What was it i saw.

[louie]

no big mystery here im sure, just curious about something i saw.

in bed sunday night about 11 o clock and kinda looking out the window when there was a flash shot towards the ground outside. i live in a apartment block, it only lasted maybe a second the tail of the thing looked like it made the flash but as i said disapered in a second. i couldent tell how far away it was, but i think it was quite near and it was small.

Do you think it may have been a small piece of rock coming from space. or any ideas on what it may have been.

On a side note, i would love to have seen what area it was heading for, go searching see if i could find me a piece of space rock.

[MID]

no big mystery here im sure, just curious about something i saw.

in bed sunday night about 11 o clock and kinda looking out the window when there was a flash shot towards the ground outside. i live in a apartment block, it only lasted maybe a second the tail of the thing looked like it made the flash but as i said disapered in a second. i couldent tell how far away it was, but i think it was quite near and it was small.

Do you think it may have been a small piece of rock coming from space. or any ideas on what it may have been.

On a side note, i would love to have seen what area it was heading for, go searching see if i could find me a piece of space rock.

Sounds like your typical micrometeorite entering the Earth's atmosphere, louie.

There's a great deal of energy put out by very tiny particulates of ice or rock or whatever, which typically enter the atmosphere aloft at velocities as high as 80,000 feet per second. A grain-of-sand sized object at that velocity will produce quite a bright trail. It'll only last a second or so...perhaps less, because it will totally vaporize in that time.

It's essentially imposible to tell how far away such an apparition is precisely, since you don't really know it's actual velocity. But you can bank on the fact that it's probably at an altitude of perhaps 60-70 miles when you see. If you know it's approximate elevation and can estimate it's span across the sky, it would be possible, to estimate its distance, assuming a given velocity.

But it was at least 60 miles away most likely if it was directly overhead.

I think the bottom line was that you saw a bright meteor or meteorite enter the atmosphere.

[louie]

Yeah thanks, that sounds about right.

I kinda guessed but just wanted to clarify.

It is the first time ive seen something like that and it was pretty cool, even if it was just for a second.

Thanks again.

[MID]

Yeah thanks, that sounds about right.

I kinda guessed but just wanted to clarify.

It is the first time ive seen something like that and it was pretty cool, even if it was just for a second.

Thanks again.

You're welcome!