Last Sunday night (30th) we ran down to the park to join a neighbor who had sent out an impromptu email, “join me for star-gazing — conditions good. Mars doing its thing.”
So a small party of about 6 neighbors huddled in the Autumn cold, looking through his telescope as well as his 70X binoculars on a tripod.
Photo linked to on the NASA site: Above: a Taurid fireball photographed Oct. 28, 2005, by Hiroyuki Iida of Toyama, Japan.
We did the usual (to some it might be dull and boring, geeky even). We checked out the Andromeda galaxy (2.2 MILLION light years away) and the dustballs in the Hercules constellation.
But with the heavens, there’s always the special effects. As I was busy fiddling with my binoculars — I heard the gathered crew collectively ooooooh and awwwwwwwh.
An immense meteorite streaked across the sky and then literally “exploded” they said, in a giant fireworks burst.
Half an hour later, I too was a witness.
An unbelievable flare, gashed the night sky, clean across the horizontal — a long lazy tail and then a skipping explosion of light at the end. Brighter than the moon, had there been one.
The NASA site reports that fireballs, the Taurid meteorites, have been lighting up the skies around the world. This year seems to be an especially intense one for these unusual meteorites.
Their peak period is from the 4th through the 12th, so if you get a chance to see some dark sky, run out and do so, the fireballs are awesome.
[UDPATE] TO correct that little problem I have with zeros — billions should be millions.
Xposted at ePluribus Media Community
