Posted on 03/11/2015 9:09:15 AM PDT by Red Badger
So it's true: The early bird gets the fireballs.
Coloradans who were up before the sun on Wednesday morning saw a "bright green" fireball soar across the sky before it burned out over the mountains.
More than 60 eyewitnesses filed sightings on the American Meteor Society's website.
Greg Moore, an analyst and contributor at Weather5280, told Mashable he was driving over the top of Vail pass, west of Denver, just before 6 a.m. local time when "a bright green fireball caught my eye."
The object had a "flaming tail with a long trail behind it," Moore said. "As it moved towards the far horizon it started to flame out, but even after the tail was gone a bright orange ball was still visible till it disappeared beyond the far mountain range."
"It was pretty incredible," he said.
Snapchat user Joel Jimenez sent Mashable video he caught from a Home Depot parking lot in Fort Collins.
Brian Paulson, a software engineer, caught the fireball on his car's dash cam while driving about 15 miles north of Pueblo, Colorado. A second man caught it on his dash cam from Denver.
Colorado resident Nate Hershey told Mashable he was getting his kids dressed on Wednesday morning and happened to look out the window when the object was streaking across the sky.
"The head was bright white, and it had a deep orange tail with what looked like sparks falling behind, moving very slowly for a meteor," he said.
"I had time to put my 1 year old down, grab my four year old, climb onto my bed and hold him up to the window for a few seconds before it faded," Hershey said. "At the end, the tail appeared to be an eerie green with a slight blue tint as it disappeared."
"I've seen a lot of meteors in my day but this must have been the most spectacular, lasting for what seemed like around 10 seconds," he said.
The fireball, which could have been a meteor, satellite debris or a warning shot from an alien warship, was first reported on Twitter.
Saw the craziest meteor I've ever seen over Denver this morning at 6:00 AM. Must have been visible for at least 8-10 seconds! #fireballs
— Nate Hershey (@nate_hershey) March 11, 2015
Huge meteor just streaked east to west over Castlerock Colorado. It burnt bright green and faded over the mountains. #meteor
— Francis Eggelton (@nudge4ward) March 11, 2015
Huge fireball north to south west of vail pass this morning. Bright green flaming tail. Across full sky. #fireball #meteor #cowx
— Greg Moore (@GMoore34) March 11, 2015
Others reported seeing the fireball on 9News's Facebook page.
It was either an old satellite or Hillary's E-mail server..................
There’s always a green haze over Colorado. :)
Well, they did legalize the stuff............
I saw the shuttle re-enter the atmosphere late one night over east Texas back in the mid 1990s. It, too, made an eery green streak across the sky..scared me half to death at the time.
I saw a blue one over Golden, Colorado during the Leonid shower of ‘98.
Well, I guess it’s fireball season.
Next time I go imaging up north, I’ll have to remember to bring an extra camera.
St. Patrick is on his way!!
“Bright GREEN indicates a lot of COPPER was in the material.”
I don’t know why it was ‘mysterious’. I saw one in Longmont, CO one day when I was heading to the airport. I heard it landed somewhere in Arizona. Bright green.
Could be the dopers seeing things...
Gotta get a dash-cam. All sorts of great stuff seems to get captured on them.
Arsenic, Cerium and Tantalum give off blue flames.............
They got it on video............
Kool.
I’ve seen a bright green fireball/shooting star while driving at night.
I simply assumed it was a meteor with a lot of copper in it.
In meteors, color means heat. Low speed meteor can have a green color.
As it gets lower, it will change as the atmosphere gets thicker...more friction...more heat.
I saw a LOT of green Leonids back in 99. When the radiant was low they were green. AS the radiant got higher, they changed to white and blue.
Orange meteors are REALLY cool. I’ve only seen a few.
Arsenic?
Must’ve been Bush’s fault.
I hope we have more than a standard galactic week to resolve their issues.
Nowadays it’s most likely space junk burning up on re-entry......................
I saw a blue one over Golden, Colorado during the Leonid shower of ‘98.
We watched that from Lookout Mountain.
Have you ever ‘heard’ the meteors? I have heard a few, they make a popping sound like a 22LR if you are directly underneath, and a sizzling sound if you are far off angle.
But that was when I could hear as a young man....................
When I was in the USMC going to the rifle range early one morning, just before dawn, there was a really huge green fireball on the horizon that made no sound, but it was spectacular, circa 1976 or so................
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