Did You See The Meteor ???

Tamtarn · #1 02-10-2007, 10:33 PM

We had the greatest experience tonight when our whole area across the valley was lit up by a large meteor. It was as though a spotlight had been turned on. It was approximately 9.45pm

We turned around to see a brilliant ball of light with a tail of beautiful colours. From the core white to yellow to green to aqua. The tail was magnificent Just brilliant colours.

Then a bright trail was left .White to yellow to aqua streamed across the sky staying there for at least 2-3 minutes.

Then faded to a smokey glow stretching from east of Achernar through Hydrus. The remnant of the trail was visible for at least 15 minutes.

We took a quick image of the faded trail remnant through the scope but not sure if we have captured anything. We were so excited we probably mucked it.

We hope others were as lucky as us and saw this spectacular sight.

It's something we will never forget

Alchemy (Clive) · #2 02-10-2007, 10:41 PM

Darn to busy on IIS, didnt go out tonight as blowing a gale

... you guys are keen in that wind

cattikins · #3 02-10-2007, 10:56 PM

Man, kicking myself that i decided not to head out with the binos when i saw it was clear earlier!
Heard about it on Triple M of all places so it must have been unbelievably spectacular!

Jarrod · #4 02-10-2007, 10:56 PM

YES!!!

i saw it too! i was out side looking for galaxies in 'Dorado', it was in the east (from Geelong). i was looking at a star chart when it appeared, i turned around yell at the idiot shining a spot light at me! i was shocked when i realised it was a meteor! too bad for me, i only saw the last few seconds. also due to light pollution i missed the tail it left.

i wasn't going to mention it on IIS, i thought it too unlikely that anyone else saw it!

jarrod

btw: i'll come back later and discuss it in more detail, i can't now 'cause my observing eye is well dark adopted, and i can't sit here typing with one eye shut for too long.

EzyStyles (Eric) · #5 03-10-2007, 12:06 AM

I saw it too!!! I was outside focusing on Antennars ready for an imaging session. Was very bright i even jumped! ive checked my focus pics, was taking 4 sec shots didn't capture it

was beautiful but scary at the sametime .

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...ad.php?t=24503

Tamtarn · #6 03-10-2007, 01:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alchemy

Darn to busy on IIS, didnt go out tonight as blowing a gale

... you guys are keen in that wind

Maybe crazy rather than keen

Quote:

Originally Posted by cattikins

Man, kicking myself that i decided not to head out with the binos when i saw it was clear earlier!
Heard about it on Triple M of all places so it must have been unbelievably spectacular!

Certainly was spectacular

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jarrod

YES!!!

i saw it too! i was out side looking for galaxies in 'Dorado', it was in the east (from Geelong). i was looking at a star chart when it appeared, i turned around yell at the idiot shining a spot light at me! i was shocked when i realised it was a meteor! too bad for me, i only saw the last few seconds. also due to light pollution i missed the tail it left.

We thought someone had turned on a spotlight too

Quote:

Originally Posted by EzyStyles

I saw it too!!! I was outside focusing on Antennars ready for an imaging session. Was very bright i even jumped! ive checked my focus pics, was taking 4 sec shots didn't capture it

was beautiful but scary at the sametime .

Glad you saw it Eric
It has to be one of the most amazing sights we have ever seen in the night sky

ballaratdragons (Ken) · #7 03-10-2007, 01:05 AM

I didn't see it.

I don't see the sky from inside the control room

EDIT: Actually, I remember my son Jake saying he saw lightning just before he went to bed. He was standing at the door of my control room looking out at the south-western sky. I told him there's none around. Maybe he saw the light from the meteor. It was just after 9:30pm some time.

EzyStyles (Eric) · #8 03-10-2007, 02:43 AM

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sto...39-661,00.html

AUSMCMLXXXV · #9 03-10-2007, 06:46 PM

my first post i believe

i saw it, was walking out the back door of my holiday house at eildon greeted by a brighter than usual sky . looked up there it was, blue, green and white. best i have seen. and have seen more than a fair few up at eildon.
i was surprised none of the neighbours came outside to find out why i was swearing and yelling armageddon!
kicking myself for not going out to take photos last night, too bloody cold plus trying to get over the end of the flu.

cheers

josh

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #10 03-10-2007, 06:56 PM

You lucky lucky people.
It must have been spectactular.

astro_nutt · #11 03-10-2007, 07:59 PM

Hi all!!
Yep I saw it too!!..just stepped outside after work about 9.45pm..looked up at Jupiter and then..blue-green then white in a just a few seconds..brilliant to say the least!!!..it seemed to appear from either Capricornus of Aquarius..this makes up for the ones I missed!!!

danielsun · #12 03-10-2007, 08:14 PM

I missed it !!

. Heard all the calls on the radio this morning.
BTW it was very very windy here last night too.

Meadehead · #13 03-10-2007, 11:21 PM

I was out with my daughter looking through the telescope in the eastern sky, when we saw a lightning-like flash and both jumped! It was a beautiful sight, she couldn't believe she actually saw a comet so bright and pretty!

Tamtarn · #14 03-10-2007, 11:46 PM

Looks like only a few IIS members saw it.

Has anyone seen any images of it ?? I doubt that someone would be lucky enough to capture it..............but you never know

citivolus (Ric) · #15 04-10-2007, 01:11 AM

Isn't there an all sky meteor camera set up down there somewhere?

citivolus (Ric) · #16 04-10-2007, 01:22 AM

On further research the nearest ones I can find are several thousand kilometres away. Maybe someone knows of some closer ones. Given the description, it is also likely to have been recorded by some CCTV security systems.

auroradude · #17 04-10-2007, 04:22 AM

Wow! Another one I missed.
I'm sure that it must be a statistical anomoly, or maybe the fact that there are so many humans on the planet to see these things as well as being so connected (the internet) but in the past couple weeks there was the meteorite in Peru, then another exploding in the atmosphere over Finland followed by yet another seen from Kodiak Island and the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska and now this one.
Makes one wonder if they are somehow connected.

alphamone · #18 04-10-2007, 08:55 AM

; ;
I was observeing that night, I was just at the to of the hill my street is on (it is much better viewing up there, even though there is still light polution), and i left at around 9:18 PM, and got home at around half past.

though I did see at least one irridium satellite flare, but not an irridium because according to heavens above, no there were no irridiums that night, but it looked like a satellite flare as it went kinda like this

........oooo.......

well, you get the idea.

Mr. Subatomic · #19 04-10-2007, 11:35 AM

Jealousy overload!

It sounds pretty spectacular and so many people are saying they literally "jumped up"

Was it visible from Sydney by any chance?

blacklegend17 · #20 04-10-2007, 08:40 PM

Hi to all. I haven't posted here before, and only joined the site about a week or two ago.

I saw this meteor. Fantastic sight. I was on the way to work, to tidy up a few hours of paperwork, and had only been in the car a few minutes, heading east towards Cobram. Thought it was a flare initially, but soon realised it wasn't.

The irony is, ive been observing meteors for 20 years, 1000's of hours of dedicated meteor observing, and by sheer luck, this is the brightest one i have ever seen! Using the moon later in the night as a guide, and the amount of skyglow it produced, i estimated it at magnitude -11, but its exceptionally hard to put a magnitude on a fireball sighting of this brightness.

Anyway, spectacular sight, and one of my astronomical highlights of the year. The important thing about this meteor/fireball is the high likelihood of a meteorite fall from it, due to its brightness. With the large number of observations of it, a trajectory can be calculated. The more observations, the more accurate the trajectory.

Could anyone who saw this object please send information to adamrmarsh@netspace.net.au Details needed are: Start height (or nearest star), end height (or nearest star), length in degrees, estimated brightness, speed estimate (degrees per second) and importantly exact location. Of course, name, contact email and /or contact phone number would be great.

Information would be greatly appreciated. Who am i to send the information to? My name is Adam Marsh and I coordinate the EAMN (Eastern Australian Meteor Network). All data will be forwarded to the IMO (International Meteor Organisation) for assistance with calculating a trajectory of a possible meteorite fall.

Thanks heaps

Adam Marsh.
Coordinator EAMN (Eastern Australian Meteor Network)
Webmaster EAMN Homepage - www.eamn.info