Meteor Fireball

uneasy · 1st October 2003, 08:41 AM

I think there are a few fans of the astronomy picture of the day web site.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

Today's image is startling (to me anyway). If I didn't have respect for the site, I would wonder if this picture is a hoax.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ima...urnett_big.jpg

That's an amazing picture of a meteor causing a fireball in the sky. I didn't know they could look like that. It sure does seem obvious that something like this could be causing a large number of "UFO" sitings? It almost has the classic "cigar shape". Combine that with some fog while viewing it out a car window while driving, and I think I might be calling the police myself.

arcticpenguin · 1st October 2003, 08:57 AM

Wow! I've personally never seen one bright enough to show up in daylight.

Professor Frink · 1st October 2003, 09:01 AM

Holy Cow! If I saw that thing in the sky I'd be looking on the horizon for the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse.

Was there by any chance a spaceship trailing the meteor with a bunch of people with purple Nikes? Oh, forgot, that was supposed to be a comet.

Cool picture, thanks for pointing it out.

Frink

patnray · 1st October 2003, 09:34 AM

I saw one, not as spectacular as that, during the daytime back in the sixties in Massachusetts. 20 years later, while talking to a coworker who grew up in New Jersey, I discovered that he had seen the same fireball.

They are awesome and quite memorable...

Correa Neto · 1st October 2003, 09:53 AM

I saw one in Rio during plain daylight back in the late 70s that looked a bit like that. It had no smoke trail, but had an inner area that was bright blue/green.

As usual, some people claimed it was a flying saucer...

Bluegill · 1st October 2003, 01:28 PM

The photo is spectacular no matter what, but I wonder if the fireball looks more ominous in the picture than it did in real-life. If you were there at the scene, perhaps you would have seen the edge of that roof fifty or sixty feet off in the distance, smaller than it looks in the photo, and the bolide also looking smaller.

BTox · 1st October 2003, 03:01 PM

Cool pic. I've seen a few at night, but nothing that big. Last one I saw (and heard) was during one of the Perseid meteor showers a few years ago.

WildCat · 1st October 2003, 04:03 PM

The caption says that it could be an airplane contrail reflecting sunlight, since it looked much the same a minute later.

uneasy · 1st October 2003, 04:50 PM

I'm ashamed to admit my eyes skipped over that sentence for some reason. The rest of it goes with the meteor theory, but that one clause in that one sentence says probably not. Now that I look, it is at sunset, so I a contrail might make sense.

Hmmm. Sort of like other news reporting of strange events. All kinds of info on what it probably isn't.

I still didn't know meteors could make anything like that during the day, and apparently they can, so it's still interesting to me.

Pycroft · 2nd October 2003, 06:49 AM

Out of curiosity...do these sorts of events result in any sound, perhaps a BOOM! There i no reported sound associated with this event.

Also in South Wales over the past few days we have been having pretty spectacular sunsets lately with plenty of low scattered cloud formations.

Finally, his home at Pencoed is not far from Cardiff International Airport. I live about the same distance in the other direction frm the kids home and we get some low flying craft such as Boeing 737's, the occational 747 (there is a 747 maintainance hanger at the airport). The single ruunway runs roughly N to S. He also lives close to an RAF/DARA maintainance base RAF St Athan, plenty of jet aircraft and the odd Hercules transporter taking off there, that runway roughly runs E to W.

Just some recent, local observations...

patnray · 2nd October 2003, 07:34 AM

Usually there is no sound since they are still very high when they break up. As I indicated, the one I saw in Massachusetts was also seen in New Jersey, so it was very high. It was very bright and brief. If I hadn't been looking in that direction I never would have seen it...

Checkmite · 2nd October 2003, 06:23 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bluegill
The photo is spectacular no matter what, but I wonder if the fireball looks more ominous in the picture than it did in real-life. If you were there at the scene, perhaps you would have seen the edge of that roof fifty or sixty feet off in the distance, smaller than it looks in the photo, and the bolide also looking smaller.

Just a point of information - if there was no sound associated with this event, it wasn't a bolide.

arcticpenguin · 17th October 2003, 08:19 AM

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...fiesscientists

Quote:

A digital picture of a spectacular and apparently explosive event in the sky fooled a pair of seasoned NASA scientists, has other researchers around the globe mystified, and made a minor celebrity of a teenage photographer.
...
Problem is, it turns out, there was no meteor.
...
A second wider-angle picture, researchers learned, had been taken at the same time as the first photo. The second image, by Julian Heywood of Porthcawl, about 10 miles from Jonathan's location, helped form the contrail hypothesis and ruled out the idea that the first photo might have been fabricated.
...
During the discussion, the APOD scientists changed their caption, saying the picture likely had something to do with a jet contrail, a consensus that most other scientists had reached.

Jonathan Burnett's photo:

Julian Heywood's photo:

I'll buy the contrail theory. You can see the clouds are taking on varied sunset colors. Color of clouds under these conditions vary with altitude & density, along with the position of the sun.

uneasy · 17th October 2003, 08:33 AM

I'll never trust that NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day web site again. Moons around Jupiter? Ya, right.

To be fair to them, their caption for the picture had one sentence as a disclaimer saying it probably wasn't a meteor trail. But as in most news items on "strange" things, the rest of the text was about the more exciting theory, meteor trails.

And I missed the disclaimer sentence the first time around. A skeptic's lesson is never learned.

uneasy · 17th October 2003, 08:38 AM

Wait. That article says they changed the caption. I must have seen the earlier caption that said it was a meteor trail. So I didn't misread it. I was taken in by NASA scientists. Yeah, that must be it.

Quote:

During the discussion, the APOD scientists changed their caption, saying the picture likely had something to do with a jet contrail, a consensus that most other scientists had reached.

BTox · 17th October 2003, 07:35 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by uneasy
I'll never trust that NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day web site again. Moons around Jupiter? Ya, right.

To be fair to them, their caption for the picture had one sentence as a disclaimer saying it probably wasn't a meteor trail. But as in most news items on "strange" things, the rest of the text was about the more exciting theory, meteor trails.

And I missed the disclaimer sentence the first time around. A skeptic's lesson is never learned.

Yeah, I was duped, too. Though must admit I didn't read the caption or story.

Iamme · 18th October 2003, 05:06 PM

On CNN's moving screen bar, they had said either yesterday or the day before that some meteor or asteroid passed within approximately 50,000 miles of us!

Anyone else hear anything about this?

BillyJoe · 18th October 2003, 07:30 PM

If it was a meteor, wouldn't the leading edge be blunt.

1st October 2003, 08:41 AM	#1
uneasy Muse Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 504	Meteor Fireball I think there are a few fans of the astronomy picture of the day web site. http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html Today's image is startling (to me anyway). If I didn't have respect for the site, I would wonder if this picture is a hoax. http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ima...urnett_big.jpg That's an amazing picture of a meteor causing a fireball in the sky. I didn't know they could look like that. It sure does seem obvious that something like this could be causing a large number of "UFO" sitings? It almost has the classic "cigar shape". Combine that with some fog while viewing it out a car window while driving, and I think I might be calling the police myself.
uneasy Muse Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 504	__________________ Mud, Mud, glorious mud Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood!

1st October 2003, 08:57 AM	#2
arcticpenguin woo ban clan Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 5,717	Wow! I've personally never seen one bright enough to show up in daylight.
	__________________ The power of accurate observation is frequently called cynicism by those who don't have it. - George Bernard Shaw

1st October 2003, 09:01 AM	#3
Professor Frink Scholar Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 87	Holy Cow! If I saw that thing in the sky I'd be looking on the horizon for the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse. Was there by any chance a spaceship trailing the meteor with a bunch of people with purple Nikes? Oh, forgot, that was supposed to be a comet. Cool picture, thanks for pointing it out. Frink
Professor Frink Scholar Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 87	__________________ J: "Why the big secret? People are smart, they can handle it." K: "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it."

1st October 2003, 09:53 AM	#5
Correa Neto Philosopher Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Hunting rocks somewhere in Brazil Posts: 7,189	I saw one in Rio during plain daylight back in the late 70s that looked a bit like that. It had no smoke trail, but had an inner area that was bright blue/green. As usual, some people claimed it was a flying saucer...
	__________________ Racism, sexism, ignorance, homophobia, intolerance, extremism, authoritarianism, environmental disasters, politically correct crap, violence at sport stadiums, slavery, poverty, wars, people who disagree with me: Together we can find the cure Oh, and together we can find a cure to religion too…

1st October 2003, 03:01 PM	#7
BTox Graduate Poster Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 1,588	Cool pic. I've seen a few at night, but nothing that big. Last one I saw (and heard) was during one of the Perseid meteor showers a few years ago.
BTox Graduate Poster Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 1,588

1st October 2003, 09:34 AM	#4
patnray Graduate Poster Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 1,008	I saw one, not as spectacular as that, during the daytime back in the sixties in Massachusetts. 20 years later, while talking to a coworker who grew up in New Jersey, I discovered that he had seen the same fireball. They are awesome and quite memorable...

1st October 2003, 01:28 PM	#6
Bluegill Graduate Poster Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Louisville Posts: 1,188	The photo is spectacular no matter what, but I wonder if the fireball looks more ominous in the picture than it did in real-life. If you were there at the scene, perhaps you would have seen the edge of that roof fifty or sixty feet off in the distance, smaller than it looks in the photo, and the bolide also looking smaller.

1st October 2003, 04:03 PM	#8
WildCat NWO Master Conspirator Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Albany Park, Chicago Posts: 49,145	The caption says that it could be an airplane contrail reflecting sunlight, since it looked much the same a minute later.

1st October 2003, 04:50 PM	#9
uneasy Muse Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 504	I'm ashamed to admit my eyes skipped over that sentence for some reason. The rest of it goes with the meteor theory, but that one clause in that one sentence says probably not. Now that I look, it is at sunset, so I a contrail might make sense. Hmmm. Sort of like other news reporting of strange events. All kinds of info on what it probably isn't. I still didn't know meteors could make anything like that during the day, and apparently they can, so it's still interesting to me.
uneasy Muse Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 504	__________________ Mud, Mud, glorious mud Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood!

2nd October 2003, 06:49 AM	#10
Pycroft New Blood Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 13	Out of curiosity...do these sorts of events result in any sound, perhaps a BOOM! There i no reported sound associated with this event. Also in South Wales over the past few days we have been having pretty spectacular sunsets lately with plenty of low scattered cloud formations. Finally, his home at Pencoed is not far from Cardiff International Airport. I live about the same distance in the other direction frm the kids home and we get some low flying craft such as Boeing 737's, the occational 747 (there is a 747 maintainance hanger at the airport). The single ruunway runs roughly N to S. He also lives close to an RAF/DARA maintainance base RAF St Athan, plenty of jet aircraft and the odd Hercules transporter taking off there, that runway roughly runs E to W. Just some recent, local observations...
Pycroft New Blood Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 13	__________________ Administrator: Wonderful what we can do nowadays. Ah! I see you have the machine that goes 'Ping'. This is my favourite. You see we lease this back from the company we sold it to. That way it comes under the monthly current budget and not the capital account. (They all applaud.) Thank you, thank you. We try to do our best. Well, do carry on. [Monty Python's Meaning of Life]

2nd October 2003, 07:34 AM	#11
patnray Graduate Poster Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 1,008	Usually there is no sound since they are still very high when they break up. As I indicated, the one I saw in Massachusetts was also seen in New Jersey, so it was very high. It was very bright and brief. If I hadn't been looking in that direction I never would have seen it...

2nd October 2003, 06:23 PM	#12
Checkmite Skepticifimisticalationist Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Third in line Posts: 14,898	Quote: Originally posted by Bluegill The photo is spectacular no matter what, but I wonder if the fireball looks more ominous in the picture than it did in real-life. If you were there at the scene, perhaps you would have seen the edge of that roof fifty or sixty feet off in the distance, smaller than it looks in the photo, and the bolide also looking smaller. Just a point of information - if there was no sound associated with this event, it wasn't a bolide.
	__________________ "¿WHAT KIND OF BIRD? ¿A PARANORMAL BIRD?" --- Carlos S., 2002

17th October 2003, 08:19 AM	#13
arcticpenguin woo ban clan Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 5,717	http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...fiesscientists Quote: A digital picture of a spectacular and apparently explosive event in the sky fooled a pair of seasoned NASA scientists, has other researchers around the globe mystified, and made a minor celebrity of a teenage photographer. ... Problem is, it turns out, there was no meteor. ... A second wider-angle picture, researchers learned, had been taken at the same time as the first photo. The second image, by Julian Heywood of Porthcawl, about 10 miles from Jonathan's location, helped form the contrail hypothesis and ruled out the idea that the first photo might have been fabricated. ... During the discussion, the APOD scientists changed their caption, saying the picture likely had something to do with a jet contrail, a consensus that most other scientists had reached. Jonathan Burnett's photo: Julian Heywood's photo: I'll buy the contrail theory. You can see the clouds are taking on varied sunset colors. Color of clouds under these conditions vary with altitude & density, along with the position of the sun.
	__________________ The power of accurate observation is frequently called cynicism by those who don't have it. - George Bernard Shaw

17th October 2003, 08:33 AM	#14
uneasy Muse Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 504	I'll never trust that NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day web site again. Moons around Jupiter? Ya, right. To be fair to them, their caption for the picture had one sentence as a disclaimer saying it probably wasn't a meteor trail. But as in most news items on "strange" things, the rest of the text was about the more exciting theory, meteor trails. And I missed the disclaimer sentence the first time around. A skeptic's lesson is never learned.
uneasy Muse Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 504	__________________ Mud, Mud, glorious mud Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood!

17th October 2003, 08:38 AM	#15
uneasy Muse Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 504	Wait. That article says they changed the caption. I must have seen the earlier caption that said it was a meteor trail. So I didn't misread it. I was taken in by NASA scientists. Yeah, that must be it. Quote: During the discussion, the APOD scientists changed their caption, saying the picture likely had something to do with a jet contrail, a consensus that most other scientists had reached.
uneasy Muse Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 504	__________________ Mud, Mud, glorious mud Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood!

17th October 2003, 07:35 PM	#16
BTox Graduate Poster Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 1,588	Quote: Originally posted by uneasy I'll never trust that NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day web site again. Moons around Jupiter? Ya, right. To be fair to them, their caption for the picture had one sentence as a disclaimer saying it probably wasn't a meteor trail. But as in most news items on "strange" things, the rest of the text was about the more exciting theory, meteor trails. And I missed the disclaimer sentence the first time around. A skeptic's lesson is never learned. Yeah, I was duped, too. Though must admit I didn't read the caption or story.
BTox Graduate Poster Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 1,588	__________________ "Your ignorance makes me ill... "

18th October 2003, 05:06 PM	#17
Iamme Illuminator Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Western Wisconsin Posts: 4,622	On CNN's moving screen bar, they had said either yesterday or the day before that some meteor or asteroid passed within approximately 50,000 miles of us! Anyone else hear anything about this?
	__________________ I lost my mind many years ago and it hasn't affected me a bit...a bit..a bit..a bit.

18th October 2003, 07:30 PM	#18
BillyJoe Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: MOOROOLBARK Posts: 12,539	If it was a meteor, wouldn't the leading edge be blunt.
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