On February 27 and 28, two major fireballs have been widely observed, reported and filmed over France and Great Britain. Both of them are potential meteorite droppers: trajectory calculations now gives the opportunity to look for interplanetary rocks!
French fireball on February 27, 21h 43min UT
The first fireball lasted slightly more than 5 seconds on February 27, 21h 43min 27sec and was reported by more than 80 witnesses from all regions of France South of Paris. According to Fripon (Fireball Recovery and InterPlanetary Observation Network), which video network captured the event on 9 cameras, the fireball magnitude reached -12 to -13, and it was associated to the atmospheric entry of a 500 g meteoroid coming from the external parts of the asteroid belt at a 21 km/s speed and a 50° inclination.
Fireball 2021 02 27 – 21h43m UTC (FRIPON – VigieCiel) from Francois Colas on Vimeo.
According to Fripon calculation, around 150 g of meteorites could have survived the atmosphere crossing and could have landed slightly East of the Aiguillon village, in Lot-et-Garonne (South-Western France).
Source: Fripon/Vigie-Ciel webpage about the Feb 27, 2021 fireball
British fireball on February 28, 21h 54min UT
Nearly 24h after this first event, a very slow fireball was very widely reported by British citizens, with more than 1100 reports!!! This event occured on February 28, 2021, at 21h 54min UT and was observed and heard, as many persons “reported hearing either a sonic boom or a rumbling noise” according to UKMON (United Kingdom Meteor Observing Network). It was also captured by the UKMon camera located in Wilcot (Wiltshire).
According to UK Fireball Alliance calculations, the meteorite strewn field would be located East of Gloucester (Glioucestershire).
Figure 4- Landing zone of potential meteorites associated to February 28, 2021, 21h 54min fireball over central Great Britain. Credit: UKMONSource: UKMON webpage about the Feb 28, 21h 54min UT fireball
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2 comments
Hello Karl.
There is a third possible fall of meteorite in Europe: it’s that occured the 15th march 2021 over Italy, the bolid travelled over Rome and it’s possible that fell on Molise region, here a link (in italian): https://www.media.inaf.it/2021/03/21/meteorite-molise/ The Prisma ( http://www.prisma.inaf.it/ ) it’s searching the body that should be around 1 kg.
Best greetings.
Roberto Gorelli
Thanks a lot for the information, Roberto!
I will have a closer look at it as soon as possible, thanks for telling, we missed it!
Clear skies!
Karl