A major fireball appeared over the Netherlands on July 19 22h40m35s UT. A slow
moving Capricornid with a visibility of 5.5 seconds moved slowly over the western
part of the Netherlands. Possibly it reached -12 magnitude.
A splendid all-sky photograph was realised by all-sky station EN-92 (Elsloo) equipped
with a Canon FD f/5.6-7.5 mm fish-eye lens. The image was exposed from 22h10m - 22h50m UT.
Several observers in Germany witnessed the fireball (source : Sternschnuppe 8(1996)
nr. 4 pp. 91). Christoph Weishaar at Waiblingen observed it from the Stuttgarter Sternwarte in
Welzhem and estimated at -5 magnitude and more than 5 seconds visibility. The
fireball was brilliant blue with the white head. It was also observed by
Stephan Holzamer from the Sternwarte "Geschwister-Herschel"
in Hannover. It was observed very low in the west and estimated at -3.
Apart from the EN-92 recording the fireball was also photographed by 5 other stations
of the European Network in Germany : EN-73 (Daun), EN-60 (Berus), EN-72 (Hagen),
EN-87 (Gernsbach) and EN78 (Leopoldshohe). Orbital and trajectory computations
will be performed at the Ondrejov Observatory (Czech Republic)
