[meteorite-list] Brilliant Utah fireball – October 2, 2014, revisited

[John Cabassi]

G'Day Linton
Thoroughly enjoyed your write up. So how are things going in your
neighborhood?  Miss you mate.

Cheers
John Cabassi



On Fri, Oct 2, 2015 at 10:46 AM, Linton Rohr via Meteorite-list
<meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com> wrote:
> Thanks, John.
> I wish the lack of a shovel was the only thing holding me back! ;^)
> Linton
>
> -----Original Message----- From: John Lutzon
> Sent: Thursday, October 01, 2015 7:41 PM
> To: Linton Rohr
> Cc: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Brilliant Utah fireball – October 2, 2014,
> revisited
>
>
> Hello Linton,
>
> Great visual for sure!!!
>
> I do have a spare shovel that i'll mail to you.
> Thanks for the moment by moment...
>
> John
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Linton Rohr via Meteorite-list"
> <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
> To: "Meteorite Mailing List" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
> Sent: Thursday, October 01, 2015 9:30 PM
> Subject: [meteorite-list] Brilliant Utah fireball – October 2, 2014,
> revisited
>
>
> A year ago tonight, my wife and I witnessed a dazzling fireball here in
> Torrey. I posted a report here, and noted that a few in the SLC area had
> seen it heading this way. I've expanded on it a bit for a stargazing column
> I've been writing for our little local paper. I'll post it below, just for
> fun. I'd love to hear more from others who saw it.
>
> Insider Stargazing Tips
>
> Brilliant Utah fireball – October 2, 2014, revisited
>
>     I’ve spent a lot of hours outside, on a lot of nights, over many years,
> looking at the sky at all hours of the night. Over those years I’ve seen
> hundreds, if not thousands of meteors. Some were bright and some were dim,
> but they’re always a joy to see. After I began collecting meteorites and
> learning more about them, the meteor sightings became even more enjoyable.
> There’s something fascinating about holding a piece of space in your hand.
> But as I read stories about fireball sightings, or sometimes watched online
> videos, I always felt a little envious. I needed to see one myself.
>     Finally, on October 2 of last year, my time came. It was truly amazing!
> I shared it with friends at the time, but I wasn’t yet writing this column.
> So though my words cannot do it justice, I’ll attempt to recount the
> experience now - on its anniversary - so that you might envision the
> spectacular event.
>     I had gotten up at 4:00 and was lying there, about to fall back to
> sleep, when my wife Karen started shouting “LOOK!” When I opened my eyes,
> the entire sky out our ample, northeast-facing windows was dazzling white!
> The pinon and juniper trees were lit up like it was noon. A moment later, a
> large, white, slow-moving fireball came into view at the top of our windows.
> I estimated it to be at least half the diameter of the moon and it had a
> long trail behind it. Karen described the tail as having an “electric
> blue-green tint”. It may have just looked white to me because my pupils
> hadn’t
> adjusted yet. Then it morphed into an orange fireball, with undulating
> flames trailing out perhaps 3 degrees (six full moon widths) behind it! A
> few small chunks fell from it, but for the most part, it remained intact
> until it cooled into dark flight, which means the atmospheric friction had
> slowed it down enough that it no longer glowed. The whole show lasted about
> 5 or 10 magical seconds, which will remain burned into my memory forever.
>     I usually compare bright meteors to Venus, but this one was more like
> the sun! It was traveling from N/NW to E/SE and descending at about a 5 to
> 10 degree angle. It appeared to be right over the northern end of Capitol
> Reef N.P., but was probably much further away... possibly over toward Moab
> or even western Colorado. In fact, when I filed my report, I saw that a few
> people way over in central Colorado had seen it, too. A couple early morning
> astronomers in Salt Lake City reported seeing it heading our way. And I did
> hear from a couple other local residents who also witnessed the spectacle,
> but would love to know if anyone in Hanksville did. Or Bluff, Blanding, and
> so on.
>     One thing that really amazes me is this: the farther away it actually
> was, the more massive it must have been to appear so large from here! Most
> ‘shooting stars’ we see are only the size of a grain of sand, or perhaps a
> pea, and they burn up long before they could ever reach the ground. Not this
> one!
>     It took quite a while for us to calm down enough to get back to sleep.
> Early in the morning, I wrote up the story and posted it to meteorite and
> astronomy forums. I hoped that some of my meteorite hunting friends would
> spring into action and start tracking it down. But another fireball in
> northern Arizona – visible in mid-day – was reported that afternoon, and all
> the attention turned to it. So somewhere out there, in the southeast corner
> of Utah by my reckoning, lies one or more rocks from space, still waiting to
> be found.
>
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