Hi.All I am checking with the group to see if anyone can account for a event we had out here in far west Texas U.S.A..The event time was May 5,2006 at 3:44:58UT.The event was observed at distances of three hundred miles and the sonic boom heard at 100 miles around the event.The event reach a peak magnitude of greater than -20.The event cast light on the ground at my location which is one of the most light polluted areas of the city of El Paso and we also had nearly a half moon.Event duration was about 9.5 seconds.There was a Russian rocket motor that decayed the morning before but I can not account from what I have found to this event being a space junk decay.The media and some experts in astronomy said space junk but that seems to be a standard answer for most event of this type. I have observed space junk decays before,rocket bodies etc.and have observed shuttle reentry but never have I seen anything like this in my more than 43 years of skywatching.We are talking about a firball that was at least five degress in diameter with a trail 30 degrees and an train at least 50 degrees.Fragments observed smoking before winking out. If this was space junk can anyone ID it for me. Regards Thomas Dorman Horizon City, Texas ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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