Meteor - Bright Light - Identification.

Cass

Hey all.

I'm an infrequent reader here, and tbh i am lost on my topics, but enjoy it none the less. I have tried to find some thread on this, but so far have had no luck so apologies if it has seen posted, and i'm just not seeing it.

Was standing out the back of my house last. I'm in the midlands, and the night was unbelievably clear. The dogs were running around, and i was looking at the moon. It was large, bright, and for a second when you look away and back seemed to have a green/blue-ish glow.

Anywho, to the point. The moon was directly due South, and i turned to go back into the house (North). As i walked to the back door an extremely bright light caught my eye. When i looked up it was trailed across the sky for about 2-3 seconds, and then "disappeared". It was East-North East, and from my perspective falling toward the east coast/Dublin.

This happened about 21:50 - 22:20. Meant to post then but forgot.

I know a meteor has to hit the ground before it's classed as such (i think), but was this a "meteor" or some such similar object falling. I've only ever seen this twice before, once i even posted here about it).

Just curious, and is there a possibility of more. As in are we "experiencing" them at the moment? Or was this simply a random one? Would like to see it again.


Thank all.

squod

Comet Panstars is still visible AFAIK. Could have been that. Have an APP yoke on my phone that tells me what stuff is if I point at it. Can't remember what its called..........

Cass

Forgot to mention. On the two previous occasions they light was accompanied by a loud bang/crack. This time there was none. Not a sound. Or none that i heard.

nanook5

It most likely is a meteor or some sort of space debris . It wouldn't be Comet PANSTARRS , it is much too faint for the naked eye .

MeteoritesEire

couple of points.
a meteor is called such when it is in the sky.If anything lands on the ground the recovered object/s is/are called meteorites.

If you hear a sonic boom or associated electrostatic noises then you are quite close to the falling object, moreso if you hear the electrostatic 'fizzling'

what you saw may have been a meteor but it may also have been a satellite.I mention this because of the time you saw it--just after sunset.I frequently see satellites flaring up at just such a time--they can be very bright.

we are currently in the midst of 3 minor meteor showers--the Alpha Bootids, the Librids and the Mu Virginids which each produce 2-5 meteors an hour however on any given clear night here in Donegal and any other good dark sky spot anyone can see up to a dozen or more meteors an hour which are called 'sporadic' because they can occur in quite literally any part of the sky.

so...keep looking up
and if you ever want to handle a real meteorite

---

buy Irish ;-) http://www.emeraldislemeteorites.com

Cass

I've seen satellites, and they appear as a bright light that crosses the shy.

However this was a brilliantly bright light, more resembling a flash because of duration, and had a bright white "tail" with a coloured tint on the object itself. It light up the entire sky for the couple of seconds i saw it then the night returned to normal darkness.

I have no video of it, but found this on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEIqBqp5Zek

The video is not great quality, but It most closely resembles the type, and intensity of what i saw. The duration is the same, as is the flash it gave off as it fell.


You mention there is currently a series of meteor showers. Might spend a little more time looking up.

Thanks.

Dr Silly Bollox MD

Probably sh1t...

ps200306

Cass wrote: »

I've seen satellites, and they appear as a bright light that crosses the shy.

However this was a brilliantly bright light, more resembling a flash because of duration, and had a bright white "tail" with a coloured tint on the object itself. It light up the entire sky for the couple of seconds i saw it then the night returned to normal darkness.

As I think you've surmised, it was probably a meteor. However, one other possibility, given the time of night (i.e. sun not too far below the horizon), is an Iridium satellite. These can look quite meteoric because they produce a bright but fairly brief flash, on the order of a few seconds and up to about three times the maximum brightness of the planet Venus. That's because they have a highly polished antenna which you only see when it is reflecting sunlight in a very specific direction. By the same token you have to be in a quite specific position to see them.

You can find one fairly easily by going to http://heavens-above.com/ -- you have to set your positition quite carefully on the map because the ground track for these things is only a couple of kilometres wide. Then go to the link for Iridium flares. You should be able to find a suitable one easily because we are at the time of year when you'll see half a dozen per night. The brightest are the ones at magnitude -8, don't bother with anything above about -3.

Have a look at one, and see if your object could have been one of those. If not, we're talking meteor.