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[Rocketman]

I was outside waiting for my 200th satellite pass for this month. I was looking straight up for Okean 1 heading North overhead, and I saw a meteor. It was enormous. It was bigger that the size of a quarter held out at arms length. I could hear it. I'm not lying nor exaggerating it's size! My heart is racing 90 nothing! I came here, and made a post on the CBS board then straight here to report this. It was definitely something entering the earths' atmosphere. It could have been a satellite. I've never seen a meteor THAT big! It was travelling West to East at 90 degrees overhead. The tail of this was about like holding a yardstick over your head at arms length or even longer, and it was as about the width of 3 fingers held close together! Oh man.. KILLER!!!!!!

[Rocketman]

I could see the black chunks at the head of the fireball. I swear... I've never seen anything like this ever. I'm not crazy, and I don't strech things. Have you guys ever seen anything like this? Could it have been a satellite re-entering?

[timothy]

Rocketman
No I have never seen anything like that. seems your dedication to satellite spotting has payed off big. Seems to me there is a webb site that the auther predicts space junk reentery. I can't recall it but maybe someone else here can give a link.
How long did it last and what kind of sound did you hear. Any sonic booms? Colors

[Rocketman]

It lasted about five to six seconds to the best of my calculations. The sound was like frying grease, and was preceeded by thud-like sound. I'm still wiered out about it. I actually stepped back a step or two. It startled me.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

What a cool sighting!

Perhaps it's related to the sighting they saw on the East coast two days ago. It was also huge, and people thought it a plane or satellite on fire. Some are saying that this is a newer ribbon of the Lyrid meteor shower that we are passing through. Large chunks are just waiting to present themselves to skyward eyes to catch!

I once heard a meteor over head very slightly, but yes...lol...like grease frying! This meteor, (not great like yours), left an orange trail, pulsated irregularly, and was itself bright yellowish/white. I could hear along with the frying sound small "pops" along it's path and the trail behind it showed the "pops". It just faded from sight after about 3 seconds. And all this from the city of Chicago...Too cool!

The thud you heard was probably the sonic boom as it tore into the atmosphere. Let's see if any Texas reports start to come in.

Scary as it was, what a great sight to have caught. You know Grady, you could start video taping your sessions. This is what I mean....

Just pop in a blank tape into a video camera if you have one, set it on a tripod, focus to infinity and zoom it out to it's widest mm, and just let it run. With this report in the East coast and your recent sighting I just bet there are some more on the way. And if you do catch one, the news outlets would want to show footage of it...and we would have another Chicago Astronomer on tv!!... ;D

And you never know what you might catch. And if you don't see anything for any particular night...no loss...you just repeat the action the next night!

I would like to see what you have been spotting on the satellite front anyway, so perhaps you could edit a tape on the sats you spot and send me a copy.

I was excited reading along about your experience and thanks for sharing!

[Rocketman]

It was way cool I know that. I'd love to see another one. I have a palmcorder, but it doesn't do too well in the dark. I have taped ISS before. Hmm... I should tape a -1.5 pass, and send it to the local TV station. No one around here knows anything about ISS. Hmmm.... I wonder if I could get paid?! $Cha-ching$

Time for my morning sathingyching session.

See Joe, your expert knowledge permiates throughout the skywatching community

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Grady,

Do it.

Let's market you as the expert Sat watcher. If I am contacted regarding sats, I'll refer them to you. Now, you need to start building up your portfolio with not only the logs, but since we are all visual...we like to see moving objects.

It doesn't matter if you palmcorder is not that light sensitive, because if you can get stars to show up, then the sats will show up as well. You might even consider a low end night vision camera as well. I saw a great deal on one in my Harbor Freight catalog: www.harborfreightusa.com It's priced at $99.00, but what if you catch that once in a lifetime shot like that meteor. Well worth it!

You can also experiment with using a webcam too. Easier if you have a laptop, but just the same...point it to the heavens and let the harddrive fill up.

Then...create a webpage just for sat images. I'll assist in what ever I can, but when someone googles "Chicago Astronomy" or any variation thereof....I almost always get the number one spot, if not then within the first five...so my marketing seems to be working. We can do the same for you.

I don't know of any official amateur sat spotters...you could be it!

Do it!...

[timothy]

Sounds like a lot of fun Rocketman