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Remarks |
I first posted this occurrence on a NASA site; and I'm not exactly sure of the time of day I've posted here, though I know it was after 10 am on that Sunday morning. We'd just left my mother-in-law's home in New Smyrna and were headed north on Interstate 95 to visit my father in Ormond Beach.
At the time of the siting, my exact coordinates were: 29 05 06.0N 081 01 00.0W. I know this because I'm an engineer with the Florida Department of Transportation and we had just passed one of my tower sites with those coordinates on the east side of the northbound lane of the highway; therefore, my location is fairly accurate.
It appeared to cross my windshield from almost directly in front of my at an elevation of 55 degrees, to the lower left of my windshield at an elevation of 15-20 degrees.
All three of us - my wife (also an engineer) my son (a 10-year-old with 'eagle eyes') and myself - saw it at once!
The object was so bright that I initially thought it was a de-orbited satellite. I'm an avid observer of visible satellites and it was brighter than any IRIDIUM flare I've ever seen!
I've seen meteor showers at night, but had not seen a daytime fireball until this event; nor had I ever seen anything as bright.
It also looked as though it might have come down locally; from my perspective, in the area just west of the intersection of Interstate 95 and Interstate 4. Based on the finding of those fragments in north Florida west of Jacksonville (in direct line with my observations) I'm clearly mistaken.
It must have been quite large for me to have seen it over 100 miles away.
Many thanks,
Steve |
