Green Fireballs Coming! 3/6 - 3/9!

enjoyed the view of the sky tonight - but nothing green on my end ... Not even a "shooting star"
However I did very much enjoy the beautiful view of Orion
Good luck to you all - hope someone will get to see the display !!

Originally posted by kdog1982
Not going to happen dude.
Now here is Comet Elenin's stats,check out the distance
from earth it would be Earth MOID(minimum orbital intersect distance)
or how close it gets to earth.Which is about .03 AU
ssd.jpl.nasa.gov...

well,crap,that didn't work

Well, 01:24 GMT, I have been outside since 00:45, and I saw bugger all, a couple of meteors but they wern't green. I had the telescope out, but here in town it's pretty useless with all the light pollution and what not.

Only thing unusual was birds tweeting like crazy.

Even with clear skies I don't get to see anything

Originally posted by Nekbet
reply to post by C.H.U.D.

 

Enjoying all the info.. Thank you

another curious question - how different would these "fireballs" appear to look.. than "a shooting star"?

You're welcome Nekbet.

Good question.

A fireball is basically a shooting star (meteor) that is brighter than -4 magnitude (the brightness of Venus). Very large fireballs are sometimes called "bolides", and can surpass the Sun's brightness (-26 magnitude) in extreme cases, but you'd have to be very fortunate to see one that bright.

Because fireballs are produced by larger and/or harder objects, they can sometimes last longer than your average shooting star, which usually lasts less than a second. A faster object entering the atmosphere will also be brighter than the same object if it was traveling slower, but the faster it's speed the more likely it is to break up, which often happens with fast meteoroids, especially if they are relatively large and/or fragile (which a lot of them are) and/or coming in at a high angle.

A good sized fireball will often appear to "flash" or "flare" as it breaks apart, and this is always spectacular to see. Sometimes (more common with slower fireballs, although meteors can also do this, as well as flare), you can actually see individual fragments break off the meteoroid.

It's difficult to detect colour in dim meteors (the eye only perceives colour above a certain brightness threshold) so most shooting stars look white, but as they get brighter, meteors become more colourful, and they can often be vivid. It's not unusual to perceive multiple colours in a bright fireball. Composition is not the only factor that affects colour (a common misconception), and as I mentioned before, colour is very subjective.

Brighter meteors and fireballs especially can also make "wakes" and "trains". A wake is a train that has disappeared within a second, and a persistent train is one that lasts for over 3 seconds. Some longer lived persistent trains can hang in the air for 10s of minutes after a big fireball.

One thing that a bright meteor/fireball can often do to people is to make them think it is a lot closer and lower than it actually is. Our brains are not very good determining the distance/altitude of an object, and we subconsciously make assumptions like "it's bright, so it must be close" which are more often than not wrong. It's not unusual when a bright fireball is seen by lots of people, that a few will ring up the emergency services to report seeing a "UFO" or "flaming aircraft falling out of the sky". Sometimes, if we are lucky and enough people give accurate descriptions of the event, or the event is caught on camera, meteorite fragments are found, and they are invariably many tens/hundreds of km away from where people thought they saw it fall.

Determining the actual speed of a meteor/fireball can also be very tricky since apparent speed depends on perspective. For example, even the fastest meteor will not appear to move if it happens to be heading directly towards you. Someone else watching the same meteor from a few hundred km away would see it moving fast though.

There is a very good FAQ on the subject that can be found here.

Here is a short compilation of meteors that have been caught on camera:
www.youtube.com...

Note that the Peeskill meteor at around 7 seconds into the compilation also appears at least 3 or 4 times again latter on. Also, the footage from about 1:40 shows what is probably a re-entry and subsequent train, rather than a natural meteor.

Here's a nice recent fireball that was caught by the ITALIAN METEOR and TLE NETWORK at the start of February.

Here's a big fireball that exploded over South Africa back in 2009, and seen by thousands:
www.youtube.com...

Originally posted by Nekbet
Okay... call me naive - Surely not a scientist here !! But growing up I was always taught (or perhaps I believed) that when something like a meteorite enters into our atmosphere.. It burns up.
Therefore I do not feel alarmed.. and interested in seeing an awesome display in the sky tonight.. but Now .. .I feel like I am missing something ... anyone care to elaborate / educate me (am being sincere)

en.wikipedia.org...

Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as an end to Earth's atmosphere: An atmosphere does not technically end at any given height, but becomes progressively thinner with altitude. Also, depending on how the various layers that make up the space around the Earth are defined (and depending on whether these layers are considered as part of the actual atmosphere), the definition of the edge of space could vary considerably: If one were to consider the thermosphere and exosphere part of the atmosphere and not of space, one might have to place the boundary to space as high as about 10,000 km (6,215 miles) above sea level.

They should be above our atmosphere.

reply to post by C.H.U.D.


Thank you again so very much !!!! I may not have gotten to see "something" in the sky tonight - but the evening has been filled with knowledge ... which in my book makes for a fantastic evening!!!
stars (and flags when i figure them out) for you my friend.

oh and pssst... Yall would probally get a good laugh.. when I first went outside... adjusted to the night sky.. suddenly appeared a large RED star -- yup yup.. my heart raced for a second.. until I saw the flash flash blinking light of a Plane

Originally posted by woogleuk
Well, 01:24 GMT, I have been outside since 00:45, and I saw bugger all, a couple of meteors but they wern't green. I had the telescope out, but here in town it's pretty useless with all the light pollution and what not.
Even with clear skies I don't get to see anything

You'd stand a better chance of seeing something if you jump into a sleeping bag (or 2) and spend a good chunk of the night observing.

A telescope won't help much when it comes to meteors since want the widest unobstructed view of the sky you can get. It also helps if you get away from any light pollution, at least for seeing the fainter meteors. Of course we are looking for fireballs here, and you would be able to see them even in fairly heavily light polluted skies quite easily, but seeing faint meteors can make a few hours under the stars seem to pass by much quicker than they would when you are not seeing much.

I wouldn't like to discourage you or anyone from observing, but I think the chances of seeing a bright fireball are probably not much different to any other time of year, apart from meteor shower peaks. Very bright fireballs, are usually asteroidal in origin, and seeing one of those is a matter of pure luck, or dedicating your life to spending every clear night under the stars till you see one. Being in the UK doesn't help much thanks to all the cloud, but it's often possible to get around this if you can plan ahead and jump in a car.

A better way to catch a bright fireball would be to set up a fireball camera that you can leave running all night. It can be done on quite a tight budget (cameras are dirt cheap now) if you are clever with your hands, or they can be bought off the shelf if you have the cash to spare (not very cheap last time I looked).

I'll find some links on the subject if anyone likes, but basically it's as simple as buying a £15 cctv camera, pointing it up, and recording the output. You can record the output of the camera with a PC that has a capture card installed. Capture cards can be expensive, but a basic single input card is not very expensive.

reply to post by C.H.U.D.


I live in Mansfield, Texas and at 8:11 pm Central, I saw a bright green meteor travel east to west. It disappeared at about 25 to 30 degrees above the horizon. It was gorgeous to watch. At approximately 8:20 pm I saw another green one, yet not as bright. God, I love Texas and the wonders of our Earth and the Universe!

Originally posted by KOLTON
It is 5:19 PST in Washington State.

When should I watch the skies and what direction should I look in to witness this "green fireball"?

I think you are confusing the predicted asteroid fly-by, which would be hard to see without a good telescope, with the potential for a random fireball or two to hit us.

If there were any small asteroids out there (and there almost certainly are) that are going to hit us in the next few days, we don't have any way to predict the time or location where it would be seen. It was done on one occasion, but that is the exception rather than the rule, at least until we get better at spotting these smaller objects.

Meter size class asteroids hit the atmosphere and "burn up" every day, but most occur over ocean/sparsely populated areas, or during daylight, and no one sees them. It's only recently that we found out how often Earth gets hit by these small (and harmless) space rocks, and the full picture is still being worked out as I recently reported.

reply to post by woogleuk


Just made it to the JPL site 2155 CST and it seems like closest
ecliptic is a little after 3 AM on the 7th. Couldn't find where, DRAT!

reply to post by retiredTxn


Oh my gosh!! Me and my husband just missed it. We are just north of you. We were out walking the dog and had just come in right before it happened.Crap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Will there be more to see here?

reply to post by sickofitall2012


Sure hope so. Just brewed a fresh pot of coffee.
Little cool out on the porch tonite!

Originally posted by retiredTxn
reply to post by C.H.U.D.

 

I live in Mansfield, Texas and at 8:11 pm Central, I saw a bright green meteor travel east to west. It disappeared at about 25 to 30 degrees above the horizon. It was gorgeous to watch. At approximately 8:20 pm I saw another green one, yet not as bright. God, I love Texas and the wonders of our Earth and the Universe!

Really? I could be wrong but from what I can tell by looking at the JPL Small-Body Database, the incoming object is coming in at an angle that would make us see it cross the sky from west to east, not east to west how you describe.

Originally posted by WielderOfTheSwordOfTruth

Originally posted by retiredTxn
reply to post by C.H.U.D.

 

I live in Mansfield, Texas and at 8:11 pm Central, I saw a bright green meteor travel east to west. It disappeared at about 25 to 30 degrees above the horizon. It was gorgeous to watch. At approximately 8:20 pm I saw another green one, yet not as bright. God, I love Texas and the wonders of our Earth and the Universe!

Really? I could be wrong but from what I can tell by looking at the JPL Small-Body Database, the incoming object is coming in at an angle that would make us see it cross the sky from west to east, not east to west how you describe.

From my viewpoint, it was east to west. Really...

reply to post by Nekbet


Thanks again Nekbet,

The planes usually get me too :lol

Wait till you see a bright satellite flare, or bits of random space junk flashing in the sky... it can really mess with your head (there are a few ATS threads here with many confused people wondering what they saw, and much of it can be explained by satellites/junk IMO).

Don't get disheartened if you don't see a fireball now, there are 3 or 4 annual meteor showers that you can pretty much rely on to produce a fireball class meteor or two, if you observe through the peak night. There are no guarantees that you will see fireballs the first time, especially if the weather is not cooperative, so it's best to hedge your bets and try to observe on a few nights either side of the peak time of a meteor shower if you can, and/or plan to observe at least 2 showers.

Finding a good spot to observe from will help you see more too - more often than not fireballs are seen low on the horizon, so having all round clear horizons increases your chances, and you should be flat on your back to take advantage of this.

The most important kit is a good portable bed, a sleeping bag, and warm cloths. If you are not moving around much, warmth drains away surprisingly quickly under a clear starry sky, and good locations for observing meteors tend to be exposed, which can make observing very uncomfortable if you are not well prepared for it.

Good luck, and hope you catch a few nice ones soon.

reply to post by retiredTxn


Maybe you did see something, but if it was traveling east to west I don't think it was this object. I'm pretty sure its coming in west to east, I drew up this picture right quick to explain why i think that.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/9bfabeb374b2.jpg[/atsimg]

Originally posted by retiredTxn

Originally posted by WielderOfTheSwordOfTruth

Originally posted by retiredTxn
reply to post by C.H.U.D.

 

I live in Mansfield, Texas and at 8:11 pm Central, I saw a bright green meteor travel east to west. It disappeared at about 25 to 30 degrees above the horizon. It was gorgeous to watch. At approximately 8:20 pm I saw another green one, yet not as bright. God, I love Texas and the wonders of our Earth and the Universe!

Really? I could be wrong but from what I can tell by looking at the JPL Small-Body Database, the incoming object is coming in at an angle that would make us see it cross the sky from west to east, not east to west how you describe.

From my viewpoint, it was east to west. Really...

Keep in mind (as I mentioned before), there are lots of small (but still capable of causing an impressive meteor/fireball) objects out there, and working out what source they are from is not that simple, although what you saw may well be due to a small asteroid/asteroid fragments.

It would be nice if you could fill out a fireball report form with the details of the bright meteor you saw. The data you provide might help in solving this mystery, and/or finding any meteorites that may have made it to the ground.

Good job catching a nice one either way

reply to post by C.H.U.D.


I'll be glad to fill one out. Here in Texas, we see a lot of these, or at least folks I know have and still do.
When you get out of the big cities, you can see a lot more in the skies than city folk. Thanks for the link.

Just went and filled out the form. Hope it helps.

Glad this thread stayed on topic with no drama....PHEW!

Hopefully you guys had a good time viewing the meteors, i guess we still have a few close calls till the 9th, so their may be some room for more viewing pleasure! Ill do my best to keep this thread up to date with whats coming next

So....does anyobdy able to take a picture of it ?
I'm very curious.