[meteorite-list] Time delay: Park Forest / Mar 01 Eyewitness Report

[Chris Peterson]

> Would a *multiple breakup* of the incoming meteoroid have a crucial 
> "impact"
> on the respective parameters of the potential fall, or, in simple 
> words, could a
> multiple disintegration of the meteoroid help in explaining the 
> broadly diverging
> eyewitness reports?

I don't doubt that a more complex event will produce more divergent 
reports. But more than anything, I think the wide variation is caused by 
the simple fact that people are, in general, poor witnesses (something 
that is well established in law and other areas). It's all the worse 
when the event being reported on is brief, dramatic, and unexpected.

Time is of the essence in securing witness reports. People seem to play 
the event over and over in their mind, and as they do so they fill in 
many gaps in their actual observation. Unfortunately, what they fill the 
gaps in with is largely fiction. You're far more likely to get good 
information within the first few hours than you are after a few days. 
This is really apparent in a situation like mine, where I have the 
opportunity to compare witness reports to solid camera data.

Chris

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


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <bernd.pauli at paulinet.de>
To: <Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2008 2:17 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Time delay: Park Forest / Mar 01 Eyewitness 
Report


> Hi Chris and List,
>
> Chris writes: "In the end, I take almost everything
> reported by witnesses with a strong dose of skepticism."
>
> .. which can readily be supported by what these eyewitnesses had to
> say with regard to the duration (in seconds) of the thunderous noise:
>
> - all of a sudden the sky turned bright and there was a brief thunder 
> => brief
> - unmistakably a thunderous noise => 5 seconds
> - a pretty loud thunder was to be heard for ca. 10-25 seconds => 10-25 
> seconds
>
> Would a *multiple breakup* of the incoming meteoroid have a crucial 
> "impact"
> on the respective parameters of the potential fall, or, in simple 
> words, could a
> multiple disintegration of the meteoroid help in explaining the 
> broadly diverging
> eyewitness reports?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Bernd