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.
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.