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Remarks |
Truly an amazing account from my wife after she returned home from an outside coffee break at the coffee shop near our home. Her first thought, because it was so bright and green, was that it was a firework; she said it was beautiful. I\'m an engineer at NCAR and a longtime but very casual amateur astronomer with an 8\" Schmidt-Cass scope rarely used now due to Denver metro light pollution, so I do have some knowledge of the night sky. My wife is a homemaker and not nearly as analytical as I. I interviewed her at length about what she saw and about angular sizes in particular. I had her sit in a chair in a darkened hall and held a 7\" white plate illuminated from behind by an LED flashlight then walked toward her from about 15 feet and told her to say \"stop\" when she thought the diameter was similar to what she saw. I stopped at about 4-5 feet! I didn\'t calculate the angle that subtends but it must be 15 to 20 degrees or so. If accurate, it must have been an incredible sight!
She\'s willing to return to the same outdoor seat at the coffee shop for a \'hand-waving\" re-accounting if that would be helpful to someone wanting to pursue this further. It sure would be great if others who saw this could accurately relate their sighting for some triangulation of the trajectory, perhaps some fragments could be found. My wife is certain that it did not explode into a bolide at the end which would seem to be helpful with regard to a possible recovery.
Dean for Kathleen Lauritsen (H) 303 665-9095 (W (NCAR)) 303 497-8772 |
