RE: Fireball or re-entry?

CmdrJaycee@aol.com
Tue, 16 Nov 1999 22:59:17 EST

In a message dated 11/16/99 9:54:32 PM, ROBERT.D.MATSON@saic.comwrites:

>> At 7:05 pm eastern, I saw a VERY bright fireball of some
>> sort pass from west to east. I estimate when I first saw it, it was about
>> 40 degrees up in the northwest (I was looking for MIR). It passed due north
>> of me at about 30 degrees and "set" in the northeast. It was EXTREMELY
>> bright, fluctuated in brightness and had a very bright and long tail.
>> Was this a Leonid or a satellite decay?
>
>Probably neither.  Unless the object was visible for more than
>30 seconds, it was a meteor.

A group of us northwest of Washington, DC saw the same thing that Darwin saw, 
only by the time it reached us, it had clearly broken up into 3 distinct 
pieces, separated by perhaps 10 degrees apart.  They were clearly trailing 
flames, moving slowly, perhaps 15 degrees above the horizon, from NW to NE.  
I didn't think to look at my watch (we were directing traffic for a 
stargazing program), but my sense was that it was between 7:05 PM and 7:10 PM,
 probably closer to 7:05.  The direction eliminated it as a possible Leonid, 
since it was heading towards the NE, not out of the NE.  So it had to be 
either a fireball breaking up or a reentry.  I'd never seen anything quite 
like it before.

Jim Cook
Germantown MD
39.2N, 77.3W

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