Hi Jim, You weren't the only one that saw the bolide! :-) My friend Bill saw the bolide shortly after we had arrived at the 7200-West offramp on I-80 for potential comet viewing. I was busy setting up the telescope and didn't see it, but Bill's description ("looked like fireworks--only going downward") led me to believe he had just seen a large bolide. Your concurrent observation confirms it. :-) Clouds in the northwest prevented us from seeing the comet, but the skies overhead were _unusually_ clear considering that the sun was only just setting and the sky wasn't even "dark" yet. My little 8" Meade newtonian presented views of Jupiter, Saturn, and M42 that were clearer than I have ever seen before. The clarity and detail astonished me, and I can only guess that tonight's seeing must have had much to do with a very still atmosphere. Chris On Tue, 2 Apr 2002, Jim Stitley wrote:
I was traveling south on Bangeter Hwy, and stopped at the light at 5400 South. At 7:45 pm MST, A HUGE bolide(?) came into my view. It was about 25-30 degrees above the southern horizon. Angle about 75-80 degrees off vertical heading west. There was a bright white trail, followed by a yellow-orange flare followed by a fine bright blue one. The entire duation was several seconds and all extinguished at about the same time. The distance from the end of the white trail to the blue fireball was appro. 4-5 moon diameters. Did any else see it??? It was very bright - I would say the white trails might have been -2 magnitude or brighter. It was an incredible display!!! Wonder if anyone caught on film by accident. Would be interested in whether anyone else saw it. Jim Stitley