Last night pirateofskies and myself were at Canungra getting some great dark sky viewing when all of a sudden an incredibly bright shooting star lit up the sky. It was 10.40pm and looking SE from our location, I happened to be looking straight at it when it happened so i saw its entire journey and I yelled out to him as soon as I saw it and he looked up to see it as well.
Let me describe it. This thing was absolutely huge and appeared to be in two pieces. It streaked acros the sky from the east to the South, so was travelling in a SW direction. It would have been the size of my fingernail at arms length and appeared and dissappeared in the space of a good full 2 seconds. Its speed was far slower than a normal meteorite, but the brightness was enough to cast a shadow where we were standing.
Now here is the really exciting thing. It made a whoosh sound. A distinct whoosh about midway through its journey and until it dissappeared. It didn't disintegrate, it just appeared to burn up and dissappear.
It also left a trail. There were two distinct thin trails across the sky from where it had travelled. We both had the bino's and watched the trails as they slowly broke up from the air currents but we soaked up every bit of detail as it lasted.
I can only speculate as to what it was, I suspect some man made satellite or large debris given its speed, but to say its etched in my memory is an understatement. It was a very distinct yellow colour. We both got the wow factor from that one last night.
I am interested if anyone else caught a glimpse of this? Given I heard a sound, I also speculate its distance my have been reasonably near to us. That may have been my one in a lifetime shooting star experience.
Rod
Wowee guys!
