Green meteor/fireball sighting?

I'm trying to find out if anyone in Northwest Louisiana sighted a a bright almost neon green object heading in a NW direction tonight around 2245 to 2255.

At around this time I observed an object with that description. It appeared to make landfall, but I observed no impact or flash of light. The object left no trail and appeared to be some type of meteor.

If anyone can help me, I would greatly appreciate it.

[edit on 12/12/08 by MikeboydUS]

OH NO , War of the Worlds for real, run run RUNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!

heh

Originally posted by DataWraith
OH NO , War of the Worlds for real, run run RUNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!

heh

It is posts like these that truly show the basement zit popping dwellers who cant contribute squat to a once great discussion website...

Mods...I am out of ignores, can you consider banning?

reply to post by DataWraith


My perspective might be off but if that's the case the tripods won't be much bigger than a trashcan, based on the perceived size.

After doing some research through Google, I don't think we have to worry though. It appears that green fireballs/meteors have been seen since the 1940s. One over Singapore was videotaped last year. No one seems to really know what they are, copper meteors(apparently rare), orbital junk with copper material, or something with some kind of copper make up that triggers a lime green light when superheated.

this type of thing isn't as uncommon as you think.

what happens is as the meteorite starts to burn up the gasses and metals that have been frozen inside are exposed to the flame, it changes the colour of the flame eg. zinc burns green

Usually, such colors are rather weak in appearance; however, vivid colors are occasionally reported, especially with fireballs. Reported colors range across the spectrum, from reds, yellows, greens, and blues, to gold, orange, and (infrequently violet. The velocity of the meteor also plays an important role, since a higher level of kinetic energy will excite the atoms/molecules to a higher degree.

www.meteorobs.org...



[edit on 12-12-2008 by iced_blue]

[edit on 12-12-2008 by iced_blue]

Originally posted by MikeboydUS
At around this time I observed an object with that description. It appeared to make landfall, but I observed no impact or flash of light. The object left no trail and appeared to be some type of meteor.

The Geminids are HERE...

Peak night will be Dec 13th.. but there should be good falls either side of that date...

hehe sorry couldn't resist after that TROLL

This is one of the best meteor showers of the year and never seems to disappoint observers.

This meteor shower gets the name "Geminids" because it appears to radiate from the constellation Gemini. An observer in the Northern Hemisphere can start seeing Geminid meteors as early as December 6, when one meteor every hour or so could be visible. During the next week, rates increase until a peak of 50-80 meteors per hour is attained on the night of December 13/14. The last Geminids are seen on December 18, when an observer might see a rate of one every hour or so.

meteorshowersonline.com...

reply to post by zorgon


Do they normally make landfall or reach low altitudes? This one made it to the tree tops when I lost sight of it behind houses and trees.

Originally posted by MikeboydUS
It appears that green fireballs/meteors have been seen since the 1940s.

Really? No kiddin?

Seen THIS thread?
Massive object crashes over Edmonton, Canada
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Historically, November has had some of the most exciting meteor displays on record, but, for the most part it is a slow month. The month begins with the peak of the Taurid meteor shower. Although this display generally produces rates of only 5-10 per hour when it peaks around November 4/5, it is notorious for spectacular fireballs that have led many astronomers to believe the meteor stream contains a large population of large pieces generally not present in other showers. The Leonid meteor shower peaks around the time of November 17/18. This display actually made the news from 1999 to 2002, when it produced rates of several hundred to several thousand per hour. But, alas, these times are over and the shower has dropped back to its normal mode of producing rates of 10-15 per hour at maximum.

meteorshowersonline.com...

Leonids are usually bright green as they are nickel/iron and nickel burns very bright green. Usually big ones will explode and create bolloids

Originally posted by solarstorm

Originally posted by DataWraith
OH NO , War of the Worlds for real, run run RUNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!

heh

It is posts like these that truly show the basement zit popping dwellers who cant contribute squat to a once great discussion website...

Mods...I am out of ignores, can you consider banning?

You obviously have either no sense of fun or no history of reading science fiction, it was meant a joke, if you cant take it or from your post even understand it then I hope that you read the book or even see the old film version?
And as for asking the mads to ban me? just goes to prove that you think yourself something your not.

And if you'd done your research before posting a blast like that you'd find out that I have contributed to quite a few threads on this site , both sincerely and with a hint of humour many times. .
Oh and as for this site being a 'great discussion' website, it probably was but with people saying I saw x and not take a picture is like me saying I've seen a elf.. All posts like these do is take up bandwidth. Sure ask questions by all means, but if people actually tried to get a picture on, ( the majority of people have a camera phone these days) and can quickly snap it , at least it could eliminate a lot of false answers.

End Quote and END rant.

Originally posted by MikeboydUS
Do they normally make landfall or reach low altitudes? This one made it to the tree tops when I lost sight of it behind houses and trees.

They appear to make land fall but not all do... they are meteors until they hit, then they become meteorites. They found pieces of the one in Canada... guy offered 10,000 bucks for a piece...

Bits were found on a frozen lake... just stuck in the ice

reply to post by iced_blue


It was definitely a Copper flame and not Zinc. Zinc has more of a blue green or true green color. This object had that neon lime color just like the flame from copper.

Originally posted by DataWraith
You obviously have either no sense of fun or no history of reading science fiction, it was meant a joke,

Well a guy comes in asking a serious question and right out of the gate he gets hit with your 'joke'?

Hmmm Now why would that make people think your a troll?

End Quote and END rant.

Apology accepted

reply to post by zorgon


You wouldn't happen to know where I could get some pics of a Nickel flame? I'm wanting to compare them to copper flames I have been looking at which are pretty much identical in color to what I observed. I can't seem to find any Nickel flame pictures on Google.

reply to post by MikeboydUS


Hey Mike,

As Zorgon said before, the green color is mainly due to gases (specifically Oxygen) in our atmosphere - not the composition of the meteoroid.

Most of the light produced by meteors comes from the 'bow-shock', where the air is compressed in front of the meteoroid. The compression results in air molecules becoming excited, and during this process they emit light. Oxygen when excited emits light at the OI forbidden line, which is green.

Check these links for more on the subject:
www.abovetopsecret.com...
www.abovetopsecret.com...

I heard of another incident like this but I haven't the faintest inkling of what it may be.

Originally posted by veryrandomannonomous
I heard of another incident like this but I haven't the faintest inkling of what it may be.

Helooooooooooo?

It's a meteor. Meteors occur all the time. Some are green.

Where in the posts above is anything else other than a meteor being suggested?

Deny ignorance!

Learn about meteors here: Seen a swift moving light in the sky? * Read this First*

the other incident contained a glowing green rod. Hoax or not, they are simalar. (I am refering to the other incident being a hoax)

reply to post by veryrandomannonomous


Which "other incident" are you referring to?

From the sound of it, it's "apples and oranges". Lots of things are green, but "green rods" and "meteors" is a bit like saying a green traffic light is somehow related to meteors...

Why are people so hung up on the color green? It's just a color!

Originally posted by C.H.U.D.
It's a meteor. Meteors occur all the time. Some are green.

Nice try C.H.U.D. but it won't work Its obvious that the meteor story is a coverup conspiracy...



Don't recall mentioning the oxygen in THIS thread but that is true... However the composition does play a role.

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. The dominant composition of a meteoroid can play an important part in the observed colors of a fireball, with certain elements displaying signature colors when vaporized. For example, sodium produces a bright yellow color, nickel shows as green, and magnesium as blue-white. The velocity of the meteor also plays an important role, since a higher level of kinetic energy will intensify certain colors compared to others. Among fainter objects, it seems to be reported that slow meteors are red or orange, while fast meteors frequently have a blue color, but for fireballs the situation seems more complex than that, but perhaps only because of the curiousities of color vision as mentioned above.

www.amsmeteors.org...

To Mike... I will see what I can find on the nickel flame... but you can buy some nickel salts from a chemistry supplier. Fireworks companies are a good source of info on the colors that stuff burns at seeing as that's what they base their living on.

One of the things we used to do was soak wood in various metal salts and use them in the fire pit...

Potassium Permanganate gives you red/purple (from the Manganese) Manganese can also give a rare violet



Sodium gives a bright yellow color when added to a flame.
Copper salts give green or blue colors depending on the specific salt used
Calcium or lithium salts give a pretty red color
Barium also gives you green

Sodium metal is kewl you ignite it by pouring water on it but be careful only a LITTLE water or it will explode (yet they made the Trans Atlantic cable out of sodium... remember what happened to Jaws when he bit the cable? It wasn't from electricity that cause the fire )


Too bad Chemistry is History in schools these days... you can hardly even find a decent Chemistry kit... and many of these chemicals are being outlawed in many stated because they can be used to make illegal fireworks and things like meth labs.

Had a cop looking for a guy with a gun in our neighborhood look in my garage as the side door was ajar... Next day the cops stopped by my house to question me on my lab

Got an official apology but so much for freedom huh? (my lab is a geology/ metallurgy lab) but cops only have drug lab in their head

Here is a pure Hydrogen flame... from Sandia Labs



Hope that helps your search

OH BTW the salts are usually a bright color, which is the same as the flame you will get (not always) and is the same color the mineral or crystal will be...






[edit on 12-12-2008 by zorgon]

Thought I should add THIS

Can a meteorite dropping fireball be observed all the way to impact with the ground?

No. At some point, usually between 15 to 20 km (9-12 miles or 48,000-63,000 feet) altitude, the meteoroid remnants will decelerate to the point that the ablation process stops, and visible light is no longer generated. This occurs at a speed of about 2-4 km/sec (4500-9000 mph).

From that point onward, the stones will rapidly decelerate further until they are falling at their terminal velocity, which will generally be somewhere between 0.1 and 0.2 km/sec (200 mph to 400 mph). Moving at these rapid speeds, the meteorite(s) will be essentially invisible during this final "dark flight" portion of their fall.

www.amsmeteors.org...

So you cannot SEE them make land fall