Southwest Michigan just bright flashes and a streak of light.

Title about says it all. We were in the hot tub and noticed a couple of bright flashes then a streak of light off towards Milwaukee. They were strange because of low thick clouds and the streak was heading due north at a high rate of speed. The length of the streak was about 3 finger width at arm's length. They weren't hazy like being in the clouds but bright and distinct. Hummm just another night and it was about 6:15 EST

a reply to: mikell

I'm wondering if it was a satellite because when they enter our atmosphere they are said to burn up very quickly. Supposedly satellites crash to Earth once every week, but that statistic was from 2018, so maybe more often than that?

phys.org...

originally posted by: quintessentone
a reply to: mikell

I'm wondering if it was a satellite because when they enter our atmosphere they are said to burn up very quickly. Supposedly satellites crash to Earth once every week, but that statistic was from 2018, so maybe more often than that?

phys.org...

Satellites burn up slower then meteors. They are traveling much slower and enter at a more shallow angle.

Small rocks enter all the time but are mostly not noticed.

a reply to: beyondknowledge

Satellites are made up of different materials, so titanium would indeed not burn up quickly - so who knows. You witnessed it, did it look like a good chunk of it burned up then the burning titanium was the streaking part?

Part of the problem is that a lot of space junk is made of titanium, which has a high melting point: about 1670 °C. Most satellites completely burn up in our atmosphere, but the titanium alloy pieces are more likely to survive re-entry. Even worse, some of these are aerodynamically shaped, making them more likely to reach the ground.

and they have already figured out this problem -

The team say bits of thermite attached to titanium components would self-ignite when a satellite (or a piece of it) hits the upper atmosphere. That could melt holes in the metal, changing the shape of components and making them more likely to break up.

If they attached termite to the titanium components, then there would be more streaking, right?

www.newscientist.com...

a reply to: mikell

tammojan.github.io...

globalmeteornetwork.org...

a reply to: quintessentone

If they attached termite to the titanium components, then there would be more streaking, right?

No, but they could collapse a house if they multiply quick enough

There's been a few awesome meteorites lately...

(I think this is real, who knows though)

a reply to: mikell

Likely a legit meteor/fireball still. Geminids peak around the 14th. In other words, we're in the slower start period of the shower before it peaks. Does this every December, we just usually have too dense a cloud cover here in MI to see anything Lucky SOB you saw what is very likely a Geminid fireball streak.

Imma go say nasty things to the sky while bemoaning the ritual dense cloud cover MI messes with us with. Can never see # up there during December, lol.

a reply to: Mandroid7

Another one of my fears, a meteorite smashing into my house with all of us in it, the other bears.

I saw a good light earlier as well. Time was off by an hour. Mine was around 1915 EST, just about an hour ago now.

Just going to be lazy and copy/paste what I posted in the Discord server. (Publicly blame me if you join.)

[7:16 PM]cmdrkeenkid: Just saw something wild. Not very often I look up and see something I can't ID.
[7:17 PM]cmdrkeenkid: Bright, fast, no streak. Like Venus at maximum magnitude bright. Headed WNW of my location (Port St Lucie, FL).
[7:17 PM]cmdrkeenkid: Checked sky map, no satellites moving that direction or that bright.
[7:17 PM]cmdrkeenkid: Checked adsb exchange. Nothing registered moving that way. Wasn't blinking anyway. Steady magnitude.
[7:18 PM]cmdrkeenkid: From where I am was headed in direction of Tampa.
[7:18 PM]cmdrkeenkid: Maybe something secret going into MacDill? 🤞
[7:18 PM]cmdrkeenkid: Not sure why anything would really be going there.
[7:19 PM]cmdrkeenkid: Elgin would be on the same track. So would Tyndall really.
[7:20 PM]cmdrkeenkid: Wild, regardless.

Some additional information:

Was sitting facing almost due west (about 255 degrees), just east of the PSL Turnpike rest area.
Caught sight of it around 200 degrees.
Was about 20 degrees above the horizon.
Was more moving NNW than WNW (error in direction due to excitement).
Lost it behind a building about due west (went behind a building).

a reply to: Mandroid7

Always be suspect of a video without the original audio. A meteorite did fall near the Canaries, but that video is fake. Looks like this was the source here, a YouTube Short

EDIT TO ADD:

Some news articles about the impact event.

Mysterious and Thunderous Acoustic Wave Shakes Spain's Gran Canaria 1 Dec 2022
Video: Air traffic Control Radar Detected the Meteor Over Gran Canaria 2 Dec 2022

It was under the clouds and didn't appear to make them glow. I'm confused. Last week it was a black ??? Headed NNW at a high rate on a clear night.