Yet another visitor to our already crowded skies...
Our first detailed eyewitness report of this extraordinary event comes from the Astropolis.pl forum:
mago83, in Bialystok, northeastern Poland, wrote: "I saw the end of the passage with a fading 'tail'. In fact, the view was breathtaking."
QbaC, in Sierpc, central Poland, 125 km northwest of Warsaw, wrote: "Hey, I too had an opportunity to see it... electrifying! At around 2:20 AM, a group of us were standing at a gas station close to Sierpc, looking at the western sky when suddenly it became BRIGHT as if it was a short-circuit on a power pole. When we turned around, we could see a thick trail left in the sky below Ursa Major following the passage and fragmentation of a meteor. This trace was visible for several [between 10 and 20] seconds! The flash of light was so bright that it lit up the whole surrounding area. Even a friend who was on the bus saw the flare! I often look at the stars, but have not seen anything like that before!"
Brahi wrote: "Thankfully this thing didn't hit the Polish Fireball Network (PFN43) station in Siedlce, operated by Maciek Myszkiewicz, which recorded the fireball ;) It looks like its brightness was over -12 mag during the flash. Traces on next frames are displayed for 16 minutes. Probably a monstrous Orionid.
Our first detailed eyewitness report of this extraordinary event comes from the Astropolis.pl forum:
Observation sent in from Krakow by Vader, 19.10.2012, 11:33AMComments:
"I saw many shooting stars yesterday, but what I saw about at around 2:20 AM CEST (approximately) cannot be forgotten. I had just come round from the back of the house and was looking in the direction of the Little Bear (Ursa Minor) and Draco (Dragon) constellations. A light-yellow meteor appeared, which sped toward the northern horizon, from the border of these constellations. Then it flew between Zeta Draconis (Nodus I) and Eta Draconis (Al Dhibain) of the Dragon, rapidly brightened to a negative magnitude and changed colour to an intense light-green. Something like those popular laser pointers.
The phenomenon ended up to the right and below the Beta Draconis (Rastaban) and Nu Draconis, where there was a very bright flash and it broke up. It actually became almost as bright as day in that moment. It's hard for me to judge the brightness, because I very rarely see this kind of phenomenon. I think it could well have been of magnitude -8. The overall time of its flight was about 3-4 seconds.
After its passage, I instinctively looked at Jupiter and noted how dark it looked in comparison. The meteor left a visible trail in the sky, which I watched for about one minute. Once I calmed down, I ran inside to get my camera and tripod, then set it up to focus on Jupiter and made a few shots in that direction (55 mm, ISO 1600, 13 sec). The first photo was taken at 2:25 and the second one at 2:38, when the trail was still slightly visible. The brightest star in these photographs is the Beta Draconis.
PS: small focal length, large cro, high ISO, hence not the best quality images."© Vader
mago83, in Bialystok, northeastern Poland, wrote: "I saw the end of the passage with a fading 'tail'. In fact, the view was breathtaking."
QbaC, in Sierpc, central Poland, 125 km northwest of Warsaw, wrote: "Hey, I too had an opportunity to see it... electrifying! At around 2:20 AM, a group of us were standing at a gas station close to Sierpc, looking at the western sky when suddenly it became BRIGHT as if it was a short-circuit on a power pole. When we turned around, we could see a thick trail left in the sky below Ursa Major following the passage and fragmentation of a meteor. This trace was visible for several [between 10 and 20] seconds! The flash of light was so bright that it lit up the whole surrounding area. Even a friend who was on the bus saw the flare! I often look at the stars, but have not seen anything like that before!"
Brahi wrote: "Thankfully this thing didn't hit the Polish Fireball Network (PFN43) station in Siedlce, operated by Maciek Myszkiewicz, which recorded the fireball ;) It looks like its brightness was over -12 mag during the flash. Traces on next frames are displayed for 16 minutes. Probably a monstrous Orionid.
We don't think it could have been an Orionid because, even though the general direction of the fireball fits with incoming Orionids... Orionids originate from Orion:
Now look at the distance between Orion and Ursa Minor/Draco in this sky map of the constellations - they're on opposite sides of the sky:
In light of (no pun intended) a recent dramatic increase in visits from the Cosmos, the arrival of this celestial body in the lower atmosphere is most probably another sign of the times.
We received the following eyewitness account of this fireball directly from a reader yesterday (many thanks!):
We received the following eyewitness account of this fireball directly from a reader yesterday (many thanks!):
Tonight I observed a meteor explosion over Warsaw. I noticed articles about it on Sott.net, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to let you know about my observation. There was almost no boom, roar or clap heard, but the light was blue and white (more white) and it was incredibly bright, as if lightning had struck somewhere close by. Unfortunately, or fortunately, I was turned away from it because it strongly illuminated the whole area. As I turned toward it, I saw a disappearing white light leaving a yellow streak of sparks behind it.Here's another eyewitness report from the Polish Fireball Network:
A fireball over the town of Konin [central Poland, 200 km west of Warsaw]Read more at - http://www.sott.net/article/252584-Spectacular-fireball-lights-up-night-sky-over-Poland-19-October-2012-not-part-of-Orionids
19.10.2012, 2:22 AM
DaRu wrote: "I was working the night shift at Piatnow power plant on 19.10.2012 at 2:22 (local time). I noticed a likely fireball to the north-east of the town of Konin. I only saw it for about 5 seconds, until my view was blocked by a locomotive. I've seen lots of meteors, but the brightness of this one was comparable to the brightness of the moon and it's flash immediately got my attention. Perhaps one of your cameras recorded it? Can you help me to identify it? The weather over Konin that night was nice, and stars could be seen."
