Quote:
Originally Posted by Dujon
Yes, some of those green laser pointers that are sold these days are really just too powerful. 
What an amazing observation! What are your chances of finding anything, good sir? By that I mean the sort of terrain in which it might have plonked itself? Bush? Pasture? Access for a vehicle? Are there residents in the proposed area you might door knock to find out if anyone heard anything at about the time you mention, even though it could well have been sub-sonic by approach time?
That though, given your description of incandescence, might mean that it was further away from you than it appeared to be; I'm assuming that your lack of mention of sound indicates that there was none perceived at your location.
Like most people I guess, I've seen countless meteors/meteorites over the years but I haven't even seen one of the 'common' ones which leave a (ion?) trail for more than just a few seconds. I'm deprived I tell you, deprived (yes, it's an 'i' not an 'a').
Anyway, Darryl, good luck with the research should you decide to proceed with it. I look forward to any report you deem fit to post here.
Cheers, |
All of the above questions occurred to me, either at the time or during the night: I'll be getting my compass out and going down the street to where I marked the direction/alignments on the road, checking that against maps to gauge the countryside up there.
The lack of a noise did have me wondering as to its' proximity: I was almost anticipating a loud report when it struck the horizon. Not hearing one means that it was highly unlikely to have impacted just beyond the horizon line - and it (the terrain) is actually a wide plateau over the hilltop. This, the vagaries of the road networks up there and the terrain/ground cover have, I admit, severely dented the initial optomism I had in the rush of the moment.
Still, I did go up onto my observation deck a couple of hours later to check for any (possible) fire-glow: with the condition of the countryside, and last weeks bushfire up near there, it was an unwelcome possible outcome.
The (ion?) trail - perhaps charged particles creating an "energized" trail, though never doing the research to establish whether they are such I don't know, and if I have, I've forgotten the explanations - but I allways presumed these trails to be disintergrating particles from the plummet through the atmosphere.
In fact, I have seen some absolute "doozies" that displayed these fragmenting trails; one particular one splitting into two outstanding "fireballs" that each then put on their own display: but even that paled into insignificance in comparison to last night. Interestingly, last night's phenomenum displayed a tail that was much "fatter" than usual and remained intact for the entire descent - no fragmentation - and spanned approx half a degree in length, not including the "head."
Will do the compass and map thingy today; but am enmeshed with Customs and freight ***** trying to get my EQ platform for the dob out of holding, so I don't think I'll get any reconnoitering in today. Will read the papers and ask around to see if anyone else saw it - possible other sightings from elsewhere may provide additional clues to getting a better "fix" on its descent path.
Cheers, Darryl.