Fireball/Meteor Reporting?

Hi all

I hope this is the right newsgroup. I saw something rather
interesting at about 3:45 PM EST while I was walking along
in Davis Sq in Somerville, MA (Harvard is basically down
the street from there) I just happened to catch a very clear
view of fireball or meteor burning up in a near vertical
(~5 degree angle) descent from my angle of view. It was
so low and colorful (a rainbow tail!) that I at first thought
it was some odd fireworks thing, but then realized it was
too fast and too bright. Estimating its arc, I would say it
was visible for about 20 degrees. Assuming that some of you
are at least familiar with my area, imagine you're walking
down Elm St towards Porter Sq, and as you go to cross the
street in front of Citizen's Bank, you glance up and see a
meteor heading down what would seem to be the Wellington
Circle/Everett area before burning up. Distance gauging was
kind of tricky, though. It was pretty cool while it briefly
lasted.

Does this sort of thing get logged somewhere? And is it
worhtwhile? A Google search wasn't too helpful. It could
have been space junk so I have the feeling it should be
reported. Any feedback would be most appreciated.

-BC

Do a search for NAMN (North American Meteor Network) or the AMS
(American Meteor Society) or the IMO (International Meteor Organization).
All have fireball report forms on their web pages that you can report your
observation to.
Ed

"BC" wrote in message
...
Hi all

I hope this is the right newsgroup. I saw something rather
interesting at about 3:45 PM EST while I was walking along
in Davis Sq in Somerville, MA (Harvard is basically down
the street from there) I just happened to catch a very clear
view of fireball or meteor burning up in a near vertical
(~5 degree angle) descent from my angle of view. It was
so low and colorful (a rainbow tail!) that I at first thought
it was some odd fireworks thing, but then realized it was
too fast and too bright. Estimating its arc, I would say it
was visible for about 20 degrees. Assuming that some of you
are at least familiar with my area, imagine you're walking
down Elm St towards Porter Sq, and as you go to cross the
street in front of Citizen's Bank, you glance up and see a
meteor heading down what would seem to be the Wellington
Circle/Everett area before burning up. Distance gauging was
kind of tricky, though. It was pretty cool while it briefly
lasted.

Does this sort of thing get logged somewhere? And is it
worhtwhile? A Google search wasn't too helpful. It could
have been space junk so I have the feeling it should be
reported. Any feedback would be most appreciated.

-BC

"Ed Majden" wrote in message news:pANBb.644464$6C4.514382@pd7tw1no...
Do a search for NAMN (North American Meteor Network) or the AMS
(American Meteor Society) or the IMO (International Meteor Organization).
All have fireball report forms on their web pages that you can report your
observation to.
Ed

"BC" wrote in message
...
Hi all

I hope this is the right newsgroup. I saw something rather
interesting at about 3:45 PM EST while I was walking along
in Davis Sq in Somerville, MA (Harvard is basically down
the street from there) I just happened to catch a very clear
view of fireball or meteor burning up in a near vertical
(~5 degree angle) descent from my angle of view. It was
so low and colorful (a rainbow tail!) that I at first thought
it was some odd fireworks thing, but then realized it was
too fast and too bright. Estimating its arc, I would say it
was visible for about 20 degrees. Assuming that some of you
are at least familiar with my area, imagine you're walking
down Elm St towards Porter Sq, and as you go to cross the
street in front of Citizen's Bank, you glance up and see a
meteor heading down what would seem to be the Wellington
Circle/Everett area before burning up. Distance gauging was
kind of tricky, though. It was pretty cool while it briefly
lasted.

Does this sort of thing get logged somewhere? And is it
worhtwhile? A Google search wasn't too helpful. It could
have been space junk so I have the feeling it should be
reported. Any feedback would be most appreciated.

-BC



Will do -- mucho thanks.

-BC

On Wed, 10 Dec 2003 23:00:37 GMT, "Ed Majden" wrote:

Do a search for NAMN (North American Meteor Network) or the AMS
(American Meteor Society) or the IMO (International Meteor Organization).
All have fireball report forms on their web pages that you can report your
observation to.
Ed

In addition, I would ask anyone who is in Colorado or the immediately
surrounding states to make a report at
http://www.cloudbait.com/science/fireballs.html . It will supplement the data
collected nightly by the Colorado Allsky Camera Network. There are links on this
page where you can follow the progress of fireball investigations based on
camera and witness reports.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com