The Novato Fireball, 17 October 2012: Cameras Called the Fall, a Roof Confirmed It
A fireball over the San Francisco Bay Area on 17 October 2012 was caught by NASA-supported sky cameras, the fall zone was predicted over Novato, and three days later a resident found a black stone after remembering a bang on her roof.
Sources NASA Ames / SETI Institute release 14-057AR (15 Aug 2014); Jenniskens et al., “Fall, recovery and characterization of the Novato L6 chondrite breccia,” Meteoritics & Planetary Science 49 (2014), NASA NTRS 20140013233; Novato Meteorite Consortium page (asima.seti.org/n/); Meteoritical Bulletin Database, entry “Novato”; East Bay Times, 22 Oct 2012
On the evening of 17 October 2012 a fireball lit the sky over the San Francisco Bay Area, flashing several times as it broke up. People across the region reported it. This time, though, a network of sky cameras was also recording.
How the fall was found
The Cameras for Allsky Meteor Surveillance project, run by meteor astronomer Peter Jenniskens of the SETI Institute at NASA’s Ames Research Center, captured the fireball. From the camera tracks he calculated where surviving pieces were likely to have landed, over the city of Novato in Marin County, and published the estimate.
In Novato, Lisa Webber and Glenn Rivera remembered a bang on their roof that night. After reading about the predicted fall zone they searched and, on 20 October, found a small black stone of about 62 grams. It was the first piece. Five more were recovered later. A photographer in Santa Rosa, Robert P. Moreno Jr., had captured the final breakup in a series of frames, which showed the object failing in bursts.
What the lab said
A consortium of about fifty researchers studied the rock and published in Meteoritics & Planetary Science in 2014. Novato is an L6 ordinary chondrite breccia. The team estimated the incoming body at about 35 cm and 80 kg, tied its orbit to the Gefion asteroid family, and found organic molecules that had survived the impacts in its history. One of the bolder lines, a possible link to debris from the Moon-forming impact, was offered as a suspicion, and we label it that way.
Why it is in the Ledger
Like Peekskill, Novato is a control case: a real fall, documented from sky to lab. It shows what instruments can do that single eyewitnesses can’t, which is turn “a light in the sky” into a predicted landing zone and a recovered rock.
Ledger status
Marked cited. No map pin: the find was on a private home. No search location is given.
Sources
- NASA Ames Research Center / SETI Institute, “NASA, Partners Reveal California Meteorite’s Rough and Tumble Journey,” 15 Aug 2014 (Ames release 14-057AR). seti.org
- Jenniskens, P., et al. (2014). “Fall, recovery and characterization of the Novato L6 chondrite breccia.” Meteoritics & Planetary Science 49. Author manuscript: NASA NTRS 20140013233
- Novato Meteorite Consortium. asima.seti.org/n/
- Meteoritical Bulletin Database, entry “Novato.” lpi.usra.edu
- “NASA confirms rock from meteor shower found in Novato,” East Bay Times, 22 Oct 2012. eastbaytimes.com
Part of the October Ledger. Original text; no images are used.
Evidence ledger
Each claim in this file, the source it rests on, and how well it holds up: 5 corroborated · 1 disputed. What the labels mean.
| Claim | Source | Type · date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| A bright fireball crossed the San Francisco Bay Area on the evening of 17 Oct 2012 (18 Oct in UTC).The date differs by source only because some captions use UTC. | NASA Ames / SETI Institute release 14-057AR; Jenniskens et al., MAPS 49 (2014) | official · 15 Aug 2014 | corroborated |
| NASA's Cameras for Allsky Meteor Surveillance (CAMS) recorded the fireball, and the trajectory was used to predict a fall area over Novato. | NASA Ames / SETI Institute release; Novato Meteorite Consortium page | official · 2014 | corroborated |
| Novato residents found the first fragment (about 62 g) on 20 Oct 2012 after recalling an impact on their roof. | Novato Meteorite Consortium page; East Bay Times, 22 Oct 2012 | press · 22 Oct 2012 | corroborated |
| The meteorite is an L6 ordinary chondrite breccia, officially named Novato; six fragments were recovered in all. | Meteoritical Bulletin Database; NASA Ames / SETI release | scholarly · 2014 | corroborated |
| Before entry the meteoroid was about 35 cm across and about 80 kg.A modelled estimate, not a measurement. | NASA Ames / SETI release (consortium estimate) | official · 2014 | corroborated |
| Novato's parent body was shocked about 4.47 billion years ago, possibly by debris from the Moon-forming impact.The team presents this as a suspicion, not a settled result. | Q.-Z. Yin, quoted in NASA Ames / SETI release | official · 2014 | disputed |
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