Fireball in Queensland

[drmorbius]

On my way home tonight I witnessed a massive fireball (~6:17pm) that streaked across the sky (looking north) from East to West. It lasted at least 5 seconds in an arc across most of the sky. It flared several times as bits broke off.

Fantastic! I almost drove off the road!:eyepop:


Did anyone else witness it?

[Doctor Ma]

My father and I saw it driving north along the SE Freeway. It was quite a sight. This might sound a little weird, but can you confirm it was burning green?

[drmorbius]

Yes, it was green all right... I saw one other fireball when I was a kid and I remember it was green too. That probably means something...

[gaa_ian]

Sounds very cool, I have seen some like that.
Best one was last year on the beach here in NT, it burst into orange flames as it broke up close to the hoizion !
I think the green means that it is a metalic meteor containing a high % of copper.

[Doctor Ma]

Yeah... I thought it was green...

:)

We were around the Glasshouse Mts turnoff part of the freeway when we saw it....

Man that thing was travelling....

Let me know if it makes the news...I'll do the same if I see/hear something about it.

[digitaljedi]

Yup say it too.

Large flash caught my eye and then watched it cross half the sky in about 5 seconds breaking up as it went. It was about 20-25 degs above the horizon and probably a good 5 deg long as it broke up. Lots of green in it and it was still activly lossing bits as it passed below the horizon.

Apparent there was a brief mention on the news but no footage at the moment.

:D :eyepop: :thumbsup:

[jjjnettie]

The story is running pretty hot on the radio. Lots of people must have witnessed it while driving home from work.
I missed it worst luck, I hope someone caught it on film.

[Argonavis]

This made the Channel 9 weather report, and some of my relatives saw it, in fact I think a substantial percentage of the Brisbane population saw it.

It must have been extremely bright, and green fireballs are very rare. The green colour It is generally associated with very fast moving meteors, and is thought to be due to ionised oxygen, which would make sense from the high speeds of these objects.

[iceman]

:welcome: Doctor Ma!

Sounds like a fantastic sight.. seeing fireballs like that is such a buzz.

[jjjnettie]

Dave Reneke was on the radio this morning and he thinks it may be a comet related meteor and predicts more action tonight. That, or it was just a bit of junk coming down.
If the former, me wonders if it could be the start of a new annual meteor shower? With SW3 breaking up the way it is, there must be a fair bit of rubble floating around in its orbit.
The clouds have rolled in at my place so I'll have no chance to observe tonight, so if anything happens tonight keep us posted.

[jjjnettie]

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=101650

Picture and story.

[gaa_ian]

Very cool, I will be interested to see the outcome of this one, if it is a bit of space junk it will be very interesting to find out the details.
There was an article in the May edition of S&T about his very thing.
Sounds like a good story in the making !

[ballaratdragons]

I like this quote from a Farmer in Jeanettes link:

"It was a brilliant light before it landed," he says. "A bit like a green sun. I rang a neighbour and asked if he had found superman."

:rofl:

[gaa_ian]

Gee Ken, If that is not a reliable witness I don't know who is ...... I just can't understand why the news crew didn't find anything when they went there :shrug:

[Doctor Ma]

Saw the farmer on the news last night, but I didn't know there were any pictures of the fireball until I looked at that link just then.

[iceman]

hmm not the best picture in that ninemsn link. Any other pictures of it?

That news report is saying it landed and was "rolling down the side of the ridge". :eyepop:

[dennislowe]

I dont think it has anything to do with SW3. I remember reading a report that we will not be passing through the orbit of SW3 for some time. I'll try to track it down.
Dennis.

[fringe_dweller]

re SW3 connection: that is a long bow to draw from one fireball, if we encounter a dust trail from 73P/SW3 it's not the one from this apparition, it would be from earlier trails, we dont encounter this current SW3 trail till 2022 - and if you want to see the meteor shower/storm in '22 just look at the spitzer infrared shot - that image is the most remarkable I have ever seen - seeing a future meteor shower/storm in the making - it must be psychic :P
also it is around the height of the annual sporadic meteor season for the southern hemisphere (between peaks).
I love the 'war of the world's bit with the old farmer :) I always knew they would invade rural qld first :scared3:

[Doctor Ma]

Thanks for the welcome Iceman.
The night of the fireball, as soon as I got home I went looking for a local astronomy forum on the net for any information regarding it.... and thats how I came to be here.

:)

[gaa_ian]

Has there been any more mews on this fireball ? Did it become a known Meteorite ?