May 10th 2009
Here’s an interesting fireball. This is an unidentified fireball. Meaning that it’s not clear whether this is space debris, a plane, or a meteor fireball. It’s very cool nonetheless. This fireball was sighted and photographed by Paul Weaver after he received a call from his daughter who had been cruising in her car by the beach. According to Weaver he grabbed his camera and rushed outside just in time to see the fireball pass to the NorthWest appearing on a WNW trajectory.
UPDATE 9:45am PST: After reviewing this photo in detail the suspect thing is that I do not see a ball of fire at the leading edge of this trail. It’s possible this is a plane contrail. However there is no defined pin-prick of reflected light or the obvious white plane at the front of this trail. The odd part about that is where the trails seem to converge into one closer to the forward edge or front of the smoke train. Is this a smoke train from a fireball, or a contrail from a high altitude jetliner?
The one thing that makes me think this was a meteor fireball is the description by Paul Weaver’s daughter who was also a witness to the event. She stated (if I’m reading this right) that “…It was very bright and there were chunks breaking away…” This suggests to me that it very well could have been a meteor fireball.
Fireball Spotted Over Rottnest: Photo By Paul Weaver - http://fremantlebiz.livejournal.com/
Angle of decent appears very shallow which means this fireball probably traveled very very far from Rottnest island. There’s nothing NorthWest of that location but open ocean for 3500 miles. Unless this thing survived the entry and the trip across the ocean then this one is most likely gone…
Read Paul Weaver’s Report Here On LiveJournal: http://fremantlebiz.livejournal.com/483475.html
