Meteor? Space Debris? Something else?

Yesterday evening I was driving home with my mother and we saw what looked like a big ball of fire coming down in the sky. It fell straight down initially.. or seemed to and then traveled north in a descending path.. Did not see where it impacted and I wanted to try to look for it but there was no way to know where exactly it fell and impacted. We have a good amount of snow so there probably was no fire resulting from this, but there should at the least be an impact crater.. it looked enormous. My mother and I were both in shock and excited and really wishing I had a dash cam! This was in West Central Wisconsin between 6:30 and 7:30 pm I think. Does anyone know if any space debris was scheduled to re-enter our atmosphere at this time?

It was supergirls space ship.

www.businessinsider.com...

There was one on the 6th pictures and video out there.

originally posted by: NephraTari
Yesterday evening I was driving home with my mother and we saw what looked like a big ball of fire coming down in the sky. It fell straight down initially.. or seemed to and then traveled north in a descending path.. Did not see where it impacted and I wanted to try to look for it but there was no way to know where exactly it fell and impacted. We have a good amount of snow so there probably was no fire resulting from this, but there should at the least be an impact crater.. it looked enormous. My mother and I were both in shock and excited and really wishing I had a dash cam! This was in West Central Wisconsin between 6:30 and 7:30 pm I think. Does anyone know if any space debris was scheduled to re-enter our atmosphere at this time?

How long was the object visible for? Was it moving at pace? How high in the sky was it, and do you know which direction it was in relation to you?

I'm guessing this was after sunset?

It's often the case that people see Sun-lit contrails at or close to sunset (when lit by the setting Sun they take on sunset colours - red/orange) and mistake them for fireballs/meteors, but I'm not convinced that is the cause here, since your timings seem to point to it being almost completely dark by this time.

In fact, there was a bright fireball that was widely reported at around the right time but it occurred over Colorado: IMO Event 643-2019

That's quite a distance, and none of the reports are from people as far away as you, but it might just be possible that you still caught a glimpse of it. It would have had to be very low on the horizon towards the WSW.

As a general rule, a meteor/fireball (or reentry) seen overhead will be significantly closer than one seen apparently close to the horizon - ~100km (our atmosphere is relatively thin) vs up to 1000km. Since these events can be very bright, they OFTEN fool observers into thinking they are much closer than they actually are. Big and bright usually means close, and that is how our brains interpret big/bright, but a fireball can seem big/bright and still be many hundreds of km away.

I have not seen any predictions for reentries around that time (there might have been - I have not looked), but chances are, if there was one, others would have reported it. In the mean time (while we wait to see if any such reports surface - I doubt any will if they have not already) we have IMO Event 643-2019 as a good candidate.

You should definitely get yourself a dashcam (or two!). Reasonable quality dashcams are very good value for money right now.

a reply to: NephraTari

Thanks for quickly sharing your detailed, accurate report. You gave critical information often omitted by rattled witnesses, well done.

a reply to: NephraTari


If you see a meteor or fireball that appears to be heading straight down toward the horizon, it might not actually be moving "down" as much as straight away from you , and far enough away to disappear over the horizon.

It should also be noted that fireball meteors could be at least 20 miles -- or maybe even 50 miles or more -- up in the air as it glows visibly from the friction encountered from the atmosphere slowing it down. 20 miles in the air and near the horizon could equate to it being directly above a point 100 miles or more from your location.

In addition, most meteors that survive burning up to make it to the ground as a meteorite stop glowing visibly for the final part of its trip. That's because the air slowed it down to terminal velocity speeds (maybe only 200 mph) which is no longer fast enough to burn/glow. So if you saw it as a fireball, it might have still had a couple 100 miles left in its journey to the ground.

What I'm saying is that if you saw it in its fireball state, it propbably didn't fall to the ground anywhere close to you.

a reply to: SeaWorthy

that video is amazing but not the same day and time.. but is similar in size although this one was not green in color either.. what are the odds of two large meteors within days of each other? are we passing through a comet tail?

double post

a reply to: FireballStorm

It was a big ball not a line.. so no not a contrail. I am not good at measuring height in the sky but it was about 1/4 of the way into my windshield view when I first saw it.. it moved fairly slow at first but seemed to accelerate as it descended. only took a few seconds to completely leave view. I am guessing the impact was inbetween north of Tomah and south of Black River Falls.. slightly to the east. I am so curious where it impacted. really want to see it. Also it was not fully dark so it was during sunset but as I said.. it was too large and round to be a contrail. I posted about this on FB when I came home and miscalculated. it shows I posted at 5:50 pm so it must have been around 5:20pm becaues I dropped my mom off before I went home to post and ask if anyone else had seen it.

I saw one a few months ago. About 4:30 am. Really dark out where I live and clear skies... It came from west to east,It seemed pretty small and low because I could see sparks coming of it as well as hear it.

Not quite as loud nor as many sparks as a bottle rocket but the same type of sound. Watched for an impact but saw nothing.

probably visible to me for less than a second

a reply to: NephraTari

what are the odds of two large meteors within days of each other? are we passing through a comet tail?

almost guaranteed based on average numbers of meteors entering and interacting with out atmosphere

originally posted by: NephraTari
a reply to: FireballStorm

It was a big ball not a line.. so no not a contrail. I am not good at measuring height in the sky but it was about 1/4 of the way into my windshield view when I first saw it.. it moved fairly slow at first but seemed to accelerate as it descended. only took a few seconds to completely leave view.

That does sound consistent with a meteor/fireball. Reentries tend to last many 10's of seconds, and are usually significantly slower - if you've ever observed a satellite, a reentry is going to be similar in terms of the speed it moves across the sky. Unfortunately our eyes can play tricks on us in situations like this, giving the impression that it "sped up" or even "changed direction slightly".

originally posted by: NephraTari
a reply to: FireballStorm
I am guessing the impact was inbetween north of Tomah and south of Black River Falls.. slightly to the east.

If you are correct about the direction, then it probably was not the same event that was reported to the IMO which I linked to. As it appeared relatively high in relation to your windshield (from the sound of your description) that also makes it unlikely that these two events were connected.

originally posted by: NephraTari
a reply to: FireballStorm
I am so curious where it impacted. really want to see it.

As Soylent Green quite rightly said, there was almost certainly no impact. Our atmosphere is VERY good at slowing down even quite large objects. The density of air, which increases the closer you get to the ground, will slow down even quite large objects long before they reach the ground, and in many cases the stresses induced by ploughing into the thick air lower down cause the object to break up a few tens of km above the ground. As the objects break up, they rapidly loose momentum, stop being self-luminous (they need to be going very fast to be luminous - at least 1km/s) and slow even further, usually falling for a few minutes at free-fall velocity before finally reaching the ground (if any pieces survived the breakup). By this time, any heat produced on atmospheric entry has been lost (falling through cold air literally "blows" the heat, if there is any left, away), so contrary to popular belief, fresh meteorite falls do not cause fires.

To reach the ground and cause an impact crater the object would have to be very large to begin with, and quite strong, where as most meteoroids are actually quite weak/fragile (the exception is metallic meteoroids which tend to be rare, and even more so if they are of significant size). If a large/strong object were to make it down close to the ground whilst retaining a significant portion of it's cosmic-velocity (above 1km/s) then you'd certainly know about it. It would be traveling well above the speed of sound, so you'd get MASSIVE booms just from that, let alone any impact with the ground.

Our atmosphere starts to get very dense @ around 50km altitude, but above this the air is too thin for sound waves (booms) to propagate down to the ground, so if you see an object in the sky that is self-luminous (it is the speed - and collisions at high speed with air molecules witch produce a self-luminous/glowing plasma), but hear no sonic-booms, then the object must be at least 50km above the ground and/or some distance away from you.

Of course, the illusion I referred to in my previous post, where we interpret bright objects as being close, often catches out people, and we often hear it reported that it "landed just over the hill", but when these reports are investigated, they are found to be erroneous.

originally posted by: NephraTari
a reply to: FireballStorm
Also it was not fully dark so it was during sunset but as I said.. it was too large and round to be a contrail. I posted about this on FB when I came home and miscalculated. it shows I posted at 5:50 pm so it must have been around 5:20pm becaues I dropped my mom off before I went home to post and ask if anyone else had seen it.

It may well be that you caught ANOTHER bright meteor. They are not uncommon as InhaleExhale correctly pointed out. If you check out spaceweather.com... (scroll down to "All Sky Fireball Network " - it's not working today, but click the link there to go to the NASA site or use the archive feature on spaceweather to see reports from previous days) you can see there are usually at least a few fireballs captured every night over the US.

Most people seriously underestimate how frequently bright meteors occur. If you want to, and are determined enough, you can easily observe fireballs if you spend enough time star gazing. In two decades (of obsessively observing) I have observed 100's of fireball class meteors, and my wife (she was a friend of yours here on ATS so I hear - "Aces") has even caught a few when I've dragged her out to observe with me.

originally posted by: tinner07
I saw one a few months ago. About 4:30 am. Really dark out where I live and clear skies... It came from west to east,It seemed pretty small and low because I could see sparks coming of it as well as hear it.

Not quite as loud nor as many sparks as a bottle rocket but the same type of sound. Watched for an impact but saw nothing.

probably visible to me for less than a second

Congratulations. It sounds like (please excuse the pun!) you caught a very rare electrophonic meteor:
Global Electrophonic Fireball Survey

Before a few years ago reports of simultaneous sounds accompanying meteors were treated with skeptisism by the scientific community. Usually sound from meteors/fireballs does not make it to the observer (see my above post), but in the case of electrophonic meteors there is a different physical process going on than sound waves from the object directly reaching an observer.

I've only had the fortune to observe/hear one such meteor in 20 years and out of 10's of thousands meteors observed in that time. Not many people are so fortunate!

originally posted by: NephraTari
a reply to: SeaWorthy

that video is amazing but not the same day and time.. but is similar in size although this one was not green in color either.. what are the odds of two large meteors within days of each other? are we passing through a comet tail?

Yes good question the one that just went through So America too. Is there something larger coming?

a reply to: SeaWorthy

Yes.

Some day. Yes.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: SeaWorthy

Yes.

Some day. Yes.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: SeaWorthy

Yes.

Some day. Yes.

Secrets out there. Should keep fear, always afraid!

www.abovetopsecret.com...

a reply to: SeaWorthy

Yeah.

www.abovetopsecret.com...
Good times.

a reply to: SeaWorthy

This is not unusual at all, although to those who do not follow/study the field it might seem to be since you/they are not seeing fireball reports all the time.

Once in a while a big event like this gets caught by someone on here and posted, and the same questions are asked, but it is happening all the time without you (or most people) being aware of it, or ATS picking up on it.

Here's a nice one caught a few days back for example:


Source: meteornews.net

Meteor/fireball monitoring networks catch fireballs all the time:

UK
US

Here you can get a feel for just how many events there are around the world, and these are just the events that are reported - many are not:
International Meteor Organization fireball report database

At any given point in our orbit, Earth is passing through space where hundreds, if not thousands of comets and asteroids would have passed through in the past, leaving behind dust, the occasional boulder, and everything in between.

The bombardment never stops, although intensity might go up and down over geological timescales. A couple of fireballs at the same time means nothing. It's just random noise.

Does anyone know if any space debris was scheduled to re-enter our atmosphere at this time?

Who schedules such anyhow? Sounds like an important job.