Wow, did anyone else see that?

Babalyon 5 · #1 27-09-2008, 12:54 AM

Wow, was anyone outside looking SE at about 12.10-12.15am 27/09/08? I just had the greatest, longest view of four pieces of something burning up in the atmosphere!! Three pieces were still glowing big time when they passed out of view on the southern horizon! Never seen anything burn that long, the pieces must be huge!! Where can I find out maybe what it was?

dugnsuz (Doug) · #2 27-09-2008, 01:25 AM

I think I may have photographed it while trying to get a LMC pic!!
One of my exposures has a huge white bar straight through it - I'll post soon. It looked too intense to be a plane or satellite - must be what you saw!!
But, I was inside and missed the realtime event.

dugnsuz (Doug) · #3 27-09-2008, 01:55 AM

Yep recorded it all right!!!!!!

Babalyon 5 · #4 27-09-2008, 03:31 AM

Awesome!!! That's it all right! One piece was definitely heaps bright and your images shows more than I could see with my eye. Whatever it was that broke up as it came in was huge! Cool that you got it recorded!

iceman (Mike) · #5 27-09-2008, 06:20 AM

Amazing! Definitely something burning up.

Hope it's not the chinese rocket!

Phil · #6 27-09-2008, 06:24 AM

Great stuff how lucky are you to catch it.
Phil

Liz · #7 27-09-2008, 08:15 AM

Wowwwwww, great capture Doug, and amazing you got what Babalyon saw. What are the odds. Prob unlikely to be the start of the Jules Verne ATV breakup ???

dugnsuz (Doug) · #8 27-09-2008, 08:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iceman

Amazing! Definitely something burning up.

Hope it's not the chinese rocket!

Yeah Mike - gouping and relative size of fragments reminds me of the shuttle re-entry disaster a few years ago

Hope not
Doug

acropolite (Phil) · #9 27-09-2008, 08:31 AM

Well caught Doug, must have been really spectacular.

leon · #10 27-09-2008, 08:46 AM

Wow Dougie, that was a sort of being in the right place at the right time, well worth keeping that one, nice shooting mate, oh, and by the way nice SMC mate.

leon

glenc (Glen) · #11 27-09-2008, 08:51 AM

Babalyon, where do you live?
Great shot Doug.

cookie8 (Vincent) · #12 27-09-2008, 09:02 AM

Absolutely amazing!!!!!

Worth finding out what they are.

glenc (Glen) · #13 27-09-2008, 09:20 AM

Did you look up http://www.heavens-above.com/
Maybe a meteor? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_meteor_showers

bradleysmith01 (Bradley) · #14 27-09-2008, 11:17 AM

Hey Babalyon - i too saw that burnup. It was the most incredible thing! I was stepping outside at about the time you mentioned in your post. I thought there were more than four pieces though??? Anyway - that one last bright object appeared to stop burning and then fall to earth - as it began to drop from the sky in the direction of Victor Harbor (South, as I was near Adelaide CBD). The first thing that went through my mind was space junk as it appeared something bigger had broken up and it also appeared light as that last fragment fell towards the earth.

Incredible! I will definitely have a look on that other web site. Great photo too dug - it certainly looks like the same one.

casstony · #15 27-09-2008, 11:23 AM

Wish I'd seen that. I count about 11 fragments in the photo.

Babalyon 5 · #16 27-09-2008, 11:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by glenc

Babalyon, where do you live?
Great shot Doug.

In Adelaide, near the airport.

Babalyon 5 · #17 27-09-2008, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bradleysmith01

Hey Babalyon - i too saw that burnup. It was the most incredible thing! I was stepping outside at about the time you mentioned in your post. I thought there were more than four pieces though??? Anyway - that one last bright object appeared to stop burning and then fall to earth - as it began to drop from the sky in the direction of Victor Harbor (South, as I was near Adelaide CBD). The first thing that went through my mind was space junk as it appeared something bigger had broken up and it also appeared light as that last fragment fell towards the earth.

Incredible! I will definitely have a look on that other web site. Great photo too dug - it certainly looks like the same one.

Howdy. I did think of space junk too, just haven't seen anything burn that long. Was an awesome sight, have seen a bit over the years. By dugnsuz's photo, the trail is tapered so it was breaking up as it came in. Wow, the best naked eye random happening Ive ever seen! Was cool, will last on me for a while!

sheeny (Al) · #18 27-09-2008, 12:33 PM

Nice capture, Doug! Thanks for posting.

The other site to try for info might be Calsky. Calsky predicts re-entries, etc... don't know how they go on retrospective stuff, but it might give some clues of satellites to check in Orbitron. The Orbitron simulator will let you watch a satellite and see if it's in the right place, moving the right direction at the right time...

Just a thought...

Al.

Babalyon 5 · #19 27-09-2008, 01:28 PM

This is from our internal chat system of our Astro Society. The Ruskies at it again!!

Last night at around 00:18CST sept 27 or 14:48 UT Sept. 26,
an intermediate stage of a recent russian launch that put 3 GLOSNASS
satellites into orbit, re-entered the atmosphere and became visible travelling
N-S over Adelaide.
I had a full report from a person who saw the pass from Hallett Cove
immediately after the event.It was an expected uncontrolled re-entry.
The rocket stage had broken into several pieces. this aspect seems similar
to other re-entries reported to me over the years.
It took nearly a minute to pass over.
A Sunday Mail reporter who rang this morning said they had a least
a dozen reports.
Some of the reports incorrectly used the term "meteor shower" to
describe what they saw.
Some meteors could give the same phenomena of multiple bodies on
parallel paths,
but that is not a meteor shower!!

RB (Andrew) · #20 27-09-2008, 01:34 PM

If you apply darks and flats, I'm sure you can eliminate the LMC from that shot Doug.