[meteorite-list] Fw: Re: - "witness" to July 6 Fireball PA

[MeteorHntr at aol.com]

Chris,

I agree to a point.  But if  one has some good video, there is nothing even 
the best eye witness of a 1 am  fireball could add.  Once it goes dark, 
there is nothing to see to report  on.  Maybe if it was a day time fireball, 
someone might see a stone hitting  the ground, but not at night. 

The burn out spot is as close as we can  get, then it is time to walk, or 
to ask, via the media, for other people to look  in that area.

Of course even more camera info can only help beyond just  finding the 
landing zone.

Steve


In a message dated 7/9/2009  8:59:39 A.M. Central Daylight Time, 
clp at alumni.caltech.edu writes:
A strewn  field can be at any orientation with respect to the original 
meteor 
path,  and can lie some miles from the terminal explosion location, 
depending 
on  the height of the explosion and the winds. It is very difficult to 
determine  where meteorites will land, even with accurate video records and 
good  weather data (from a weather balloon). At best, you can narrow it 
down 
to a  few tens of square miles. After that, it's back to the tried and 
true:  
interviewing people on the ground, and searching.

Also, it shouldn't  be overlooked that a large fireball, even with a 
terminal 
explosion, is very  likely to produce no meteorites at all. Better camera 
data can help access  the likelihood of that by helping to narrow down the 
entry angle and  velocity.

Chris  

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