fireball in the sky (Sept 21st)

Congrats to those that did manage to see it. I have had a few emails asking about it and looking for info.

It seems to have been one of those once in a lifetime amazing sights :bigshock:

I am delighted so many seen it!

I should have taken Phil up on his invitation to the sugarloaf . . bah babysitting

I saw it last night just before eleven also. Lovely clear night out with the scope. Appeared low in the ENE and travelled almost parrallel to the horizon at about 10° altitude to the WNW, travelling slowly and disintegrating. Fantastic :bigshock: . It went on long enough for my wife to spot it from inside the house and come out calling me in case I hadn't spotted it. Even the kids made it out in their bare feet to get the last few seconds of it. :rock:

Saw this at 22:55 BST last night whilst observing at Delamount Country Park beside Strangford Lough with the IAA in Co Down. Was a great observing session anyway but this made it even better. When it first appeared in the East, thought it was a firework, but it soon became apparent that it wasn't. Lovely golden colour, around 20 separate pieces. It passed over to the West, moved quite slowly. Awesome sight.

Sorry to say, I have just watched a guy on the TV from Jodrell Bank Observatory, and he is definite the phenonemon was space debris breaking up in our atmosphere. I feel very deflated it was not a set of meteors. Feel free to comment.

Aubrey.

FYI:


It is very unlikely this was a satellite re-entry for two reasons:

1) East to west trajectory. This would make a satellite retrograde. Retrograde satellites are very rare (literally only a handful exist);

2) No decay candidates on space-track (USSTRATCOM portal). Given the brightness, this should have been a big piece that should have been tracked. Only possible option would be a classified object.

While the duration and trajectory length are unusual, meteors of this kind are known (e.g. Peekskill). I suggest this was a very slow, asteroidal origin fireball that probably dropped meteorites, but alas in sea in seems....

- Marco

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Dr Marco (asteroid 183294) Langbroek
Dutch Meteor Society (DMS)

It was still very cool, even it was space debris Well remember it for a long time, one of the best things I have seen in the sky for a long time.