Fireballs over New Mexico and Texas - space junk or meteors?

[Smersh]

Thanks to DMC for just posting these on our board.<br /><br />From Spaceweather.com<br /><br /><font color="yellow">Sept 13th 2007<br /><br />NEW MEXICO FIREBALL: "There was a large fireball over New Mexico this morning at 3:20 am MDT," reports Thomas Ashcraft. "It literally turned night into day," he says. Ashcraft operates an all-sky camera that captured the meteor in flight: movie. Don't forget to turn up the volume: The soundtrack is the echo of a distant radio station reflected from the fireball's ionized trail. Stay tuned for updates.</font><br /><br />Link<br /><br />Quicktime video of New Mexico fireball <br /><br />Then, two nights later, over Texas,<br /><br /><font color="yellow">ANOTHER FIREBALL: "After seeing the September 13th New Mexico fireball on spaceweather.com, I was surprised to catch a very bright fireball here in Texas just two nights later," reports Tom King who operates an all-night, all-sky camera near Watauga, Texas, not far from Dallas/Fort Worth. "In the video, you can see where the meteor is bright enough to illuminate a power pole and trees!"</font><br /><br />Link<br /><br />(Above link may change once the date changes, but will be in the archive for Sept 17th.)<br /><br />Animated gif of Texas fireball<br /><br />Does anyone have any comments on these? Meteors or space junk, does anyone think?<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <h1 style="margin:0pt;font-size:12px">----------------------------------------------------- </h1><p><font color="#800000"><em>Lady Nancy Astor: "Winston, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea."<br />Churchill: "Nancy, if you were my wife, I'd drink it."</em></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Website / forums </strong></font></p> </div>

 

[MeteorWayne]

Most likely just normal (if very bright) meteoric fireballs.<br /><br />First, no space junk was expected either of those nights.<br /><br />Second, both are moving too fast to be orbital debris.<br />The New Mexico fireball covered at least 120 degrees of the sky in 8 seconds, and the Texas one only lasted 4 seconds. These velocities and times are inconsistent with something in orbit, and point toward meteors.<br /><br />MeteorWayne <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[Smersh]

Thanks MeteorWayne. I was hoping you might see this thread. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br />Certainly very bright meteors though weren't they? <br /><br />In your experience of observing meteors, how common an occurance would it be, do you think, to see meteors as bright as those? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <h1 style="margin:0pt;font-size:12px">----------------------------------------------------- </h1><p><font color="#800000"><em>Lady Nancy Astor: "Winston, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea."<br />Churchill: "Nancy, if you were my wife, I'd drink it."</em></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Website / forums </strong></font></p> </div>

 

[MeteorWayne]

Well, pretty rare for a single observer. The brightest I have ever seen, in a few thousand hours of of observing time are not that bright, as far as I can tell.<br />My best came during the 1999 Leonid Fireball outburst (not the Leonid storm years that followed) which was about mag -12 (Full Moon) and left a persistent train in the sky for over 10 minutes.<br />As more all sky cameras are going online, we will be able to get better statistics.<br />Note that the Texas fireball occurred at a bit after 1 AM CDT; not too many folks are out looking at the sky at that hour <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[MeteorWayne]

The New Mexico image has also been posted with a scale. It shows the fireball portion starting and ending 25 degrees above the horizon, with a maximum height about 60 degrees in the west.<br /><br />Please note that no other reports were received, which goes to show how rarely even a spectaular event like this is witnessed by human eyes <img src="/images/icons/cool.gif" /><br /><br /> image link <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[Smersh]

Yes I see what you mean about how rare they are observed (with the lack of reports.) Also that few people observing at that time of night.<br /><br />I bet that bright meteor you saw in 1999 during the Leonids, at -12 magnitude must have been pretty memorable! Didn't get any pictures did you by any chance? (Not that they can be posted here of course, for the time being unfortunately ... )<br /><br />Thanks for finding that picture btw I'll post it over in our thread. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <h1 style="margin:0pt;font-size:12px">----------------------------------------------------- </h1><p><font color="#800000"><em>Lady Nancy Astor: "Winston, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea."<br />Churchill: "Nancy, if you were my wife, I'd drink it."</em></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Website / forums </strong></font></p> </div>