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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

I'm telling you all...we are in some sorta debris field heading our way!

Yesterday, a great fireball flashed thru the Washington state skies, Below is a report from USA Today:

Officials confirm meteor source of skyburst

SEATTLE (AP) — A meteor about the size of a computer monitor flashed across the Northwest sky early Thursday, setting off booms that stunned witnesses.
"There was some question as to whether it was a piece of space junk burning up, but it was not," said Geoff Chester, a spokesman for the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. "As far as I've been able to figure out, it was simply a rock falling out of the sky, as they are wont to do on occasion."

Chester said it was a type of meteor called a bolide, one that appears like a fireball in the sky, and was about the size of a small piece of luggage or a computer monitor.

Nothing unusual was detected on National Weather Service radar, and authorities also ruled out aircraft problems or military flight tests.

Toby Smith, a University of Washington astronomy lecturer who specializes in meteorites, said the skybursts were reported over a wide area around 2:40 a.m.

Witnesses along a 60-mile swath of the Puget Sound region from the Tacoma area to Whidbey Island and as far as 260 miles to the east said the sky lit up brilliantly, and many reported booms as if from one or more explosions.

"It made a pretty big bang," said Petty Officer Andrew Davis at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, 40 miles north of Seattle.


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Security camera caught the flash like it was high noon. I wouldn't be at all surprised if a sizable rock came crashing down soon. Good thing I park my car in my garage!

Joe
[glow=blue,2,300]Chicago Astronomer[/glow]

[NatureDevil]

It makes you wonder how often things like this actually happen over the oceans, or near either of the polar ends where they can go completely undetected.

It probably happens more than is ever reported simply because people never see it.

NatureDevil

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

When the fireball streaked thru the Washington sky, people heard a sonic boom.

Now, usually in the wee hours of the morning, I'll hear a low muffled boom, that shakes the house, rattles dishes and scares the dog. It happens often, and my dad thought I was crazy...until he heard first hand.

I think that it could be perhaps a high flying supersonic aircraft, meteor or the deep tunnel project, but I have no explanation.

Has anyone heard this boom themselves? I can't be the only one! Or can I?

Yes, how many unseen pieces of space fall everyday to Earth? What I like to see is the smoke trail and break-off pieces of meteors during meteor showers. Quite cool.

And what about the Tunguska explosion in 1918 over Siberia? Asteroid, meteor or something else? And there is a book out that states the Great Chicago Fire was caused by space debris, as the fires not only happened here, but throughout the midwest that night from hot space rocks on dry parched wooden towns. I'll post that here soon for disscussion.

Joe
[glow=blue,2,300]Chicago Astronomer[/glow]

[astroviewerNGC2207]

Why is it that when some event happpens it is deluted to something that it isnt?
It was an asteroid that expoded in the atmosphere in Sibera 1918 .. Absolutely nothing else.
When it comes to fireballs flying across the sky .. it happens from time to time. Pretty cools stuff .. I'd like to se one myself. I have seen lots of meteor fireballs with trails of smoke beind them .. but one that just grazes the atmosphere like the one form the UK a fw months ago wouls be very cool to see indeed.
As in space junk, one piece a day falls from the sky somewhere on www.nasa.gov is a site that shows the big ones that are headed in.
As in general space debris... This planet takes in 25,000 tons a day of general space debris and dust
Once a month a "car" sized asteroid plumets through our atmosphere
Our atmosphere can consume an asteroid the size of a bus before it makes landfall.
Just some food for thought ...... ;D

[NatureDevil]

The deep tunnel project?

Yeah, I myself have never witnessed a meteor hitting the planet. I only have 3 recollections of meteors in my life; two of them were meteor showers I was able to catch (which were great to see) and the third was a "shooting star" which looked just like one of the meteors I saw in the showers, except it was a light brighter and travelled much farther, though just a quick.

The third was the most interesting to me because the meteor showers were expected and planned for, the small instant flash was not. Just happened upon it while starring at the sky one night a few years back for a good hour. Could of been anything, but I assume it must have been a meteor (meteorite?) that lit up the sky so bright for that second.

Either way, my car, home and garage were undamaged.

Whenever I have shaking and bumping in my house, it usually turns out to be the assclown accross the street blasting his Eminem CD in his Ford Explorer. I hate that guy.

NatureDevil

[astroviewerNGC2207]

The thing is Nature ...
Meteor showers happen year round. Just at different times there are different intensities.
Here is a nice reference site for them. comets.amsmeteors.org/meteors/calendar.html

[NatureDevil]

Wow, that is a lot of stuff burning up. Thanks for the site, I am gonna use this, especially when I do my little road trips. Got one planned in a few weeks for northern Minnesota to see some waterfalls, but everytime I go somewhere far away from citylife, I am reminded every night of what I am missing.

NatureDevil

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

I Like Kronk's site on Meteors and Comets. I also enjoy The Bad Astronomers site. I received an updated newsletter from him this morning, and it had a section on Planet X and the wacky Nancy Leider. She had these goofy pics early on in 2002 allegedly showing Planet X tearing into our solar system. Bad pics at that. I must have been sleeping when it happened...caused I missed the pole shift!

Deep Tunnel Project is a Metropolitan Water/sanitary District effort to carve out tunnels under the city and surrounding areas to catch the excess water from storms. They do this by earth machines and explosives. Years into it, it ain't working yet.

So I thought perhaps the low rumbles that I hear and feel could be as a result of that. But I don't know.

Joe
[glow=blue,2,300]Chicago Astronomer[/glow]

[NatureDevil]

Ah, they've been doing digging like that by me for years on the Des Plaines River to stop the flooding, which worled here. They didn't do it up north though....hehehe....suckers....we saw that in the papers the past fewe weeks. I didn't know the city of Chicago was doing it though, but I don't know the flooding situation there.

yeah, that chick, she posted a picture of planet X on some sight and brought it to some television show (a few years back), and it was actually a picture of Io. It was ridiculous because you could even see Jupiter in the background. Even worse, I recognized the same picture from a bookmark I had with the same photo on it. Things like that annoy me.

I still have issues on whether I believe Pluto is a planet or not, I am not about to deal with a tenth planet just yet (although everything would be all nice and metric, wouldn't it?)

NatureDevil

[astroviewerNGC2207]

LOL planet X .... that is such a scam....
;D
as in pluto .. its grandfathered in as a planet but in reality it is just a big iceball the size of our moon.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Is Pluto a planet or hunk of rock?

I think that, even tho Pluto has a greatly scewed orbit, and is so tiny, it still is a planet...only because that it has enough mass to have capured a moon - Charon.

This page has some info that I was not aware of before:

fl.essortment.com/plutocharonmoo_rmgd.htm

I say leave him alone, and go pick on Ceres.

Joe
[glow=blue,2,300]Chicago Astronomer[/glow]

[NatureDevil]

I always liked Charon and Pluto because of the center of gravity being out in the middle of nowhere, and the fact that they face each other in the same position at all times.

I remember hearing it once described as "two large icy rocks locked together in a waltz" which gives it a bit more character, albeit slightly on edge.

Yeah, the only reason I would classify it as a planet is because I have it embedded in my head since I was a kid. But after growing up and looking at it, it probably shouldn't be.

NatureDevil

[MuseAphelion]

Since we're talking about the fringes of our solar system, don't forget Sedna

www.nasa.gov/images/content/56740main_sedna-art.jpg - it's a big image, hence the linky.

Of course, it could just be a chunk of the Oort cloud but then again, so might Pluto.

The whole article: www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/solarsystem/planet_like_body.html

Boy, I love that I have to research things to post on here, keeps the brain sharp.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

The Chicago Astronomer Forum - The Thinking Persons Site

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(Not responsible for excessive hair growth, sleeplessness or social exclusions)

Joe
[glow=blue,2,300]Chicago Astronomer[/glow]

[astroviewerNGC2207]

Hmmmm let me see here ...
The "Ort Cloud" is a theory nd a very plausible one.
Wich I will put in laymen terms.
The Ort Cloud is whats left over from the construction of our sloar system wich reaches just beyond pluto to over 2.5 light years.
Intresting Sedna is brought up as of now it is labeled a planetoid object. Its orbit is huge and at this point in time it is still 3 times farther away than pluto is. And has an orbit of about 10,500 years. Considering its size and distance it kinda sheds light on where comets come from
Back to Pluto, considering its a big ball of ice and rocky material.. "even though it has been highly debated" ... the only reason it remains a planet is of the historical event of discovering it. So im confident in saying that it is "Grandfathered" in as being the 9th planet and the last in our solar system.

[NatureDevil]

As I stated in another thread, Voyager is near that cloud just outside the solar system.

It is near what they call the "termination shock" where the solar wind abruptly slows down from the pressures from gas inbetween the stars. Once you go through that, the only thing left is the edge of the heliosphere, which is this big bubble around our solar system made up of charged particles. It kind of defines the edge of our solar system, and will take Voyager 1 another 15 years or so till it clears it.

Then Voyager 1 will be all alone out there in the vast depth of the galaxy.....took it long enough....

NatureDevil

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Too bad that no other camera caught this fireball. I read an article in Astronomy Magazine about these fish eye cameras, trained on the sky at all times. What happened to them?


SEATTLE FIREBALL: Shortly before 3 o'clock in the morning on June 3rd, a fabulous meteor streaked over Washington State. It was so bright (at least 500 times brighter than a full moon by some accounts) that Ed Majden was able to photograph it from Vancouver Island in Canada--nearly over the horizon.

"The flash was spectacular," says Majden. "Too bad it wasn't higher from my vantage point. I made this movie using a convex
Sandia All-sky camera in my backyard in Courtenay, BC." Majden's observatory is part of the Sandia Bolide Detection Network. He adds: "Our other west coast all-sky sites were off line for various reasons. This is the only all-sky recording of the fireball we are aware of."

Meteorite-chaser Rob Matson has used Majden's video, along with eye witness accounts and seismic recordings to calculate the fireball's trajectory. "A small team is on the ground now looking for meteorites," says Matson.

Courtesy of Spaceweather.com