Nice green Perseid Fireball

On Sunday (10th) morning at 02:36hrs on my way home from work, I caught a really bright, large Perseid fireball fall from the sky from Perseus heading into Auriga. Left a tail around 25 degrees long, splintered near the end. Started bright white, esitmated magnitude of -6 or -7, and when into a nice green colour by the time it burnt out. Isn't green an indication of being a stoney-iron meteorite?

Anyone else spot it?

Seanie.

Seanie - no, didn't see that but are you sure it wasn't a retinal image of your strobes? :lol:

In all seriousness now, I saw a fireball about a year and a half ago at dusk - I was driving into Dublin and exactly as you say, it started white and ended up a green colour. It wasn't as large as 25 degrees though.

I'd love to know if the colour is any indication of the type of meteorite - anyone know?

You lucky thing anyhow - its always really spectucular when you see something like this!

Cheers

Dave McD

Good stuff

I never seen it myself but ut sounds like a very bright FB and also the first Perseid sighting i have heard of to date..congrats!

Colour is an indication of composition but i cant mind of hand what green is.

Nice sighting!

hi Dave/Seanie,

some info on meteor colours . . .

The color of a meteor is an indication of its composition and the excitation temperature: sodium atoms give an orange-yellow light, iron atoms a yellow light, magnesium a blue-green light, calcium atoms may add a violet hue, while silicon atoms and molecules of atmospheric nitrogen give a red light.

I've seen a few greenish-coloured meteors in twilight and it may be because of the sky brightness at the time that we are seeing these hues. It's unlikely that the meteor trail is catching sunlight because such trails last for such a brief time. I'd put the colour of meteors in twilight down to an eye effect rather than it being the composition of the object. I could be wrong and need to check a Sky and Telescope article in the archive from a few years back which talked about meteors at dusk/dawn.

atb,

John

Thanks guys, and thanks John for the info.

Seanie - no, didn't see that but are you sure it wasn't a retinal image of your strobes? :lol:

Not quite, but I do see strange beams of light in the sky sometime on my way home, I have often wondered if I was being tracked by UFO's not far above me... :lol: