Preliminary Ground Track Of 20MAY2011 Georgia Fireball Bolide Released By NASA...

From ELPALLSKY 22MAY2011:
Initial estimation of the ground track is based on preliminary data from two NASA all sky cameras located in Cartersville and Chickamauga Georgia.

NASA Meteoroid Environment Office Director Dr. Bill Cooke tells ELPALLSKY...
"First off, this thing hit the top of the atmosphere moving very fast at 38.6 km/s. Orbit is low inclination and nearly parabolic, which implies a cometary origin.


Important stuff:
Start point: Lon -83.480 +/- 0.0018, Lat 32.700 +/- 0.0018, height 106.7 +/- 0.3 km
End point: Lon -84.915 +/- 0.0017, Lat 33.725 +/- 0.0017, height 61.2 +/- 0.3 km

Speed 38.6 +/- 1.9 km/s

Radiant coordinates: RA 249.1 Dec -23.0, both with errors of about 1.0 degree. These coordinates are a close match to the antihelion radiant at ~252, -22."

image courtesy NASA MSFC MEO EV44-click image to enlarge

In the video below, frame speed has been reduced to 1/3 real-time to better show fragmentation of the bolide during it's illuminated flight. This video courtesy NASA MSFC MEO EV44

ELPALLSKY asked Dr. Bill Cooke (Dir. of MEO at Marshall Space Flight Center-Huntsville, AL) whether he believes any of the bolide might have made it to the ground...

"I doubt it - dirty ice doesn't like heat too much :P Plus the meteor was very fast, well above the 15 km/s threshold you usually see in meteorite droppers. However, I could be wrong - waiting on Peter Brown (UWO-Canada) and his team to take a look and give me their thoughts.