We are just coming into the Perseid meteor shower (peaks on the 11th) which is pieces of the Swift-Tuttle comet. Comet chunks tend to be weak material. When it hits the atmosphere it falls apart and, since it is going so fast, the friction causes the bits to heat, vaporize, and glow in what looks like an explosion.
It is not too surprising given the Perseids. A friend has already seen a few of them.
Thanks for the excellent video! That was a very good one! (BTW: Former NASA planetary scientist here. I couldn't stand taking tax money for my fun.)
Hard core, life long astronomer here. Got 4 scopes and some eyepieces worth a few hundred each.
There's only 2 months of the year that there isn't a meteor shower. The Leonids and the Perseids are the most well known / produce the most meteors per hour.
It is VERY common to see meteors do this on a regular basis. Most meteors aren't much bigger than a foot ball. Space is -200+ celceus. These curtains of meteors left by comets are moving pretty quickly - no force in space to slow them down.
As they enter the earth's atmosphere, the heat and pressure of entry causes them to burn up and sometimes pop or explode. MOST times, they burn up long before they could hit the surface.
I've seen this exact thing many, many times in my own backyard. Nothing other wordly, or CGI, or aliens or a government space weapon. It's just a meteor.
As i mentioned above this one probably had some barium in it because it burned so green... but washed out a bit so anything like titanium or magnesium might have been in there too...
If you ever get the chance during the peaks to get in a boat in the middle of one of the great lakes... or way out on the open ocean... it's amazing how much detail you can see on each that comes in.
One year we saw one come in at a really flat angle, it must have been huge because it streaked from one end of the horizon to the other burning bright red the entire way with tons of thick blobs of orange/gold flakes flittering behind it...
You get out that far and you can actually hear the real big ones even if they are way up there.
I live in New Brunswick and we have a couple Bortle1 sites here, one is barely an hour from my home. It IS truly amazing to get to see the night skies like that. I highly, highly recommend anyone with even a slight interest in astronomy to go to a dark site - it'll change your entire perspective.
Never got to hear a meteor but once we got a Northern Lights show that we could hear. Sounds like faint crumpling of paper, really cool.
it really makes you understand how all those ancient civilizations were so tied to astronomy and sky watching... it wasn't just because there was nothing else to watch... it gives you a whole new feeling about your place in the universe.
i've seen all sorts of things that are hard to explain, thats cool too, but watching meteor showers is one of my favorite things to do.
oh yes lol Can't go stargazing without a few puffs. I agree on the ancients as well, they would've got to see the night skies with zero light pollution.
Something about seeing the Milky Way, right there with your own eyes is humbling to say the least. Just a geek note here :
At a Bortle 1 or 0 site, on a clear moonless night, the Milky Way can actually put a shadow on the ground. One of the sites we go to, we have permission from the farmer to go there. It's a wide open, full horizon view as far as you can see. We've got to witness the Milky Way shadow a few times from that spot. Just amazing.
one of the things i always enjoyed doing was taking people out on the lake to see the stars... you could see them get a little overwhelmed at seeing the stars for the first time and it wasn't even as clear as you're talking.
out on the lake it's very nice, but you still get some light pollution from shore... would be nice to get up there one of these days and see the northern lights. this far south i've only gotten to see hints of it during massive flares.
When we lived in Calgary, we found a spot north west of the city, a little over than an hour out. First and best northern lights show we ever got to witness was our 2nd night there.
Was like being an ant in a backyard watching a blanket on the clothes line flap in the wind. Fucking mind blowing. I then discovered this:
You can basically tell if you're going to see some northern lights before you head out. So we could decide it we wanted to go or not based on that. So grateful we got to see them as often as we did while we were out there.
We are just coming into the Perseid meteor shower (peaks on the 11th) which is pieces of the Swift-Tuttle comet. Comet chunks tend to be weak material. When it hits the atmosphere it falls apart and, since it is going so fast, the friction causes the bits to heat, vaporize, and glow in what looks like an explosion.
It is not too surprising given the Perseids. A friend has already seen a few of them.
Thanks for the excellent video! That was a very good one! (BTW: Former NASA planetary scientist here. I couldn't stand taking tax money for my fun.)
It happened in Russian back in 2013:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36MEsWC1Pzc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpmXyJrs7iU
Oh my. Wow.
Just wow.
Satellite?
What is it really? It is not a meteor.
sorry, but yea it is.
Hard core, life long astronomer here. Got 4 scopes and some eyepieces worth a few hundred each.
There's only 2 months of the year that there isn't a meteor shower. The Leonids and the Perseids are the most well known / produce the most meteors per hour.
It is VERY common to see meteors do this on a regular basis. Most meteors aren't much bigger than a foot ball. Space is -200+ celceus. These curtains of meteors left by comets are moving pretty quickly - no force in space to slow them down.
As they enter the earth's atmosphere, the heat and pressure of entry causes them to burn up and sometimes pop or explode. MOST times, they burn up long before they could hit the surface.
I've seen this exact thing many, many times in my own backyard. Nothing other wordly, or CGI, or aliens or a government space weapon. It's just a meteor.
You definitely know a lot more than I regarding meteors. Thank you for the explanation. Much appreciated.
not a problem my friend. I love passing on the knowledge and hopefully gaining someone's interest in our night skies.
Thanks for jumping in with that...
I too am a nerd.
As i mentioned above this one probably had some barium in it because it burned so green... but washed out a bit so anything like titanium or magnesium might have been in there too...
If you ever get the chance during the peaks to get in a boat in the middle of one of the great lakes... or way out on the open ocean... it's amazing how much detail you can see on each that comes in.
One year we saw one come in at a really flat angle, it must have been huge because it streaked from one end of the horizon to the other burning bright red the entire way with tons of thick blobs of orange/gold flakes flittering behind it...
You get out that far and you can actually hear the real big ones even if they are way up there.
It's a surreal experience.
I live in New Brunswick and we have a couple Bortle1 sites here, one is barely an hour from my home. It IS truly amazing to get to see the night skies like that. I highly, highly recommend anyone with even a slight interest in astronomy to go to a dark site - it'll change your entire perspective.
Never got to hear a meteor but once we got a Northern Lights show that we could hear. Sounds like faint crumpling of paper, really cool.
yeah you've got great viewing up there for sure.
it really makes you understand how all those ancient civilizations were so tied to astronomy and sky watching... it wasn't just because there was nothing else to watch... it gives you a whole new feeling about your place in the universe.
i've seen all sorts of things that are hard to explain, thats cool too, but watching meteor showers is one of my favorite things to do.
especially after a nice joint.
oh yes lol Can't go stargazing without a few puffs. I agree on the ancients as well, they would've got to see the night skies with zero light pollution.
Something about seeing the Milky Way, right there with your own eyes is humbling to say the least. Just a geek note here :
At a Bortle 1 or 0 site, on a clear moonless night, the Milky Way can actually put a shadow on the ground. One of the sites we go to, we have permission from the farmer to go there. It's a wide open, full horizon view as far as you can see. We've got to witness the Milky Way shadow a few times from that spot. Just amazing.
yeah thats cool... i'm jealous.
one of the things i always enjoyed doing was taking people out on the lake to see the stars... you could see them get a little overwhelmed at seeing the stars for the first time and it wasn't even as clear as you're talking.
out on the lake it's very nice, but you still get some light pollution from shore... would be nice to get up there one of these days and see the northern lights. this far south i've only gotten to see hints of it during massive flares.
When we lived in Calgary, we found a spot north west of the city, a little over than an hour out. First and best northern lights show we ever got to witness was our 2nd night there.
Was like being an ant in a backyard watching a blanket on the clothes line flap in the wind. Fucking mind blowing. I then discovered this:
https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/aurora-30-minute-forecast
You can basically tell if you're going to see some northern lights before you head out. So we could decide it we wanted to go or not based on that. So grateful we got to see them as often as we did while we were out there.
this happens all the time...
that one looked to have some barium in it (green), maybe something else because it was a bit washed out... like some titanium or magnesium
strontium usually burns red, copper burns blue...
basic chemistry class shit.