Hi All, AMS event # 994-2016 did not have a large number of witnesses (no doubt due to it occurring at 2:15 am CST) but it appears to have been a potential meteorite dropper. Dan B. from Albany, MO, reported: "This was the second brightest meteor that my cameras have ever recorded. The other was from a Taurid back in the late Fall of 2015. I am still going over video and stills of this." (I have yet to see any videos of stills materialize for this fall, so Dan's video/images would be very helpful!) Dan goes on to post: "The sonic boom was picked up on the microphone of my system. It was a low muffled deep boom. Meteor entered at 2:15:33 and the delayed boom was heard on the recording at 2:19:20. It got to me 3:47 seconds after entry if my math is correct." Assuming Dan's times are correct, it would put his line-of-sight distance at about 68 km from the point of closest approach.
Another witness Neil B. (who did not directly observe the meteor) heard/felt the sonic boom less than a minute after the meteor -- putting him quite close to the terminus. He wrote: "A loud, distant boom, much like very powerful distant thunder. An almost rumble, with a distinct sound of 1 larger explosion followed by at least 1 softer explosion, followed by an echo. From the time the ground lit up to the time I heard the sound was approximately 50 seconds. It was an unforgettable sound and an unforgettable sight." The nearest seismic station to the fall location was US.SCIA in State Center, Iowa. It recorded a weak sonic boom at 8:24:37 UT, 9 minutes 4 seconds after the meteor (assuming Dan B.'s time is accurate). (I've created an image of the seismic trace if anyone is interested.) The implied range is 163 km. Acoustic triangulation puts the fall somewhere between Princeton, MO and the Missouri/Iowa border. (The trajectory estimated by the AMS algorithm is probably too far north and has it travelling too far to the east.) Unfortunately, I see nothing compelling on radar near the acoustic triangulation point from either Davenport, Des Moines, or Kansas City Dopplers. It would be valuable to have Dan B.'s video or still image in order to confirm the sky location is a match to the acoustically-determined area. Witness Tim C. in Chariton, Iowa, also reports that he has stills and video, so between his imagery and Dan's, a very good triangulation solution should be possible. --Rob ______________________________________________ Visit our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/meteoritecentral and the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list [email protected] https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
