[meteorite-list] Fireball, sonic booms = meteorites?

[Matson, Robert]

> I was told a that a lot of people heard a sonic boom here a few
> years back and I know of at least one eye witness. He described
> a huge fireball, a window rattling bang and it exploded just over
> that mountain. Is this worth checking out, can it be found if
> there was a sonic boom, and how far off should you start looking.

The short answer is a definite no.  While a sonic boom in conjunction
with a fireball sighting is an excellent indicator that meteorites
may have been produced, a single visual report is of no use for
determining where to go looking.  Two (typically vague) visual
reports plus coordinates for a dozen geographically spread people
who heard/felt the sonic boom might give you a general area, but
you're probably still talking over 100 square miles.  In Arizona,
if you thoroughly searched any desert area of even 5 square miles,
you'd almost certainly find one or more meteorites, so you see how
limited the value is of visual sightings from (usually) untrained
witnesses.  --Rob