[meteorite-list] Major Daylight Fireball Seen Over Slovenia, Croatia and Italy

[Ron Baalke]

http://www.spaceweather.com/ 

SUPER-BOLIDE: On Wednesday, July 25th at approximately 10:00 UT, "a 
major daylight fireball tore across the skies of Slovenia, Croatia and 
Italy," reports veteran meteor observer Jure Atanackov of Maribor, 
Slovenia. "It produced two bright flashes that reached an estimated 
magnitude of -20 and also loud sonic booms."

Magnitude -20? In plain language, the meteor was 600 times brighter 
than a full Moon. Atanackov has gathered reports from hundreds of 
eyewitnesses. "Most described the fireball as very bright, its 
surface brightness almost as great as the Sun's. One person said it 
was 'too bright to look at for more than a few moments.'"

[Image]
Above: This is not the fireball. The image was posted by a Croatian 
news service as an example of what the fireball looked like. 
Non-speakers of Croatian misunderstood and widely circulated the 
photo as a genuine record of the event.

The July 25th fireball falls into the category of superbolides--
exploding meteors of magnitude -17 or brighter. They are, essentially, 
small asteroids measuring a few to 10 meters in diameter and massing 
a few hundred metric tons. Superbolides trigger seismic detectors on 
the ground, produce waves of infrasound that can travel thousands of 
miles, and they are tracked by military satellites scanning Earth for 
nuclear explosions. Recent examples include the El Paso fireball of 
1997 and the Yukon fireball of 2000.

Eyewitnesses, please report your sightings to Jure Atanackov 
(jureatanackov at gmail.com) or colleague Javor Kac (javor.kac at gmail.com)
who are gathering data to learn more about the "Slovenian 
Superbolide" and to estimate possible landing sites.