High altitude explosion this AM. (meteor?)

Today seems it is going to be an interesting day.

First this light and God knows if we will ever know unless people in the area have a look around.

Indonesia had a 7.6 Earthquake this morning killing several people and injuring dozens.

Space shuttle coming down shortly

Shooting a Sattellite out of the sky later tonight and lastly a """ full Lunar Eclipse tonight."""

[edit on 20-2-2008 by observe50]

I also live in Walla Walla,but missed the whole thing.Several people at work witnessed it though.One person said the flash lit up his bedroom like it was daylight,followed by several booms.I always miss all the cool stuff.

reply to post by NovusOrdoMundi


Your right, we should spend more time looking at the facts.
What are those by the way? I havent heard any in regards to what it was.
I have no problem at all admiring this as a meteor as soon as someone from the scientific comunity states as a FACT that this was a meteor. Im looking at all the FACTS I have at this time, and saying this is odd.

Imagine that. Someone here on ATS not blindly believing what others precieve as fact. Are you suggesting that I just shut up and keep my opinions on the subject to my self then? I cant. Sorry.

There are amazing pics and video. There are amazing comments from people all over on each news page about what they saw. I dont know what this was, but I am looking forward to finding out. I just cant blindly say it was one thing or another. The whole thing was just down right odd.

Originally posted by disownedsky
It takes sound about 18+ seconds to travel 20,000 feet, so I don't think the explosion was that high.

Keep in mind that the sounds associated with meteors are usually caused by the object itself breaking the sound-barrier, and therefore causing sonic-booms. The "explosion" (technically known as a "terminal-bust") may not have contributed to any sound heard.

Originally posted by stikkinikki
There are two meteor showers potentially active now: Alpha Centaurids (ACE) and the Delta Leonid's (DLE).

Interesting to note, but annual meteor showers very really have anything to do with major fireballs like this one, though it is not totally out of the question.

Originally posted by seagull
Apparently local law enforcement switchboards went beserko this morning...lol.

This is not unusual when a large fireball like this observed over a wide area!

Originally posted by mrsdudara
Do we know as a fact that this was a meteor yet???? Everyone seems to be assuming it was, but do we know as a fact?

Calm down! If it looks like a meteor, behaves like a meteor, and sounds like a meteor (which it does), then it probably is a meteor! There is nothing here to indicate that it was anything else other than a meteor.

Originally posted by Illahee
The planets orbit the Sun, and our solar system is also moving around the milky way? Doesn't that mean our whole solar system is traveling through space we haven't been through before?

Yes it does. However, the space in between solar systems is almost devoid of objects compared to that within our solar-system. Interstellar meteors have been observed, but they are rare, usually caused by microscopic dust grains, and travel at speeds that are around an order of magnitude faster than objects that are in orbit around our sun. The meteor in question is certainly not fast enough to be anything other than an object that has been in orbit around our sun. It looks about average speed for a solar-system object to me. Probably between 20-40 km/s would be my guess, where as an interstellar object would have a speed probably in excess of 100 km/s.

Originally posted by GArnold
Anyone watch the second one from the air national guard? Notice something really strange about it? Almost looks like it was exploded somehow right before hitting the physical earth.

Meteors travel very fast (see my post above). When something traveling that fast hits our atmosphere, great stresses are induced within the object. In many cases, if the object is not very solid to begin with, it will suffer a catastrophic break-up long before reaching the ground. It's not unusual for some of the less dense meteoroids to "explode" on contact with our atmosphere.

It's rare for anything to survive, and make it to the ground. There has certainly never been a documented case of a meteorite being luminous all the way down to the ground - if there was, we'd all know about it! For that to happen, it would have to be a very large object to start off with, and it would have to retain a portion of its cosmic-velocity (at least 1km/s or roundabouts) as well as a substantial portion of it's original mass.

Originally posted by downtown436
I bet there is an ATS'er here that lives close enough to find where it hit. With an explosion that big, it shouldn't be too hard.

Please someone go out there and find the crater and take a pic! I'll buy you dinner if you do it.

Chances are that there is no crater as such, even if anything did survive. The terminal-burst probably broke the meteor in to many small pieces, which would probably be scattered over a wide area. By all means, go out and look for it, but be aware that meteorites are very really easy to find. I do think there is a very good chance that some parts will have made it to the ground, but finding them will not be an easy task if the terrain is rugged.

Originally posted by Yknot
Also wondering if the intensity of the final flare and the fact eye-witnesses report TWO explosions; one following the other by a few seconds, would indicate a sonic boom AND impact?

No, in this case, almost certainly not. Multiple booms are common place with events like this. Intensity of the terminal-burst is no indication of an impact - it is merely indicative of a catastrophic break-up of the object.

Here is an photographic example of an exceptionally bight fireball that would have been comparable to the magnitude of this event - and there was no impact, at least of the type that you and others have been hinting at, where some portion of the cosmic-velocity has been retained down to the ground:
antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov...

Originally posted by Insomniac
It wouldn't have to be very large to have the effect it did due to the amount of kinetic energy generated by its journey through the atmosphere. If indeed, this is the nature of it, I would be surprised if there were not fragments that survived all the way to ground as meteorites!

Agreed. This object probably started out about the size of a small-medium sized car.

Originally posted by Insomniac
Of course, it could have been a piece of space debris falling back to earth, that could account for the colours witnessed as space debris would contain metal

It looked to be too fast to be man made debris... and the terminal-burst is uncharacteristic of hard metal objects. It's more indicative of a rock of some kind IMHO.

reply to post by mrsdudara

One of my favorite websites, spaceweather.com, has a blurb about the meteor yesterday. They are the experts on atomospheric phenomena. Very interesting sight for learning andsome info on the lunar eclipse tonite as well.

PACIFIC FIREBALL: On Tuesday morning, Feb. 19th, at approximately 5:30 a.m. Pacific time, people in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana witnessed a spectacular fireball. It exploded not once but twice in midair, casting shadows and rivaling city lights. Many onlookers wondered if spy satellite USA 193 had been shot down. No, it was a small asteroid breaking up in Earth's atmosphere, a surprisingly common event. Reports of meteorites hitting the ground remain unconfirmed; stay tuned for updates.

The story is on the front page for now.

I live in Central Washington, but was driving in the Greater Seattle area, and saw the meteor.

There wasn't many, there was only one, and it was 500 miles from were I was at. At the time, I figured it to be a transformer blowing out or something, but my brother called me and asked about the meteor, and I was like that's what that was....damn.

And me living 30 miles from Hanford, and 90 miles from Umatilla.....not very fng good.

WoW i just got off the phone with my Mom who lives in Walla Walla and i asked her if she seen it...she said she was getting ready for work and seen bright light entering in home. My Mom thought some one was out side with a flash light looking in ... so she went to go turn on all the out side lights on cause she was frighten . After that she heard the sonic boom she called it a "loud bang"... then she got really scared and looked around out side through the house windows and right then my mom felt the earth shake under her feet...she said the windows shook a little bit.... wow I really wish i was there to see that .... I hope some one finds the impact site that would be better...

reply to post by mrsdudara


Did I say shut up and keep your opinions to yourself?

No.

Be skeptical. I don't care. But why be skeptical of every little thing? Do you not know meteors hit Earth? We get hit with space debris EVERY DAY! Just because we don't notice it doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

So why is it so hard to believe that one we do notice hits?

CNN covered it because it's a cool video to watch. How many people have seen a meteor hitting Earth? Probably most of the people on this planet haven't seen something like that. So why not show people?

Being skeptical about every day politics is fine. Being skeptical about a meteor strike is just pointless.

Wanting to get all of the facts and planting the seeds in your mind that this is some sort of cover up are two different things. If you want to get all the facts, that's perfectly fine. I'd like to get all the facts too. But you really do sound like you think there's some sort of cover up going on, or that you expect to not get all the facts.

So what exactly do you think hit?

Originally posted by C.H.U.D.

Originally posted by disownedsky
It takes sound about 18+ seconds to travel 20,000 feet, so I don't think the explosion was that high.

Keep in mind that the sounds associated with meteors are usually caused by the object itself breaking the sound-barrier, and therefore causing sonic-booms. The "explosion" (technically known as a "terminal-bust") may not have contributed to any sound heard.

Good point - I've heard enough booms that I should have thought of this...

That makes the 20,000 foot estimate plausible.

reply to post by stikkinikki



Cool thanks for the info and link.

Novus, I didnt know what it was. Considering the news over just the past week, with major natural gas explosions, an oil refinery explosion, a satalite falling to earth, China and Russia being pissed at us wanting to shoot it down, near earth objects, threats from this country and that, the list goes on. It was difficult for me to just blindly assume that something like this was a meteor. Didnt rule it out, just wanted to know for sure. It made one hell of a display exploding just before hitting earth. I wish I could have seen it myself. But come on, it did all that, and there is nothing. No rock, no hole, no one saying that happened in my back yard or across the street. That is Crazy! Awesome, but still crazy.

Maybe it just looked like it landed in Washington. Perhaps it landed in the ocean?

I saw this , it was pretty cool!!

I just watched this video of it on cnn. Wow thank god it wasnt a big one.
www.cnn.com...#/video/us/2008/02/20/am.hotshots.meteor.cnn

reply to post by mrsdudara


But there's only so many things it could have been. A UFO, a meteor, a satellite, or a missile.

It really looked too big or too bright to be any type of aircraft. But I suppose it's possible. But one thing to consider is how fast it was traveling and the fact that it stayed on it's same course. I would think it would have to be deliberately crashed to do that, because anything losing an engine or anything like that couldn't go that fast and stay on the same trajectory.

It was too big and too bright to be a satellite.

If it was a missile, why would they deny it? I don't think they would.

It clearly came from the sky, and considering it's size and speed, it almost certainly came from space.

Really, the only other thing it could be is a really big UFO, but again, it stayed on the same trajectory while "crashing".

I'm quite sure it's a meteor. But it's your right to be skeptical so I'll just leave it at this.

Judging by comments left on all the news sights, and some of the videos. It appears there was more than one. Anyone else notice this?

@mrsdudara

Yes one of the news sites has a lady hearing something prior at 3:25 am

Two points that seperate memebers have mentioned in this thread

- Possibility of earth piezo electric discharge prior to large quake

- 7.2 M earthquake in Indonesia

Large earth quakes commonly have electrical discharge associated prior to the event. Just wanted to put those two things in the same text body for folks.

Even tho a meteor is more likley the odd color spectrum's that are associated with earth electrical discharges seemed to be present here so another out of place item.
Joe

Maybe it's just me or the fact that I'm now reading Threads everyday on ATS but are we experiencing more phenomenon as of late with meteors and asteroids or is it that we are just becoming more aware of these things recently
I know we go through meteor showers al the time but lately it just seems more frequent

whoops sorry for the double post

[edit on 20-2-2008 by Numb2itall]

Originally posted by Yknot
What material does a white, blue-white explosion indicate? I also see that as it passed over other areas it was identified to have a white-green tail, which seems to indicate a copper and ?? component. Also wondering if the intensity of the final flare and the fact eye-witnesses report TWO explosions; one following the other by a few seconds, would indicate a sonic boom AND impact?



[edit on 20-2-2008 by Yknot]

If I remember right Magnesium burns a bright white color...

Yeah, found something about it here on Wiki.

Neat stuff this metal is.

What else burns a bright white and/or blue color?

reply to post by Shaker



Most things will emit white light when heated enough. Think of heating an iron bar - first it glows red, then orange, then white!

It's not easy to work out the composition without obtaining a spectrum by using a diffraction grating. Very bright meteors like this one are often so bright, that our imaging sensors/eyes are saturated, and even though there are peaks at certain wavelengths, all you see is white, with perhaps a slight tint if you are lucky.

When I was watching the shuttle return they said it was at 85,000 ft. and when it got to 50,000 ft. you would hear two sonic booms and when it approached 50,000 ft. you heard the two sonic booms.

My question is, would this have been at 50,000 ft. when you heard the sonic boom instead of 20,000 ft.

Fox new said earlier that this thing landed (???) in Idaho. As I see it if this came through then Norad should know all about it, they track everything and how did they know it went down in Idaho???

I think it is interesting about Mom and what she told you about shaking and stuff.

I agree there is a lot of stuff going on that we all need to keep our eyes to the skies.

I'm not ready to believe Meteor yet we need more info.