Watching for meteorites this month

There will be about 45 asteroids coming past the earth this month, another 25 due in February, and 15 in March. We just went through a meteor shower earlier in January, but this is different from that. These are the kind that hit Russia a year or so ago. The largest one, which is due to zoom by earth on Monday, January 12th, is over a mile across. Hopefully, it will stay out there in its orbit, and not impact earth; but even so, we might be able to see the fireball of it comes close enough.

From what i have been reading, we are having more meteorite sightings lately. I don't know if this is due to the asteroids coming by, or just from the meteor shower we went through; but in any case, if you are outside at night, watch the sky for one of these passing overhead. When I lived in Idaho, I saw one that totally lit up the sky one night! It had a bright greenish light, and a tail streaking out behind like a comet has. I watched it go overhead, and then disappear behind the treeline. I don't know where it crashed; but I heard the boom and felt the ground shake when it impacted.

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/2...january-through-march-should-humans-worry.htm

 

If one comes across your area of the world, you should be able to see it, city or not, at least if it comes by at night. The one that i saw in Idaho lit up the whole night sky around me, almost like daylight, but with a greenish tinge to it. The fireball itself was spectacular, streaking across the shy with a long green tail behind it about like a comet has.

I just stood there and stared as I watched it streaking by overhead, and almost before I could comprehend what I was seeing; it has disappeared into the treeline behind my house. A few seconds later, I heard the boom as it crashed to earth, and felt the ground shaking.

It was an amazing experience!!

 

Pffft... It seems that every time there's asteroid or meteor activity, the weather here is either cloudy, rainy or foggy. I can't remember the last time I saw any sky events like that. I mean it's been years!

 

It is really cloudy here today, too, MacGyver. Unless it is pretty spectacular, we are not apt to see anything either. But we have members here from a lot of different areas; so maybe someone will see something. And if one does come by and hits somewhere, it should be all over Youtube by the next day. We have three months of asteroid activity, according to the article; so there is a good possiibility that at least one of them will be seen by someone.

Here is an interesting tutorial on what will be happening in our sky this month, and what planetsto look for, if we do get some clear skies, and are bundled up well enough to go outside and look.

 

You don't seem to understand. I don't care about anybody else. It's all about ME. I wanna see some asteroids!!!!

Ahem... getting back to reality now. There's an astronomy club near where I work that sets up free viewing telescopes whenever there's an event like this. Unfortunately, what I said about the clouds and stuff has more than just me frustrated. The times they've actually been able to view something out of the ordinary have been few and far between.

 

Yet another reason I go out to the western part of Maryland. I live only a few miles from Baltimore City which is lit up all night long. On a clear night out west you can see the Milky Way with your naked eyes. I don't have a telescope (yet), but I do have a half way decent pair of binoculars that has a tripod mount. If I knew the weather would cooperate, I'd go camping just see see an asteroid, or a comet or whatever else might be whizzing by Earth.

 

Sharing an experience... [a page from my trip journal]

It was exceptionally warm that early morning when Blazer and I made our way to Out Camp. At the highest elevation of the old Camp Hilltop there was a large rock formation that still had a bit of warmth from the hot sun from the previous day. I rolled out my Hudson's Bay blanket and laid down to look up into the skies. Blazer, my Golden Retriever, cuddled up beside me. I focused my binoculars to get a better view of a sensational event taking place that would not happen again for thousands of years.

But here I was with Blazer in the wee hours of a July morning looking up at this phenomenon, appreciating this fabulous opportunity of a life time. The last appearance had been some 4,200 years ago and here I was in 1997 witnessing this Wonder of Creation.

The instance was especially quiet - there wasn't any wind, not even a breeze; nor did I hear anything else stirring, not even a cricket, and it was dark. I just lay there looking up startling myself with my own voice as I spoke to Blazer. He didn't seem to appreciate what I was saying so I remained quiet as I observed the Wonder.

It chilled suddenly, so having seen enough, I rolled up the blanket and we meandered down the trail back to our tent. As I lay on my cot, I said, "Truly amazing, and I have seen it." With that I rolled over, snuggled into my pillow and was soon peacefully asleep.


The comet Hale-Bopp

- ENJOY WHAT YOU SEE THIS DAY and be glad that you have been able to do that. -​

 

Today, I was looking for some new information about the asteroids, hoping to see if anyone had seen the big one when it came past, or maybe find a picture. I didn't find any pictures; but I did find this interesting webpage that has a map showing the last 25 meteorites to strike the earth worldwide. What surprised me was that most of them landed somewhere in the United States! Since the ones we usually seem to hear about have landed or exploded over Russia, and the last one over Romania; it seems like we don't usually hear about any landing here in America.

I guess we must just get smaller ones landing here, which is perfectly fine with me. This page has the map of where they have landed, and the dates and sizes of the known ones that will be coming by in the close future. MacGyver, maybe you will get a clear sky on at least one of those occasions.

http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com/2015/01/neos-asteroids-close-approaches-january.html

 

All right, MacGyver, if it isn't too stormy where you are; tonight is the night when the closest asteroid is going to come past the earth! They said you will need either a telescope or very strong pair of binoculars to see it. We have a heavy cloud cover here; so there is no way we could see it even if we had a telescope, plus there are trees all around us that block out everything except the part of the sky that is directly overhead.

Maybe tomorrow, there should be some pictures of it online. And hopefully, it won't get any closer than the three moon-distances that it is right now.

http://rt.com/news/225959-asteroid-closest-approach-earth/

 

LOL What'd I say before? MAJOR snow in the area. Not as bad as further north where they're getting blitzed, but it's thick enough that the sky looks about 500 feet high.

 

Snow...snow...snow...snow...BUT...the days are starting to get longer and the camping shows are about to begin. Yahoo!!!!

 

No exaggeration at all. I said we didn't get hit like up north, but it did snow for two days here, wiping out any chance of viewing any celestial events. The shutdowns confuse even me. We get snow often enough that people should be used to dealing with it by now. Definitely not the case. People don't know how to drive here when it's sunny and dry. Ice, snow, rain just magnify the stupidity.

 

I suppose that you were fogged in again last night. We certainly were down here; but there was apparently an enormous meteor that went over and was seen from Ohio through New York, and lit up the sky like the sun according to some of the reports.
Here is the picture of it from the NASA observatory.
Did any of you that live up in that area by any chance see this thing ? ?

 

We weren't fogged in - we were snowed in. FINALLY! I love watching the panic on the news as they try to explain to people what this white stuff is that's falling from the sky and how to deal with it. Like we've never seen snow on the east coast... I'm going out four-wheelin' later to see all the abandoned cars and cars in ditches

 

Now, Canada is apparently having UFO's crash up there. The strange disk-shaped craft skidded along the ice on the lake (Lake Winnipeg, it looks like), and then partially sank into the water. People in the area were told to evacuate, and those that were takeing pictures either had the cameras confiscated, or were actually detained by law enforcement.
The military is claiming that it was some sort of a military exercise; but local residents are wondering why it has to be kept such a secret in that case.
So, @Northern Dancer , I have been wondering if this is anywhere close to where you live, or were doing your winter camping at, and if so........did you happen to see this UFO ? ?
We already know that MacGyver didn't see this phenomenon, since he would have either had cloudy overcast skies, or more snowstorm, as per usual. Or maybe his hat was just too far down over his sunglass-covered eyes ? ?

http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2015/02/ufo-crash-reported-in-manitoba-denied-by-canadian-forces/

 

Interesting discussion. I've looked up information about the famous Lake Winnipeg UFO situation. So...what was the final analysis? In conclusive. Apparently there wasn't any camera confiscated. But...it would depend on who's report you want to read. We have a Federal Agency that citizens are encouraged to report situations of peculiar activity.

The rumour of the crash became stronger when photos were posted of Canadian Forces vehicles in the area, with some people claiming the military was there to contain a UFO crash site.

But it was not a UFO at all, says Lt.-Col. Paul Davies, commanding officer 38 Territorial Battalion Group, which is involved in an Arctic Response Company Group training exercise on Lake Winnipeg this week.

About 150 military personnel are taking part in Exercise Arctic Bison 2015, which includes the 38 Canadian Brigade Group, the 2nd Battalion of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, the 4th Canadian Ranger Patrol Group, and 440 Squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Davies said soldiers are training to deal with a plane crash and provide ground search and rescue support in the Arctic.

Lake Winnipeg is a large, 24,514-square-kilometre (9,465 sq mi) lake in central North America, in the province of Manitoba, Canada, with its southern tip about 55 kilometres (34 mi) north of the city of Winnipeg. It is the largest lake within the borders of southern Canada, and it is part of the most undeveloped large watershed of southern Canada.

Lake Winnipeg is the sixth-largest freshwater lake in Canada, and the third-largest freshwater lake contained entirely within Canada, but it is relatively shallow (mean depth) of 39 feet.

Winnipeg is 2,229 km [1,385 miles] from where I live in Ontario.

BUT I DO HAVE ONE EXPERIENCE THAT I CAN SHARE...

A number of years ago I was out with my cabin group on an overnight camp. As we lay there looking up into the skies searching for the timed satellites we saw another white light travelling across the sky. No sooner had we seen that one when we observed two others - all three travelling across the firmament. We ruled out aircraft because of the incredible speed the objects were moving. Lots of immediate interest and discussion occurred. When we got back to camp I contacted the University of Toronto [Astronomy and Astrophysics] and they reported that they were not aware of any situation. So...it has remained a mystery ever since. BUT... I saw what I saw and there were others too.



Members of the Arctic Response Company Group drive across frozen Lake Winnipeg during Exercise Arctic Bison 2015. (Master Corporal Cameron Skrypnyk Department of Nation Defence)

 

FOLLOW UP - there are sure a lot of pictures on the net for confiscated cameras.