Could I have Heard a meteorite?+ were they eta equa

[bartman]

So this morning at work I was able to set up my D90 for some timelapse/ meteor shots.
As I was setting up and taking a few test shots, angling the camera and looking up I heard a ( hard to describe) faint whoosing sound and thought it was some sprinklers starting up - we have a lot of these on the golf course;)-. Then pretty much at the same time this brilliant large(ish) meteor shot across my field of view.
It was white/orange(ish) in colour, went for ages ( in my stunned sense of course) and left a very distinguished trail of vapour(?) which also lasted for a while ( I guess maybe a second )."Smoke like vapour trails, dispersing rapidly with a very faint glow"
It wasn't sprinklers going off and cant think of any other sound that could have caused the sound I heard. It was dead quiet before and after. I have read about people hearing meteorites while they race through the sky, but I would like some confirmation..........:question:
It streaked across the sky near ( I THINK) Arcturus - Spica that area. Using my fist as a measure for length it was about 8 fists wide ( if not longer) as for Alt probably at the height of Spica and going from North to West at about 02:15hrs.

THEN later after setting the camera up for sunrise with the planets in a different location, I was walking back to go inside when ( as I always do, looking up ) had a fantastic view of a similar 'meteor' going the same way and in the same area as the earlier one ( no sound this time). It was shorter ( in length) but same colour, vapour trail and heading. Time was about 05:00hrs and I couldn't tell if it was higher or lower than the first ( my guess is higher).
It did seem to be smaller ( nucleus wise), but just as intense.

I had a look at starmap pro on ye ol' iPhone but none of the meteor showers were in the vicinity or radii in the same direction.

Well thats my first blurb on the Observational ( jeez thats a long word) forum.......
So I'm guessing they weren't a meteor but possibly some space debris coming down.
Still looking through my time lapse shots to see if I caught some real meteors!!!!!!:P

Thanks for reading!
Cheers
Bartman
P.S. if anyone in Perth saw these as wel let me know......or clarify what I saw or heard!

[leon]

What you witnessed was a once or twice in a life time experience, I have only seen one of that magnitude, and yes they can be noisy and smoky for that matter. :)

Lucky you, ;) by the way, I would like your job, imaging will working, you lucky bugger. :lol: :lol:

Leon :thumbsup:

[bartman]

Thanks Leon,
I've been keeping an eye out for you ( on the road and at work - thought you might pop in on your way up North).

I was stunned after the fact cause I matched the sound with the ....well whatever it was. And yes it was what you could say 'smokey'. The vapour trails on both were quite distinct...almost glowing.....
I should add that to the observation.
"Smoke like vapour trails, dispersing rapidly with a very faint glow"

I can image whist at work only cause it is quiet at the moment ( and it's a grave yard shift I do twice a week). I can see my camera through the window at one spot and the other is on an enclosed terrace but outside with no access for others so I can leave it alone doing its time lapse thing. So I might spend 5- 10 mins setting up then go back to work;).

[Safe travels Leon, and if you get to Broome go to Gantheume point and take some sunset shots ( or even Cable beach) . Very stunning !!!!]

Bartman

[asimov]

I experienced this when I was a kid back in the late 60's. We were camped on a secluded beach & I was still awake & just staring at the stars (swag/no tent) & this huge fireball barrelled in, with associated noise. I'm still convinced whatever it was, made landfall.

[jjjnettie]

Woo Hoo! I wish I'd been there too!
I've only experience hearing one meteor before. To me it sounded like a Sparkler burning.

[bartman]

Thanks Nettie,
Yes yes yes ...that hissing sound from a sparkler....grrrr cant spell the sound.... sooo frustrating!
kerrchshshhshshhsh........(in a very soft tone) attempt hehehehe

Seriously though.... space junk or meteorite?:confused2:
Is there a website that has predictions of space junk re-entry trajectories?
I've read that space junk is more green in colour:shrug:

None the less It was really cool to observe twice in a span of a few hours:rolleyes:.
Bartman

[jjjnettie]

Cooking bacon in a too hot pan, sizzle and spit.

[bartman]

Went thru all the time lapse pics and found nothing.......
Lotsa satellites though.......
Oh well maybe next time...
Bartman\

[leon]

Will do Bart, do you live in that direction mate, as we are slowly moving up the Coast heading that way, we head for Denham tomorrow and probably stay there for a couple of days, then on to Carnarvon after that.

Leon

[mickkk]

Whatever the shower was around 2000 I was walking home from a very ordinary session when I spotted one right in front of me, so low, so bright, the opposite direction to where I was looking all the time.

It made a noise a whoosh buzz kinda thing, I thought it was the powerlines sparking or something at the time but the noise stopped when the meteor went. After asking in here, I was astounded like you, to find that the noise was real. Your brain just cant associate a noise like that with an object like that at night. I reckon it goes for the most logical thing that it sees nearby, or remembered sound.

Well done mate!

[karlwf]

Hi Bartman,

Yes, it may very well have been! Im so curious to know exactly what it was now as it was very large. Unfortunately I was in my car listening to music so i didnt hear it! BUGGER.

Let me know if you come across anything, as I will do the same.

Cheers,

karl-

[Waxing_Gibbous]

I've only seen two like that.
One was over Richmond Hill in SW London. It was massive and pretty low. We all thought it was a jet contrail until it went "krackbang".

The other was about a year ago and in daylight. It was quite small came down about 1/2 a klick away. It looked like a welder's torch, left a little trail of debris and went "ssszzzzztttsizzlepop".
I'd have gone to look for it but the paddock was full of steers who looked 'iffy'.

[Suzy]

Wow Bart! How lucky you were to have experienced that!! :eyepop:
After hearing everyone's experiences of hearing noises like Bart did, oh... to dream that I will one day. :)

Here's something interesting:
My daughter said a few days ago in the direction of East, she and her boyfriend saw a large orange coloured ball with a long trail that travelled for ages (she seemed to think 5 mins- I think that's probably a bit too long). She knows meteor showers, even having recently seen the Geminids with me, and was definite it was nothing as quick as that. Very slow she said. We deduced it to be space junk. :shrug: I realised there was a thread running on similar topic so came looking for it to read up on the experiences shared here.
Must be lots of space junk coming through at the moment :question:
I got to admit though, if I heard one of those wooshing noises out there all alone in the dark at a silly hour of the morning, think I'd just pass out - right there on the cold, wet grass. :help:

[ballaratdragons]

That's exactly how it sounded for the one I heard too!

Seen a few but only heard one.

[multiweb]

:lol: So true. I heard one once at Ilford, looked up and just saw a green light with an orange trail that dissipated like fireworks trail with smoke. It sounded like a bacon rusher too. Yummy. :P

[Screwdriverone]

Seen many green meteors (some often as long as three seconds), but never heard one...

Perhaps they are part of the Eat-a Baconids Meteor showers??? Travelling through the constellation of Babeius???

That'll do Chris.....That'll do.....

;)

Cheers

Chris

[jenchris]

I love that typo.

Rushed right across the sky.

[wayne anderson]

I have heard meteorites on several occasions one time it caused static on the radio as it broke up overhead with bright green and blue colours, the sound was similar to a sparkler burning, the most memorable sound was one that impacted on the roof of my former place of work.

It was 14th June 2007 at 11:30am; I was working at Lake Haven Recreation centre preparing the Indoor Climbing Wall for a group of students for school sport when a very large bang occurred on the roof ventilation louvers.
I thought it was school children throwing a large rock onto the roof, when I tried to open the lovers they were stuck fast, later that afternoon with much more force I tried to open the louvers again.
As the louvers opened I noticed that a rock seemed to be stuck on the louvers and the stainless steel louvers seemed to have a dent and a small burn mark on them. When I removed the rock I realized it was in fact a Stony/Iron Meteorite (see below).
Just imagine if the Louvers were open at the time of impact, it gives new meaning to the saying “he has rocks in his head”.

[Suzy]

Incredible story there Wayne.
I wonder if anyone has ever been hit over the head by one of these :lol:. Shouldn't laugh I suppose, :lol: still laughing tho :P. I wonder what they smell like as soon as they hit.:question: That would be amazing- to smell one!:eyepop:

[bartman]

Maybe burnt bacon??????:lol:

[Gem]

I have heard only one meteor in my life. I was quite young and out with my older brother and his 4" SCT near Singleton, NSW. The meteor was bright and distinctly broke in two. I don't remember a sparkler noise, but I do remember a thunder noise that came after a delay. I was fairly young at the time but the memory has stuck. A bit scary when you are at a dark site as a kid!!
Incidently, the only recorded person or animal hit by a meteorite was the Nakhla dog in Egypt - vapourising the dog instantly, or so it is said.

[Gem]

Correction - I meant killed not hit!

[Outbackmanyep]

The sounds of the meteors aren't figments of the imagination but is something that had been studied by a bloke at Newcastle University invovling low frequency sound waves being made audible from surrounding vegetation.
The sound you are hearing is NOT from the meteor itself as sound travels much slower than light and these things are 100kms or more up, but it can be explained by the radio wave phenomena.
Meteor observers have tried to record the audio effects with not much success, it seems our ears are the best receivers!

Meteor observers use radio all the time to detect meteors we can't even see, they usually tune into a low frequency band from a transmitter hundreds of kms away and record the radio echo from meteors entering the atmosphere.
You can download a sample from Thomas Ashcrafts page here:
http://www.heliotown.com/Table_of_Contents.html
I have heard the audio phenomena too (not the radio echo), but it was a LONG time ago.


Interesting stuff!

[theodog]

Here is some info on this 'bloke'.
http://home.pacific.net.au/~ddcsk1/

I have had the same meteor 'experience' myself. However the associated meteor was seen low near the horizon. As the sound seemed simultanious I figure I didn't hear the meteor.

Interesting that most people describe a bright "orange" colour:question:.

:D

[Outbackmanyep]

Hi Theodog!

Yep :) that's the bloke i was talking about! :thumbsup:

[Analog6]

I was once driving home from work when we lived out near Yass and saw a huge green meteor just on dusk. The trail in the sky and smokey stuff were just like you describe. How I wished I'd had a camera with me. There was a story in the paper about the one I saw - it was so big and bright. It's certainly a very special sight.

And I do remember reading a story about someone who had a hole burned in the roof of their house, but for the life of me cannot even remember which country this was supposed to be in. They actually had the meteorite and there was some dispute over ownership.

[bartman]

Thanks for the links Outbackman and Jeff!
Nice followup!
Cheers
Bartman