TRANS-ALABAMA SUPERBOLIDE OF 5 DECEMBER 1999

Several dozen very bright superbolides enter Earth's atmosphere each year, usually terminating with an explosion of the incoming meteoritic body. Coordinated camera set-ups have captured images of a very few meteorites, which led to their recovery But most bright meteoritic events are seen by eyewitnesses who are in the right place at the right time, or by security cameras, which are typically not pointed at the sky. The superbolide that is reported on here was seen by many and recorded on such security cameras. Careful collection and analysis of eyewitness data allowed a trajectory to be estimated, which is at odds with data of the U.S. Department of Defense on this event. A few meteoritic events result in an "impossible" effect; that is, they apparently start ground fires. The superbolide that is the subject of this report was one of them. Simultaneous ground fires were reported near Harpersville, Alabama. At approximately 04:18 AM CST (10:18 UT) on 5 December 1999, light from an exceptionally bright bolide (what we call here a superbolide) was seen across part of the southeastern United States. This superbolide was witnessed, heard, and (or) felt by hundreds of individuals who called local and state police, fire departments, and the state emergency management agency. According to newspaper and television accounts, the superbolide’s light was seen within a 300-km radius of its flight path. This area included most of the state of Alabama, and parts of adjacent Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida. This incident was widely reported in regional and local newspapers and on local television news programs. Surveillance camera videos made in two Alabama towns, Weogufka (33.02°N, 86.31°W) and Pell City (33.16°N,86.28°W), recorded direct light, reflected light, and shadows from this superbolide event. Despite a subsequent, intensive effort to find the fallen object, no meteoritic debris has ever been found that could be attributed to this remarkable event.