CHICORA METEORITE PRESTON, HENDERSON, RANDOLPH 395 



connected the two as coming from this source. I thought there had 

 been an explosion somewhere, and as I had my pohcc radio on I lis- 

 tened for a fire calj. About 5 minutes later there w^as a report of a fire 

 on Melwood Street. Once before I had heard an explosion in a garage 

 on Melwood Street, which had caused a fire alarm to be tm-ned in. 

 I thought this was a similar case and did not know differently until I 

 read your account in the paper. Some of the people in the neighbor- 

 hood thought the Italians on Larimer Avenue were having a celebra- 

 tion. This meteor was directly north of my home, seemingly up 

 above Aspinwall." 



This confirms the observation from Saxonburg that the smoke trail 

 gave the impression of being intermittent. It agrees well with the 

 other observations. 



One other report comes from Oil City, beyond the north end of the 

 track. An observer at Oil City golf course saw both flash and trail in 

 the southwest, mor^e west than south, but heard no sound. The smoke 

 trail persisted for about 15 minutes. The observer thought the meteor 

 might have fallen as far off as West Virginia. This observation agrees 

 with other Oil City observations in placing the meteor much too far 

 west. There was apparently something queer about the atmosphere 

 near Oil City that day. 



See plate 57 (drawing of meteor track) and section hereinafter by 

 Randolph. The thin upper cloud in this drawing would be missed 

 by Butler observers, and its top might be missed in Pittsburgh, but 

 to Oil City observers this would be the most conspicuous part of the 

 track, the lower parts being hidden by terrain features. Oil City 

 observations give the best indications of the height at which the meteor 

 first became visible. 



The time of the meteor's passing is fixed with considerable precision 

 at Station KDKA, where the broadcast was just signing off. The 

 streak was first noticed at 7 seconds before 6 p. m., E. S. T., and the 

 roar of the "explosion" came in at 24 seconds past 6 p. m. The fire- 

 ball itself was not observed by these observers {5, 6). One observer 

 {13) also reports the radio broadcast program as in process of changing 

 when the meteor passed. 



A large number of observers who believed they could indicate the 

 track of the meteor in the skies, or its point of disappearance below 

 the horizon, have been interviewed, and transit observations taken of 

 azimuth and altitude. The azimuth is obtained from magnetic north 

 but is corrected to true north before entry in the table. Some of these 

 observations are much more accm-ate than others, owing in some cases 

 to more careful observers but often to topographical featm'es that pre- 

 clude serious errors, either as to the position of the observer or as to 

 the features on the horizon. Accordingly, we have tried to label the 



292784—41 2 



