A while ago, astroimager John A. Davis from Dallas, Texas, sent me the file of a fireball (a meteor bright enough to cast a shadow) he caught on video. You may know John’s name because of the many images of his that we’ve published in Astronomy magazine. He allowed us to post the video here so you can enjoy it, too.
He captured the fireball on his meteor camera, a Watec video camera with an f/0.8 lens, June 20, 2011, at 11:47 P.M. CDT, at BuckSnort Observatory in central Texas. He uses SonotaCo’s UFOCapture time-shifted motion-capture software.
He said it was the brightest meteor he has recorded so far. Thanks for sending it, John, and keep up the great work!
June 20th 2011 Meteor over Central Texas from John Davis on Vimeo.