Spectacular Fireball Lights Up UK Sky 68
The Bad Astronomer writes "An extremely bright meteor burned up over Ireland and the northern UK around 22:00 UTC on Friday night, and was apparently witnessed by thousands of people. It traveled east to west, and was moving relatively slowly. It may have been an actual rock, or it may have been some human-made space debris — a satellite or rocket booster — burning up. Space junk tends to move more slowly, so that's a potential suspect, though orbiting debris usually moves in the opposite direction. I'm collecting pictures and images on my Bad Astronomy blog."
I'm not saying it was aliens... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I'm not saying it was aliens... (Score:5, Funny)
Anything entering the atmosphere at 50 km/sec definitely belongs to the category "was".
Re:I'm not saying it was aliens... (Score:4, Funny)
However, if it had the size of a little moon, you'd belong to the category "was" by now.
Re:I'm not saying it was aliens... (Score:5, Funny)
You mean if it was a meatier meteor?
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Emphasis on was. Anything entering the atmosphere at 50 km/sec definitely belongs to the category "was". ;-)
Keep believing that humans; just keep believing that.
Re: (Score:2)
they already took out the ga'oul it was obviously the Lucian Alliance, or wraith
Re: (Score:1)
Re:I'm not saying it was aliens... (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3)
Why would immigrants do this? Esp. if they're illegals.
Because the spaceboat people are dumb. I've heard the some of them were even found dead after trying to swim over the space in a Lunokhod tyre.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
*Gracefully sips tea with pinky pointing out*
Re: (Score:1)
Everyome who looked at it... (Score:5, Funny)
...will go blind and be eaten by ambulatory carnivorous plants. Sorry to deliver the bad news.
Once saw a great fireball from Melbourne (Score:5, Interesting)
It started out much like these videos. A bright head with a trail behind it, but then the object exploded, spraying material in all directions and burned out very quickly.
Re: (Score:1)
A bright head with a trail behind it, but then the object exploded, spraying material in all directions and burned out very quickly.
Yep. Reminds me of my Ex.
Captcha: chubbier
can't make this shit up...
Re:Once saw a great fireball from Melbourne (Score:5, Funny)
A bright head with a trail behind it, but then the object exploded, spraying material in all directions and burned out very quickly.
That's what she said.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
A bright head with a trail behind it, but then the object exploded, spraying material in all directions and burned out very quickly.
That's what she said.
SeaFox, ladies and gentlemen! He's here all week.
Re: (Score:1)
In the civilised world, we call that 'fireworks' ;)
Re: (Score:2)
I once saw one while I was traveling across the US. It looked similar to the one in the video, except it appeared to shoot straight up and was bright green.
No mention of it in the news the next day, but they did mention that the Russians had thrown a big computer they had replaced out of Mir. That would explain it, even the bright green color.
Was that you, Sir Richard Branson . . . ? (Score:4, Funny)
I didn't hear about his Virgin Fireball project yet.
Was that, by sheer coincidence, around pub closing time . . . ?
Saw this (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
If you are now blind and being attacked by plants, I may have a theory....
Re:Saw this (Score:5, Informative)
After a minute or 2 it started getting bigger and brighter still coming directly towards me.
You need to share this info. A few more people like you and we'll be able to triangulate the site of impact (if there is one). To quote the Bad Astronomer:
And if you did witness it, you should file a report with the IMO [imo.net], so they can collect all the info - it may help lead to finding meteorites, pieces that have made it all the way down to the ground!
Or at least contact the BadAss himself, see links in TFS.
Ireland saw it too... (Score:5, Informative)
I wish I hadn't gone to bed early last night...
Here's a little video from Ireland.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6BZF8dhYJI [youtube.com]
human-made? I don't think so... (Score:5, Insightful)
When it travelled east to west, it most likely wasn't human-made space debris.
Re: (Score:3)
Very true. Odds are against it but...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_satellites_in_retrograde_orbit
Re: (Score:2)
From your link: Most commercial earth observing satellites use retrograde orbit[4], and almost all communication satellites use prograde orbits.[5]
Re: (Score:1)
Earth observation satellite orbits are typically polar and only slightly retrograde, with an inclination of around 100 degrees. If it was one of those coming down, it would been north-south or south-north, not east-west like this was.
Saw it in Sweden too (Score:4, Interesting)
I saw this over Sweden as well, exactly that time yesterday.
I thought it was party fireworks from our neighbors that had a party that night, so I didn't think about it until I thought it was a bit funny that there where no firework sounds, no explosions.
But that red ball that floated around was sure big and bright. I really honestly just thought it was your average red flare.
Endtimes 21 Sept 2012 people and all that... (Score:1)
Came to think about the fireworks theory.
It could be leds, fireballs, all kinds of flying devices people have made as a joke for this particular day.
As some of you may recall, this is in fact the day predicted by the mayan calender that the world will end.
So I'm sort of guessing that it's a lot of pranksters all over the world, shooting up some fireworks to...well...get us all worked up!
Hey - it worked for a few minutes :)
Re: (Score:1)
Ignore that post (I seriously have to do some research before I post the first thing I see) duh!
It's supposed to be the 21 of December 2012 according to local kooks. But I found 21 of September by searching google, as some of the first results, duh. Oh well, I'm not one of those end time conspiracy nuts either, so...mod me down if you're one of them :)
Re: (Score:3)
It's supposed to be the 21 of December 2012 according to local kooks. But I found 21 of September by searching google...
Remember
Remember
The Something-st of Octember!
hypothesis #1 (Score:2)
Seriously folks, prove me wrong. --- I dares ya.
Re: (Score:3)
The reasoning behind my speculation is as follows:
(1) According to an article in Science News and others referenced from Slashdot, the Moon appears to be from 2 moons [nationalgeographic.com], both from the mantle, no major asteroid content, thus no mars-sized asteroid. [physicsworld.com]
(2) If that is the case, then the best explanation is de Meijer's critical georeactor theory: [phys.org] calcium bergs blew up in
I've read about this before... (Score:2)
The next day, everyone who saw it is blind. And suddenly--walking, intelligent, deadly plants.
Re: (Score:2)
It's a sign from G.O.D. (Score:1)
It's a sign from God to all those Christians that they should drive Islam out of their country.
It's a sign from God to all those Muslims that they should drive Christianity out of their country.
It's a sign to atheists that cool shit happens.
Obligatory Post is Obligatory (Score:2)
Video Monitoring (Score:2)
so you're saying ... (Score:2)
it was a champagne supernova in the sky?
lol.
At last, the sign we've been awaiting .... (Score:1)
Remember Ralph of Nazareth?
Hell no!
Nobody remembers the quiet ones, but everyone recalls that dude who was crucified, Jesus of Nazareth. (Bet Ralph was glad he never paid any attention to his mom when she would constantly nag him, “Why can’t you be more like that Virgin Mary’s boy, Jesus?”)
Yup, Jesus was the guy always stirring up trouble: turning water into wine --- wouldn’t he be a real fave at the Capitol Hill Block Party?
The 21st Century is when everything changes... (Score:2)
Saw it (Score:2)
I saw it (or the last bits of it), out on the verandah reading slashdot here in West Wales. Only caught it from the corner of my eye, seemed yellow to me and travelling NE-SW, and as I can only see about 15' of the sky between the roof of the verandah and the apple trees next door, it was gone before I looked. I thought it was a particularly bright shooting star (ie, not a notable event), though not much of it until the morning radio news mentioned it.
Yeah, not an interesting contribution, but a datapoint o
Space debris are watched and known. (Score:1)