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Remarks |
Am a variable star amateur astronomer with AAVSO. Was tired, end of observing session, and incredibly lucky in staring at exactly that portion of sky when the fireball grew from below detectability (fainter than mag 5), white in color, to mag -8 (brighter than Venus at brightest), distinctly green, in less than 5 seconds.
It grew uniformly in brightness. No flashes were observed; it passed into obscuring trees at azimuth 030 and altitude above 45 degrees. Was visible in gaps in the leaves as it faded and left the distinct impression it had gone dark and may have impacted. If so, that would be very close to due north or slightly east of north of my position; it passed about ten degrees east of Polaris behind the trees, +/- 5 degrees since it was blocked by leaves (cottonwoods). A "terminal flash" could have been obscured. A clear area under the trees allowed me to see in the northerly sky below ten degrees altitude that it had disappeared instead of continuing over the northern horizon. It may have cast a faint shadow. Finally, listened intently for over ten minutes in the quiet of the night and heard nothing, listening particularly carefully in the 5-10 minute period after its passing. After the York, Illinois, meteorite this is by far the 2nd brightest meteor I've witnessed. The York meteor's shadow was Full-Moon-brightness. This meteor/ite was not that bright, yet above Venus at its brightest.
Also, it was certainly faster than a Taurid (~20km/s), and as fast or faster than a Perseid (~50km/s ?) and could have been as fast as an Orionid (~70km/s), again based on years of sky-gazing in between variable star estimates or for pleasure viewing.
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