Meteor

trebor28

Anyone just see a meteor burn up in the north of our sky. Was out a few mins ago and just caught it burning up and breaking up, only saw a few seconds of it.
Looked like a White flame from it. It came from Ursa Major direction and finished under Cassiopia as I looked at it.
I am in tipp.

Amtmann

Yes!!! I nearly crashed the car looking at it. Absolutely stunning. It seemed to me that it was incredibly close. Looked like it landed in the New Inn area. I've never seen the like of it. It was white at first; then it became orange and green as it fragmented. Remarkable.

turkey46

I saw it too. I'm in west limerick. What was it? I've never seen anything like that before. Is it a big deal or does it happen often? Would there be remains of it left?

IrishHomer

I saw it too in Offaly.

Truely magnificent experience!

I was out walking the dog down a dark country lane and it illuminated the whole lane with the white light it was producing!

I saw it break up too it appeared to run from South to North my estimate.

EllenD

I seen it too in Dublin. No idea what it was , is it not too close to be a comet?

Amtmann

This thing must have been huge. I mean, I could see so much detail I thought it was right above me. I could see sparks and embers coming off it.

turkey46

Tremelo wrote: »

This thing must have been huge. I mean, I could see so much detail I thought it was right above me. I could see sparks and embers coming off it.

Me too.. the detail was awesome. It was huge. One in a lifetime moment right there.

murrayp4

Ugh, why do I always miss this sh*t...

youtube!

godamn it i was goin to go out for a walk and decided to have a mars ice cream instead,would love to see somethin like that!

trebor28

IrishHomer wrote: »

I saw it too in Offaly.

Truely magnificent experience!

I was out walking the dog down a dark country lane and it illuminated the whole lane with the white light it was producing!

I saw it break up too it appeared to run from South to North my estimate.

No it was more of a north west to south east direction from where I was.
It depends on where the poster in Dublin saw it, i.e. was it north of them. If it was then it could have been over Scotland and landing on far side of England for example.

Pretty cool alright, not my first meteor and hopefully not my last but definitely one of the better ones

Amtmann

I wonder if it could be classed as a fireball or a bolide. I'm annoyed that I was in the car when I noticed it. Had I been on foot, I surely would have seen it for longer. It was outside my field of vision but was so bright that it affected the sky that was in my field of vision, so I felt the need to turn towards it; that's when I saw it. At first I thought it was a UFO or a crashing plane. Its speed and hue were astonishing. It would have been nice to have had someone else with me at the time. But I'm glad some of you saw it too. I came straight to this forum when I got home.

Amtmann

EllenD wrote: »

I seen it too in Dublin. No idea what it was , is it not too close to be a comet?

If it were a comet, I think there's a good chance that we wouldn't still be here Just a big rock vaporized by the ocean of gases above our heads.

Earth 1, meteor nil

EllenD

Im not sure what direction it went, im in north county dublin ! Looked like it was south of me !

zuroph

damn it!!!!

EllenD

Apologies I know nothing about astronomy:)

IrishHomer

trebor28 wrote: »

No it was more of a north west to south east direction from where I was.
It depends on where the poster in Dublin saw it, i.e. was it north of them. If it was then it could have been over Scotland and landing on far side of England for example.

Pretty cool alright, not my first meteor and hopefully not my last but definitely one of the better ones

Yes you are correct on the direction i just checked my compass.

Sticky_Fingers

I didn't see the one the OP mentioned but I saw an absolute beauty about 10 minutes ago. Was out the back smoking a fag and was looking at Jupiter when a meteor fell just to the East of it. It was the brightest one I've ever seen and looked exactly like a firework except it was traveling downward about 10 degrees off vertical (towards the East). It gave off a blue/white light with a hint of green towards the end.

My location is Limerick

trebor28

Is the fact that it was a white light have any significance?
Would it just be the speed of it that caused it to burn that way or would it tell us something about it's chemical make up?

Rubecula

I didn't see it, but as I am in Wales it would have to be extraordinary for me to have seen it. I have seen this sort of thing before though. I suspect the colours are due to what the thing is made up from. But they are a wonderful sight, when you get to see them that is.:)

ihavequestions

I saw it, I'm in Kerry. It was amazing to see it so bright and then break up. Would say it landed somewhere. What I wouldn't do to get a hold of it!

cocoshovel

From what I gather there was at least 3 between midnight and 4am.

Seanie M

trebor28 wrote: »

Is the fact that it was a white light have any significance?
Would it just be the speed of it that caused it to burn that way or would it tell us something about it's chemical make up?

The colour of a burning meteor IS an indication of its make up and composition. The following should help:

Green - Nickel
Yellow/White - Sodium
Yellow - Iron
Blue/White - Magnesium
Purple/White - Calcium
Red and Orange - Silicates (Sand)

Almost all meteorites contain sillicates but it is the added presence of other elements and metals that will add to the colour.

Perseids Meteor Shower - August 12th
This is the meteor shower peaking on August 12th/13th this weekend, so you will see an increase up to this date and then a gradual decrease to 'normal' limits in the following 10 days. The Perseids are known for fireballs or 'bollides' every year, so despite the Full Moon on the night of maximum, I'd still keep an eye out.

Here is an info sheet I made on behalf of the club (MAC) you can dowload:

http://www.midlandsastronomy.com/Perseids-Meteor-Shower-2011.pdf


Clear Skies,

Seanie.

zuroph

So there's a good chance of seeing more tonight?

amacachi

Definitely, they've been around for a week or two and the peak is this weekend coming up. Though from the sounds of it the peak won't have the most awesome singular meteor this year. :P

cocoshovel

Great. I saw a huge one last year. Guess I will have to leave my room for tonight and have a look for an hour or so.

Seanie M

A few little quickfire facts about meteors for you:

* Average speed through the atmosphere is between 90,00mph and 125,000mph, hence the speed and fiery nature.
* Your typical meteor around the same consistency and size as granular sand.
* Fireballs or Bollides would be bigger than marbles to get a really bright one.
* A meteor would need to be bigger than a football to make it through the 60+/- miles of atmosphere which protects us.
* Typically 500,000 meteors burn up every day on Earth adding around 400 tonnes of weight to the planet.
* Milligram meteoroids are about a million times more common than meteoroids weighing a kilogram.
* The largest meteorite to have been found intact to strike Earth? The 66 tonnes Hoba Meteorite found in Namibia and estimate to have crashed here around 80,000 years ago.

:-)

Seanie.

cocoshovel

So how big was that huge one that lit up the entire sky in South Africa or that one in Canada then?

Chuck Stone

I would love to have seen that.

I wonder has any camera caught it.

trebor28

Seanie M wrote: »

The colour of a burning meteor IS an indication of its make up and composition. The following should help:

Green - Nickel
Yellow/White - Sodium
Yellow - Iron
Blue/White - Magnesium
Purple/White - Calcium
Red and Orange - Silicates (Sand)

Almost all meteorites contain sillicates but it is the added presence of other elements and metals that will add to the colour.

Perseids Meteor Shower - August 12th
This is the meteor shower peaking on August 12th/13th this weekend, so you will see an increase up to this date and then a gradual decrease to 'normal' limits in the following 10 days. The Perseids are known for fireballs or 'bollides' every year, so despite the Full Moon on the night of maximum, I'd still keep an eye out.

Here is an info sheet I made on behalf of the club (MAC) you can dowload:

http://www.midlandsastronomy.com/Perseids-Meteor-Shower-2011.pdf


Clear Skies,

Seanie.

is there a particular direction they would be coming from over this time or will it just be a random scattering?
(sorry just read your pdf)

might go out tonight and take a camera with me and see can i get any thing.

Cadoche

This is what is called 'El Magnifico'

Esel

Seanie M wrote: »

* Typically 500,000 meteors burn up every day on Earth adding around 400 tonnes of weight to the planet.

Typo somewhere? That give an average weight of 800g landed.