Green fireball

[tex_1224]

I saw a green Fire ball decend the atmosphere in the 4:am hours of December 5th. Anyone here of any space junk falling in that I could spot from Florida? Space junk that would burn emerald green like that? It was big. it bunred, then it glowed green and landed in the southern horizon. I could just hear it as it fell, like a silent thunder.<br /><br />So was it space junk, or could it have been space rock?

 

[henryhallam]

I would think it's most likely to have been a meteor or meteorite, but hard to be sure...

 

[votefornimitz]

Its a meteorite now, n'est pas? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <span style="color:#993366">In the event of a full scale nuclear war or NEO impact event, there are two categories of underground shelters available to the public, distinguished by depth underground: bunkers and graves...</span> </div>

 

[votefornimitz]

<i>it bunred, then it glowed green and landed in the southern horizon</i><br /><br />Sounds like a meteorite to me... <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <span style="color:#993366">In the event of a full scale nuclear war or NEO impact event, there are two categories of underground shelters available to the public, distinguished by depth underground: bunkers and graves...</span> </div>

 

[henryhallam]

You know I think I like his original term "space rock" <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" />

 

[lampblack]

Boy... this is your basic stalagtite and stalagmite kind of question. I could never keep those straight, either -- until somebody suggested thinking of stalagtites as "hanging tight to the ceiling." That leaves stalagmites, of course, as the little limestone dealies poking up from the floors of caves.<br /><br />Of course, whether in caves or flying in from near space -- they're all just rocks! <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#0000ff"><strong>Just tell the truth and let the chips fall...</strong></font> </div>

 

[drwayne]

Basically, if you see it in the air, it is a meteor. <br /><br />The material that survives to hit the ground - that material is a meteorite.<br /><br />Wayne <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>"1) Give no quarter; 2) Take no prisoners; 3) Sink everything."  Admiral Jackie Fisher</p> </div>

 

[dobbins]

Technically a meteor is just the streak of light produced by a meteoroid when it enters the Earth's atmosphere and a meteorite is the remnant that makes it to the ground. Until the last couple of centuries no one knew what caused meteors, and the later two words were coined from meteor when the cause of those streaks of light was found. The root word is the Greek word meteroron meaning a phenomenon in the sky and it's also the root word of meteorology, the study of weather. Meteors were thought to be weather related when the word was coined.<br /><br />

 

[racer7]

To continue a previous hijack. I was taught to differentiate between a stala<b>c</b>tite and a stalagmite with the 'c' in the word, 'c' as in ceiling. I've never heard of stala<b>g</b>tites though. Are they new? <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" />

 

[halcyondays]

The way I learned it was that stalactites have to hold on tight, and stalagmites have to push up with all their might.

 

[vt_hokie]

Maybe it was a black military shuttle! <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br />I saw a meteor explode while driving on Interstate 81 near Wilkes Barre, PA one night last winter. It was pretty cool! Startled me when I first saw it, before I realized what it was...

 

[atticus808]

did it look like this?<br />http://www.ebaumsworld.com/videos/meteor.html

 

[vt_hokie]

Yeah, similar to that! What are the odds of catching that on video?!

 

[drwayne]

Lefty outy, righty tight.<br /><br />Not to be confused with (astronomers will appreciate this one) -<br /><br />Old Beer And Fast Girls Keep Richard Nixon Smiling<br /><br />Wayne <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>"1) Give no quarter; 2) Take no prisoners; 3) Sink everything."  Admiral Jackie Fisher</p> </div>

 

[peterweg]

>>The way I learned it was that stalactites have to hold on tight, and stalagmites have to push up with all their might.<br /><br />Tights come down, Mites grown up.<br />(Mites is slang for a small children)

 

[holmec]

sounds like copper to me. What else burns green?<br /><br />I saw a meteor the other week, it burned bright but at different intesitites then faded. It also was in the south.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#0000ff"><em>"SCE to AUX" - John Aaron, curiosity pays off</em></font></p> </div>

 

[lampblack]

<font color="yellow">sounds like copper to me. What else burns green?<br /><br />I saw a meteor the other week, it burned bright but at different intesitites then faded. It also was in the south.</font><br /><br />hmmm... copper <i>does</i> burn green, doesn't it? (I'm sitting here, experiencing this thoroughly unexpected flashback to high school chemistry class.)<br /><br />How many meteorites have been discovered containing high percentages of copper? Fairly few, I'm guessing.<br /><br />Given the color, could the object have been a satellite reentering the atmosphere, perhaps? Of course, copper isn't exactly a major component of earth-orbiting satellites either, is it? Or is it?<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#0000ff"><strong>Just tell the truth and let the chips fall...</strong></font> </div>

 

[mlorrey]

few meteorites have high copper, however spent rocket upper stages have engines that are typically high in copper...

 

[lampblack]

There ya go... Tex probably spotted an old rocket body making its way back into the atmosphere.<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#0000ff"><strong>Just tell the truth and let the chips fall...</strong></font> </div>

 

[halcyondays]

<<<<br />Old Beer And Fast Girls Keep Richard Nixon Smiling />>><br /><br /><br />I haven't heard that one, but haven't you missed out the M stars ? I learned this one :<br /><br />Oh, Be A Fine Girl Kiss Me Right Now Sweetie.

 

[hjb19465]

While keeping my eyes peeled for Geminids tonight, my wife and I observed a green fireball. I didn't realize that there was any significance to this until later reading an online article about typical meteroid sizes. This thing was definitely green (and bright). Sadly I've got no pic, but is something that should be reported, if so to whom?

 

[vogon13]

Various metallic compositions in meteorites can make for interesting colors during their brief zzzzthththpppt across the night sky.<br /><br />Enjoy the show!! Many, colors have been documented, and high value observations have been made with spectroscopes (see the intergalactic meteor stream thread here at SDC) at various observatories and research centers.<br /><br /><br />It is possible you saw a piece of man made 'space junk' burning up too. In that case, NORAD knows far more than you about what burned up, and where it came from.<br /><br /><br />Thanx for an interesting post and welcome to SDC.<br /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[garfieldthecat]

Hello and welcome!<br /><br />I wouldn' be surprised you indeed saw a meteor from the Geminids. The maximum of this meteor storm is around the 14th of december, and is one of the biggest of the year. Some meteors canbe really impressive, colored and with weird trajectories. The biggests I saw were as bright as the moon (but it doesn't happen very often).<br />Was the object you observed coming from gemini, or just crossing the constellation coming from an other direction?

 

[cometvomit]

Garfieldthecat:The biggests I saw were as bright as the moon (but it doesn't happen very often). <br /><br />When you say as bright as the moon, do you mean as big as well(obviously not when the moon is gigantic, but on a normal night) I ask because one time camping I saw something, I guess it was a meteor, but it was preety big, bright green, and only lasted for a second, but I would say it looked about as big as the moon that night. <br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

Meteors usually appear as thin streaks of light. I say "usually" because there are the exceptional ones that put on a grander display. You may have seen a bolide, which is basically an exploding meteor. They're rare, but beautiful. Count yourself lucky to have seen one. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>