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.  

BREAKING METEOR NEWS...UPDATE...EAS NEWS...UPDATE...NASA Releases Initial Imagery Of Widely Seen 20MAY2011 GA, AL Fireball Bolide

FROM ELPALLSKY...Thanks to all witnesses in AL, GA, FL, TN, and SC who emailed and left reports in the "chat window" !! about this significant event !!

NASA All Sky Cameras Capture Significant Alabama, Georgia Bolide Event Which Occured at 9:46pm CDT-10:46pm EDT 20MAY2011-(02:46:53 UTC 21MAY2011).

From ELPALLSKY 22MAY2011:

After scanning video cameras in Alabama and Georgia, NASA Meteoroid Environment Office Director Dr. Bill Cooke tells ELPALLSKY " this is by far the biggest and brightest event we have seen with our little network! You will note 3 distinct flares in the video, indicating 3 fragmentation events." Orbital data is being reduced and orbital, trajectory, and magnitude (visual brightness) solutions will be available soon. Bookmark this site and stay with ELPALLSKY for updates!

All Images Below Courtesy NASA-MSFC-MEO-EV44 Huntsville, AL
Videos Are Flipped Horizontally...In Videos Only, -North is down and East is left

image from Tellus Science Center-Cartersville, GA NASA All Sky Camera
click image to enlarge

image from Chickamauga, GA Nasa All Sky Camera
click image to enlarge

Southern California Fireball/Loud Booms 21MAY2011...

Internet Traffic Indicates Possible Meteor/Fireball Event Over SO CAL 21MAY2011

From The "Chat Window":



May 23 2011, 8:45 AM Guest465 (guest): Im in santa clara n i saw the light that i thought looked like a firework but it stayed in the sky n went downward n disappeared in thin air. This was at 1:02 am santa clara ca. I didnt hear anything but then wen I came home i looked up n saw the line across the sky

May 22 2011, 12:20 PM Neal (guest): Yesterday evening, just after sunset, about maybe 8:45 PM PST, I saw two bright flashes of blueish-greenish color, in rapid succession,to the south. It appeared to be behind Chino hills. I saw it from Toyota Speedway at Irwindale, between races. I am not sure what this was.

E-mails From:

Julie-Downey, CA:
Hi,I was out in the swimming pool at around 11:25pm on May 21 with my dogs staring at the sky in Downey, California when I saw about 9-10 lights traveling north bound.  They then split and my eyes could only follow the brightest one and then I could no longer see them or it. What where they?
Julie

Justin H.-San Jose, CA:
hello i found your site by searching google for meteor and using the tools to find latest posts. i went outside around 9:15-9:30pm to smoke a cigarette. i noticed what i thought was a satellite travelling across the sky, i watched it move from south to north, passing stars. it was just east of me, and as it passed one star that star began moving and following it.  i thought it was an optical illusion. i swear the second object was stationary until the satellite passed directly next to it. they had different trajectories, it was definitely not an illusion as i watched both objects travel across the sky until they both faded into the light pollution from the street lights. i've seen what i thought were satellites before, many times actually, but never two at once like that. i found it remarkable and turned my gaze back to the center of the sky when all of a sudden just south of me i saw what i thought was a meteorite falling straight down, it looked like a single firework falling to the ground, it had a red flame trailing around it, it seemed to burn out and dissapear before it hit the ground, i did not hear anything. it freaked me out, i've seen shooting stars before but they were always travelling across the sky, not straight down into the ground. i am located a few houses east of the intersection of curtner and lincoln ave in san jose california. i immediately posted about it on facebook but i dont think anybody believed me because of that whole rapture crap, so i did some googling (using the search tool - latest) and found these tweets about it. if you have any further questions, i would be glad to answer! i am definitely interested in figuring out what it was!
justin

From Internet Traffic Sources:

Los Angeles, California arrived from google.com on "elp allsky: Loud Booms Heard In Southern California 17APR2011 Possible Fireball?" by searching for meteor mission viejo heard a loud sound boom may 21 2011.
23:55:51 -- 4 minutes ago

Woodland Hills, California arrived from google.com on "elp allsky: Loud Booms Heard In Southern California 17APR2011 Possible Fireball?" by searching for loud blast in woodland hills.
23:35:34 -- 24 minutes ago

Fremont, California arrived from google.com on "elp allsky" by searching for what was the ball of fire in may 21 2011 sky.
23:11:39 -- 49 minutes ago

Weed, California arrived from google.com on "elp allsky" by searching for red orange glow in southern sky May 21, 2011 california.
22:52:02 -- 1 hour 8 mins ago

San Jose, California arrived from google.com on "elp allsky: Meteor News...California Fireball NOV13, 2010 9pm CST" by searching for fireball san jose may 21.
22:51:01 -- 1 hour 10 mins ago

***If you saw this fireball event, please e-mail wxtx01@gmail.com with a description including time, date, location, which way you were facing, direction object traveled (right to left etc. is OK), color, any fragmentation or extremely bright flashes, and any sounds heard i.e. booms, hisses etc. Thank you for your report***