Fireballs over Scotland

Posted by William Stewart at 15:15 on 2013 Oct 18

Dear All,Not sure if everyone is setup to receive e-Bulletins … the full text of the one released this morning by John Mason is at the bottom of this message … the main point is that we now know that the two fireballs imaged over Scotland on the evening of Monday 14th October 2013 were separate events:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-24532979 occurred at around 20.30 BST to the north of Lewis while https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=569483046438616&set=a.421026611284261.109587.371383149581941&type=1 occurred around 21.42 BST to the south-east of Skye.The usual forums have some visual reports but if you could publicise the "call for observations" mentioned in JM’s message below, it would be very much appreciated. Please remember that while JM’s message refers to the later event, we would like to receive details of both.Thanks in advanceWilliamBRILLIANT FIREBALL WITH PERSISTENT TRAIN ON 14 OCTOBER 2013Reports are coming in from Northern Ireland and Scotland of a brilliantfireball, visible between 20:42:12 and 20:42:37 UT on Monday, 14th October2013.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 hadleft his camera set-up and running taking a timelapse sequence while he wentto have dinner at a nearby hotel!See Marcus’s lovely image by following this link:https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=569483046438616&set=a.421026611284261.109587.371383149581941&type=1 From the Isle of Skye the fireball descended from Pisces into Cetus and sowas visible in the south-eastern sky. Cloud permitting, it would have beenwell seen from Glasgow and Edinburgh and locations such as Dumfries andGalloway as well as the Isle of Man and sites across the north and west ofEngland. Visual sightings have so far only been received from a limited number ofobservers in Northern Ireland and Scotland, but more observations areurgently required, particularly any images of the event. Marcus McAdam’stimelapse image sequence reveals that the fireball left a persistent trainthat was visible for 13 minutes after the event. Maybe some observers sawthe train even though they missed the fireball itself?Any BAA members who saw this event, or who may have been contacted bynon-astronomers who witnessed it, are asked to collect as much informationabout the sighting as possible and send it either to the BAA Meteor Section’s Fireball Co-ordinator Len Entwisle at len.entwisle@btinternet.com or tometeor@britastro.org.Useful information will include the name and location of the observer, theprecise time of the event, the altitude and azimuth of the start and endpoints of the visible track, the position of the observed track relative tothe background stars (if possible), and a description of the fireball’sappearance together with any unusual features such as the persistent train.This e-bulletin issued by:John W. Mason, Director, BAA Meteor Section2013 October 18