For a change the sky was clear. I could have seen it but I didn’t.
Last Friday a brilliant (magnitude -7) fireball swept across the sky over western Europe. Numerous visual sightings, pictures and video testify to a great night-sky spectacle but no one still knows what it actually was – meteor or space debris.
A detailed report here from a Dutch blogger brings together video clips and reflects on what the object may have been. Concluding that it is unlikely to have been space debris. If it was then it must have been associated with secret satellites probably American or Israeli. If so, the only people on the planet who already know the origins of this object are military.
It is very clear now that this was not man-made space debris, but a true meteoric fireball.
A first very rough orbital solution suggests it to be a small piece of an Aten asteroid:
http://sattrackcam.blogspot.nl/2012/09/the-21-september-fireball-small-aten.html
Marco,
Thanks for your efforts. I acknowledge the tentative nature of your results but still you bring a fascinating and detailed insight to the origins of this object. Keep us posted.
Anyone curious – if you have not already done so – do check out the link above.