Bright Fireball over Kentucky 11/18/2012

Did anyone else see the fireball over the Western Kentucky area about 6:30pm 11/18/2012?

I was traveling south on the Pennyrille Parkway around Madisonville, Kentucky when we saw a VERY bright fireball moving south. I'm not sure how long it lasted because it came from behind me and I was only able to see it when it came into view in the top of my windshield.

It lasted for several seconds, there was a bright white flash that lasted a few seconds more, and then was gone. It was one of the brightest fireballs that I've ever seen. It seemed very similar to some of the other fireballs that I've seen reported on ATS in recent months.

I'm just curious if anyone else saw it, or perhaps was able to capture it on video or a picture (I wasn't able to since I was driving at the time).

Your description sounds like it was a meteor.
I'd be interested in seeing data indicating whether these things are increasing in frequency.

Sound like a Meteor to me So S & F

Make sure you report it here
thelatestworldwidemeteorreports.blogspot.jp...

or here
www.amsmeteors.org...

I'm 58 and only saw two so far 10 year ago and last year

I live in Las Vegas and all of a sudden over the past few weeks I am noticing more and more "shooting stars". I didn't see the fireball you're talking about tho. Anyone else notice an increase in frequency? If there are any astronomers that have anything to add I'd love to hear!

The past few days have been the peak of the Leonids meteor shower.

Possibly you got to see one.

Interesting! My sister lives in Paris ,Kentucky but did not see anything, she may have been too far east..

nothing here on the eastern end, sorry

reply to post by isyeye


I live in eastern kentucky and about 4:30 i saw a bright white light also moving south across the sky. I thought it could have been a plane reflecting sunlight, but seemed to be larger/faster than an airplane. After a while it faded out and then lit back up before finally disappearing. I wanted to pull out my phone to take video of it, but was driving.

I'm not good with time zones. Would 4:30 eastern time be 6:30 where you're at?

reply to post by zombicide83


only 1 hour difference, so 4:30 would be 5:30 depending on whether they're on Eastern Time or Central time. If they're Eastern Time, it's the same.

reply to post by isyeye


Was your fireball coming straight down or moving across the sky from side to side? Just curious because I saw one on Halloween night coming straight down in northern sky.

SPACE JUNK SPACE JUNK SPACE JUNK!
I saw them in april tjhis year for about a month in melbourne australia

Leonid meteor shower peaked Friday night.
Could be a piece left over from that.

Look like your not the only one check here 19 other reported sighting

thelatestworldwidemeteorreports.blogspot.jp...

Ya sky getting pretty busy lately

Oh thank God another one.

Missing trillions coming home to roost.

On the 17th, various people saw a flash of light in the sky and an extremely loud boom between 8:30 and 8:50 pm central time. This was in Missouri. A local police department said something about it on Facebook and there was almost 40 comments from people seeing/hearing it in different towns. About 30-60 minutes later, another town claimed to be seeing/hearing the same thing. I didn't see anything but I'm a little further south of all the reporting towns.

My brother told the police he had heard a loud boom, louder than fireworks, and saw a flash of light a few days prior.

I called my mom about it, and she said she ALSO had heard a loud boom and seen a flash a few days before the 17th.

The police decided it was probably the Leonids meteor shower which was supposed to peak for us Saturday morning. I looked it up and I guess that meteor shower was supposed to be really crappy this year. 10-15 per hour and small pieces. Seemed kind of crazy to me.

reply to post by Trillium


Thanks for finding that.

I was wondering if anyone else had spotted it...It looks like a few did.

Originally posted by eriktheawful
The past few days have been the peak of the Leonids meteor shower.

Possibly you got to see one.

It is true that the Leonid meteor shower has been peaking over the last few days - infact there is a weak sub peak @ around 06 UT on the 20th (in about 5 1/2 hours time at time of writing).

The problem with Leonids is that they are only visible around the time the Leonid radiant (currently located in the sickle of Leo) rises, which is quite late, and certainly later than the OP saw his fireball, so it could not have been a Leonid.

A better candidate might be the Taurids which are currently active and a well known producer of fireballs. I think the Taurid radiant was above the horizon at the time, but I can't check as I'm in the process of moving and don't have acess to my PC.

There is also always the possibility that it may just have been a random sporadic fireball. Without more details as to it's track in relation to the stars and apparent speed it's impossible to tell for sure.