Society for Popular Astronomy

[GeorgeC]

At 21:52:30 a super bright meteor flashed under Pegasus.


Much brighter than any stars - estimate about -8
Brilliant white, not much of a trail.
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6"&10" homemade Newtonians, ASA DDM60 mount, SXV-M25C camera, MPCC coma reducer, Carey Mask for focusing
Website - http://geoastro.co.uk/

[astro_dt]

Hi George
I saw this one too, I sent a report into the SPA Meteor section.
It was very bright, fast and seemed to fragment at the end.

I was just setting up my grab and go scope for M31. Didn't see any others, but this one was well worth it!

Cheers
Danny
_________________
ETX125 WO Z66SD Meade DSI Canon DSLR
http://www.astronomical-odds.co.uk
The question maybe "why?" but the answer is usually "why not?"

[GeorgeC]

I am delighted you saw it as well. I seem to have been lucky this year with bright meteors and was beginning to think I might be hallucinating!
_________________
6"&10" homemade Newtonians, ASA DDM60 mount, SXV-M25C camera, MPCC coma reducer, Carey Mask for focusing
Website - http://geoastro.co.uk/

[astro_dt]

No hallucination George, it will be interesting to see if the SPA receive any other reports to confirm.
Cheers
Danny
_________________
ETX125 WO Z66SD Meade DSI Canon DSLR
http://www.astronomical-odds.co.uk
The question maybe "why?" but the answer is usually "why not?"

[astro_dt]

Just had confirmation from another forum of another sighting
So three of us now!
_________________
ETX125 WO Z66SD Meade DSI Canon DSLR
http://www.astronomical-odds.co.uk
The question maybe "why?" but the answer is usually "why not?"

[mike a feist]

Given the recent interest in people trying to find Uranus, the first posting might be very useful. maf

[Alastair McBeath]

Sadly, nothing fresh has come through to the Section so far on this event, but there was another bright fireball caught visually, probably by radio, and imaged, around 03:08 UT on October 8-9, so only a few hours later. Early estimates suggest it may have been a Southern Taurid. See Klaas Jobse's website for the image, at:

http://cyclops.klaasjobse.nl/All-Sky/EN%2097%20Oostkapelle.htm .

Anyone else who spotted either fireball, or any others - meteors of magnitude -3 or brighter - from the British Isles or nearby is welcome to send a full report to the Meteor Section as soon as possible. The minimum details I need from you are:

1) Exactly where you were (name of the nearest town or large village and county if in Britain, or your geographic latitude and longitude if elsewhere in the world);

2) The date and timing of the event (please be sure to state whether this was in clock time, currently BST in Britain, or GMT/UT, which is BST minus one hour); and

3) Where the fireball started and ended in the sky, as accurately as possible, or where the first and last points you could see of the trail were if you didn't see the whole flight.

More advice and a fuller set of details to send are outlined on the "Fireball Observing" page of the SPA website, at: http://www.popastro.com/sections/meteor/fireball.htm .

Alastair McBeath,
Meteor Director, Society for Popular Astronomy.
E-mail: <meteor@popastro.com> (messages under 150 kB in size only, please)

[astro_dt]

Hi Alastair
I filled in the report form with as much detail as I could and sent it in on Thursday 9th. If you didn't get it please reply to my PM and I will resend
Thanks
Danny
_________________
ETX125 WO Z66SD Meade DSI Canon DSLR
http://www.astronomical-odds.co.uk
The question maybe "why?" but the answer is usually "why not?"

[Alastair McBeath]

Danny: I did get your message OK on October 9. My earlier posting here meant only that I hadn't had any reports from anyone else at that stage!

I've carried out preliminary analyses of both the ~20:52 and 03:08 UT fireballs from October 8-9 now.

The ~20:52 event may have flown on a roughly northerly to southerly track above eastern England, perhaps over Cambridgeshire to Kent, but this path is not tightly-constrained.

The 03:08 UT fireball may have passed approximately southeast to northwest from somewhere high above or near Rouen in northern France, to end over the Channel some way WNW of Dieppe.

Further investigation of both remains on-going, but is dependent on what more sightings are received for either - so if you too spotted one or both, please send me a full report as soon as possible!

Alastair McBeath,
Meteor Director, Society for Popular Astronomy.
E-mail: <meteor@popastro.com> (messages under 150 kB in size only, please)