Posted on 12/07/2008 8:02:17 AM PST by ETL
COLORADO SUPERBOLIDE: Last night, Dec. 6th at 1:06 a.m. MST, a meteor of stunning brightness lit up the skies of Colorado. Astronomer Chris Peterson photographed the event using a dedicated all-sky meteor camera in the town of Guffey, near Colorado Springs:
"In seven years of operation, this is the brightest fireball I've ever recorded," says Peterson. "I estimate the terminal explosion at magnitude -18, more than 100 times brighter than a full Moon."
Fireballs this bright belong to a rare category of meteors called superbolides. They are caused by small asteroids measuring a few to 10 meters in diameter and massing hundreds of metric tons. Superbolides trigger seismic detectors on the ground, produce waves of infrasound that can travel thousands of miles, and they are tracked by military satellites scanning Earth for nuclear explosions. Recent examples include the El Paso fireball of 1997 and the Slovenian Superbolide of 2007.
Last night's fireball is on the low end of the superbolide scale. Nevertheless, it was still a beauty and likely peppered the ground with meteorites when it exploded. Sighting reports are welcomed; they could help guide the tracking and recovery of debris.
LISTEN! 250 miles south of the fireball, radio astronomer Thomas Ashcraft of New Mexico photographed the flash and recorded radio echoes from the superbolide's ion trail. Click here to listen [see link below].
Spaceweather.com for Sunday, December 7, 2008:
http://spaceweather.com/
LOL, I get what you say!
I am very glad that I do not have to feel guilty! LOL
We were sitting around the campfire a few years ago, just talking about things when one of these lit up the countryside like a gigantic flashbulb. Brilliant white. No sound, no rain of debris, but memorable.
How about on January 20th?, maybe a fragment big enough to turn DC back into a swamp with skeeters, tadpoles and water snakes, instead of the human kind.
I have never figured out why the federal govt has contingency plans if their is massive loss of infrastructure. They should instead “harden” each of the states, so they can survive autonomously in the event of loss of command and control from “on high”.
Wait a minute, now I remember why they worry so about it, people would realize their lives weren’t over, and they could get along just fine with minimal centralized govt. IMO, best thing that could ever happen is a return to a FED that takes care of courts, defense, trade etc......only those thing specifically called for in the Constitution, with NO FRILLS. A budget of about 500 billion should suffice.
My wife saw something last night in the Kitsap peninsula area. Said their were loud booms, and the sky lit up white. Not unlike big fireworks, but without the color.
ETL Third large meteorite sighting in western USA or Canada in 3 weeks. More on the way?
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