Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: geronimotwo on October 23, 2011, 10:03:36 PM
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we were driving home from my parents, heading south from onieda NY, and saw a super bright meteor dead ahead of us. all three (the littleist was sleeping) of us saw it plunging nearly straight down. when i thought to look at the clock it was 8:01pm. i was wondering if it might have been a part of the rosat satelite reentering the atmosphere?
anyone else see it?
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Nope, hiding inside.
I thought the satellite fell yesterday.
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Yep, ROSAT went down the day before.
You got lucky and saw a good bolide.
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maybe, it was growing brighter as it neared the horizon. one of those "right place, right time" events.
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I spend a good bit of time driving at night in rural areas. I see several every month, sometimes several in a night.
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If I am remembering my limited astronomy, on average, there is one shooting star an hour visible each night.
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I was actually outside observing Jupiter with my 68x scope at that time tonight in north-central Connecticut. Didn't see the flash, but I did get a good view of Io, Ganymede, Europa and Callisto.
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...with my 68x scope...
How does that work as a spotting scope? ;)
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Adequately... =D
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I saw two bright long lasting ones Sat night.
The most awesome one ever was in Wyo in the medicine bow nat forest, it was huge & I could hear it!
alas I didn't see where it landed, I hear they can bring a good price.
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alas I didn't see where it landed, I hear they can bring a good price.
If you see one land, make sure you use oven mitts to pick it up. They're hot.
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If you see one land, make sure you use oven mitts to pick it up. They're hot.
also, if you poke it with a stick and a blob comes out of it and eats the stick, let go of the stick
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also, if you poke it with a stick and a blob comes out of it and eats the stick, let go of the stick
Always a good policy. ;)
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And if it glows green, play with it. You get awesome super powers =D.
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also, if you poke it with a stick and a blob comes out of it and eats the stick, let go of the stick
That's a good policy for just about anything one might want to poke with a stick.
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What if it's a really nice stick?
Brad
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What if it's a really nice stick?
Brad
Why would you want to use your good stick for unidentified object poking?
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What?
No "out observing Uranus" jokes?
I'm disappointed.
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And if it glows green, play with it. You get awesome super powers =D.
and if you see a hillbilly wearing coveralls invite him in for some sugar!
I was actually outside observing Jupiter with my 68x scope at that time tonight in north-central Connecticut. Didn't see the flash, but I did get a good view of Io, Ganymede, Europa and Callisto.
it was a beautiful clear night here as well. i am wondering how far away it hit, and keep hoping to see some report on it.
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Yep, ROSAT went down the day before.
You got lucky and saw a good bolide.
There's a lot of random crap that may someday reenter but isn't big enough to bother tracking.
Check out the list of just brighter than mag 4.5 visible passes, and how much of that is intact rocket bodies. It stands to reason that there are probably some loose panels and other junk in unstable orbits. I often wonder how many of the odd-direction meteors I see are actually small man-made junk reentering.
FWIW, the Android app for HA is really fun on clear nights. Iridium flares at mag -6 or brighter are downright stunning when you're in a dark enough place long enough to easily observe mag 6 unaided.
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Why would you want to use your good stick for unidentified object poking?
Depends on the object.
Brad
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Ah, now here's the APS humor I love and have missed lately. 'Bout time.
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There's nothing funny about losing your good stick to a blob. =|
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Depends. If you're the blob, I'd think it would be pretty funny. If you're the stick, not so much. If you're the owner of the stick, not so much. If you're standing by watching this whole episode, riotously funny.
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so now we are using the stick stir up civil unrest?
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so now we are using the stick stir up civil unrest?
Can unrest be "civil"?
Brad
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Can unrest be "civil"?
Brad
Pardon me, sir. Would you mind terribly if we flipped your car and put a torch do it? We'd be much obliged.
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Oh, by all means, go right ahead!
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see, as long as we can agree to disagree. (hey fred, burn that school while your at it)
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Pardon me, sir. Would you mind terribly if we flipped your car and put a torch do it? We'd be much obliged.
If anyone gets nosy, just shoot them - politely :angel:
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I saw the biggest meteor I've ever seen last night at either 10 or 11.
from my perspective, it was about a 1cm diameter circle in the sky.
I've seen plenty of falling stars, but this one was different. It actually looked like it was burning for about 1/2 a second.
I was in the backyard with the dogs, and it actually startled me so much that I pointed my flashlight at it.