Hello List,
I just seen my second
Fireball in about 24 hours. I don't know what I did to deserve this? I
have only seen one land close to me. Here are my descriptions of them. And of
the other one that I seen this year (three of em total). I have also described
two that landed within 30 miles of me that were witnessed by other people, All
this year.
First off, lastnight on my way home from work
I saw a fireball land near Ottawa, IL. I seen it at 12:17am on Tuesday Oct
24th 2006. It had a reddish/orange tail and the object/meteorite appeared to
be purple, it was that close where I could see it in detail. It was actually
traveling pretty slow, I do not know if it broke up before I saw it. When I
first seen it I was driving North and out of my drivers side window I saw for
about 3-4 seconds, it seemed longer. It started sither above me or East of me,
that why I said I don't know if it broke apart, I did not see it the whole
time. I would say it landed between 2-5 miles away, I am sure it landed just
south of N33th RD, not more than 100yds and between E15th and E10th
Rd.
Now, for the second one. I seen it on Tuesday Oct
24th at 11:48pm (almost 24hrs after the previous one) Tonite on the way home
from work I saw ANOTHER one, this one was about 20 miles West from the other
one. I was turning the corner out in the country when I seen it, it had a low
trajectory and it burnt out and broke up close to the ground. The trail on
this one was light orange, I did not the the meteor this time, it was
traveling much faster than the previous one. It landed just South and West of
Mendota, IL. It lasted( I saw it) for about 2 seconds.
Man I can not believe that I saw another fireball, this is the secon one that
I seen land near Mendota in a year (the other was in June 2006). If I am able
to find just one of these that would be AWSOME!!!
This
would be the third one (fireball that landed as a meteorite) that I saw this
year, WOW very unbelivable. What is even more unbelievable, is that I know of
5 total that fell within 30 miles of Mendota, IL this year. Maybe this is the
new Meteorite Fall Capitol of the world. If people do not believe that I saw
these, I will hopefully prove it when I find one of them, everyone will be
able to tell by the freshness, I hope. Out of the three that I saw, two of
them were very close to Mendota, IL. The others were near Ladd, IL and Ottawa,
IL. I sure hope that I am able to find at least one of these, I have a vague
idea where at least four of them are, the fifth one I am not so sure of.
The ones that
I saw landed
close, I know this for sure. I have seen many many meteors/ falling stars and
fireballs over the years and even this year( far away and close). I know for a
fact that these ones landed somewhat close, I am sure of it. I am taking the
other guys on thier word.
The guy (Sergio Garcia)said that
he and his daughter saw it come in and "explode" over a beanfield near
Mendota. We have been searching that field, with no luck so far, but we have
may have found a possible iron meteorite in the same field. This was in Early
spring, no date.
The one that landed near Ladd, IL
was seen by at least five people that I know of. One of the guys called me
right after they saw it, he was very excited at the time. I could also hear
the people in the background talking to each other about it. He said they
heard it "whistle and roar". He said it last almost a minute and that he
thinks it landed at least 10 miles away, between Princeton and Ladd. This was
seen on May 22 at 9:35pm.
Thanks,
Joe Kerchner
http://illinoismeteorites.com
