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Remarks |
The object was bright enough that I first thought that it was the landing lights of an airliner on final approach to Manchester-Boston Regional Airport (MHT), but the color was green, not white. An airliner would also have navigation lights. The meteor was a brilliant green, like the color of burning copper sulfate, and it flickered slightly before winking out. It was far brighter than anything in the night sky except for the moon. The fireball looked like fireworks, except that the angle was obviously wrong. The object was clearly falling at a high rate of speed, not arcing back to the ground like fireworks would.
I was driving almost due west on the highway, and the meteor's trajectory was almost paralleling my own. The fireball lasted for maybe two to three seconds and appeared to leave a smoke trail, though I could not see that clearly. I checked my watch right after the fireball disappeared so that I could accurately record the time, and the watch's time was set by my smartphone. It should be reasonably accurate.
Regarding my observing experience, I am probably an amateur astronomer. I studied astronomy in college (binary star systems), own a decent telescope, and know a fair amount of information about astronomy and aviation. I am confident that what I saw was not of terrestrial origin. This meteor was by far the most spectacular that I have seen. |
