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Sighting - what was it?

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  • 14-09-2009 8:50pm
    #1
    NakedDex
    Registered Users Posts: 5,984 ✭✭✭


    I'm not sure where to ask this but I figure if anyone knows, it'll be you guys.
    About 5-10 minutes ago something shot over my house. All I could make out was it was a rocket of some form but it was the lowest altitude one I've ever seen outside of Kennedy space centre. The roar of the engines was actually what caught my attention to look out the window.
    I've never seen anything so low or bright. Had the glow not been so bright I could have made our detail by eye alone.
    Does anyone know what it was and where it launched from? The trajectory was very low from the east, tracking rapidly higher as it headed westerly.


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    #2
    Headspace
    Registered Users Posts: 208 ✭✭Headspace


    where were you when you saw it? I saw it tooo in Kerry.


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    #3
    NakedDex
    Registered Users Posts: 5,984 ✭✭✭NakedDex


    I'm in Meath. How low was it when you saw it?


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    #4
    squonk
    Registered Users Posts: 9,100 ✭✭✭squonk


    Sounds interesting! Must be the Irish Space Agency's first rocket launch... I reckon the the mission to open the first pub on the moon will be scheduled for next year once NAMA makes all that money for the government that they need to fund the mission!

    Serously though, if anyone has further details it'd be interesting to hear. Not every day you see something like that. Wish I'd seen it!


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    #5
    Headspace
    Registered Users Posts: 208 ✭✭Headspace


    I'm in Kerry. It was well below the clouds when I saw it. It was an asteroid a guy from astronomy.ie was on the afternoon show asking people to report sightings. Its worth 10 times in weight in gold.


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    #6
    jumpguy
    Registered Users Posts: 7,962 ✭✭✭jumpguy


    My God! Last night, my friend and I were going for a jog. It was very late and we were in a hurry. We heard a very loud and continuous noise that sounded like a rocket firing, it was in a field nearby but we couldn't see with the ditch and it was quite dark (dusk was nearly over at this point). We ran onto a bridge nearby and had a look into one of the fields. It was full of dust. By now dusk was at a close.

    Anyone have any more information on this?


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    #7
    Flukey
    Registered Users Posts: 11,001 ✭✭✭✭Flukey


    Maybe it was John O'Donoghue flying by rocket back to Dublin. He wants to get the most of his expenses. :D If not that, I am not sure what it was, but it sounds intriguing.


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    #8
    KoNiT
    Registered Users Posts: 577 ✭✭✭KoNiT


    friend of mine heard it in mayo..


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    #9
    Kevster
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,980 ✭✭✭Kevster


    It could just have been a meteroid coming through the atmosphere. We can't detect everything that's out there, after all, and these events just seem to happen every now and then.


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    #10
    squonk
    Registered Users Posts: 9,100 ✭✭✭squonk


    jumpguy wrote: »
    My God! Last night, my friend and I were going for a jog. It was very late and we were in a hurry. We heard a very loud and continuous noise that sounded like a rocket firing, it was in a field nearby but we couldn't see with the ditch and it was quite dark (dusk was nearly over at this point). We ran onto a bridge nearby and had a look into one of the fields. It was full of dust. By now dusk was at a close.

    Anyone have any more information on this?

    Was there a crater with a silver capsule at the bottom of it? Sounds like something from War of the Worlds! If I were you I'd go back to the field and dig up the meteorite because it sounds like they're worth a bit!

    Seriously though that sounds very interesting. I wouldn't have thought a meteorite would have made a rocket like sound? I certainly wouldn't have thought it'd have made that type of sound when it landed. Did you see any very bright flash coming up to this time in the sky?


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    #11
    Sleipnir
    Registered Users Posts: 5,514 ✭✭✭Sleipnir


    Well if it did land in a field then the meteorite would belong to the landowner.

    Although that wouldn't stop me going back from a look for it!


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    #12
    squonk
    Registered Users Posts: 9,100 ✭✭✭squonk


    Is that the way it goes? Lucky landowner then! Better than winning Euromillions!

    I've been wondering about this thread though. Have any of you witnessed a meteorite at close quarters? It's the sound that's bothering me. I wouldn't have imagined there'd be a lot. I know it'd be hot but would it heat the air enough to cause expansion in the way lightening would? I'd expect a bit of a bang when it hit ground but not something that would resemble a rocket. Any thoughts?


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    #13
    fifilarue
    Closed Accounts Posts: 265 ✭✭fifilarue


    I should be working but keep getting distracted by this forum :D About 15 years ago a gang of us, including my father, were out in the back garden of my home place (loads of things always seem to happen out there) and as far as I can remember, it was during the summer-actually it must have been, as he would have been on holidays and he always took his holidays around the time of the Galway Races. Anyway, we were out in the garden and there was this massive kind of booming sound, accompanied by a flash of orange light (light first, then sound) and we all ducked-Dad too! The light was in the western part of the sky.There was a terrible smell of gas or sulphur or something like it aswell. We still talk about it-some of the younger kids started crying-it was very strange at the time. Would that have been a meteorite?


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    #14
    jumpguy
    Registered Users Posts: 7,962 ✭✭✭jumpguy


    I recall there were distant voices as I was jogging. It was unusual as it was in a field and it was quite late. I thought it was strange. About 1 minute later a large "shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" like a fizzy kinda noise erupted. It kinda stopped, and went again. It was quite dark because there are no lights on this jogging path.
    When I ran up to the bridge, there was a lot of dust in the field and it was far too dark.

    I've said this before, but I suspect what I heard may have been something launching, due to the voices, and the suddeness of the noise. This was about 15, maybe 20 minutes before the OP posted this.

    The only difference I can find is the OP described it as a "roar". It was loud, but not deafening. But loud and odd enough to stop me jogging. OP what do you estimate the size of the object?

    Next time I'm jogging down that path, which will probably be this weekend I'll look back into the field. If there was some kind of impact, perhaps there'll be a hole. If it was a launch, perhaps there'll be some kind of apparatus left behind. I'll carry my bino's too, if I can think of them.


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    #15
    Kevster
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,980 ✭✭✭Kevster


    Sleipnir wrote: »
    Well if it did land in a field then the meteorite would belong to the landowner.

    Although that wouldn't stop me going back from a look for it!
    My view was that it was a meteroid which broke up high in the atmosphere, and therefore you won't be finding anything in some farmer's field. Why would you want to risk getting a pitchfork up your ass anyway? :P


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    #16
    jumpguy
    Registered Users Posts: 7,962 ✭✭✭jumpguy


    Kevster wrote: »
    My view was that it was a meteroid which broke up high in the atmosphere, and therefore you won't be finding anything in some farmer's field. Why would you want to risk getting a pitchfork up your ass anyway? :P
    The field is pretty remote and animal free. Dying to have a look at it in daylight now. Will probably go this weekend.


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