FIREBALLS LATEST

FIREBALLS LATEST

By Alastair McBeath, SPA Meteor Section Director

French meteor analyst Karl Antier has reported to us that a magnitude

-8 or so fireball was seen from places across western and northern

France on January 24-25 at 20:51 UT. It was also caught on video, as

can be seen via the link at:http://snipurl.com/ucps2  . The fireball was

observed in the southern sky from Le Havre, so it is possible the

meteor might have been spotted, probably low to very low in the sky,

from southern England. As yet, no comparable UK reports have been

received, however.

More recently, somewhat confused reports have come through,

suggesting possibly up to three separate fireballs were seen from Ireland

and/or Northern Ireland before 20h UT on February 3-4.

Much of this news came from media reports, suggesting there were
"hundreds" of sightings, though so far, very few usable observations
have been submitted to the Section. Of those sufficiently detailed to
tell, one report each from around 17:55-18:00 UT has arrived from
Co Armagh in Northern Ireland, and a little south of Dublin's city centre
in the Irish Republic. 

The Co Armagh observer saw the object in the northwest to

north-northwest sky, while the near-Dublin observer saw the fireball

pass behind buildings to the north-northeast, at a similar elevation above

the horizon to what the Armagh witness reported for the meteor's start.

If correct, these positions show the sightings must have been of different

meteors. That might suggest there were two fireballs, one off northwest

Ireland/Northern Ireland, the other off northeast Northern Ireland/

Ireland, the neighbouring Irish Sea, or adjacent parts of western Britain,

around ~18h. 

A further fireball, seen from parts of Ireland around 19:30-19:40, was
reported as apparently fainter than the earlier meteor(s), but almost no
information other than this has reached the Section about it as yet.

For the media weblinks and further discussion, see topics on the SPA's
Observing Forum topic at:

http://snipurl.com/ucsif ,and the UK Weather World's Space Weather

Forum at: http://snipurl.com/ucsim 

Claims of a video recording of the ~18h fireball have proven false, as 

this was imaged in 2008 apparently, and in some places online, it 

seems to have been shown in reverse anyway.

FIREBALL OVER NORTHERN BRITAIN

from the 

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The SOCIETY for POPULAR ASTRONOMY

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Electronic News Bulletin No. 281   2010 January 31

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JANUARY 16 FIREBALL OVER NORTHERN BRITAIN

By Alastair McBeath, SPA Meteor Section Director

Three observations of a bright fireball seen around 22:45 UT on January16-17 have been received, two from the Wirral peninsula (where themeteor passed almost overhead) and one from Shropshire. 

 

Informationprovided by the lucky witnesses has suggested the object probably flew above parts of north Wales and northern England, on a roughly WSWto ENE track, and that the meteor was almost grazing the atmosphere,producing a long visible trajectory. 

 

The start has not been well-established so far, but assuming a height of between ~120-100 km altitude suggests the fireball may have first become visible overCaernarfon Bay, about 35 km off the northern Lleyn Peninsula coastof Gwynedd, likely near 52.9°N, 5.1°W for a ~120 km altitude start,or 53°N, 4.8°W for a ~100 km start. 

 

From there, it passed over the extreme north of mainland Wales, from roughly Caernarfon to Point ofAyr, then across the mouth of the Dee to the northern tip of the Wirral in northwest England (plausibly between West Kirby to Birkenhead),above the Mersey, Liverpool (likely a little south of the city centre) and the Pennines of the Lancs-Yorks border northeast of Manchester-Oldham, and somewhat south of Leeds, to end around 75 km altitudenear Mickletown on the River Aire, midway between Castleford andRothwell southeast of Leeds (above approximately 53.7°N, 1.4°W). 

 

Assuming this trajectory was correct would imply the entry angle was very shallow, between ~6° to ~11° from the horizontal, giving an atmospheric path length from ~246 to ~269 km. The observers estimated the meteor was visible from 5 to 8 seconds, whose average

(~6.5 seconds) would indicate an atmospheric velocity, not allowing for deceleration, of ~38-41 km/sec, so about medium-speed on the 11 to 72 km/sec atmospheric velocity scale for meteors. The outlying range for this rough velocity would be ~31-54 km/sec. Some fragmentation along the path was seen, with the colours noted as mainly yellow or white. 

 

The very high end height and the significant fragmentation would both count against any meteorites surviving and being recovered, while the shallow approach-angle makes it almost impossible to define where any such falls could have happened; perhaps into the eastern North Sea, the Baltic, or nearby parts of southern Scandinavia, as a best-guess. No reports of any such falls have been received as yet.

Any fresh sightings of this fireball, or others seen from the UK and nearby, would be welcomed by the Meteor Section. See the "Making and Reporting Fireball Observations" page of the SPA website, at: http://snipurl.com/u8aer, for details of what information to send, and to where.