WTF! What did i just see?

Guill

I was going for a ciggy on my break at 2:30am.
Just walking accross the park when the entire sky light up with flashing streak of light. Anyone else see this? Must have been a comet.

sunshineoh9

i wish! in what direction was it heading?

CrazyBiscuit

Where was this? Exact location and direction.

Guill

Athlone, it was headin west to east.

slade_x

Its meteor shower season again with the orionids this may be the peak to end time for the draconids minor shower

Cú Giobach

Guill wrote: »

I was going for a ciggy on my break at 2:30am.
Just walking accross the park when the entire sky light up with flashing streak of light. Anyone else see this? Must have been a comet.

If a comet makes a "flashing streak" of light the chances of you posting about it on an internet forum could be pretty slim.

aghost

My brother seen exactly the same thing as he walked home from the pub just at that time. He said the earth lit up like daylight.

dlofnep

Small meteor maybe?

Dave!

Did it look like this? :pac:



Just kidding... Dunno what it'd be

whynotdo

Cú Giobach wrote: »

If a comet makes a "flashing streak" of light the chances of you posting about it on an internet forum could be pretty slim.

:D:D Cu nice to log on and get a laugh!

Seriously though,i have never seen a comet but AFAIK the non Armagedden type:) when they do appear don't appear to streak across the Sky,do they?

My impression is that they appear to hang around the night Sky when they reach human eye Magnitude for at least a few nights.Is this the case or not

opinion guy

Guill wrote: »

I was going for a ciggy on my break at 2:30am.
Just walking accross the park when the entire sky light up with flashing streak of light. Anyone else see this? Must have been a comet.

Didn't you see Phenomenon ??? Brain tumour for sure. Maybe a stroke. Quic check - can you move all your limbs and speak ? Is there a small fire burning on your forehead ??

SkepticOne

Like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LtsFxj2lNk&feature=related

Cú Giobach

whynotdo wrote: »

:D:D Cu nice to log on and get a laugh!

Seriously though,i have never seen a comet but AFAIK the non Armagedden type:) when they do appear don't appear to streak across the Sky,do they?

My impression is that they appear to hang around the night Sky when they reach human eye Magnitude for at least a few nights.Is this the case or not

Yea (thankfully) we don't really see them moving, just slowly changing positions relative to the stars etc as they approach and then as they leave (unless they fall into the sun)..
Though if one was heading directly towards us, for the last day or two we wouldn't see it moving just getting bigger and bigge.......

whynotdo

Cú Giobach wrote: »

Though if one was heading directly towards us, for the last day or two we wouldn't see it moving just getting bigger and bigge.......

Well if that happens i will promptly get rid of My book on the big bang and rush out to get a copy of the Bible,and i bet i wont be the only one!:)

Cheers for reply

Cú Giobach

whynotdo wrote: »

Well if that happens i will promptly get rid of My book on the big bang and rush out to get a copy of the Bible,and i bet i wont be the only one!:)

If you're gonna bring religious books maybe copies of the Koran and Torah, also a copy of the Vedas and a list of the Buddas teachings wouldn't be amiss. Just in case.
I often thought about where I'd go if a large impact was inevitable, somewhere with a good view, but not too close, so I would have enough time to appreciate the proceedings, before "re-seeding" the cosmos with my atoms.

slade_x

Cú Giobach wrote: »

If a comet makes a "flashing streak" of light the chances of you posting about it on an internet forum could be pretty slim.

You do realise that the number one cause of our most prominent meteor showers are because of comets, a micro/fragment of a comet could most certainly and does illuminate our night skies to some extent. A meteor does not neccessarily have to be meteroids (debris from asteroid field or general space debris) caught in earths gravity

The orionids meteor shower is caused by debris left behind by halleys comet.

Cú Giobach

slade_x wrote: »

You do realise that the number one cause of our most prominent meteor showers are because of comets, a micro/fragment of a comet could most certainly and does illuminate our night skies to some extent. A meteor does not neccessarily have to be meteroids (debris from asteroid field or general space debris) caught in earths gravity

The orionids meteor shower is caused by debris left behind by halleys comet.

Yes I am quite aware what can cause a meteor or a meteor shower, and a meteor is not usually a comet.
There is a slight difference between "debris left by a comet" and "a comet".

Anita Blow

I saw this too! Completely forgot because I was locked.Only remember it because of this thread :P
It was so bright. Vaguely remember it being blueish/silvery?
Never seen a comet/meteor before that!

Cú Giobach

Just so there is no confusion, this is what a (particularly bright) comet looks like, and they appear to just hang in the sky for a period of weeks or months.
The one pictured above (Comet McNaught) was visible for about 2 months in 2007.

slade_x

Cú Giobach wrote: »

Great pic

djhaxman

slade_x wrote: »

Great pic

+1. One for the other picture thread.

whynotdo

Cú Giobach wrote: »

"re-seeding" the cosmos with my atoms.

NOoooooooooooooooooo the very thought of Humankind filling the Cosmos with our Atoms:(

We Would spread unenLIGHTend Pollution everywhere;)

NoQuarter

Cú Giobach wrote: »

Just so there is no confusion, this is what a (particularly bright) comet looks like, and they appear to just hang in the sky for a period of weeks or months.
The one pictured above (Comet McNaught) was visible for about 2 months in 2007.

Aaaaah Cape Town....how i miss you!

Guill

Well i'm glad someone else seen it, the ground did light up it flash twice as it made its way, i seen it go west to east, and made no noise, if i could draw it, i could explain better. It wased blue/silver/orange. Amazing..

I dont know what the technical term for it was, comet, meteorite, orionide etc etc. I reported it to astronomy ireland to see what they say. NO need for people to be sarcastic.

newmug

I saw something at 18:30 yesterday, in the west. I took photos, I'll post them later. It was indeed like a comet. It was moving extremely slowly, as I compared it with an ESB pole, took half an hour to pass it. I was in Kildare / Meath at the time.

jimmynokia

Dave! wrote: »

Did it look like this? :pac:



Just kidding... Dunno what it'd be

i got a box of these the other day was thinking of making a big circle of them
tying them all together imaging what that would start lol

backboiler

Simple answer: sounds like a meteorite, which is a bit of rock and metal coming from open space, hits the Earth's atmosphere and rubbing off that air heats it up so much it glows white hot and burns up before it reaches the ground. If you saw blue, there was probably cobalt in it. Orange may indicate iron.
You saw something fairly rare (for any given person or place on Earth).

ihavequestions

SkepticOne wrote: »

Like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LtsFxj2lNk&feature=related

Wow if you saw something like that I'm SO jealous!!

Guill

SkepticOne wrote: »

Like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LtsFxj2lNk&feature=related

Extremely simular to that, Flashed twice and was at a less acute angle to the horizon.

ihavequestions

Wow.... some of it may have actually hit the Earth somewhere so , true?

Guill

As little as i know about it i'd still asume that it could have been a huge distance away, travelling at huge speed and even though it looked like it was heading east from my perspective it could have actually been travellin left to right and away from me. It would be amazing to actually know if it did get through the athmosphere(not burnt up) and hit land.

niallb

I remember catching several glimpses of Halleys comet in 1986, and it was visible to some extent for quite a few months if you knew where to look, and had good binoculars. It was pretty dim from Ireland anyway, but it's quite something to know you were watching the same object that had been predicted over 250 years ago. At 75-76 years cycle, it's not one a lot of people get to see twice. You'd need some serious equipment to see it as anything more than a dim star.

backboiler

Guill wrote: »

As little as i know about it i'd still asume that it could have been a huge distance away, travelling at huge speed and even though it looked like it was heading east from my perspective it could have actually been travellin left to right and away from me. It would be amazing to actually know if it did get through the athmosphere(not burnt up) and hit land.

It would have become visible at about 100 km up and they typically travel at about 50 km per second (100,000 mph).
It'd definitely sting if you got a skite of it.