asteroid, comet, shooting star?

asteroid, comet, shooting star?

Lindsay (guest) 21 Sep 2010 01:18

This really doesnt have anything to do with 2012 but I knew you guys would probably know the answer. I was driving home tonight around 9 or so (i live in Virginia) and i saw the biggest shooting star or comet or something in the sky. It move really fast and it was VERY bright. any ideas on what it could be? It was beautiful and I have never seen something this big before!

Moo (guest) 21 Sep 2010 01:34

No idea myself. Google showed up nothing. Hope someone can help, but… if this isn't 2012 related, why was it posted? If you're slightly worried about it, then hopefully someone can figure out what it was.

Re: asteroid, comet, shooting star?

TheGreatJuju 21 Sep 2010 01:39

It was quite possibly a meteor. They're cool to look at. An annual meteor shower known as the Peresids peaked back in August, but I only saw a couple. Too many mosquitoes and trees.

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Re: asteroid, comet, shooting star?

3WMElliott 21 Sep 2010 01:41

Is it still out there to the East? Jupiter is mighty bright right now - it might only have seemed to be moving because you were driving in a car while seeing it.

Of course, shooting stars/meteors aren't uncommon, so could well have been a bit of space rock heating up through the atmosphere.

And because we can't link to programs like this enough, here's Stellarium if you're interested.

Lindsay (guest) 21 Sep 2010 02:28

No, It was definately not jupiter. I was stopped at the time, and my friends all saw it and they were in different cars. It was definately moving

Astrogeek 21 Sep 2010 05:13

probably a meteor.

These are usually small, from the size of grains of sand up to about pea gravel sized. Occasionally there will be a larger, more spectacular one. That sounds like perhaps what you saw.

I'm jealous, actually. I've never seen a big fireball.

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Lindsay (guest) 21 Sep 2010 16:30

I have never either. Whenever I try to see one, and sit outside for hours, I never do. Now that I wasn't looking for one, it comes along. It was really big. Bigger than Jupiter. It's hard to explain. But it was interesting, none the less.

Astrogeek 21 Sep 2010 20:48

Well, I feel silly pointing this out, but some people reading this might take it the wrong way.

Just to be clear, the meteor appeared to be bigger than Jupiter. It was probably a good sized meteor, maybe the rock was the size of your fist… that would be a really big one.

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"Do you ever think about things you do think about?" - Henry Drummond to Matthew Harrison Brady in Inherit the Wind

Lindsay (guest) 22 Sep 2010 20:22

Yeah, it appeared to be bigger. Sorry bout that. I know it wasn't actually bigger than Jupiter. Sorry for the mix up!

Astrogeek 22 Sep 2010 21:46

Oh, I knew what you meant… I just also know that there are kids reading this forum, and they might get confused.

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"Do you ever think about things you do think about?" - Henry Drummond to Matthew Harrison Brady in Inherit the Wind

UndeadxNurse 22 Sep 2010 23:02

Now that I think about it, I think that I saw something similar when I was little, little as in about Five or, Six..

Haven't seen anything like it since or, even heard of anything like it until now.

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Lindsay (guest) 23 Sep 2010 03:55

yeah, i know. i just wanted to clear it up as well =)

Kevin (guest) 23 Sep 2010 06:37

I think it was Nibiru getting its ass kicked by Jupiter and flying off into outer space away from solar system.

Lindsay (guest) 23 Sep 2010 19:45

Sounds like a good explination to me =)