Strange Light Flashes Across D.C. Sky

Strange light reportedly flashes across Washington, D.C., sky -NBC Washington seeks tweets, pics [email protected]

BreakingNews.com

Sorry there isn't more to post as this is just breaking. Meteor presumably. Please feel free to post more info as it becomes available.

reply to post by UberL33t


Yes, indeed, what is this all about, and awful timely, if ya ask me....

With all the current goings on.....

Also interesting that "NBC" wants info....



"Strange light reportedly flashes across Washington, D.C., sky - NBC Washington seeks tweets, pics - [email protected]"

Pics or it didn't happen!

Line 2

reply to post by freedom12


That's what I am waiting for...

Presumably so indeed...

04 February 2012
Just Breaking News - DC MD VA PA NC NJ Bolide Meteor Fireball with Sonics and Fragmentation ~22:15 EST 3FEB2012

News agencies may publish this information IF they provide full citation to The Latest Worldwide Meteor/Meteorite News with a link lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com...

Still would like to see some pics...perhaps there were some security cameras positioned within D.C. that caught a glimpse and may surface soon.

I think we're safe from an Alien and/or UFO invasion for now.

Which thread should we reply to?

link

reply to post by Screwed


It is a current event...that has been predominantly suggested to be a meteor(ite). But, it is in two separate forums...so the choice is up to the poster

There seems to be a lot of meteors recently....is it normal?

reply to post by StealthyKat


From my knowledge meteors are a pretty common occurrence especially during specific showers. As far as the frequency of occurrence, ask yourself this.

How many times have you personally seen a falling star? Now think of all the times you would have seen one had you not been indoors ( probably on ATS like me ) and missed it if one did flash across the sky.

To answer your question with my opinion betwixt and between some fact perhaps. As I am sure you are already aware meteors can be made up of different compositions and sizes (albeit still not large enough to make impact and burning up in the atmosphere) and the resulting "flash" of some get more notoriety than others...

Especially those that light up the sky over the United States capitol city.

Although I am starting to think that this particular one happened so fast that no one was able to catch a picture but I am still holding out hope for perhaps some security cam footage. Photographic evidence of these are likened to trying to catch a photo of lightening without using long exposures to do it.

I don't think its all that untypical given the time it takes for some of these to occur....flash, gone.

ETA: BUT...it's not impossible...I have proof Took me hundreds of tries but I took this a few years ago...

reply to post by UberL33t


Nice pic! I believe the greenish ones are made up of copper if I remember correctly.

Originally posted by StealthyKat
There seems to be a lot of meteors recently....is it normal?

I hear that same question posted on ATS at least once every year without fail. Draw your own conclusions from that little nugget.

Originally posted by StealthyKat

I believe the greenish ones are made up of copper if I remember correctly.

No. It's a popular misconception that green meteors are made from copper, although there may be traces of copper.

In fact, Oxygen is the more likely cause of the green colour, especially if the meteor is fast.

Can fireballs appear in different colors?

Vivid colors are more often reported by fireball observers because the brightness is great enough to fall well within the range of human color vision. These must be treated with some caution, however, because of well-known effects associated with the persistence of vision. Reported colors range across the spectrum, from red to bright blue, and (rarely) violet. The dominant composition of a meteoroid can play an important part in the observed colors of a fireball, with certain elements displaying signature colors when vaporized. For example, sodium produces a bright yellow color, nickel shows as green, and magnesium as blue-white. The velocity of the meteor also plays an important role, since a higher level of kinetic energy will intensify certain colors compared to others. Among fainter objects, it seems to be reported that slow meteors are red or orange, while fast meteors frequently have a blue color, but for fireballs the situation seems more complex than that, but perhaps only because of the curiosities of color vision as mentioned above.

The difficulties of specifying meteor color arise because meteor light is dominated by an emission, rather than a continuous, spectrum. The majority of light from a fireball radiates from a compact cloud of material immediately surrounding the meteoroid or closely trailing it. 95% of this cloud consists of atoms from the surrounding atmosphere; the balance consists of atoms of vaporized elements from the meteoroid itself. These excited particles will emit light at wavelengths characteristic for each element. The most common emission lines observed in the visual portion of the spectrum from ablated material in the fireball head originate from iron (Fe), magnesium (Mg), and sodium (Na). Silicon (Si) may be under-represented due to incomplete dissociation of SiO2 molecules. Manganese (Mn), Chromium (Cr), Copper (Cu) have been observed in fireball spectra, along with rarer elements. The refractory elements Aluminum (Al), Calcium (Ca), and Titanium (Ti) tend to be incompletely vaporized and thus also under-represented in fireball spectra.

The American Meteor Society

reply to post by UberL33t


You should wait until there's something to report. This has been on here before and the other post was equally empty. It's sort of like throwing in a form and just hoping that others fill it out. No, they will start their own string rather than build on yours.