Scipioville, New York, USA
3 min read
Scipioville, New York, USA – December 2, 2020, 12:07 PM local time, hundreds of people across the northeastern US reported seeing a daylight fireball, ending in two bright flashes. The GOES-16 weather satellite detected these bright flashes and NASA estimated the entry speed at 20 km/s, ending 30 miles SW of Syracuse, New York.
Our team has analyzed the data, and although the meteor was travelling relatively fast, Doppler radar indicates that there could be meteorites on the ground! Now it is a race with the weather to find the little black rocks, before the snow comes!
| Entry Date/Time: | 2020-12-02 17:07:00 UTC |
| Location: | 50km SW of Syracuse |
| Reference Coordinates: | 42.87°N, -76.63°W |
| Reference Altitude: | 20 km above sea level |
| Energy / Mass Estimate: | 0.1kt /1000kg |
| Reference Speed: | 25.0 km/s |
| Bearing: | 230° SW |
| Slope: | 55° from vertical |
| TKW: | none |
| Classification: | unknown |
| Event Links: | NASA ARES Skarby Kosmosu AMS |
Video and News
There were several videos captured, mostly by the Norwegian Meteor Camera Network, that were useful in determining the trajectory of the meteor. These videos were also found on YouTube.
Search Efforts
This was a fairly large event, but no fragments
Typically, meteoroids breaks apart during flight through the atmosphere. Much of the material evaporates in a process called ablation, leaving only small stones to find. Occaisionally, large meteor events can... have yet been found. Even in the pandemic, you can expect an event of this size to attract meteorite hunters from all over the USA, if they can get to New York.
IMPORTANT NOTE: New York state is under strict quarantine at the this time, please read the travel advisory before making travel arrangements.
If you would like to join the search and future events in this region, please join the Facebook group:
StrewnLAB Search Area
A trajectory has been estimated from video and GOES-16 satellite imagery, and this data has been run through the StrewnLAB software to predict a search area. Please download and review the Google Earth files below for detailed maps of the search area. Data analysis for this event continues and NASA has also provided a search area here, with the Doppler radar overlay: NASA Ares Search Area
Even though the StrewnLAB
A computer simulation program, written by Jim Goodall. For more information, please visit the StrewnLAB Page.... prediction indicates the best search area is west of the lake, Doppler hits are mostly on the east side. Refer to the NASA site for Doppler data.
Weather Data
The weather data below is sourced from weather balloons, and publicly available via NOAA’s Integrated Global Radiosonde Archive (IGRA). This data is downloaded and post-processed by the StrewnLAB algorithm, to account for changing weather patterns and weather balloon drift. The plots have altitude on the y-axis, in kilometers above sea level. The wind speed below 10km has large effect on the drift of meteorites.
My name is Jim Goodall, and I am an automotive controls engineer in Michigan, but my passion is physics. I started this website as a hobby, to support the global network of meteorite hunters.
Feel free to contact me, if you have any questions about the products on this website. Jim Goodall | Hartland, Michigan, USA | james.a.goodall@gmail.com | +1 586 709 5888