Another Slow Mystery Fireball Spotted across San Diego, Southland, Orange, Corona, Phoenix, Vegas

shooting star?!? seems kinda slow! again like the other mystery 'fireballs of april'

but the NWS says most likely a meteor

what do u think?

There's a media shower supposedly going on right now isn't there?

reply to post by BiggerPicture


well if the MSM are coming out and denying that it was a Transformer, then we know that it was DEFIANTLY Optimus Prime ..

BTW.. the video of the object isn't clear enough to make out what it is. So the only way of knowing is to find any fragments that had possibly survived.

Originally posted by Babooshka77
There's a media shower supposedly going on right now isn't there?

Yes call Lyrids meteor shower on for 19,20,21,22
Happy hunting

Just look at it again and it does not behave like a meteor no trail coming of it
Since when do meteors go from side to side ?
Look more like the TR37B or triangle UFO

So where did it land or did it burn up?

It must have been big!!!! So where is it?

Since when do meteors go from side to side?



I'm telling you.

The Darkest Hour is coming...And you better run!!!

huh, I live in the high desert. I wish i saw it lol.

It's gonna happen. They''re making it obvious.

As the above poster said, meteors don't go back and forth.

It's like a wave, Hey guys, we're real! ttyl!

A meteor traveling in our atmosphere would move some what erraticly due to its uneven shape...and even more so as it shape was altered by the fact that it is falling apart the further it goes in our atmosphere.

There is NO WAY that thing was a meteor!
I can't say what it is...but I can say what it isn't.

I actually got lucky and saw what could have only been a meteor...it was one dismal Christmas about 11 years ago, away from home, in this god-forsaken town called Kermit in the next state over to the East...and my boyfriend and I just happened to look up at the sky at the same right moment and WOW...it was cool because we both saw it and it was like a Christmas fireball sent to cheer us up...you know how the holidays make you sappy when you are not at home...

And it was more like this one which is more likely a meteor:



That's like the one we saw, except maybe the first leading chunk of meteorite was somewhat larger in proportion to the trailing pieces.

Here are two more examples:






The biggest indication that the slow-moving rainbow light ball is NOT anything coming rapidly from outer space into our atmospheric system...is that it is not on fire!

Even the Apollo moon missions ended up in a fiery re-entry into the ocean because it is pretty much obligatory to be burned to a crisp from the friction created between the re-entry object's outer surface and the increasingly resistant atmospheric layers.

I can't believe the reporter on the OP video actually said "All the things we expect with a meteor," or something like that, after including changing color in the list given!
All the things I expected were ABSENT.
Those colors, except iffy on the blue, but orange and green changing colors up there like that are the same colors as the auroras at the poles - the certain color is due to whatever gas it is that is ionized, made into plasma.

reply to post by queenannie38


The first video you posted is probably a re-entry, not a meteor.

The second video you posted is probably a military aircraft firing up it's afterburner.

The third video you posted is of a sun-lit aircraft contrail.

For some real examples of meteors check out this meteor compilation:


Note that at least two of the clips (at 1:22 and 1:39) are probably reentries.

Not sure what you were trying to say about the colours, but vivid colors are very common with bright meteors and fireballs: They can also be multiple colours or change colour mid-flight.

Can fireballs appear in different colors?

Vivid colors are more often reported by fireball observers because the brightness is great enough to fall well within the range of human color vision. These must be treated with some caution, however, because of well-known effects associated with the persistence of vision. Reported colors range across the spectrum, from red to bright blue, and (rarely) violet.

Source: The American Meteor Society Fireball FAQs

Originally posted by queenannie38
The biggest indication that the slow-moving rainbow light ball is NOT anything coming rapidly from outer space into our atmospheric system...is that it is not on fire!

Technically, a meteor is not on fire. There is not enough oxygen at the altitudes at which meteors are luminous, for them to be "on fire", or for combustion to take place. You hinted on the right lines at the end of your post, regarding "plasma", which is produced by a meteoroid slamming into atmospheric molecules, ionizing them and making them glow/emit light. The process is known as ablation.

Regarding the event in question, it's difficult to tell if it is a real meteor, but I would say that it's possible.

Originally posted by mileysubet
A meteor traveling in our atmosphere would move some what erraticly due to its uneven shape...and even more so as it shape was altered by the fact that it is falling apart the further it goes in our atmosphere.

You would think so, but that is not the case usually.

Can you post me a single example of a genuine meteor that has a non-straight track across the sky?

Most meteors are not even close to being perfectly aerodynamic spheres, yet most meteors (by a long way) tend to follow a straight (more or less) path.

Have a look at the photographs on this page for example.

Anomalous meteor phenomena like "spiraling" meteors and "curving" meteors are observed from time to time, but they are not common - see the following page: Anomalous Meteor Phenomena

reply to post by FireballStorm


thanks for the anomalous meteor page link that was an interesting read




Images from Nasa AllSkyFireballNetwork

reply to post by BiggerPicture


I am going with the childs input, possible transformer (first sense) Seems more debris effecting the atmosphere wonder if its related to this


"UFO Burns Up Over Christchurch & Wellington NZ" - 'We have NO idea what it is!'

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Originally posted by FireballStorm

Originally posted by mileysubet
A meteor traveling in our atmosphere would move some what erraticly due to its uneven shape...and even more so as it shape was altered by the fact that it is falling apart the further it goes in our atmosphere.

You would think so, but that is not the case usually.

Can you post me a single example of a genuine meteor that has a non-straight track across the sky?

Most meteors are not even close to being perfectly aerodynamic spheres, yet most meteors (by a long way) tend to follow a straight (more or less) path.

Have a look at the photographs on this page for example.

Anomalous meteor phenomena like "spiraling" meteors and "curving" meteors are observed from time to time, but they are not common - see the following page: Anomalous Meteor Phenomena

edit on 20-4-2012 by FireballStorm because: typo

Do you have proof that it was not an anomalous meteor? Also you are stating that we as humans have observed every random meteor and recorded that data since recorded history and taken that in to account right? You have also taken into account the several millions of years of un-recorded history I assume...Oh you haven't, well then I suppose your theory is just another theory then.

Didn't think so..move along.

May lighning come down and strike me in my testicles if we haven't been officially and formerly introduced to our extended family this year!!

Originally posted by Screwed
May lighning come down and strike me in my testicles if we haven't been officially and formerly introduced to our extended family this year!!

edit on 21-4-2012 by Screwed because: (no reason given)

Ah, we can hope that your reproductive organs will bear such a suffrage.

Originally posted by mileysubet
Do you have proof that it was not an anomalous meteor?

That's a little like asking someone to prove that god does not exist. Do you not know that it's impossible to prove a negative?

Obviously not, otherwise you'd be admitting to asking a question that has no point to it (AKA "trolling").

Let me reverse/rephrase the question - Is there anything to indicate that this meteor behaved other than normally?

Originally posted by mileysubet
Also you are stating that we as humans have observed every random meteor and recorded that data since recorded history and taken that in to account right?

Not at all.

But the fact of the matter is that scientists have been studying meteors for around 200 years, although the greatest leaps were made during the period from 1890 to 1950. Meteor observing has followed suit, along with photographic observations.

More reading on the subject here:
The Scientific Study of Meteors in the 19th Century

So we may not have recorded every meteor, but that does not mean we have not recorded enough data to know that anomalous meteors are very few and far between.

That was all I was trying to say.

My own experience of nearly 15 years photographing and observing meteors also tallies with this - out of perhaps 10,000 (perhaps more) meteors I've observed I've only ever seen one anomalous (in terms of the path the meteor took) meteor, which was a very long (earthgrazing) meteor that had an apparently curved path.

Originally posted by mileysubet
You have also taken into account the several millions of years of un-recorded history I assume...

Absolutely.

Just because something is millions of years old, does not necessarily mean that all traces of it vanish. Just look up at the moon and you will see a record of what has been happening for millions of years.

Whilst the moon might not provide direct evidence for what we are discussing here, we do have a record of meteorites from Antarctica that stretches back many tens of thousands of years, and that is relevant here because the meteorites give us clues about aerodynamics and the general physics involved.

Originally posted by mileysubet
Oh you haven't, well then I suppose your theory is just another theory then.

Didn't think so..move along.

Actually, theory (I'm not sure it even deserves this name since there is no evidence to back it up) is what I'd call this post you made:

Originally posted by mileysubet
A meteor traveling in our atmosphere would move some what erratically due to its uneven shape...and even more so as it shape was altered by the fact that it is falling apart the further it goes in our atmosphere.

What I have posted in this thread is not theory, but what 100's of years of scientific observation and study, as well as 100s of thousands of photographs show us to be true: Despite most meteoroids likely having irregular shapes, the vast majority travel an apparently straight and un-vearing path.

You are saying that the do - well then, show us some evidence that "most meteors take an anomalous path". There are plenty of meteor photographs on the net, that are non-anomalous. If your "theory" is correct, then there should be lots.

PS - We do know why irregular meteoroids make mostly straight meteors as they plunge through the sky. Firstly even quite irregular objects stabilize quickly, due to a natural tendency to find the most aerodynamic orientation (think how a dart orientates itself if you toss it straight up in the air).

Secondly, as material is stripped away from the outer layers of the meteoroid ("ablation"), the parts that tend to cause instabillity (jutting out parts of the meteoroid) are worn or ablated away quickest since they offer the most resistance, which tends to shape the meteoroid into a more streamlined shape that is more stable.

Like this one for example:

Middlesbrough meteorite on display in Dorman Museum

Originally posted by FireballStorm

The first video you posted is probably a re-entry, not a meteor.

The second video you posted is probably a military aircraft firing up it's afterburner.

First one is probably correct and hopefully, there's no one inside!!

2nd comment is wrong. Afterburners don't leave a long trail and a brilliant head, just a very short, consistent incandescent plume. And the object does seem to follow a ballistic path

reply to post by BiggerPicture


interesting. the video looks nothing like a shooting star, but what other people describes does. hmm. I live in the area where this allegedly happened. Havent heard anyone talk about it yet tho.