bright fireball seen over Galway

Hi,

Saw a spectacular fireball tonight, at 10:32 UT, in the South
(crossing Orion).

Over 40-50 degrees of travel in 2.5seconds or so,
with a very definite yellow trail. heading SSE. It broke up
into two pieces, glowing red for a moment as it did.

Did anyone else see it?

Any ideas how to estimate where it might have landed (if it did)?

(Viewing from Moycullen, Co. Galway)

Regards
Alastair McKinstry

Well it wasn't visible from Dublin, been watching that area all night, so it must have been pretty localised.

Any more info on brightness, how fast it was moving, flames etc?
Did you notice a smoke trail? If it was local, it could have come down in a 10 - 50Km distance from you.

You lucky b's$ard, I missed seeing the last one here last summer when the kids came in freaked out about a meteorite, or possibly a plane on fire. The smoke trail from that was visible all across the sky, I reckon that one came down somewhere near Naas.

I'd say it was fairly localised. I'm not sure about estimating distances / speeds,
however it did clear 50 degrees in about 2.5 seconds. Couldn't discern a smoke
trail, but it did appear to break up; about half-way through it split into two pieces,
with a trail of about 5degrees each.

Didn't notice any sound; it was a quiet night in the country.

How do you estimate distances, etc. with fireballs ?

- Alastair

How do you estimate distances, etc. with fireballs ?

Hard to say. Considering that meteors start to burn up about 70 miles +/-10 up in the atmosphere, one could discern an estimated route of travel if a couple of people saw the same meteor (potential meteorite) from different locations. You know, triangulation, and all that.

I'm delighted to have found someone else who saw that giant fireball....!

It was amazing and when i saw it first i thought it was a firework.

Just to confirm it was 6th of Feb @ 10:30pm and i was walking in to Limerick City. I looked over my right shoulder due west and saw and heard a large fireball with deep red colouring around it edges. It made a definite fizzing sound and produced a significant smoke trail. Bits could be seen crumbling away from its edges and before it could disappear behind the "Custom House" building over looking the river Shannon it went dark.

I have seen many meteorites before but this left me totally awestruck.

How close must it have been for me to hear it and what were its chances of landing. To me it looked like it would have landed right in the middle of the river....?

That is neat! Just over a month later, and Newbie's second post is about a fireball he saw! Nice one Conan!

What the pair of you should do is (if you really wanted to) go back to where you saw it, on a clear night, and try to recap from memory the meteors direction and length of travel using the stars. Considering it is a month after the event, turn up an hour earlier and you will see the positions of the constellations as they were a month ago from that point on the ground.

Seanie.