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yep.. we saw it
three of us saw it at ASV Heathcote site.. here's my poor description written minutes afterwards as we tried to figure out what it was..
Friday Night/Saturday Morning
Heathcote LMDSS
12:49am local time (1449 UT Friday)
Neil picked it up first in the northwest and attracted attention from
Maurice and I to turn and look around.
At first there were two bright objects, one brighter than jupiter the
other a bit less bright a few degrees apart low in the west. the
brightest one had a very long bright train (>5 degrees) and the other
one looked more like a bright satellite. then it become clear that
there were several other fainter bits some also with faint trails all
travelling in the same direction and at the same speed. the speed was
a little faster than a plane or satellite but much slower than any
other meteor i have even seen.
it started low in the northwest, travelled below Jupiter low in the
west and kept travelling south towards the pointers where we lost them
in the trees. the display lasted around 30 seconds. plenty of time for
the three of us to all see 'them' and move across the observing field
to follow them down towards the south.
the brightest one varied in brightness quite significantly, brilliant
white and perhaps even 'sputtering' some other colours. at it's
brightest maybe -4 mag, but it was the slow motion and long dusty
train and collection of them that was amazing. the most bizarre meteor
i have ever seen. at first the brightest meteor looked like a plane
with it's front light shining a bright narrow beam through dust/cloud,
except that the light was trailing the object instead of in front.
glad i know what it was now!
phil
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