Did Anyone See This??

[Earthbound]

Hello --I am new to this forum, just wondering if anyone here heard about this??

Strange lights seen over southern Qld
Tuesday, 20 February 2007. 09:01 (AEDT)Tuesday, 20 February 2007. 08:01 (ACST)Tuesday, 20 February 2007. 08:01 (AEST)Tuesday, 20 February 2007. 09:01 (ACDT)Tuesday, 20 February 2007. 07:01 (AWDT)
Stargazers have been reporting a strange sighting in the skies over southern Queensland last night.

Numerous residents on the Darling Downs have called the ABC to report a milky glowing cloud and lights moving slowly across the night sky between 3am and 4am AEST.

Former meteorologist and amateur astronomer, Mark Yandle, from Millmerran says he thinks it could have been an explosion in space.

"High in the south-west there was a cloud of gas about twice the size of a full moon and as you watched it over, say, the course of an hour it moved slowly north-eastward and gradually got larger and at the centre of this cloud there was even brighter bits to me that sounds as though it was an explosion of some sort in outer space," he said.

[iceman (Mike)]

Hi earthbound, welcome to IIS!

Perhaps it was this?

[Earthbound]

Thanks for the welcome Iceman-- I think you could be right.

[neB]

There was a dude from the Brisbane planetarium on the radio saying that from the reports, it wasn't moving correctly for it to have been a rocket burn (or anything to do with sats). If it was in near Earth orbit it should have moved across the sky much faster - a matter of minutes - not stayed in the same place (or thereabouts) for an hour.

He speculated a normal (right angle) impact meteor.

I have logged in today hoping to find out more about this. So please post it when you find out.

I reckon this will be all over the Brisbane news tonight.

[Earthbound]

Wow - todays Space Weather front page, is also asking the question. They seem to be saying maybe it was'nt a rocket burn??
http://spaceweather.com/


MYSTERY BURN: Last night at the Siding Springs Observatory in New South Wales, Australia, astrophotographer Gordon Garradd witnessed a glowing cloud in the sky. "It looked like a rocket burn." He took this picture at 17:30 UT on Feb. 19th:
http://spaceweather.com/swpod2007/20...add1_strip.jpg
Photo details: Nikon D200, 85mm lens @ f/1.6, ISO 500, 4 sec exposure.
"I've seen rocket burns before and there is no doubt the cloud is rocket exhaust," says Garradd. "However, this is much larger than any I have seen before, such as Cassini. It makes me wonder if I saw a controlled burn or an explosion."

The cloud contained a swarm of small objects. To display their motions, Garradd is assembling a movie from his photos. The movie will also show the cloud drifting slowly across the sky. "It was visible for nearly an hour," he says. The burning question: If this was a rocket burn, what rocket was it? Ideas welcomed!

UPDATE: Others photographed the same cloud. "I was lucky enough to be shooting the exact part of sky that this object appeared in," reports Ray Palmer of the Golden Grove Observatory in Chittering, Australia. "I have no idea what it was, but it grew in size and moved quickly. I managed to view it for 35 minutes: image." Yet another photo of the cloud comes from Tim Thorpe at the Bull Creek Ranges in Meadows, South Australia. "Quite a surreal scene," he says.

[acropolite (Phil)]

Initially thought to be related to the recent Themis launch, this object has been ID'd with the help of the US Air Force Space Surveillance System personel, and turns out to be an exploding Breeze-M rocket body. They later detected over 500 individual pieces on radar!

This was lifted from Gordon's site, explains all.

[fringe_dweller]

oh so it was only! the final booster stage of a russian? unmanned? rocket exploding to smithereens - does that mean its (expensive?) payload was destroyed along with it neccasarily? yikes! someone is of to the salt mines!

[fringe_dweller]

ahh all is explained now?

from spaceweather

'MYSTERY SOLVED: Jon P. Boers of the USAF Space Surveillance System has tentatively identified the source of the mystery cloud, described below. It was a Briz-M rocket body (catalogue number 28944) exploding over Australia. "Later, on the other side of the world, our RADAR saw 500+ pieces in that orbit," he says.

The Briz-M was the upper stage of a Russian Proton rocket that left Earth in Feb. 2006 carrying an Arabsat-4A communications satellite. Shortly after launch, the Briz-M malfunctioned, leaving the satellite in the wrong orbit and the Briz-M looping around Earth partially full of fuel. On Feb. 19, 2007, for reasons unknown, the fuel ignited over Australia.'

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Gee, how lucky do you have to be, to be imaging at the right spot at the right time.