Fireballs And Gegenschein!

Last night my mum and sister saw a very bright fireball light up the entire sky in the late evening as they where driving to the town of Magherafelt. Later that same evening my sister and i where walking the dogs in the country when we seen an incredible fireball move though the clouds and detonate in an incredible silent blue/white explosion low in the SW, the fireball illuminated the clouds, ground and trees brightly for several seconds. It was quite scary when it happened. I heard no sound after the event.

There have been many fireball reports comming in to the radio station 'talksport' from members of the public who witnessed an awesome spectacle over England several nights ago, some witnesses thought it was the end of the world lol, so keep an eye out as the activity is still high, now is a great time to capture these on an image!

The night before after moonset i made my 8th observation of the Gegenschein in a beautiful crystal clear dark sky. It has moved slightly eastward along the ecliptic and i made it at more than 15* long, very elongated like a Rugby ball. Then i was amazed to see extending eastward from this the Zodical band as a straight green bar 5* thick extending for 20* across the sky as it disappeared into the depths of the milkyway! The two phenomena where beautiful!

I have also noticed a large increase in Leonid activity these last 3 mornings before dawn, some of these have been fairly bright leaving persistant trains for severals secs before fading. despite the poor ratings for this years shower i get the feeling there could be some nice objects on display!

With the 16" a friend and i observed M42, M81, M82, Veil Nebula and M31. This was his first look through a telescope and he was amazed by what he saw, it was nice to share the sky with a beginner . This morning i bagged my 11th SOHO comet on the LASCO C3 images but i was not the first to see it yet again, i hope i will get there first in the near future!

Clear skies!