Meteor Activity 22nd September

[ec1968]

Hi all

Overnight tonight (21st/22nd Sept) there has been a very significant amount of unexpected meteor activity visible from all parts of the UK and Ireland.

According to Armagh Planetarium tonight's activity is 'unlikely to be part of one of the meteor showers expected later in Sept 2012.' Colin Johnston from the Planetarium advised that there are actually several small, faint, meteor showers expected across September but they're so unspectacular, not many people actually bother looking for them. He doesn't believe that tonight's displays have anything to do with the normal September fireworks. Instead he says

"I think it's something just by chance has happened to come in tonight, some piece of actual space junk floating around the universe for billions of years has just picked tonight to fall in across our skies or some satellite that's been up for some years has decided to burn up."

Sounds a bit lame to me. Does anybody who knows about these things have a better explanation -======- one that fits with the observations?

 

[Vulcan59]

Carried on SOTT as well. :)

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/251526-Fireball-Meteor-or-Re-Entering-Satellite-Something-Broke-Up-Over-the-UK-on-Friday

and

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/251529-Huge-Comet-Spotted-Over-North-West-England

 

[Niall]

Looks like it was seen by many:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_1CRN-v2qs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hchIY5EQvzo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH92Hx6yDfA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aZE8rEGR8k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dT7pzvN_wis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=df89jhMjLXY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1KSZmwdvhg

 

[MK Scarlett]

Also this about September 21:

Currently there are over 70+ reports

Reports have just started streaming in concerning sightings of a bright meteor seen over the NE United States, and Ontario and Quebec, Canada.

http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.fr/2012/09/ne-us-canada-bright-meteor-21sep2012.html

 

[Niall]

Indeed, fireballs are being reported all over the place!

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/251547-Three-separate-fireballs-reported-over-UK-on-19-September-2012
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/251548-Another-Meteor-Reported-Over-UK-17-September-2012
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/251549-Fireball-with-long-trail-breaks-apart-over-Slovenia-Slovakia-Austria-and-Czech-Republic-18-September-2012
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/251550-Fireball-breaks-apart-over-Saipan-and-Guam-17-September-2012
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/251551-Large-colourful-meteor-blazes-over-California-16-September-2012
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/251552-Fireballs-seen-across-northeastern-US-seaboard-20-September-2012

 

[maryjk_99]

No need to worry, it's just space junk.

_http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19683687

...

'Space debris'

He added: "It looked similar to aeroplane lights but it looked really huge so it obviously wasn't a plane or anything."

Dr Tim O'Brien, associate director of the Jodrell Bank Observatory, told the BBC it was difficult to know the cause of the phenomenon.

"It's hard to say exactly, whether it was a chunk of rock coming in from outer space, burning up in the atmosphere or a bit of space debris, we call it, space junk, which is basically man-made stuff from a spacecraft that's burning up in the atmosphere.

"[The object was] probably 80 miles up or so, high up, moving very fast, actually, 18,000 miles an hour, probably, at least."

Colin Johnston, from Armagh Planetarium in Northern Ireland, said the lights were unlikely to be part of a meteor shower.

"There are actually several small, faint, meteor showers scheduled across September but they're so unspectacular, not many people actually bother looking for them.

"I think that actually this spectacle tonight might not be associated with that."

"I think it's something just by chance has happened to come in tonight, some piece of actual space junk floating around the universe for billions of years has just picked tonight to fall in across our skies, or a satellite that's been up for some years has decided to burn up," he said.

Guess all the sightings this past year were scheduled as well.

 

[MK Scarlett]

I do not see how the PTB will be able for a long time to hide what is now a fact...

http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0922/meteor-shower-reported-over-ireland.html

http://www.galwaynews.ie/27907-meteor-sightings-galway

 

[Laura]

Very interesting that it comes over the autumn equinox.

I read in an issue of the Old Farmer's Almanac, back in the 80s, that some real old timers would predict the general weather trend for the coming three months by standing outside at the time of the equinox or solstice, and establish the direction of air flow and general conditions. For example, if the air flow was from the north (didn't have to be wind, just "flow"), then it would be coolish for the next three months. If from the east, rainy for the next three months; from the south, hot and possibly stormy, if from the west: dry.

Well, I've been experimenting with this idea for years now. Not only do I notice the airflow on the equinox, I try to notice how I feel, in general, as though that is some sort of thermometer measuring the cosmic environment for the next three months. Funny thing is, it appears to generally hold up as a predictive method in relation to weather, etc.

So, I just wonder if it is also of any import that these comet fragments/meteors coming around the equinox might not also be "predictive" of the "space weather" for the next three months, until the solstice?

 

[Windmill knight]

All these recent fireballs, all so spectacular and making it into the news, and all happening within such a short period of time, have got me on the edge of my seat. It's starting to feel like the proverbial raindrops - in an 'in your face' type of way. And the reports come just when we were again paying special attention to the issue and connecting it to the global political and social scene in all its crazyness. Well, lets keep watching!

 

[1984]

Here is a link to the American Meteor Society page that lists daily reports of sightings (and, of course, these are just the ones folks post that actually know where to log them. :)) http://www.amsmeteors.org/fireball2/public.php Although it is the American Meteor Society there are non-US sightings logged as well.

 

[Eboard10]

Here we go again. Today, The Sunday Times came out with an article trying to downplay the increased meteorite phenomena by blaming the recent case and many such future events as space junk.

Fireballs 'caused by space junk'

The Sunday Times, 23rd September 2012, News, Page 10

The spectacular fireballs seen hurtling over northern Britain on Friday night may have been caused by space junk falling out of orbit, writes Jonathan Leake.

Sightings of burning objects shooting across the night sky and breaking into pieces were reported in Northern Ireland and central Scotland as well as the north of England, the Midlands and East Anglia.

It was initially thought the were meteorites - still a possibility. However, scientists said no meteor showers had been predicted.

Professor Richard Crowther, chief engineer at the UK Space Agency, said: "Solar activity is increasing and that heats the atmosphere so it expands and that tends to drag more space debris back into the atmosphere.

"There is far too much debris there so we could see more such incidents."

 

[Windmill knight]

"Solar activity is increasing and that heats the atmosphere so it expands and that tends to drag more space debris back into the atmosphere.

"There is far too much debris there so we could see more such incidents."

What?! That doesn't make much sense to me. Who says that an expanded atmosphere drags more space debris back? What's the mechanism - friction, decelaration and contraction of orbits? Also, who says it is heating in the first place? If that is actually happening I don't think it can account for the amount of fireballs people are seeing. Sounds like a very lame explanation to me.

 

[Eboard10]

"Solar activity is increasing and that heats the atmosphere so it expands and that tends to drag more space debris back into the atmosphere.

"There is far too much debris there so we could see more such incidents."

What?! That doesn't make much sense to me. Who says that an expanded atmosphere drags more space debris back? What's the mechanism - friction, decelaration and contraction of orbits? Also, who says it is heating in the first place? If that is actually happening I don't think it can account for the amount of fireballs people are seeing. Sounds like a very lame explanation to me.

That's the impression I got as well. It's amazing how far they will go to try and cover up the obvious, even to the point of stating nonsense.

 

[Niall]

Another big one, this time in the early morning hours above Finland on 21st September:

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/251592-Super-bright-Fireball-Explodes-Over-Finland-21-September-2012

 

[thorbiorn]

From Sky news there is this report

People across the UK have reported seeing a large meteor shooting across the night sky.

It was seen breaking up into pieces last night, with sightings reported across northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Hundreds of people took to Twitter to report the sightings, posting photos and video.

Many people described seeing a bright fireball moving across the sky with a large tail.

The Kielder Observatory also reported the sighting of a "huge fireball" travelling from north to south over Northumberland at 9.41pm.

It posted on Twitter: "Of 30 years observing the sky, fireball best thing I have ever seen period."

But there was some suggestion the object could have been space junk which burned up as it re-entered the atmosphere.

Jodrell Bank Observatory tweeted: "No real consensus on whether last night's spectacular fireball was a space rock burning up or space junk (bit of spacecraft)."

Sightings of the suspected meteorite sparked a flurry of 999 calls from worried members of the public in Scotland.

Concerned callers from Airdrie to Arbroath likened the lights to flares, fireworks and even a plane crash.

Coastguard and police forces were inundated with reports from around 11pm on Friday night.

A spokesman for Forth Coastguard said: "From talking to other stations and to the RAF it's almost certainly meteorite activity.

"Calls came in from all over the place, thick and fast. We've had people report possible plane crashes, and others the weirdest fireworks they've ever seen.

"Folk just haven't known how to describe what they've seen. It's quite extraordinary."

Meteors, which are sometimes called shooting stars, are rocks which burn and light up on contact with Earth's atmosphere.

On Friday night the 21st of September I happened to be in Dublin on a study trip. Our group had gone out to experience the so-called cultural night. After dinner I lost the group and decided to get slowly back to the hotel. I caught a bus and got out just before the junction between Lower Drumcondra Road and Upper Drumcondra Road and from there I walked back up to the hotel. As I crossed the bridge facing the Northern direction I saw a yellow light to my right. At first I though it was an airplane but the light was not a regular point but had an uneven shape. It came closer and moved across the sky from East to West. It soon appeared to brake up in 5-7 pieces that moved across the sky at a steady speed. The fragments gradually extinguished and as the light disappeared to my left only one fussy light from the front part remained. There was no loud rumble , shock or the like. The speed was more or less like that of a fast satellite, but the lights much brighter The angle must have been around 30 degrees. The Time was around 22:45 but I did not have a clock with me so it could be a few minutes more or less. Interestingly enough my companions also watched the show while waiting for a bus at the Millenium Spire/The Needle/The Spike in O'Connell Street, but due to the tall buildings they could not see the beginning and end of the show.

In a report I saw the following day on Sky News at around 12 AM there was also indications that something had been seen as far away as in Continental Europe, and that there may have been more than one event. But this is not mentioned in the report that is put up on their web site now. Still the video and the report on the Sky website is worth watching.

In recent month I have been on the look out for events in the sky whenever walking outside and I was very happy to get this chance to see something though I have to improve my observational skills.