[meteorite-list] NEW YORK FIREBALL / Acknowledgement & Gratitude

[Darryl Pitt]

Folks,

Before I ramp into an update of the Westchester, New York fireball,  
special kudos are due list member Marc Fries of the Jet Propulsion  
Laboratory along with his meteorologist brother.

As you may recall, Doppler radar revealed the debris cloud created by  
the atmospheric break-up of the space shuttle Columbia.  The  
appearance of Doppler radar returns provided Marc and his brother the  
idea to take a look at such data in the search for meteorites.  For  
years Marc had been waiting to test his hypothesis, and the West,  
Texas fall provided exactly what he was looking for: clear sky, a  
radar return from two different radars and recovered stones.  (It  
bears noting that Mike Farmer and Robert Ward both informed me that  
when they saw the Doppler image of the West debris cloud---which they  
likened to looking like a hail storm---they couldn't get to West,  
Texas quickly enough.)

NEW YORK FIREBALL

This past Friday evening Liz Holland witnessed the descent of a  
fireball from her Mt. Kisco (northern Westchester County) home---an  
hour or so North of New York City. After having spoken with Liz at  
length, it was clear she had seen a bolide---and it wasn't arcing  
across the sky but appeared to be coming somewhat towards her.  Around  
the same time, sonic phenomena consistent with the sonic boom of a  
meteoroid breaking the sound barrier were heard throughout eastern  
Westchester County.   Upon news of the same, my wife and I called  
numerous police stations near and far and failed to make much  
headway.  Another piece to the puzzle was needed. Marc produced a  
Doppler  return taken about the same time as the aforementioned visual  
and sonic phenomena which revealed a debris cloud over  Long Island  
Sound.  He is currently working with his brother gathering and  
analyzing further data.  I've helped put the New York media on alert  
and hopefully something, somewhere will turn up.  It's currently  
unclear what portion of this event has met a watery end.

Fries Brothers, thank you for your assistance.


Darryl