Subj: Fwd: (meteorobs) FIREBALL OVER MAUI?
Date: 2/5/00 10:12:05 AM Pacific Standard Time
From: fl_botomy@hotmail.com (Joseph DiVito)
To: bardsquill@aol.com




>From: M Linnolt
>Reply-To: meteorobs@jovian.com
>To: meteorobs@jovian.com
>Subject: (meteorobs) FIREBALL OVER MAUI?
>Date: Fri, 04 Feb 2000 23:00:15 -1000
>
>WOW! I just step outside to check the sky conditions for observing
>tonite, and at about 10:33pm HST, everything was lit up with a bright
>electric blue flash! The sky was 90% overcast, and the light was
>significantly brighter than the full moon would be behind the clouds,
>because it actually cast shadows through the cloud layer. I would
>estimate the flash lasted about 4 seconds, and it "flickered" in
>brightness. If this was a meteor, it must have been between the moon and
>sun in brightness, maybe mag -16? (!) I waited several minutes in case
>of a sonic boom, but nothing was heard. I was facing SW at the moment,
>and the light initially came from behind me. I turned around to catch
>the last second of it, and it seemed it be concentrated in an area about
>30° altitude, 80° azimuth, from my house in Haiku. Assuming it was a
>meteor, around 60km elevation, that would put it about 100km ENE of
>central Maui, or 100km due north of Hilo, HI at 21°N 155°W.
>
>This was so incredibly bright it would have been instantly noticed by
>anyone outside, or even from indoor windows on Maui or Big Island. I
>suspect it would have been visible even from Honolulu, low in the east.
>
>Lets see if any reports come in from the media. Anyone from Mauna Kea
>(Malcolm?) or elsewhere in Hawaii (Jim Bedient?) see this ?
>
>Mike Linnolt
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