a 
good handle on what needed to be done but lacked the resources to do get 
it done. While it was widely seen, few people submitted fireball 
reports.  The media was all over "impact sites"-- sensationalizing crop 
damage but down right hostile about informing the public where to send 
eyewitness reports or what to be on the look out for.


This east to west, daytime fireball was viewed as far south as Virgina 
where it was photographed by a car passenger. It was sboth seen and 
photographed in Ontario. Other than smoke trails no fireball photos 
surfaced any place closer to the ground track. Satellite tracking info 
provided by the US Air Force was analyzed and the terminal point was 
projected  over a very rugged steep wooded terrain vicinity of Tioga 
County/Wellsboro PA--around 8-12 sq miles centered on the Pine Creek 
Gorge, aka The Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania 
.  A less trekable area of 
PA doesn't exist!


The meteoroid is believed to have "bolided" somewhere below 20 
miles(32km).  Some math whiz can do the math: it dropped 50km over a 
140km track.  I can't locate the velocity estimates, sorry.  Keep in 
mind this was a snapshot measurement by the satellite, not including the 
detection time, lock on nor the time after the on board sensors ceased 
tracking.  I presume the stated yield of 3000 kiloton was also only the 
portion of the total output that was measured during the tracking 
segment. In other words 1.3 BILLION joules were expended in the 
atmosphere over 88 miles (140 km). So the yield could have been 3-5 
times higher than published.  Incidentally, this fireball criss-crossed 
the Peekskill ground track which was west to east.


You perceived the fireball headed south. Because in Rochester you were 
near to a perpendicular (90-100°horizonal angle) to the flight azimuth 
(line of flight) and seeing it at the termination point , I surmise that 
you saw it in its steepest vertical down-angle drifting right to left.  
Be it remembered: On the line of flight, if you are behind the fireball 
trajectory, it will appear to be rising in the sky.  If you are in 
front/beyond the trajectory it can appear headed down and/or away 
drifting slightly. It you are in the vicinity of ground zero, it can 
appear as an almost steady point in the sky.   At your vewing location, 
it could have looked like it was going away--not sure, but it is nice to 
get another eyewitness account.  I saw the flash which lit up a darkened 
room and many seconds later heard --what then I assumed, was a 
transformer blowing up.


Elton

Archives: via Sky& Telescope/ Ron

NORTHEAST FIREBALL PINPOINTED

It now appears that July 23rd's dazzling daylight fireball punched
through the atmosphere over central Pennsylvania and may have
scattered meteorites over the rugged woodlands of Sproul State Forest.
Defense Department satellites tracked the meteoroid's flare for
several seconds beginning at 6:19:11 Eastern Daylight Time. The path
began over Scranton (75.6 deg. W, 41.5 deg. N) and ended 140
kilometers to the west over the town of Williamsport (77.3 deg. W,
41.3 deg. N), during which it dropped in altitude from 82 to 32 km.
Despite occurring in daylight, the meteor was bright enough to be
spotted by eyewitnesses from Canada to Virginia.

In its final moments the fireball created a deafening sonic boom that
shook the ground. Meteor expert Peter Brown (Los Alamos National
Laboratory), who is analyzing the satellite records, told Sky &
Telescope, "I can almost guarantee that this object broke up." He says
that reconstructing the object's orbit and flight path are proving
difficult because the entry velocity is uncertain, though it's
probably in the "asteroidal" range of 17 to 20 km per second. Brown
believes that whatever remains of the incoming object probably fell in
an elongated pattern up to 30 km long. 


The meteoroid's size is also still a guess. The satellites' visible
and infrared sensors recorded 1.3 billion joules of luminous energy,
which corresponds to a kinetic-energy wallop equivalent to 3,000 tons
of TNT (one-fifth that of the Hiroshima bomb). Meteoroids in this
energy range strike Earth roughly 10 times each year. If it was stony,
as most meteorites are, such an object would have weighed 30 to 90
tons and been the size of a car. However, Brown says acoustic and
seismic data argue for much less kinetic energy and, in turn, a much
smaller object. "I'd hoped to have had some meteorites recovered by
now,

Re: [meteorite-list] Fireball rattles the east coast.

[ken newton]

Hi Don,
Great story! Here is more info and news videos:
http://archives.cnn.com/2001/TECH/space/07/24/fire.ball/
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast27jul_1.htm
Thanks for sharing,
Ken Newton
IMCA #9632

Don Merchant wrote:
Hi List. I was organizing some old papers and came across
an article that brought back memories of something I will never forget.
On July 23rd, 2001 (almost 6 years ago) I was jet skiing on Lake
Ontario by Rochester N.Y. (I have lived here my whole life) I was
heading dead east about 1/4 mile off shore. All of a sudden I looked up
and see what appears to be a plane (commercial jet) heading due South
in FLAMES!!! I thought this at first because the Rochester
International Airport is south of Lake Ontario. It of course is
daylight out, somewhere around  6 or 7 pm EST. Within several seconds,
I then knew this was something very spectacular and very rare. This was
something that when I was kid of 8 years old and became hooked on the
stars and planets, and asteroids...this was the Holy Grail sort of
speak. This was NOT a plane on fire! This was NOT my neighbor launching
a frog again in a tiny Estes rocket with a "D" size engine! Most surely
this was not Domino's Pizza making a delivery! This was an actual
Daylight Fireball! I waited patiently 33 years to see one. I got an eye
full!  Supposedly a corn field in Lycoming County Pennsylvania was
searched as witnesses said flaming debris fell amongst the corn. I read
an article on MSN the next day 7/ 24/ 01 What bothered me was that some
witnesses outside of N.Y. State saw this fireball descending West!!?? I
know what I saw and I paid very careful attention to it and the
direction because I knew I may never live to see another. When I first
noticed the flames which were green, blue, yellow orange and red...
mostly bright yellow and orange, I was heading east and looked straight
up ahead  about 40-45 degrees and this fireball was BRIGHT!! It was
headed due south, if anything  the slightest west that I saw. I was
able to follow (about 4 to 6 seconds) until it went out of sight but
still burning bright!! Does anyone remember this? If so, was anything
ever found of this possible fireball turned meteorite? Also...would
anyone else like to share their story if they too have seen a daylight
meteor/fireball
  
Thank you.
  
Don Merchant 
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[meteorite-list] Fireball rattles the east coast.

[Don Merchant]

Hi List. I was organizing some old papers and came across an article that 
brought back memories of something I will never forget. On July 23rd, 2001 
(almost 6 years ago) I was jet skiing on Lake Ontario by Rochester N.Y. (I 
have lived here my whole life) I was heading dead east about 1/4 mile off 
shore. All of a sudden I looked up and see what appears to be a plane 
(commercial jet) heading due South in FLAMES!!! I thought this at first 
because the Rochester International Airport is south of Lake Ontario. It of 
course is daylight out, somewhere around  6 or 7 pm EST. Within several 
seconds, I then knew this was something very spectacular and very rare. This 
was something that when I was kid of 8 years old and became hooked on the 
stars and planets, and asteroids...this was the Holy Grail sort of speak. 
This was NOT a plane on fire! This was NOT my neighbor launching a frog 
again in a tiny Estes rocket with a "D" size engine! Most surely this was 
not Domino's Pizza making a delivery! This was an actual Daylight Fireball! 
I waited patiently 33 years to see one. I got an eye full!  Supposedly a 
corn field in Lycoming County Pennsylvania was searched as witnesses said 
flaming debris fell amongst the corn. I read an article on MSN the next day 
7/ 24/ 01 What bothered me was that some witnesses outside of N.Y. State saw 
this fireball descending West!!?? I know what I saw and I paid very careful 
attention to it and the direction because I knew I may never live to see 
another. When I first noticed the flames which were green, blue, yellow 
orange and red... mostly bright yellow and orange, I was heading east and 
looked straight up ahead  about 40-45 degrees and this fireball was BRIGHT!! 
It was headed due south, if anything  the slightest west that I saw. I was 
able to follow (about 4 to 6 seconds) until it went out of sight but still 
burning bright!! Does anyone remember this? If so, was anything ever found 
of this possible fireball turned meteorite? Also...would anyone else like to 
share their story if they too have seen a daylight meteor/fireball

Thank you.
Don Merchant 


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