[D459] de MARNAY (70) vers BURGILLE (25) 14.11.2016

On 14 November 2016 at 18:14, a motorist travelling on the D459 from Marnay (70) towards Burgille (25) watched a white light move across the sky for about 10 seconds. Having seen shooting stars before, he was surprised that it did not burn out but continued westward. No other account was collected. GEIPAN finds the description a perfect match for a small, slow meteor coming from the east and crossing in front of the witness towards the west or southwest. A shooting star often lacks a readily visible trail or tail, particularly when faint, with correspondingly reduced retinal persistence. Colours and changes of colour may also be difficult to distinguish in such cases. At the observation time, the radiant of the Taurid showers, the Southern then Northern Taurids in Taurus near Aldebaran, was rising at the east-northeast horizon, at azimuth 70° measured from north. Meteors from this shower, associated with comet 2P/Encke, are slow, about 29 km/s, making an observation of about 10 seconds entirely possible and consistent with the account. The shower produces fewer than 5 meteors per hour but lasts from 10 September to 10 December. The observation was only 2 days from the Northern Taurids' peak on 12 November, a favourable period. The source adds that the shower apparently can also produce fireballs periodically. Given its descriptive, temporal and spatial characteristics, GEIPAN considers this very probably a meteor from that shower. It classifies the case A: shooting star.