[meteorite-list] fireball over midwest NUMBER THREE

[Sterling K. Webb]

Hi,

    This is an earlier piece from Fox News nationally,
but I include it here because it mentions two other
sighting locations: Alton and Bunker Hill, Illinois.
A vector drawn through these two towns precisely
parallels a vector drawn through Beardstown and
Lewistown, but the two vectors are at a distance 
of 75-80 miles apart. They do not point toward
Gape Girardeau, Missouri.
    If the object passed between the Beardstown-
Lewistown line and the Alton-BunkerHill line, its
heading would be about 180 degrees and take it
not too far west of Cape Girardeau.
    The heading of 180 suggests a possibility: one
of the 500-odd large fragments of a certain Chinese
polar satellite which would indeed have a shallow 
trajectory and a low entry velocity. Assuming we're 
tracking those chunks, we may know before long,
or not.

Sterling K. Webb (story follows)
--------------------------------------------------------
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,250323,00.html

Possible Meteors Light Up Midwestern Skies
Monday, February 05, 2007
 
ST. LOUIS -  Dozens of people in eastern and 
central Missouri and parts of Illinois reported seeing 
flaming objects falling from the sky Sunday evening.
    People reported small objects that looked like 
bright lights or something burning, with flaming tails 
behind some of them, said Ken Tretter, with the 
Missouri State Highway Patrol in St. Louis.
    He said the reports came in from a widespread 
area, including St. Louis, Cape Girardeau and Pettis 
County in Missouri and near Alton and Bunker Hill 
in Illinois.
    A preliminary report Sunday indicated that the 
lights were from a meteor, said Maj. April Cunningham, 
a spokeswoman for North American Aerospace 
Defense Command, or NORAD, which watches 
for airborne threats to the United States and Canada.
    "We had a pilot reporting seeing a meteor and 
that's really all the information we have tonight," 
Cunningham said.








----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chris Peterson" <clp at alumni.caltech.edu>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Monday, February 05, 2007 11:56 AM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] fireball over midwest


Contrary to the article posted by Ron, the fireball was traveling mainly 
north to south, and it looks like most of the action was over west 
central Illinois. It was west of Champaign. I have independent reports 
from Beardstown and Lewistown (30 miles apart) of sonic booms after the 
fireball passed overhead, with short enough time delays to suggest that 
the object was fairly low at that point (15-20 miles). One witness also 
reported electrophonic noise. Termination was probably somewhere between 
Beardstown and St Louis.

I'm not investigating this fireball myself, but thought I'd pass along 
the information that has come my way.

Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Edwin Thompson" <etmeteorites at hotmail.com>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Monday, February 05, 2007 9:21 AM
Subject: [meteorite-list] fireball over midwest


> Hello list members. Received two frantic calls from hunters who say 
> there was a huge meteor over Illinois, Indiana and reports from 
> Missouri.  It was talked about by Paul Harvey this morning
> and it sounds like something large came in. Does anyone have more 
> details?
>
> Thanks, E.T.

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