METEORITES ON THE GROUND! in TN Hunt Begins...
MeteorRATs Scramble!
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| "click on image to enlarge" Aprroximate Ground Track With Radar credit- Dr. Rob Matson |
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| NASA ASGARD Tullahoma Allsky Camera - Tullahoma, TN Fireball Meteor 2:27 AM CDT (2013 August 28 07:2721 UTC) "click on image to enlarge" credit- NASA, Bill Cooke |
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| NASA ASGARD Tellus Allsky Camera - Cartersville, GA Fireball Meteor 2:27 AM CDT (2013 August 28 07:2721 UTC) "click on image to enlarge" credit- NASA, Bill Cooke |
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| NASA ASGARD Chickamauga Allsky Camera- Chickamauga, GA Fireball Meteor 2:27 AM CDT (2013 August 28 07:2721 UTC) "click on image to enlarge" credit- NASA, Bill Cooke |
Chickamauga, GA Fireball Meteor 2:27 AM CDT (2013 August 28 07:2721 UTC)
Last night at approximately 2:27 AM CDT (2013 August 28 07:2721 UTC), all 6 NASA allsky cameras in the SouthEast picked up a very bright fireball (peak magnitude ~ -11, 2 magnitudes brighter than the Last Quarter Moon) that MAY have produced meteorites. The cameras were completely saturated, necessitating a manual solution. This may very well be the brightest event our network has observed in 5 years of operation.
Using two stations, we have derived the following crude parameters:
Start location: 84.943 W, 34.969 N at an altitude of 97.4 km
Last location: 84.578 W, 35.206 N at an altitude of 37.9 km (this is NOT the lowest point; other stations show it continuing)
Speed: 23.7 km/s
Peak brightness: -10.9
Mass: ~45 kg (roughly 0.3 to 0.4 meters in diameter)
Radiant: RA - 336 +/- 2 deg, Dec +9.8 +/- 4 deg
Kind regards,
Bill Cooke
Meteoroid Environments Office
EV44, Marshall Space Flight Center
2013 THE Year of Meteors, Asteroids, Comets, and MORE!!
