Sunday Night Fireball

On Sunday evening, a bright fireball was reported by visual observers in Tennessee. Occurring about 7:22 PM Central, the meteor was detected by 4 of our All Sky cameras – those in Huntsville; Chickamauga, GA; Cartersville, GA; and Dahlonega, GA. The fireball was picked up at an altitude of 55 miles moving east of south at 52,000 miles per hour; it burned up at an altitude of 27 miles just south of Anniston, AL. This was not a Taurid, as the orbit indicates it is a fragment from a Jupiter family comet, which have an aphelion (furthest distance from the Sun) out near Jupiter. This particular piece of interplanetary debris was between 2-3 inches in diameter and weighed about 5 ounces.

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