[BAA-ebulletin 00692] BRIGHT FIREBALL ON 27 AUGUST 2012

[Rick]

[BAA-ebulletin 00692]  BRIGHT FIREBALL ON 27 AUGUST 2012
(c) 2012 British Astronomical Association    http://www.britastro.org/

Reports are coming in of a bright fireball, visible at about 23:15 BST (22:15 UT) on Bank Holiday Monday, 27th August 2012. That night the skies were clear over many parts of the UK and the waxing gibbous Moon was shining brightly in the southern sky.

Travelling south on the A1 north of Alnwick in Northumberland, Gary Broughton reported that the fireball was green with an orange tail and that it descended almost vertically from his viewpoint with the Moon clearly visible about 5 degrees to left (east) of the fireball.

From Croesyceiliog in Cwmbran, Debra White saw the fireball towards the north-east as brilliant white, tailing off to green and orange. Also in Wales, from Caerleon, near Newport, Jeff Preston (looking roughly north-east) reported that the fireball was approximately ten times brighter than Venus and began in the north-west at about 60 degrees elevation, descending to about 40 degrees elevation in the east-north-east, passing left to right below the "W" of Cassiopeia.  He estimated the duration as about 3 seconds and reported that he head a distinct "boom" long after the
fireball.

Clearly this was a major fireball event and any BAA members who saw it, 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 against the background stars (or in relation to the waxing gibbous Moon and Mars in the sky, if seen towards the south-east), and a description of the fireball's visual appearance, colour, etc. together with any unusual features.

This e-bulletin issued by:
John W. Mason, Director, BAA Meteor Section
2012 August 29