Green fireball
by
ballpoint
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
On a summer evening in the center of Belgium some five years ago my brother-in-law and I saw a very bright, green-glowing (slashdot color, but much brighter) object zooming overhead from the south to the east. We thought a crash was imminent; it was quite threatening even if it didn't make any noise.
Unfortunately I haven't found any references to it anywhere. I'm pretty sure others must have seen it too.
This Wales fireball seems even more impressive though.
-- Flourescent (adj): smelling like ground wheat.
Re:Green fireball
by
GigsVT
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
It probably had a lot of copper in it, copper burns green.
If you ever see another one, contact local astronomers to report it, they get off on that sort of thing, and want people to report fireball sightings.
-- I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
Each time I'm outside in similar conditions (a warm summer evening, yummy...) I hope to see something like that again.
Your remark made me think again on how the internet and the ubiquitousness of cameras have changed everything. While I wanted to report it back then I didn't get to doing it due to lack of contact info. This would be a no-brainer now.
-- Flourescent (adj): smelling like ground wheat.
Re:Green fireball
by
Bishop923
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· Score: 3, Informative
Chances are, what you saw was a Bolide they can often glow brighter than the full moon.
Re:Green fireball
by
Strange+Ranger
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Reminds me of an event in my back yard about a month ago (in north eastern US):
I was looking for mars but found it on the opposite side of the sky from where it really was. This object didn't move, but grew very bright, brighter than the real mars a month ago. It grew extremely bright over the period of about 30 seconds. Maybe 5x the brightness and size of Mars's best showing this year. Then it quickly faded to nothing. Only thing I can think of is a meteor that was coming directly at me, as it didn't move at all, only grew and shrunk.
Not to sound insulting, but it may have been a commercial aircraft turning directly toward you from a distance. the lights have very narrow and very bright beams. Sometimes if they are sufficiently far away they look like a single point of light that grows and fades in the same (or nearly the same) spot. Being brighter than mars, jupiter or even venus would not be surprising.
Not insulted. Guess it could have been. The sky wasn't that dark though, and I looked for that, thought it was the obvious answer, could've missed a pinpoint, but I did look pretty hard and saw nothing but clear blank dusk. Wouldn't a turning plane light sort of grow from the side nearest me? This thing grew out very large from it's exact center. It was a little bit amber too. Light can play pretty neat tricks on the eyes, but this thing sure didn't seem like an airplane light. Guess I'll never know.
--
Operator, give me the number for 911!
Re:Green fireball
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 0
Look up the concept of "Iridium flares." Solar panels are a little bit amber, and when you're at just the right angle, they produce the sort of flashes you describe.
http://www.heavens-above.com/ is one resource, with tracking/observation-timing data for those too lazy to run their own programs. (Like me.)
It probably had a lot of copper in it, copper burns green.The green color probably comes from oxygen ions regaining electrons, just like the green color in aurora.
-- "I'm so moist I'm sticking to the leather." -Kermit the Frog on The Late Late Show
This object didn't move, but grew very bright, brighter than the real mars a month ago. It grew extremely bright over the period of about 30 seconds. Maybe 5x the brightness and size of Mars's best showing this year. Then it quickly faded to nothing.
I saw something similar about two weeks ago, a little way north of Baltimore. My best guess is that is was one of the Iridium satellites - when the light catches them just right, they shine very brightly for a short time.
-- Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog You cannot wash away blood with blood
Don't do high energy physics experiments in your mothers microwave without taking the appropriate safety precautions
-- If I seem short sighted, it is because I stand on the shoulders of midgets
Re:Remeber Kids
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 2, Funny
Don't do high energy physics experiments in your mothers microwave without taking the appropriate safety precautions.
Two men are surprised to meet in mid-air, one plummeting downward toward the ground while the other soars higher upward. As they pass, the first yells out "Do you know anything about parachuting?" The second shouts back, "No! Do you know anything about gas barbecues?"
Bolides
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 1, Interesting
Ah yes, I remember it well... My wife and I were driving in DC 2 years ago in the daytime and we stopped at a red light. Looking north, I saw something out of the corner of my eye and turned to see a giant fireball headed east to west over the city. It had the most vivid hues of red and orange and was quite bright. It turns out that it was a rather large bolide that came in from the Atlantic, travelled over New Jersey, and exploded in western Pennsylvania. So what initially looked to be right over DC was really several hundred miles away. Impressive.
Scientists say, however, the risk of being killed by a falling meteorite is not worth worrying about.
Unless you discover heaven, of course.
(if you don't know what I'm talking about, read/see The Discovery of Heaven by Dutch wannabe Novel prize winner Harry Mulisch.
-- DNA is the ultimate spaghetti code.
Come home to a real fire...
by
dontod
·
· Score: 3, Informative
...buy a holiday home in wales.
For those who don't remeber / know 'Not the Nine O'Clock News' it's where Rowan Atkinson (Mr Bean, Blackadder) got his break on TV.
Don.
------- Don't say revenge. Don't say revenge. Ummm.. revenge? Okay, that's it. I'm outta here. *step step step step step..door slam*
-- Slashdot - The Home of the Tortured Analogy
...Buy a cottage in Wales
by
carndearg
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· Score: 4, Funny
Very impressive picture, kudos to the kid who took it. I am curious to know though whether any of the pieces of the object would have made it to earth or whether in such events they merely pass through the outer atmosphere in a blaze of glory. I am guessing that a "sofa sized" object would have quite a lot of energy and would cause quite some destruction had it struck the earth in one piece.
"Come home to a real fire" in the context of Wales made me laugh though. Back in the 1980s it was the slogan used to advertise coal fires, and at the time the extreme fringe of the Welsh Nationalists were burning down holiday cotages in North Wales owned by absentees.
I cant remember who it was, might have been "Not the 9 o'clock news", ran a spoof of the coal fire ads, "Come home to a real fire, buy a cottage in Wales"
Re:...Buy a cottage in Wales
by
Kethinov
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· Score: 1
Very impressive picture, kudos to the kid who took it.
Indeed. I wonder just how fast it was moving through the sky and just how much time he had to take that picture. Truly impressive, one of the best astronomy photos I've ever seen.
-- You're right, I wouldn't steal a car. But if it were possible, I sure as hell would download one!
Re:...Buy a cottage in Wales
by
nagora
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· Score: 1
I hoped someone would get the joke; I assumed the/. editors wouldn't when I put it in.
-- "Encyclopedia" is to "Wikipedia" what "Library" is to "Some people at a bus stop"
Re:...Buy a cottage in Wales
by
satanami69
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· Score: 1
I cant remember who it was, might have been "Not the 9 o'clock news", ran a spoof of the coal fire ads, "Come home to a real fire, buy a cottage in Wales"
'Come Home to a Real Fire (Buy a Cottage in Wales)' (a reference to a spate of arson attacks by Welsh people against English settlers, and also a parody of the contemporary coal marketing campaign)
Yeah, my thoughts exactly. I guess it's all part of the new digital age where everyone's always filming everything. The photo of the fireball+4 minutes is pretty cool too.
You young folks might not know
by
falsification
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· Score: 3, Funny
You young folks might not know what that is. You might even be scared. Well, let me tell you. That thar fireball warn't caused by no rock fallin from the sky. That thar was a dragon.
And I, for one, welcome our new...
by
Tumbleweed
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· Score: 1
...oh, nevermind.
Awesome
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
This is cool. I learned about these in my Natural Disasters class last semester, and the prof said he'd actually seen one in india or some damn place. Anyways, very cool and interesting and all that.
Where's my Interesting, damn it??
Picture reminds me of a fireball I saw...
by
rthille
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· Score: 1
while driving back to college (UC Irvine) on a sunday night. It seemed to be streaking straight down to my south, and I kept hoping that the university had been destroyed to get me out of my compiler construction course!
-- Awesome furniture, accessories and cabinetry in Santa Rosa, CA: http://humanity-home.com/
During the 2001 Leonids,
by
JeanPaulBob
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· Score: 4, Interesting
I saw one meteor flash so brightly, a friend of mine saw his silhouette on the ground (he was adjusting the blanket he was sitting on at the time). The meteor left a debris trail visible for minutes afterward. A NASA image gallery has severalpictures of the trail, including one animated sequence.
Independant confirmation of the Indian meteor?
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
When the "meteor strikes a village" story hit Slashdot early, I expected a media circus because this seems like the prime "sky is falling" story (pun intended)...however in the intervening days, I have heard very little except the BBC and CNN stories. Are there interviews with survivors? Pictures of the burned out homes? Etc. Etc. This lack of followup makes me wonder if the story is true.
I always wondered what happened when .....
by
rawdirt
·
· Score: 2, Funny
everyone flused the toilets in a 747 at one time;)
According to the actual article (sigh) the trail in question is by no means considered to be a meteor trail but more likely an airplane contrail reflecting the setting sunlight.
Come on SlashDot...let's not turn into the National Enquirer in our search for articles OK?
-- -----
In Your Cubicle No One Can Hear You Scream...
More importantly, there's no contrail AHEAD of the "blast cloud". The curved cloud leading out from it is at a lower altitude, since it was in the previous photograph of a minute before, and has traveled considerably in relation to the blast cloud.
I see no clear-cut photographic evidence to rule this out as a bolide.
I saw an impressive green colored streak across the sky. It bounced two or three times. And to think had I been ontime for work, I wouldn't have seen it.
No evidence, but when I saw this picture on TV this morning I was conviced I'd seen this kind of thing before, and I have.
As the Nerimoff suggests this is just a reflection of light from the Sun as it disappears over the horizon. It seems quite striking when you see it because of the contrast with darker clouds around. I guess the angle the light is striking at and the type of cloud or contrail would combine to give the effect.
I'm leaning towards it being an actual bolide. Look at the contrast b/w the sky and the "flaming" object in the first picture; unless the camera used to snap the picture has an exceptionally narrow dynamic range, that fireball is much brighter than the light reflected off a cloud could be.
It's a shame
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
It's a shame it didn't hit my ex. Stupiud, arrogant, ignorant sponging Welsh bag. One night she pulled my hair, whilest punching me and then wondered why I dumped her. She's just gone religious-loony as well. Her mother was a weirdo and her sister was nuts too (weirdo church when they convulse on the floor "speaking in toungues"). If only I'd been less of a pacifist, I'd have punched her back, but I'm too much of a gentleman. Hope she's married to an alcoholic wife-beater now.
Ah, but as far as I know, no American ever wrote a book-length poem on the subject of a VW Beetle. On the other hand, a certain Brit named William Cowper...
Begun in the summer of 1783 and completed by the autumn of 1784. First published in 1785. Asked by Cowper to suggest a subject for a poem, his friend Lady Austen submitted that he take a lighter subject than had been his custom, and facetiously set him the "task" of composing one about a sofa. His earlier poetry had, for the most part, been written in rhymed couplets, but The Task is Cowper's major work in blank verse. The poem is divided into six books, and comprises 5,185 lines. Starting with a mock-Miltonic narrative of the evolution of the sofa, Cowper soon turned to rural descriptions, the pleasures of gardening, the joys of domestic life, and other related topics. In addition, the poem is remarkable for its numerous meditative, reflective, and intensely moral didactic passages as the poet sets down, more or less at random, his comments upon the social, religious, and economic evils of his day. He had suffered throughout his life from severe melancholia, and in the early 70's had been close to insanity.
About 4 or 5 years ago there was a bit of noise around the scientific community about a mysterious very big object being detected around the vicinity of Pluto's orbit. An object travelling on an eliptical orbit around the sun which has been predicted by numerous astronomers trying to explain anomolies in the orbits of the various planets in the solar system. As the object came into 'view' a few years back, a bunch of disinfo was thrown up to distract the public. --Calming bullshit reports on the various 'Learning Channels', plus a bunch of culty nonsense from the Planet X contingent. All horseshit designed to keep the public quiet while the global elite prepared for the approaching calamity, (and for some reason they seem to think that proper preparation is to build a one-world government, kill a ton of people, and manage the whole affair from underground. Or some shit like that. Either way, bullshit stories clouded the issue with almost perfect success.)
Works like this. ..
Basically, every 3600 years we go through a cloud of rocks, and every 360,000 years, that cluster is replenished thanks to said big object, (a ball of hydrogen which never got quite big enough to ignite, but which plays binary to the sun), which passes through the Kuiper belt and knocks new debris down to the Earth's orbital plane. The last year or so of comet stories and such were, I suspect, elements of the old cluster, and now we're beginning to see the first arrivals from the new one.
The pattern expected is that it will be like a rain shower. A few drops here and there as it begins. Then a short pause where everybody half-relaxes. Then the downpour.
Should be interesting, to say the least! --Espeically in conjunction with the dozen or so other massive things going on. So much to do, so little time!
Keep alert, folks! You don't get to experience stuff like this every lifetime!
The funny thing is that that very night I was out in the woods with a friend, and saw a big fireball coming down. I pointed, and my friend managed to see it even after I pointed. He turned fast, and managed to see it. Most times, by the time you point, it's already gone. It was about 1AM EST in Richmond at the time. Anyone else see it?
Re:Not a fireball *IT'S A CLOUD!*
by
@madeus
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· Score: 1
OMG, how is this even news?!
Clouds reflect sun light, and sometimes they look funny.
that fireball is much brighter than the light reflected off a cloud could be.
Look at the follow up picture, it's a cloud, reflecting the setting sun. This is the follow up picture, taken a minute after the first:
If you think that's a 'fireball in the sky' then your in need of psychiatric attention.
I saw one _just_now_ outside, in DC
by
blakespot
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· Score: 2, Funny
I just went outside to bring some food back to eat at my desk as I work here, programming in Washington DC. As I was making the 3 block walk to my normal lunch spot, I saw a glare out of the corner of my eye and looked up and indeed a bright fireball was almost directly overhead - this was not 1 hr ago!!
I did not make out a tale due to the sheer brightness of the fireball but after some time I was able to determine that it is slowly headed west, having approached DC from the Atlantic, presumably. A co-worker claims she saw it just crawling over the horizon this morning at about 7am. It is far, far brighter than the full moon, I can tell you with certainty.
At least that's one fireball in Wales that can't be blamed on the nationalists ...
On a summer evening in the center of Belgium some five years ago my brother-in-law and I saw a very bright, green-glowing (slashdot color, but much brighter) object zooming overhead from the south to the east. We thought a crash was imminent; it was quite threatening even if it didn't make any noise.
Unfortunately I haven't found any references to it anywhere. I'm pretty sure others must have seen it too.
This Wales fireball seems even more impressive though.
Flourescent (adj): smelling like ground wheat.
Don't do high energy physics experiments in your mothers microwave without taking the appropriate safety precautions
If I seem short sighted, it is because I stand on the shoulders of midgets
Ah yes, I remember it well... My wife and I were driving in DC 2 years ago in the daytime and we stopped at a red light. Looking north, I saw something out of the corner of my eye and turned to see a giant fireball headed east to west over the city. It had the most vivid hues of red and orange and was quite bright. It turns out that it was a rather large bolide that came in from the Atlantic, travelled over New Jersey, and exploded in western Pennsylvania. So what initially looked to be right over DC was really several hundred miles away. Impressive.
Scientists say, however, the risk of being killed by a falling meteorite is not worth worrying about.
Unless you discover heaven, of course.
(if you don't know what I'm talking about, read/see The Discovery of Heaven by Dutch wannabe Novel prize winner Harry Mulisch.
DNA is the ultimate spaghetti code.
...buy a holiday home in wales.
For those who don't remeber / know 'Not the Nine O'Clock News' it's where Rowan Atkinson (Mr Bean, Blackadder) got his break on TV.
Don.
-------
Don't say revenge. Don't say revenge. Ummm.. revenge? Okay, that's it. I'm outta here. *step step step step step..door slam*
Slashdot - The Home of the Tortured Analogy
"Come home to a real fire" in the context of Wales made me laugh though. Back in the 1980s it was the slogan used to advertise coal fires, and at the time the extreme fringe of the Welsh Nationalists were burning down holiday cotages in North Wales owned by absentees.
I cant remember who it was, might have been "Not the 9 o'clock news", ran a spoof of the coal fire ads, "Come home to a real fire, buy a cottage in Wales"
Oxford Dictionaries Online
You young folks might not know what that is. You might even be scared. Well, let me tell you. That thar fireball warn't caused by no rock fallin from the sky. That thar was a dragon.
...oh, nevermind.
Where's my Interesting, damn it??
while driving back to college (UC Irvine) on a sunday night. It seemed to be streaking straight down to my south, and I kept hoping that the university had been destroyed to get me out of my compiler construction course!
Awesome furniture, accessories and cabinetry in Santa Rosa, CA: http://humanity-home.com/
I saw one meteor flash so brightly, a friend of mine saw his silhouette on the ground (he was adjusting the blanket he was sitting on at the time). The meteor left a debris trail visible for minutes afterward. A NASA image gallery has several pictures of the trail, including one animated sequence.
It's a space station!
DUKEY!
Is Clark Kent in the fireball? ;)
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
When the "meteor strikes a village" story hit Slashdot early, I expected a media circus because this seems like the prime "sky is falling" story (pun intended)...however in the intervening days, I have heard very little except the BBC and CNN stories.
Are there interviews with survivors? Pictures of the burned out homes? Etc. Etc.
This lack of followup makes me wonder if the story is true.
everyone flused the toilets in a 747 at one time ;)
According to the actual article (sigh) the trail in question is by no means considered to be a meteor trail but more likely an airplane contrail reflecting the setting sunlight.
Come on SlashDot...let's not turn into the National Enquirer in our search for articles OK?
----- In Your Cubicle No One Can Hear You Scream...
Well, I'd say this photo has taught us all a lesson. When the guy next to you on the plane says "Pull my finger", politely decline.
"Derp de derp."
I saw an impressive green colored streak across the sky. It bounced two or three times. And to think had I been ontime for work, I wouldn't have seen it.
Someone hates these cans.
No evidence, but when I saw this picture on TV this morning I was conviced I'd seen this kind of thing before, and I have.
As the Nerimoff suggests this is just a reflection of light from the Sun as it disappears over the horizon. It seems quite striking when you see it because of the contrast with darker clouds around. I guess the angle the light is striking at and the type of cloud or contrail would combine to give the effect.
It's a shame it didn't hit my ex. Stupiud, arrogant, ignorant sponging Welsh bag. One night she pulled my hair, whilest punching me and then wondered why I dumped her. She's just gone religious-loony as well. Her mother was a weirdo and her sister was nuts too (weirdo church when they convulse on the floor "speaking in toungues"). If only I'd been less of a pacifist, I'd have punched her back, but I'm too much of a gentleman. Hope she's married to an alcoholic wife-beater now.
Sofa sized? Is that a UK unit of mesurment? WHats the conversion factor to american units(VW Beetles)?
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
"I can't give you a brain, so I'll give you a diploma" - The Great Oz (blatently stolen sig)
Link-O-Rama. .
About 4 or 5 years ago there was a bit of noise around the scientific community about a mysterious very big object being detected around the vicinity of Pluto's orbit. An object travelling on an eliptical orbit around the sun which has been predicted by numerous astronomers trying to explain anomolies in the orbits of the various planets in the solar system. As the object came into 'view' a few years back, a bunch of disinfo was thrown up to distract the public. --Calming bullshit reports on the various 'Learning Channels', plus a bunch of culty nonsense from the Planet X contingent. All horseshit designed to keep the public quiet while the global elite prepared for the approaching calamity, (and for some reason they seem to think that proper preparation is to build a one-world government, kill a ton of people, and manage the whole affair from underground. Or some shit like that. Either way, bullshit stories clouded the issue with almost perfect success.)
Works like this. .
Basically, every 3600 years we go through a cloud of rocks, and every 360,000 years, that cluster is replenished thanks to said big object, (a ball of hydrogen which never got quite big enough to ignite, but which plays binary to the sun), which passes through the Kuiper belt and knocks new debris down to the Earth's orbital plane. The last year or so of comet stories and such were, I suspect, elements of the old cluster, and now we're beginning to see the first arrivals from the new one.
The pattern expected is that it will be like a rain shower. A few drops here and there as it begins. Then a short pause where everybody half-relaxes. Then the downpour.
Should be interesting, to say the least! --Espeically in conjunction with the dozen or so other massive things going on. So much to do, so little time!
Keep alert, folks! You don't get to experience stuff like this every lifetime!
-FL
The funny thing is that that very night I was out in the woods with a friend, and saw a big fireball coming down. I pointed, and my friend managed to see it even after I pointed. He turned fast, and managed to see it. Most times, by the time you point, it's already gone. It was about 1AM EST in Richmond at the time. Anyone else see it?
OMG, how is this even news?!
a ll2_burnett_big.jpg
Clouds reflect sun light, and sometimes they look funny.
that fireball is much brighter than the light reflected off a cloud could be.
Look at the follow up picture, it's a cloud, reflecting the setting sun. This is the follow up picture, taken a minute after the first:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0310/fireb
If you think that's a 'fireball in the sky' then your in need of psychiatric attention.
I did not make out a tale due to the sheer brightness of the fireball but after some time I was able to determine that it is slowly headed west, having approached DC from the Atlantic, presumably. A co-worker claims she saw it just crawling over the horizon this morning at about 7am. It is far, far brighter than the full moon, I can tell you with certainty.
What is going on with all these fireballs?
blakespot
-- Heisenberg may have slept here.
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