Flashes, while watching the meteor shower???

RebeccaFaith · Jan 3, 2009

My husband, my middle teenage son and I managed to stay outside for the whole hour last night for the meteor show. After about 30 mins my son asked me about these flashes we kept seeing.  There was no direction to them, no movement I mean. Just a flash bright enough to be seen even when you're not looking in that exact spot at the time.  Nick asked me what they were and I could only guess. I'd sure like to be able to tell him exactly what they were.  There were more than a dozen, I believe, throughout the hour we were out.Keep in mind that I am not even an amature astronomer, just a housewife and mom that loves to camp out under the night sky and appreciates what I see in the heavens, so use easy terms. (blushing here)

Testing · Jan 3, 2009

(blushing here) Posted by RebeccaFaith[/QUOTE] No problem Blushing 'Becca. Are you within ten miles of an airport? First part BS, second part serious. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

RebeccaFaith · Jan 4, 2009

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>(blushing here) Posted by RebeccaFaith</DIV>No problem Blushing 'Becca. Are you within ten miles of an airport? First part BS, second part serious. Posted by Testing</DIV>  There is an airport a good 45 min to an hour drive north (approx. 55 highway miles). These flashes were at various points in the sky. Nothing consistant, fairly faint, different places, varying brightnesses. The first thing that popped into my mind was a glint off of a sat. or the space station. That is what I told my son I thought it was, but that I wasn't sure.

adrenalynn · Jan 4, 2009

And here we thought you were "a house-wife, not an astronomer"!Likely you were seeing glints of the sun reflected from the solar panel arrays on satellites.  The brightest would generally be those from the Iridium Communications Satellite Constellation.There's some chance that you were also seeing some off-axis meteors too.  We saw several that just appeared to flare in place and then were gone.Likely you pegged it first shot, though!If you record specific times and what stars you were looking at (or at least direction), many of us here can help you figure out exactly which bird you saw flying.I saw one of the Formant birds last night and it was *really* bright and slow, brighter than most of the meteors and just went on and on...  Lots of Iridium's.  Looking north is like watching the satellite freeway.

Now - about that "whole hour" thing - where are you located?  I froze my buns off a whole heck of a lot longer than that!

More like about five+ hrs... <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> .bipartisan (bī-pär'tĭ-zən, -sən) [Adj.] Maintaining the ability to blame republications when your stimulus plan proves to be a devastating failure.IMPEACH OBAMA! </div>

adrenalynn · Jan 4, 2009

By the way, Rebecca, beyond the usual "welcome" - I just want to go on record as expressing my strongly held opinion that anyone anywhere that freezes their butt off staring up at the night sky with a sense of wonder, then goes out of their way to find some place to question it in order to find some satisfaction to said wonder is every bit as much an amateur astronomer [as this sentence is run-on ]blush[ ] as anyone else.The thing that drives you to behave irrationally staring off into space and grasping is identical to that which drove Copernicus, Gallileo, Newton, Hubbel, Haley, ...From there, it's all just degrees of commitment and degrees of satisfaction with the answers.

<div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> .bipartisan (bī-pär'tĭ-zən, -sən) [Adj.] Maintaining the ability to blame republications when your stimulus plan proves to be a devastating failure.IMPEACH OBAMA! </div>

MeteorWayne · Jan 4, 2009

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>My husband, my middle teenage son and I managed to stay outside for the whole hour last night for the meteor show. After about 30 mins my son asked me about these flashes we kept seeing.  There was no direction to them, no movement I mean. Just a flash bright enough to be seen even when you're not looking in that exact spot at the time.  Nick asked me what they were and I could only guess. I'd sure like to be able to tell him exactly what they were.  There were more than a dozen, I believe, throughout the hour we were out.Keep in mind that I am not even an amature astronomer, just a housewife and mom that loves to camp out under the night sky and appreciates what I see in the heavens, so use easy terms. (blushing here) Posted by RebeccaFaith</DIV> Baed on what I observed, I'd say most were actually Quadrantids. The vast majority I saw were quite short, noticeably so. I've seldom seen this in a shower, not even last year's Quadrantids. unless you are looking right at it, a very short (half a degree, the size of the moon) meteor is going to look like a flash unless it's directly where your eyes are focused at that moment. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id. I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function </div>

jim48 · Jan 4, 2009

Likely you were seeing flying saucers shooting at each other. You lucky gal! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

MeteorWayne · Jan 4, 2009

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Likely you were seeing flying saucers shooting at each other. You lucky gal! Posted by jim48</DIV> Jim, when someone is asking a sertious question, your worthless sarcastic responses are not appreciated. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id. I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function </div>

RebeccaFaith · Jan 4, 2009

To the one question from 'lynn', I am in Ohio. I wasn't aware that location mattered that much but I've been doing some reading since my first post. Also, since we were laying on the ground we were looking straight up and our feet were to the south/east so we looked in that general direction. I could see Ursa Major clearly and tried to explain to the boys about finding the North Star by using Ursa Major. I didn't know about the direction of the shower in relation to its name either.You all have really made me think. I've read that another shower comes in April. I can't wait~!!!Oh, and Jim. If it were an alien ship I'd have to say, "Fly me to the moon and let me dance among the stars..."  Thanks for all the info and letting us average folks chime in.

adrenalynn · Jan 5, 2009

The latitude you're at does matter.  It changes the viewing angle.  Also, what I see in my sky at 3am PST is not what you see at 3am CST, due to the earth's rotation different objects rise and set.  What you see at 5am is what I see at 3am.How bright were the flashes?  How well have you learned the night sky?  (This is an important thing to learn.  Explaining finding Polaris (the North Star) is a good start!)  Are you talking flashes as bright as Venus is at night right now?  Or more like Capella/Vega?  Arcturus?  Eventually you can learn not only what the star and deep sky objects are, but also what their visual magnitude is.  Then you can say "I saw flashes that were like -1 magnitude" and that means something very different than "magnitude 3 flashes".  Being able to describe exactly when you saw something and where and what it looked like in a quantifiable fashion is the basis for scientifically valuable observation and reporting. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> .bipartisan (bī-pär'tĭ-zən, -sən) [Adj.] Maintaining the ability to blame republications when your stimulus plan proves to be a devastating failure.IMPEACH OBAMA! </div>

RebeccaFaith · Jan 5, 2009

By what you've said, there are stars that have certain magnitudes, and I need to compare the flash to one of these stars.  Is that right?  Where can I find a link to these magnitudes/star list?I've already decided that for the next shower I will print off constillations and make a game of finding as many as we can. Then trying to find planets...etc.

MeteorWayne · Jan 5, 2009

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>By what you've said, there are stars that have certain magnitudes, and I need to compare the flash to one of these stars.  Is that right?  Where can I find a link to these magnitudes/star list?I've already decided that for the next shower I will print off constillations and make a game of finding as many as we can. Then trying to find planets...etc. Posted by RebeccaFaith</DIV> Depending on how much you know about the sky, the monthly NAMN Notes are available here: http://www.namnmeteors.org/namnnotes.htmlMost months I include some reference star spanning the magnitude range from -2 to +5. Whether that will be useful depends on how much you now about the constellations and the sky.If you want to learn more about beginning meteor observing please check out the NAMN Website.  http://www.namnmeteors.org/There is a guide you can download.  http://www.namnmeteors.org/NAMN_Guide.pdfIt seems a bit intimidating at first, but everyone starts at the beginning. When I started observing in 1995, I had nothing more than the NAMN guide myself. Now I'm an "expert" <img src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/content/scripts/tinymce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-laughing.gif" border="0" alt="Laughing" title="Laughing" />Of course, I've learned over more than a thousand hours and 10,000 meteors, but we all start from the same place.The IMO (International Meteor Organization) also has a "Handbook for Meteor Observers" available for $28, but it's at a more technical level. If you're interested, look around on their website:http://www.imo.net/Feel free to contact me directly (through the NAMN site or NAMN Notes) if you want more specific help.Wayne <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id. I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function </div>

RebeccaFaith · Jan 6, 2009

Wayne, I couldn't sleep so I thought I'd check out whether or not a magnitude list was posted.  Thanks for responding so quickly.  I skimmed the pdf and realized that Nick and I saw a 'fireball' that night too.  That was sooooo cool. Now I really wish I knew more so I could let you know the exact location in the sky and it's direction, etc. But it did have a long tail and 'sparks' coming off. I actually thought I was hearing traffic on the highway, but now I think it was the fireball. The tail was a orange/red-ish color (compared to the white meteors the rest of the night) and if you use the moon as a guide (or nickle held at arms length maybe), it was about 6 or 7 in length. Plus, all the other meteors were so incredibly fast and this fireball was much slower.Thanks again, I can't wait to do some more reading, before my college classes start back up on the 12th. I tease my hubby and tell him I'd rather live outside than inside reguardless of the weather. Now I really wish I could sleep outside all year round, just so when I can't sleep I have something worth watching.<img src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/content/scripts/tinymce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-embarassed.gif" border="0" alt="Embarassed" title="Embarassed" />

MeteorWayne · Jan 6, 2009

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'> Plus, all the other meteors were so incredibly fast and this fireball was much slower.Thanks again, I can't wait to do some more reading, before my college classes start back up on the 12th. I tease my hubby and tell him I'd rather live outside than inside reguardless of the weather. Now I really wish I could sleep outside all year round, just so when I can't sleep I have something worth watching. Posted by RebeccaFaith</DIV> There were 6 or 7 other showers active that morning, the slowest would be from the antihelion showers, but it could just as easily have been a "sporadic" meteor. Those are ones that don't belong to any of the current showers.I spend as much time observing as I can as life, work, home, and health allow.

However, January and February in NJ or Ohio is not a time when I'd like to sleep outside all night!Sometimes a warm bed and my warm cat feel pretty good.

Wayne <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id. I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function </div>

WillM · Jan 10, 2009

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>My husband, my middle teenage son and I managed to stay outside for the whole hour last night for the meteor show. After about 30 mins my son asked me about these flashes we kept seeing.  There was no direction to them, no movement I mean. Just a flash bright enough to be seen even when you're not looking in that exact spot at the time.  Nick asked me what they were and I could only guess. I'd sure like to be able to tell him exactly what they were.  There were more than a dozen, I believe, throughout the hour we were out.Keep in mind that I am not even an amature astronomer, just a housewife and mom that loves to camp out under the night sky and appreciates what I see in the heavens, so use easy terms. (blushing here) Posted by RebeccaFaith</DIV>I may be wrong but I would venture to say that you all were seeing heat lightning.  I've seen them many times over the years and it'll even flashes when there are no cloud in sight. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> William -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If You Don't Have Time To Do It Right The First Time .... When Will You Have Time To Do It Over? </div>

adrenalynn · Jan 11, 2009

I suspect the flashes I saw weren't heat lightning.  Or any other kind of lightning.  At -3deg F you don't see much lightning.  Can you imagine what the upper atmosphere would look like?It was also crystal clear from horizon to horizon - so nothing for lightning to reflect from.And the radio monitoring clearly showed they were meteors.

<div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> .bipartisan (bī-pär'tĭ-zən, -sən) [Adj.] Maintaining the ability to blame republications when your stimulus plan proves to be a devastating failure.IMPEACH OBAMA! </div>

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