Green fire ball observed on flight over Russia 3rd Jan 2018

doubt this is the correct forum so please move as you see fit,

I am also using a android device with the smallest screen and worst wifi known to man...

Anyway I was on a flight from London heathrow to Manila Philippines that took off on the 2nd Jan, Whilst looking out of the port window at about a 35 degree angle I noticed a massive bright green fire ball approx 5 miles away (pure guess) and what seemed to be a few thousand feet above the aircraft shooting parallel to the ground, i quickly looked on the flight tracker and my location was near Omsk Russia

www.google.com...

The object would have been in the direction of "Tobolsk".. Approx time 07:45am on a perfectly clear morning.

I have only added my account here as they seen rather rare??,

a few online links


en.m.wikipedia.org...

www.astronomy.com... t%20became%20a%20brilliant%20green%20i%20have%20seen%20only%20yellow%20and%20white%20ones%20before%20what%20causes%20the%20green%20color%20or%20could% 20i%20have%20seen%20space%20junk%20burn%20up

RA

a reply to: slider1982

Likely a rocket launch of some type.

Rocket plumes appear to be green in the upper atmosphere.

Possibly the Quadrantis meteor shower? Maybe rocket launch as suggested or debris re-entry.

The 2nd or 3rd? The thread title said 3rd, but says the 2nd within.The Astronomy link is 404'd

Was it completely light out or still in between?

Sincerely not trying to be dismissive. I searched for possible corroboration for Jan. 3rd, didn't see anything but the meteor shower. Hoping you find some here.




Btw what do you believe it was for the sake of curiosity?

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
a reply to: slider1982

Likely a rocket launch of some type.

Rocket plumes appear to be green in the upper atmosphere.

It is unlikely to be a rocket launch. Any launch by any country must be reported before hand so aircraft can be diverted. The one exception of course would be a weapon launched at someone. I haven't heard anything about Russia being at war so it would have to be a test, and would be reported.
As for a meteor, I'm pretty sure they don't travel level to the ground. Plus I know they don't burn green.

a reply to: MikeA

A test no doubt. Regarding notification; just because a country conducts a test, and notifies the proper governments and officials it doesn't mean they notify the broader general public. So, you don't know from the OP if airways were adjusted and/or who may have been notified. The OP was a passenger on a commercial flight.

Just look back here on ATS, several months ago there was a KLM flight who witnessed something very similar to what the OP witnessed. There are pictures of it even, a number of pictures.

Then shortly afterwards there was another test photographed by a Ukraine citizen on the ground if I'm not mistaken.

a reply to: slider1982

Aside from white, green is probably the most commonly seen colour in meteors/fireballs, particularly the faster ones. This is because, as the meteoroid slams into air molecules, it ionizes them, creating a glowing plasma that is mostly composed of ionized air molecules, although ionized material from the object itself also contributes (small amounts in most cases) to the plasma. Oxygen, as it happens, if it is ionized with enough energy (a faster object for instance) glows an intense green (the "OIII forbidden line"), and the faster the object is moving the more air molecules it hits, including oxygen. It also turns out that Oxygen is prevalent at the high altitudes at which meteors first become visible (around 100km altitude), where as this is not the case closer to the ground. Nitrogen (which glows red when ionized) becomes more prevalent lower down.

So this may suggest the meteoroid entered the atmosphere at a low angle, only grazing the edge/top of the atmosphere. They are quite rare (and a real treat to see), but earthgrazing meteors (as they are called) do occur from time to time.

Their characteristics include:

Longer path and they last longer than their high-angle of entry counter parts, since in the thinner air high up they are not ablated/"burnt up" as fast.

They tend to stay green for longer.

They sometimes appear to travel parallel relative to the horizon, but not always.


As TheLead mentioned, the Quadrantid meteor shower is a real possibility since it peaked on the night of the 3rd/4th, but it would be hard to say for sure with out much more info and some detective work. One characteristic of the Quadrantids is that they are some of the fastest meteors. Most bright fireballs tend to be much slower, and not part of any meteor shower. Do some observing under a dark sky and you'll soon get a feel for different speeds.

Reentering objects (usually 1min + to cross the entire sky from horizon to horizon) tend to be much slower than natural meteors, and whilst it's possible you might have caught a small bit of junk reentering, there are no real current candidates for satellites or large bits of junk, although there is a very slim possibility it might have been Iridium 34 reentering a bit early:
www.aerospace.org...

Did you see any fragmentation/sparks? Was it very slow?

The other thing about meteors (and anything bright in a dark sky) is that our brains interpret bright things as being close (dim suggests far) in the absence of other visual cues. The result is an optical illusion, and bright meteors/fireballs are often described as being much closer than they actually were (read a few fireball reports). I've experienced this first hand on multiple occasions, and the effect is dramatic!

Could have been a plasma being.

Green meteorites are Planet X debris (copper based) this was foretold by zeta talk over 20 years ago. Big up tick currently! I've just heard of a few green ones this week alone.

Things will kick off soon! I can see the formation I've followed for three years every night now! Have your back to the sun last two hours of the day, 5-9 o'clock positions in relation to the sun (sun being 12 o'clock) this is where I expect to see it.

Earth's rotation has now been officially acknowledged to be slowing too, they are now admitting this will cause mega quakes in 2018.

To all ATSers I say get prepped! NOW!

www.abovetopsecret.com...