Have you noticed an Increase in Meteorites?

Originally posted by iforget
reply to post by guessing

 

I've seen my fair share of meteors and I've never heard or smelled one before. That seems strange to me though maybe it is perfectly normal I am not really sure.

I have heard them before. Hard to describe the sound, it was quite faint. Almost like paper tearing. Never smelt one!

I would say it is due to the Perseids that you are seeing an increase though.

reply to post by Suspiria


But which direction will they come from?

and why horizontal?

reply to post by fiftyfifty


Interesting it is dark here but kinda noisy from a nearby highway maybe that is why I've never noticed a sound. I have seen them explode, almost like a firework, and half expected the accustomed boom.

reply to post by iforget



yea its kinda like a dud firework, like a sizzle, no bang, more like a poof, if thats the right word/

Originally posted by guessing
reply to post by Suspiria

 

But which direction will they come from?

and why horizontal?

The Perseids will appear to come from in the constellation Perseus and go in all directions . I would expect them to be high in the upper atmosphere and to be silent as they are thought to be comet dust/debris.

reply to post by guessing


NNE

If you are in the southern hemesphere you will be seeing these too..
en.wikipedia.org...

Yeppers, i asked my father the same thing only yesterday as i too have seen an increase in them. He also stated its normal between July and Aug/Sept he said.

Hope that helps along with the other replies on here.

reply to post by okeydokeydo



I made a mistake an have changed the direction in the OP

it was originally from the NNE, not the NNW

thanks

What about the color of the meteorites? The Perseid's are usually blue, are they not? What color were these? Over the last few years, I have seen very close, green fireballs. Something that I have not seen at all during my years, only recently.

Also, here in the USA, the "guberment" classified bolides and "shooting stars" secret or top secret. Wonder what that is all about?

www.shortnews.com...
www.space.com...
en.wikipedia.org...
www.thefreedictionary.com...
www.spacekb.com...

Some of those links point to the first link, but still, why classify something that we can all see in the sky? But, I guess the same question can be said about UFOs.

reply to post by Skada


Bright off white. That was the color

So close I could see the droplets falling off

reply to post by guessing

• Electric White
  
• magnesium or aluminum barium oxide
  
• Silver
  
• aluminum, titanium, or magnesium
  

Color
Compound

Red
strontium salts, lithium salts
lithium carbonate, Li2CO3 = red
strontium carbonate, SrCO3 = bright red

Orange
calcium salts
calcium chloride, CaCl2
calcium sulfate, CaSO4•xH2O, where x = 0,2,3,5
Gold
incandescence of iron (with carbon), charcoal, or lampblack

Yellow
sodium compounds
sodium nitrate, NaNO3
cryolite, Na3AlF6

Electric White
white-hot metal, such as magnesium or aluminum
barium oxide, BaO

Green
barium compounds + chlorine producer
barium chloride, BaCl+ = bright green

Blue
copper compounds + chlorine producer
copper acetoarsenite (Paris Green), Cu3As2O3Cu(C2H3O2)2 = blue
copper (I) chloride, CuCl = turquoise blue

Purple
mixture of strontium (red) and copper (blue) compounds

Silver
burning aluminum, titanium, or magnesium powder or flakes
_______________
No iron yet, still interesting.

reply to post by okeydokeydo


I was camping the other night and my friend and I saw a whole shwack of them... along with other things..

Originally posted by guessing
Like most on this site I watch the sky. I spend at least 2 hours every night gazing.

I have a pretty good vantage point with limited polution.

Most nights there are dozens of meteorites from all directions. Most are in the upper atmosphere.

In the last month I would say, there has been 1 per night that is very close. Originating from the NNE

Every second or so nights they are very close. So close that you can hear them.

They are very flat in trajectory and burn up in my estimate about 1000ft above the ground.

I have been watching and they seem to be getting larger with a flatter trajectory.

I am posting this because the last one, about 10 minutes ago was almost horizontal and the burn up streak was about 1500 feet long. Altitude was about 200 feet. It was so close that I could smell it.

Has anyone noticed an increase in meteorites?

What have you noticed about trajectory?

I am in Cairns, QLD, Australia about 200 feet above sea level

edit on 3-8-2011 by guessing because: (no reason given)

edit on 3-8-2011 by guessing because: directional error changed NNW TO NNE cause i am a retard

Wow your ability to calculate distance is terrible. How about you get some video footage for us that is on a tripod with a camera that can pick it up clearly since it is a daily occurrence for you. Provide me with some video footage and I can calculate the actual distance and enjoy seeing what you're describing as a terrific sight.

Originally posted by guessing
... smells like welding

Ozone cologne.
Women will woo when they learn you weld well...

I figured it must be meteor shower time when I saw so many in one night.

reply to post by guessing


Yeah thats how I would describe it to, it was a very bright sort of off white colour.
The thing I also found strange was it appeared all of a sudden very low. Not like a meteor that you see falling from high in the sky.

You also don't hear the sonic boom from the space shuttle reentry, and that is much larger than those bits of sand burning up in the atmosphere MILES away from you. If you do hear a sonic boom from the shuttle you would have to be near where it lands, because you see sound doesn't travel far when the atmosphere is thin. Otherwise we would hear every loud boom on earth, make sense? Ever wonder why fish don't have big ears?

Saw a Sniper show on TV today at lunch, a mile or so away from the sniper, the target does not hear the thunderous crack from the rifle, (50 cal), and only reacts to a near miss when it hits something near him in the middle of silent Afghanistan. Now if you think you hear a meteor shower I think you are hearing something else. Plus the bullet muzzle velocity is 2,900 ft/sec, over half a km/sec, 1,980 mph, way over the speed of sound, and yes, bullets make sonic booms, they are just small ones and you have to be close to hear it, if you want to be.

It sounds like the tearing sound the Op is hearing when watching meteors in the sky could be radiowaves being picked up by natural transducers as the meteor passes overhead.

But what about buzzing, crinkling or crackling noises? When a meteor wallops the Earth’s atmosphere, it ionizes the air around it and creates a glowing trail of plasma. As the plasma cools, the electrons and ions create a vibration. They are called VLF vibrations and they are capable of transmitting electromagnetic waves over hundreds and hundreds of kilometers. These “sounds” aren’t necessarily heard by human ears but can vibrate objects like wires, aluminum objects, or something close to you. This is a form of low frequency radiation that travels much faster than the speed of sound and actually at the speed of light.

Do Meteors Make A Sound?

Psst! Sounds Like a Meteor

reply to post by guessing


Earlier this week I found myself outside just before sunrise and I quickly noticed the much higher than usual meteor rate. Over a 10 minute period I observed a sustained rate of 3 or 4 meteors per minute**; more than 300% higher than the typical Perseid Shower peak that was still 10+ days away. I also noted that these meteors did not appear to originate from Perseus constellation suggesting many were not associated with dust from the Swift-Tuttle comet.

I found something else unusual, the radio meteor detection rate is near zero. This may not mean anything because I must now use a TV station in Mexico (2000 miles away) as a source signal, USA commercial analog TV was discontinued mid-year 2009. This could mean atypically low altitude meteor ionization trails or high absorption at 55.25 MHz (video carrier frequency for analog TV channel 2).

In summary, I can confirm your observations but I don't know what it means, if anything.

Best regards,
Z

**This count was obtained under optimal viewing conditions; rural location, high elevation (7,000 feet / 2100 meters), low atmospheric absorption (water vapor), and moon below the horizon. Faint trails could be easily seen possibly exaggerating my count but still an atypically high rate compared to previous years.