[BAA-ebulletin 00766] BRILLIANT FIREBALL WITH PERSISTENT TRAIN - 14 OCT 2013

[Rick]

[BAA-ebulletin 00766] BRILLIANT FIREBALL WITH PERSISTENT TRAIN ON 14 OCTOBER 2013
(c) 2013 British Astronomical Association -- http://www.britastro.org/

Reports are coming in from Northern Ireland and Scotland of a brilliant fireball, visible between 20:42:12 and 20:42:37 UT on Monday, 14th October 2013.

The event was imaged by Marcus McAdam from the Isle of Skye over Red Cullin. Amazingly, Marcus didn't actually witness the event himself because he had left his camera set-up and running taking a timelapse sequence while he went to have dinner at a nearby hotel!

See Marcus's lovely image by following this link

From the Isle of Skye the fireball descended from Pisces into Cetus and so was visible in the south-eastern sky. Cloud permitting, it would have been well seen from Glasgow and Edinburgh and locations such as Dumfries and Galloway as well as the Isle of Man and sites across the north and west of England.

Visual sightings have so far only been received from a limited number of observers in Northern Ireland and Scotland, but more observations are urgently required, particularly any images of the event. Marcus McAdam's timelapse image sequence reveals that the fireball left a persistent train that was visible for 13 minutes after the event. Maybe some observers saw the train even though they missed the fireball itself?

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 com or to meteor at britastro 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 background stars (if possible), and a description of the fireball's appearance together with any unusual features such as the persistent train.

This e-bulletin issued by:
John W. Mason, Director, BAA Meteor Section
2013 October 18