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Incredible Footage Shows a Perseid Meteor Exploding

Posted by Soulskill on from the when-speeding-rocks-attack dept.

Nancy_A writes "Photographer and digital artist Michael K. Chung said he couldn't believe what he saw when he was processing images he took for a timelapse of the Perseid meteor shower this week. It appears he captured a meteor explosion and the resulting expansion of a shock wave or debris ring. After this article was posted, Universe Today received more 'explody' footage from the Perseid meteor shower, which has been added to the article."

34 comments

  1. From Other Thred by skatull · · Score: 1, Funny

    Actually a chemtrail exploded by HAARP apparatus.

    1. Re:From Other Thred by TWX · · Score: 1

      What's a HAARP apparatus? That something that fires horrible retired people as rounds?

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    2. Re:From Other Thred by etash · · Score: 1

      no, it's a device for people who do not follow the previous slashdot articles and the joke some may make by combining both articles.

    3. Re:From Other Thred by Teancum · · Score: 3, Informative

      Depending on who you talk to, HAARP is either the U.S. government's attempt to control the global climate and take over the world, is under the control of the Bavarian Illuminati (or the Knights Templar, Masons, Greys, Reptilians, or other sort of conspiracy theory), or it is a research site that is developing RADAR technologies and other radio-frequency based concepts that can be used to protect America from foreign threats and is just another military installation. Perhaps it is just an ordinary "big science" research post doing even more benign and peaceful things.

      It is also the butt of a great many jokes from those who've heard the worst of the conspiracy theories to want to puke.

    4. Re:From Other Thred by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You missed the actual explanation - a boondoggle to transfer taxpayer money to private corporations.

    5. Re:From Other Thred by Teancum · · Score: 2

      Yeah, another conspiracy theory. I guess I could have added that to the list of other bullshit reasons people think it exists.

  2. Wow by interval1066 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Ok kids, for those who don't understand, this is astronomical porn. Read it, watch it, understand it. Its VERY rare to capture such things on film. Like, Lottery Winning rare. This guy will be revered throughout the astronomical world.

    --
    Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
    1. Re:Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But I can't figure out which of the two dozen sites needs to be allowed in NoScript to make the video work.
      Does anyone else know?

    2. Re:Wow by Nyder · · Score: 2

      But I can't figure out which of the two dozen sites needs to be allowed in NoScript to make the video work.
      Does anyone else know?

      Vimecdn.com

      --
      Be seeing you...
    3. Re:Wow by turkeydance · · Score: 3, Informative

      Rare? Russian dashcams disagree.

    4. Re:Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Even without noscript sometimes you just have to load the video on vimeo's site for it to play at all, so it's probably not your fault.

    5. Re:Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's not that rare any more with thousands of people taking pictures are the showers. In fact it seems relatively common these days.

      Get with the times grandpa, this ain't the 3 people standing in New Mexico with Polaroids days.

    6. Re:Wow by interval1066 · · Score: 1

      Hords of people are capturing asteroid collisions in real time with gay abandon? I don't think so.al time

      --
      Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
    7. Re:Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think you meant "Hordes", "meteor", "explosions from overheating", and "time lapse".

    8. Re:Wow by theskipper · · Score: 1

      Same here, it's an unholy mess. But this direct link should work fine: http://vimeo.com/72228503

    9. Re:Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yep, just head over to Vimeo at the link others have posted, it works fine.

      Webbies and their retarded use of Javascript ... <sigh>

      It's the only area of computing in which the users are merely uninformed, but the developers are mind-bogglingly clueless.

  3. Spectacular! by matthew_t_west · · Score: 2

    Wow. That's amazing. Not only was Michael's photography well done, but to capture a meteor exploding, that's like a holy grail of meteor photography!

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    Browse at 1. You'll thank me later.
  4. Amateur vs Professional Astronomer by assemblerex · · Score: 1

    I always find it funny that they make someone's achievement seem less than great by calling them an amateur.

    1. Re:Amateur vs Professional Astronomer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Generally I find that in such cases the intent is the opposite; they're applauding what can be achieved by an amateur, without the resources of a professional.

    2. Re:Amateur vs Professional Astronomer by Deadstick · · Score: 3, Informative

      I didn't see any putdowns of amateurs in TFA, and you'll not find a lot in the astronomy community. It's one of the few sciences where proficient amateurs can make real contributions...they produce intensity logs of variable stars, and discover a lot of the comets, among other things. And they work for nothing.

      Much like archaeology in the 19th Century.

    3. Re:Amateur vs Professional Astronomer by dadelbunts · · Score: 1

      Yeah i dont think i have ever in my life seen anyone use "amateur astronomer" as a put down, especially since amateur astronomers have made so many contributions to the field. Space is so huge, the more people looking the better.

    4. Re:Amateur vs Professional Astronomer by sjames · · Score: 1

      It's just a bit of word drift. Amateur astronomer is meant in the sense of not paid to do astronomy.

      The implications amateur often has about the depth of knowledge and quality of work are not intended in that case.

  5. Theory by jxander · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm not saying it was aliens, but ...

    It was aliens.

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    This signature is false.
    1. Re:Theory by theskipper · · Score: 1

      Aliens? That's stupid. It's the high density of vinegar in the atmosphere that causes the meteors to superheat and explode.

    2. Re:Theory by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ok I get it now... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2825347/posts

    3. Re:Theory by thoughtlover · · Score: 1

      yup.. it just hit a cloaked Klingon Bird-of-Prey. Nothing to see here.. move along --Sorry for the unintended pun.

      --
      No sig for you! Come back one year!
  6. Fireball by SuperTechnoNerd · · Score: 2

    I seen something similar to this back during the 2001 Leonids. A large fireball crossed the sky then broke up into 2 smaller chunks and they continued on with their own own streaks. It was the most incredible meteor I ever seen. That whole shower was the best.

    1. Re:Fireball by ColdWetDog · · Score: 0

      Pics or it didn't happen.

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      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    2. Re:Fireball by drkim · · Score: 1

      Pics or it didn't happen.

      Done

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90Omh7_I8vI

    3. Re:Fireball by quantaman · · Score: 2

      I vividly remember seeing something like this once. I was coming home from a hockey practice and saw a large meteor break into two halves before fading out.

      Of course I was probably about 8 at the time, and only a couple year earlier I remember seeing a triangular light I thought was a UFO (I tried to get my parents to call the police to report it).

      So take my recollection with a tunguska sized grain of salt.

      --
      I stole this Sig
    4. Re:Fireball by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm pretty sure the 2001 Leonid meteor storm happened.

  7. I know, right? by slashmydots · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    "Personally, I’ve never seen anything like this."
    Me neither! 32 different domains worth of javascript libraries on one site! This even stalled out my i5 for a bit. A site like this doesn't come around just any old time. Definitely an amazing spectacle.

  8. You heard it here first by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    New evidence of farts in space.

  9. Looks fake by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    IANAA, but if a meteor traveling at a certain velocity in a certain direction explodes, why would its debris ring not also continue along the same velocity vector? This looks exactly like SFX footage from a movie space battle, where that sort of physics-defying explosion is the rule.

    Please tell me how I'm wrong; I do so want to believe.