[meteorite-list] Your top meteor sightings!

[Jeff Kuyken]

Hi Gary,

Indeed it does sound like you experienced electrophonic sounds. Many years 
ago Bernd helped me put a meteor sound page together using his famous 
database of info. It's amazing as when you read through them you start to 
see a definite pattern in the descriptions. The witness descriptions of many 
falls are here:

http://www.meteorites.com.au/odds&ends/sounds.html

Cheers,

Jeff


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gary Fujihara" <fujmon at mac.com>
To: "Shelly" <shelly1999 at msn.com>
Cc: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Sunday, February 21, 2010 10:57 AM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Your top meteor sightings!


> Aloha meteor watchers,
>
> My most memorable meteor sighting was on November 21, 2001, during the 
> peak of the Leonids shower on the summit of Mauna Kea on Hawaii Island in 
> the middle of the Pacific Ocean.  Hawaii was in the perfect location to 
> view the peak (of the 2001 shower and 33 year cycle), and I happened to be 
> working at the 8.3m Subaru Telescope, operating the SuprimeCam wide field 
> imager on the prime focus of the telescope.  Night lunch is at 11:30 pm, 
> and I took my break outside to get a glimpse of the meteor shower.  I 
> faced the eastern sky and observed as Leo slowly rose above the horizon. 
> Several meteors were already appearing, with occasional earth-grazers 
> traversing almost 180 degrees across the sky.
>
> One I recall would appear as a bright greenish-blue streak that pierced 
> the dark night sky, fading out before reappearing again this time as an 
> orange-yellow meteor.  This was probably an earth-grazer that skipped 
> across and through the earth's atmosphere not unlike a stone across a pond 
> or lake's surface.  But that was not the most memorable meteor of the 
> night.
>
> At 12:09 am, there was a super bright bolide that appeared and got 
> brighter and brighter in intensity, seemingly without moving at all in the 
> sky.  It was apparently traveling toward me, and its light cast shadows 
> from the support building and railings that danced all around me.  At its 
> brightest, I would estimate that it was -13 v magnitude, or about equal to 
> that of the full moon.   While all this occurred I thought I could hear a 
> buzzing sound associated with the meteor.  Its intensity seemed to match 
> that of the bolide I was watching.  After what seemed like an eternity 
> (but was probably only a few seconds at the most), the meteor spiked in 
> brightness before extinguishing to darkness.  Wow!  I had to pinch myself 
> to be sure I had not imagined that experience.
>
> In retrospect I know that any sound emanating from a meteor could not 
> coincide with the vision of it, because of the difference in speed of 
> light and sound waves.  But I know what I heard and and experienced and 
> later learned of electrophonic sound phenomenon, which could explain what 
> I had experienced.  A most unforgettable meteor sighting!
>
> Gary Fujihara
> Big Kahuna Meteorites (IMCA#1693)
> 105 Puhili Place, Hilo, Hawai'i 96720
> http://bigkahuna-meteorites.com/
> http://shop.ebay.com/fujmon/m.html
> (808) 640-9161
>
>
>
>
>
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