Loud boom heard, lights seen across AZ. The BIG meteor shower begins!!!

Not sure if this is the right forum to place this in? Mods please move if need be.

This appears to be the beginning of the big meteor shower that is expected to peak on the night of December 13th.

TUCSON (KGUN9-TV)- Hundreds claim they saw a large light, as well as heard one to two loud booms across Tucson Tuesday night.

KGUN 9 has received tons of calls and over 600 comments on our Facebook page from people across Tucson and Arizona.

We even had a person in Flagstaff claim to see something suspicious.

Here's an account from our viewer Tony Kubrak: "My wife and I and my son were sitting in the house, and we felt this absolutely tremendous explosion, I mean, it shook the windows, it shook everything in the house. I stepped outside, and had to be no more than 3 minutes later after I hear all of this, and I see this tremendous, white, bright light in the western sky. And it was just...it was absolutely enormous, I couldn't believe it."

Story link

reply to post by MrLimpet


Hi MrLimpet , you might want to add some original comments and thoughts of your own when creating a thread instead of just a quote and a link.

My guess would be an experimental military craft, the bangs were sonic booms.

reply to post by PhoenixOD


I'm new to ATS and need all the good advise I can get.
Thanks Phoenix.

I know I placed this in the wrong forum (now) but dont know how to move it?

reply to post by MrLimpet


No probs its a mistake all the new guys make

Looks like a meteorite to me from the video.

My wife and I seen a bright light at about the same time but we did not hear any type of noise by the time we went out to look for it 30 sec. or so after and there was nothing.

I do know that they are conducting month long training here so maybe some type of secret aircraft or just a simple meteor.

reply to post by MrLimpet

It was a meteor that exploded in the air.

www.cnn.com...

Every news story is reporting it as a meteor. Not sure why the cause of the explosion was unknown in OP's story.

reply to post by thesaneone

or just a simple meteor

Simple or not, it produced loud booms which suggest deep penetrating through the atmosphere.

reply to post by MrLimpet


Why is this even a mystery? lol To me it looks like a typical meteoric fire ball.

If you go to www.spaceweather.com... you will find that tonight there are 32 fireballs projected to penetrate the Earth's atmosphere.

Change the date in the above right corner on the site to yesterday and you will find there were 13.

It's my understanding this number today (32!!) will peak in the days to come.

Below is why...

Earth is entering a stream of debris from rock comet 3200 Phaethon, source of the annual Geminid meteor shower. Forecasters expect the shower to peak on Dec. 13-14 with as many as 120 meteors per hour. Lunar interference will be a problem, as glare from the nearly-full Moon reduces the number of visible meteors 2- to 5-fold. You can listen to radar echoes from the Geminids, unaffected by moonlight, on Space Weather Radio. Also, tune into NASA's live web chat about the Geminids on Friday the 13th beginning at 11 pm EST.

Easy, swamp gas.



Pretty neat video though OP, I'll give SnF for that.

reply to post by MamaJ

Geminids on Friday the 13th

Oops...
Any doom predictions for this date anyone?

reply to post by MrLimpet


It doesn't look like a meteor to me. A meteor that big would leave a bright trail like the recent one in Russia. This is far too clean to be a meteor.

New video just posted. Skies should be interesting over the next few days.

Meteor explodes over Arizona big meteor shower begins .

reply to post by EnPassant

It doesn't look like a meteor to me.

What does it look like to you?

A meteor that big would leave a bright trail like the recent one in Russia.

The Chelyabinsk meteor occurred on daylight.

This is far too clean to be a meteor.

?

reply to post by MamaJ


Thanks for the info MamaJ. I changed the title of the thread to focus on the meteor shower.

reply to post by MrLimpet


I for one will be getting my comfy chair some warm clothes and a thermos of hot coco and relax under the sky tonite, hopefully the show will be awesome.

Wow, are all the newscasters in Arizona that clueless?

Obviously a meteorite or incoming space debris until proven otherwise. Lemme know when it's clocked on radar doing an about-face at several thousand miles an hour and we'll discuss other possibilities.

In short, it's a rock.

reply to post by MrLimpet


Yes the Geminids, problem is from Spaceweather only 2 of the 13 are from them, so where did the 9 sporadics come from?

On Dec. 10, 2013, the network reported 13 fireballs.
(9 sporadics, 1 December Monocerotid, 2 Geminids, 1 sigma Hydrid)

American Meteor Society

see above for eyewitness reports - 42 of them.

iRoyalty
My guess would be an experimental military craft, the bangs were sonic booms.

Anything that breaks the sound barrier makes a sonic boom Including meteors on entry.