| Archive for db-astro.org Dalgety Bay Astronomy Club |
| seabay |
Meteor spectacular!!Fabulously clear, still and transparent sky this morning, when I got up at 3am (don’t ask!) . . . . all the stars of Lepus clearly visible, even through double-glazing . . . . outside, and M44 immediately obvious to the naked eye, even without averted vision – Eridanus visible all the way down to about 2 degrees above the sea . . . . you get the picture!Best of all: 4.08am – meteor appeared about 1 degree above Betelgeuse, at a mag comparable with Rigel – very slow moving, taking about 3 seconds to reach a point about 3 degrees above Epsilon Geminorum, leaving a wide trail of “sparks” and brightening steadily as it did so, to about mag -4, at which point it exploded (not sure if that’s the right technical term, but you know what I mean!), reaching around mag -7/8, and covering an area approximately one and a half times that of the Pleiades (resulting vapour trail – or whatever it’s called! – lasting 22 seconds).  Whoa!
And only the second time I’ve seen anything like this (in 40 years!), so how happy am I this morning?? |
| Cosmic |
MeteorWow! EmmaI'm jealous you can see down to 2 degrees above horizon. I would have to lie flat on the ground to see that low and then I probably wouldn't see as low as you can. The Meteor sounded spectacular. Video next time please! 
I have a very sore neck this morning so I hope I can blag upright finder form shop where I purchased it. Regards Cosmic |
| seabay |
Spookily enough, this is pretty close to what I saw last week -
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap081011.html - hope this will do, in lieu of a video, Cosmic!! 
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| Cosmic |
MeteorHi Emma'Fraid not! Next time take the video camera to bed (make sure the old man doesn't get too excited though )
Then you'll be ready for the next Bolide. Cosmic |
| seabay |
I'll tell him you said that!!
But since this is the first bolide I've seen since 1984, I think it'll be a long wait for the next one! E |