MASSIVE FIREBALL N. MICH 09/01 @ 9:09-9:10p EDT

[Darryl Pitt]

Greetings!

Did anyone happen to see the large fireball which was seen on September 1st at about 9:09pm EDT?

This impressive event was witnessed from as far away as Appleton, WI and Sudbury, Ontario.

This was a large object (at least a metric ton before striking the outer atmosphere based on magnitude and duration) which experienced catastrophic fragmentation over the northern Lower Peninsula. There was most certainly an impact. Any sightings would be terribly helpful as I am attempting to triangulate an impact zone and I'm getting close to the goal.

Does anyone know if the Night Sky camera captured this or who the appropriate person is to enquire after the same?

In advance, thanks so much for your help!!


Sincerely,

Darryl Pitt
darryl@dof3.com

[Chris Peterson]

Did anyone happen to see the large fireball which was seen on September 1st at about 9:09pm EDT?...

Does anyone know if the Night Sky camera captured this or who the appropriate person is to enquire after the same?

I'd start with Peter Brown's group at the University of Western Ontario. They've got cameras all over the area.

On the whole, a very bright fireball with lots of fragmentation isn't generally the best candidate for a meteorite producer. But you never know.

[Darryl Pitt]

Hi Chris,

While I'm grateful for the suggestion, with all respect, there are meteorites from event. Why would you imagine they wouldn't have been produced from an exceptionally large, slow-moving bolide seen over hundreds of miles.

My experience, and scores of descriptions posted to various blogs (from people who, unfortunately, I cannot reach) include reports of sonic phenomena over a large area. Moreover, the descriptions I've read fit together like the description of the most videotaped fireball of all time---of which we (Macovich Collection) possess the largest mass---the Peekskill fireball whose main mass impacted a car in New York.

Here's one....

"It was about 9:15 last night my husband and I were sitting on the couch in front of our big picture window, when we saw a really bright light ,we looked up and I could of sworn it was a huge fire ball falling from the sky, first thing I thought of was another plane crash, as one crashed only 1/2 mile from our house last summer. It looked as it was falling fast we watched it for what must of been 10 seconds before we ran outside to wait for the boom! Of what we thought at the time was a plane or helicopter, it looked seriously like a giant ball of fire.. It was amazing, our neighbors also saw the same thing and we all jumped into our vehicals to seach for the crashed fire ball! We drove up and down the dirt roads and scanned the sky for any signs of flames and smoke. We live over in Kalkaska off Krumlauf rd on top of the big hill, and this was so amazing, now that I know that it wasn't a plane crash or something!

Here's another from more than 100 miles away closer to its retardation point:

"I am not sure if what I saw on Wednesday evening, about dusk (9pm) was the object that you are interested in or not. I was sitting outside my rented cabin facing South. Out of the NorthWest an object moving very very fast and with a brilliant blue/green fireball color. It was moving extremely fast, silently, about 3/4s the way across my eyeview of the night sky it disappeared leaving 2 red embers that extinguished inflight. All of the above took no more than 3 or 4 seconds, and all silently. Several second later, what sounded like a barrage of cannonfire, low booming sounds came from the direction that the object disappeared!! At the time I assumed that the noise was coming from Camp Grayling, which sometimes we can hear where I live. Now, I am not so sure. This event was so startling and simply incredible that I was left stunned and speechless, until I called those near and dear."


With a little more solid data, I hope to be able to find something to show you!

All the best / Darryl

[Chris Peterson]

While I'm grateful for the suggestion, with all respect, there are meteorites from event. Why would you imagine they wouldn't have been produced from an exceptionally large, slow-moving bolide seen over hundreds of miles.

Well, you are providing additional information here. While it is true that large fireballs are less likely to produce meteorites than much smaller ones, it is also true the any meteor which has a low velocity and a shallow entry angle, and which survives low enough to produce sonic booms, is a good candidate for meteorite production. So this sounds like a good event for further investigation if finding meteorites is your goal.

That said, I'd never say with certainty that any fireball did or did not produce meteorites. All you can do is look at the characteristics of the event and lean towards the positive or negative.