[Baa-ebulletin 00543] BRILLIANT FIREBALL OF 2010 DECEMBER 8

[Rick]

BAA e-bulletin, 2010 Dec. 11 -- http://www.britastro.org/
(c) 2010 British Astronomical Association

BRILLIANT FIREBALL OF 2010 DECEMBER 8

Reports are coming in of a brilliant fireball seen on the evening of Wednesday, 8th December 2010 at around 17:40 UT.  A more precise time for this event has still to be determined.

Sightings indicate that the fireball was visible over an extremely large area of the country, with reports being received from locations as far apart as Bath, Northampton, Leicester and the Isle of Man.

The peak brightness of the fireball was in excess of magnitude -8, and eyewitnesses report that the object fragmented towards the end of its trajectory.

Further reports of this event are urgently required. Did you see this fireball yourself, or do you know of someone else who saw it?  Those belonging to local astronomical societies are asked to enquire of other society members whether they witnessed the event. Please take care not to bias eyewitnesses beforehand by discussing with them what you or others saw.

Reports should contain some or all of the following information:

1) Name, address and contact details of the observer.

2) Date and time of the event in UT (GMT), as accurately as this can be specified.

3) Location of the observer when witnessing the fireball.  If driving a car please specify the road, location and the direction the observer was driving.

4) The path of the fireball against the background stars, as accurately as this can be described.  If this is not possible, then please try to answer questions 5) and 6) below:

5) The compass direction and altitude (in degrees) of the fireball when it was first seen.

6) The compass direction and altitude (in degrees) of the fireball when it was last seen. Please state if something obscured the view of the end (e.g. if it went behind a tree or a building).

7)  A general description of the colour and appearance of the fireball, whether this changed during the trajectory and any terminal burst or break-up at the end.

Please send in your completed reports as soon as possible.

John Mason

(I have email and postal addresses -- Rick)