[MIham] Weekend Fireballs

[Frank]

Space Weather News for Feb. 16, 2009
http://spaceweather.com

WEEKEND FIREBALLS:  A daylight fireball over Texas on Sunday, Feb. 15th, 
triggered widespread reports that debris from a recent satellite collision 
was falling to Earth. Those reports were premature. Researchers have studied 
video of the event and concluded that the object was more likely a natural 
meteoroid about one meter wide traveling more than 20 km/s--much faster than 
orbital debris.  Meteoroids hit Earth every day, and the Texas fireball was 
apparently one of them.

There's more: On Friday, Feb. 13th, people in central Kentucky heard loud 
booms, felt their houses shake, and saw a fireball streaking through the 
sky. This occurred scant hours after another fireball at least 10 times 
brighter than a full Moon lit up the sky over Italy.  Although it is 
tempting to attribute these events to debris from the Feb. 10th collision of 
the Iridium 33 and Kosmos 2251 satellites, the Kentucky and Italy fireballs 
also seem to be meteoroids, not manmade objects. Italian scientists are 
studying the ground track of their fireball, which was recorded by multiple 
cameras, and they will soon begin to hunt for meteorites.

Videos, eye-witness reports and more information about these events may be 
found at http://spaceweather.com.