Hi Steve- Thanks for the nice report. Unfortunately I did not get to see this meteor. All of a sudden I have the urge to ask some questions about meterors that I hope someone will respond to. 1. What kind of mass does a meteor have to have make passage thru the Earths's atmosphere? This probably depends on the length of the path of reentry. 2. Does every meteor that goes thru the sound barrier on deceleration create a sonic boom? 3. Is the color of the meteor dependent on its speed into the atmosphere? If it is why doesn't it change color as it slows down? 4. The FM radio guys say meteors ionize the upper atmosphere, so does this make a visible effect that is observable? 5. I had a patient one time who knew of my interest in Astronomy. She asked me if I have ever heard the hissing sound that meteors make? I don't hear real well and have never heard such sounds. Has anyone else? This should cause enough trouble for one day, so I will sign off Regards Keith Parizek Rio Verde,Az. --- Original Message ----- From: "Steve Coe" <stevecoe@xxxxxxxxx> To: <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2008 8:26 PM Subject: [AZ-Observing] Meteor from my backyard Howdy all; I just saw the best meteor I have ever seen from within the lights of Phoenix. It was at 8:13 PM MST. It started just under Regulus and Saturn and flew along Hydra until exploding to the south of Corvus. I just happened to be aiming the = scope at Saturn (which is nice, BTW) and this fireball flew along. I would estimate its brightness as -5 magnitude, it was much brighter = than Sirius. The color was silvery white. I only saw sparks at the end of = its streak across the sky. I was playing a Creedence Clearwater Revival = song in the observatory, so I can't say if there was a sound associated with the meteor. The fun part was hearing the over the fence one of the neighbor's = children saying "Wow, did you see that?". Hope someone else had fun with this fireball; Steve Coe -- See message header for info on list archives or unsubscribing, and please send personal replies to the author, not the list. -- See message header for info on list archives or unsubscribing, and please send personal replies to the author, not the list.