Soviet Satellite Re-entry, NOT Meteor After All
PA VA GA Long Duration Meteor ~21:30 EST 27JAN2013
UPDATE
COSMOS 1484 Soviet satellite re-entry seen on radar!
At ~21:30 EST, 27JAN2013, an old 2500 kg (~5500 lb!) Soviet satellite fell from orbit over the eastern US. The resulting fireball traced a path from Ohio all the way to Georgia, on a north-to-south and slightly westerly path. Eyewitnesses reported the event over a similarly large area. ...and man oh man does it ever show up on radar! The satellite broke up into dozens or hundreds of small, angular metallic fragments which reflect radar pulses extremely well. Weather radar shows the signatures of falling debris from central Ohio into Georgia.
http://www.galacticanalytics.com/cosmos-1484-deorbit-28-jan-2013-0228-utc/
It would be very difficult for us to accurately model the dark flight of these fragments, as we don't know either their density or aerodynamic properties. But it is entirely likely that pieces will be found somewhere along the path of the satellite. Also, an eyewitness in Georgia reported sonic booms associated with the falling object. This indicates that a large (very large?) body or bodies may have landed in the vicinity of Atlanta.
Cheers,
Marc Fries, Rob Matson, Jake Schaefer and Jeff Fries
Galactic Analytics LLC
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Anyone else witness this meteor event; please file a meteor sighting report on this site:
http://thelatestworldwidemeteorreports.blogspot.jp/2011/12/december-2011-meteorfireball-sighting.html
Initial Reports:
27JAN2013 Daniel Phillips Williams Township, PA USA 9:45 pm, EST approx. 20 seconds Object moving Right to Left in the West (we were facing West) Red ball with long yellow tail brightness like a larger Mars, as the fireball was reddish, not star-bright not that we saw was much more prominent than any meteors we have previously seen, and the red color with yellow tail was unique to us.
27JAN2013 Will Krepps Over Richmond VA 2130 20 sec S Yellow Orange less than moon more than venus flame trailer horizontal to ground
27JAN2013 Krepps Midlothian, VA 2130 20 sec South Yellow orange - silent Brighter than venus trail of fire moving horizontal to horizon
7JAN2013 keiota stone mountain, GA USA 21:30:00 unknown n-s orange/white moon no did not see parts breaking away.. but I did see multiple balls in sky. About 6-8 balls.
27JAN2013 Reid Decatur Ga 2130 4 sec n-s Blue Venus no 4 tails
27JAN2013 john suwanee, ga 2130 5-10sec s red fire like Sun 7-8 fireballs biggest shower I've seen
2013 THE Year of Meteors, Asteroids, Comets, and MORE!
2 comments:
We were headed west on 78 facing Bethlehem and it was red with a golden red tail cutting across from right tonleft and it lasted about 30 seconds
I was driving west on 460 and from my right to left a visible orange reddish ball was quickly moving across the sky. Then it flashed white then blue and broke into five smaller rocks and stayed visible for 15 secs after that. Entire time maybe 45 secs to a minute
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