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Re: FREQUENT FIREBALLS

Subject: Re: FREQUENT FIREBALLS
From: Chris L Peterson
Date: Sun, 03 Dec 2006 23:33:22 GMT
Newsgroups: sci.astro.amateur
On Sun, 03 Dec 2006 10:45:55 -0700, Greg Crinklaw
<theskyhoundyoureye@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>On average maybe, but I'd be willing to bet that of the brightest 
>fireballs, a much larger fraction are space junk.

I don't think so. Decaying space junk doesn't usually produce
extraordinarily bright meteors. It can produce fairly spectacular events
because it is traveling slowly, and is often seen shedding incandescent
debris. But the really bright fireballs (brighter than the Moon) all
seem to be natural.

Of the several dozen extremely bright fireballs I've tracked in the last
five years, none has been the product of space junk.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

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