Anyone Observing the Shower

slade_x

This is the second lit up one i have missed now, the first was at night 2 days ago (Northwest) it was illuminated for a matter of seconds the second i just saw about 5 minutes ago, i could only get to a crappy pair of binoculars in time, but it was illuminated for about a minute, so upon returning from getting my telescope it had dissappeared

I know we still be passing through the tail for the next few days but i have never seem the remnants of a comets tail entering the atmosphere with a telescope before

BArra

i just happened to be on our balcony having a smoke and saw what i thought was a satellite but then i saw a second one, both moving at some speed, so i waited and it came to me they must be comets..

but then about 2 minutes later i happened to look to my right and saw what most defo was a comet, i saw it shoot past the sky for about 3 seconds, and boy was it big, i could see it break up and bits break off... i must say it was a beautiful thing to see.

ive never witnessed anything like that before

Seanie M

You sound confused Barra! I'll help clarify a few things for you!

BArra wrote:

i just happened to be on our balcony having a smoke and saw what i thought was a satellite but then i saw a second one, both moving at some speed, so i waited and it came to me they must be comets..

Nope, either they were satellites (slightly faster than a high altitude jet airline plane, no flashing lights, for the most part) or even one of them could have been the International Space Station (ISS) (have you a time when you saw them?), or even Iridium Flares: Iridium Consortium satellites that orbit the Earth, but are generally not seen. They slowly rotate as they orbit. Once in a while, to an observer on the ground, they will rotate, and catch the suns rays reflecting them to the ground. This brief appearance, akin to a flare, happens a couple times a night, depending on location on the Earth.

The satellites in general maintain a bright motion across the sky, an Iridium Flare will last only a couple seconds, but at the same speed.

They could also have been a meteor, or shooting star.

When you saw them, were they moving as a pair, or moving at the same time, but in different directions? There are some satellites that move in pairs in space, and even triplets (The NOAA Triplet the most common)

BArra wrote:

but then about 2 minutes later i happened to look to my right and saw what most defo was a comet, i saw it shoot past the sky for about 3 seconds, and boy was it big, i could see it break up and bits break off... i must say it was a beautiful thing to see.

Not a comet I'm afraid! Sounds like you saw a bollide, or fireball. Its a rather larger-than-normal meteor (anything from calculator-sized rocks to larger) that burns up the same way as its smaller meteor cousin, but it just means there is more of it to break away into smaller chunks and burn up. It would have to be about a little smaller than a footbal sized piece of rock with any discernible chance of getting through the atmosphere in pieces and hitting the ground.

Comets, unfortunately, do not move quite as fast across the sky at all! In fact, for almost all the comets ever seen in history, most do not have a noticeable movement during the night at all! (you would notice a change from night to night however).

Hope this helps!

Seanie.

andreas_220D

Seanie M wrote:

Comets, unfortunately, do not move quite as fast across the sky at all!

They fortunately do not.

Seanie M

andreas_220D wrote:

They fortunately do not.

Are you thinking Deep Impact style-ee??

BArra

thanks for clearing it up, yes i was a tad unclear.. what i initially saw must have been a pair of satellites as they moved slow enuff and seemed to be in limbo with each other, with a bit of distance between each one


either way when i saw the fireball type thing or bollide as you have explained, it was a sight to see, never seen anything like it at all