A Daytime Fireball in 1944
Credit & Copyright:
Norman Appleton
While stationed in
central Africa in December 1944, Norman Appleton
witnessed a
meteor so bright he remembered it his entire life.
Right before his eyes a tremendous smoking
fireball
streaked across the daytime sky.
Years later, as an accomplished member of the
Guild of Aviation Artists,
he recorded his memories in the
above painting.
Tonight and tomorrow mark the peak of this year's
Leonid meteor shower.
Although any individual observer is unlikely to see a
fireball as spectacular as this one,
observers in dark locations
might witness as many as hundreds of
transient streaks of light
emanating from the constellation of Leo
across a morning moonlit sky.