[BAA-ebulletin 00632] BRILLIANT FIREBALL ON 7 DECEMBER 2011

[Rick]

[BAA-ebulletin 00632]  BRILLIANT FIREBALL ON 7 DECEMBER 2011
(c) 2011 British Astronomical Association -- http://www.britastro.org/

Reports are coming in of a brilliant fireball, visible in twilight at about 16:07 UT on Wednesday, 7th December 2011.  The event occurred less than 20 minutes after sunset so the sky was still very bright, but by a fortunate coincidence it appeared in the same part of the sky as Jupiter and the waxing gibbous Moon, both of which were visible at the time.

Sightings have so far only been received from observers in Kent, Essex and Suffolk, but it is likely that the event would have been visible from most of South-Eastern England, as well as across the Channel in Belgium and the Netherlands.

According to Malcolm Beasley of Folkestone, Kent the fireball was "very bright, much brighter than the Moon in the same area of sky and appeared a brilliant white in still daylight, clear sky conditions. There was no obvious sound associated with the sighting. It appeared to leave a very short, high altitude, white vapour trail which slowly dispersed to the east."

Such sightings are comparatively rare since few fireballs are bright enough to be visible in a very bright twilight sky.  Many areas of the South-East had clear, cloudless skies late on the Wednesday afternoon in question.

Any BAA members who saw this event, or who may have been contacted by non-astronomers who witnessed it, are asked to collect as much information about the sighting as possible and send it either to the BAA Meteor Section's Fireball Co-ordinator Len Entwisle at len.entwisle at btinternet dot com or to meteor at britastro dot org.

Useful information will include the name and location of the observer, the precise time of the event, the altitude and azimuth of the start and end points of the visible track, the position of the observed track relative to the Moon and Jupiter in the sky (if seen towards the south-east), and a description of the fireball's appearance together with any unusual features.

This e-bulletin issued by:
John W. Mason, Director, BAA Meteor Section
2011 December 8