Green Meteor Sighting

Not sure where to put this or if it's even worth posting.

I just witnessed - 11 45pm , a green meteor fall to the south near US Canada border (BC, Washington)
I'm assuming it was a meteor, the bright green was unusual, it was about one third of the moon in size.

its too cold to be outside or are you just staring out your window?
did it streak through the clouds?

I dont know if its a type of metal or gas that makes them green but ive seen one myself.


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reply to post by violet


I saw the very same thing a year earlier. It was a big, green light leaving a dusty trace that disappeared extremely fast, over Quebec. I have no idea what that thing was but I swear it was an awesome night.

Copper sulfate?
Lucky, I wish I saw it

Probably nickel or magnesium.

They'll burn greenish

reply to post by violet


Earth is passing through the debris field of comet Tempel-Tuttle right now...

www.imo.net...

I was really looking forward to watching the meteor shower tonight but these damned clouds rolled in. SUCKS!

That's really interesting though.

my friend just posted this on his facebook

Was just outside with the roomate and we wintnessed something in the sky we couldn't explain. It didn't move and had incredibly bright lights. The lights were flashing red-blue-red-blue-red-blue. It stayed in the same place for the 20 minutes that we were out there for. Here's the best part: I got pictures. The pictures make this experience that much weirder... Pics and vid to come.

in the same area as OP.

edit: was just outside. its kind of creepy out there for sure. lol...who knows

Originally posted by strafgod
I dont know if its a type of metal or gas that makes them green but ive seen one myself.

 

Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

 

Probably a copper compound. They also can change color as they burn through different compounds. A lot of this about.

Cool...I saw a huge green one here in Jersey back in September. It was more like a fireball. Damn thing scared the hell out of me it was so big. Then after the shock I realized how lucky I was to see that. They do have meteor reporting sites. Check to see who else saw it.

reply to post by Chadwickus

*wave
Chad will we see it? I'm in Townsville Australia
I just went outside, and didnt see anything, there are a few dark grey clouds but mostly clear here.

reply to post by Whateva69


It's possible you'll see something, it's very mild though but with patience and a bit of luck, you spot one or two.

Watch in the direction of the moon, which will unfortunately make it harder to see the meteors.

EDIT: Best viewing for Australia was this morning...

Some more information HERE

reply to post by WakeUpRiseUp


It could also be a compound of aluminum, many of those burn green.

Was there any sound associated with your sighting?

I wonder cause it sounds like it could be very large.

Super man if you can hear me pls stay out of this area .
I will send a detail there to enclose the piece of kryptonite in lead to ensure your safety .
Your regular schealded program may now continue

The Leonid meteor showers are going on right now as well...(11/17-11/19)

I used to like to throw copper into a bonfire to watch the green flames. Pennies work also, there is actually still copper in pennies, a big hole in Utah near Salt Lake City verifies that assumption.

reply to post by Whateva69


How did you go?

Sorry to have to burst everyone's bubbles, but the observed colours of meteors probably have very little to do with their composition (as I have said on many occassions here on ATS in the past - don't people search any more???).

From probably the best source on the internet for scientific discussions regarding meteors:

I don't believe there is much evidence to support the idea that meteor
color (as seen with the eye) has much relationship to the meteoroid
composition- at least, when we are talking about fireballs. There is good evidence, however, that the color is mainly the from ionization of atmospheric gas- especially oxygen. I've personally collected images of
several bright fireballs through a 501 nm narrow band (6 nm) filter,
which argues for a very strong [OIII] component to the light.

FWIW, a quick review of the meteor reports (nearly all fireballs) I've
received in the last 11 years shows this:

9110 reports total
3735 (41%) report some sort of color
3069 (82% of those reporting color) report some shade of green

I've long since concluded that bright fireballs are almost always green.
The exceptional cases are those which are not (and these are almost
always reported as white).

The only other color that tends to show up in witness descriptions is
red/orange, and a close look reveals that this is almost always at the
end of the path, when it is easily explained as the output of a cooling
blackbody radiator.

Chris

*******************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory

Source: METEOROBS (The Meteor Observing mailing list)



If any of you have been lucky enough to see the auroura as well as a green meteor, you may have noticed that the greens are almost identical, and that is no accident... it's the oxygen in our atmosphere that responsible for both.

One other thing that should always be kept in mind when discussing colour is that it is very subjective/relative. This very experienced meteor observer says:

I think no two people perceive color exactly the same. We grow up being told
various objects, etc. are certain colors and we learn that, even tho each person
may not be seeing exactly the same tones, hues, etc. My parents once owned a
car that to my eyes was "dark blue" or at the very greenest "very slightly
greenish dark blue"; but my mother and my sister insisted that the car was
"green".

Some of this is also noticed when observing double stars - even when they are
far enough apart that one star can be gotten out of the telescope's field of
view - so as to not have the contrast effect "messing up" the color
determination. If there are only three or four people this can be an
interesting project observing double stars and each person writing down the
colors they see without comment and then after all have viewed a particular pair
comparing the results; also later comparing the results with published sources.

I have observed around 40,000 meteors. Of these fewer than 5 were truly green.
The brightest was a mag. -3 Geminid. Fairly bright shower fireballs often start
out yellow or orange, but at peak brightness are usually white. I have seen
quite a few fireballs in the mag -4 to mag -8 range that I would describe as
very pale blue, blue-white, or pale greenish blue (these often starting out
yellow or orange). I once observed the Perseids with a person who said most of
the bright Perseids were green. To me the same meteors were either white or
pale yellow.

One of the most beautiful meteors I ever saw was a South Taurid in late
September which was a scintillating ball of blue-white sparkles (like the
"flare" from a very bright object, such as a welder's torch) nearly as big as
the Moon with an orange wake several degrees long - magnitude probably -12 ?)

As for red meteors - I have seen only 5 or 6 that I would call truly red - but a
fair number of red-orange or deep orange meteors. (We must remember that many
persons call Arcturus and Aldeberan red stars - tho they are actually more
orange.) The brightest and slowest sporadics I have seen were all yellow or
orange or deep orange thruout their paths (mag -8 to mag -12).

I have not seen many truly blue meteors.

Paul Martsching

Source: METEOROBS (The Meteor Observing mailing list)

Personally I have seen quite a few vivid green meteors (and even photographed them), but the vast majority were seen during the Leonid meteor storm of 2001. Many of the meteors I observed that night looked green over at least some of their path across the sky. They usually started out green when they became visible, and if they lasted long enough, they would turn yellow, then orange followed by red. You can see this if you search for photographs from that night, like this one I found:

reply to post by Chadwickus

nah i didnt see any, but then again i couldnt see the moon either though it was really light outside

edit: doh i just read your edit on the other post, it looks like i didnt go out at the right time. bugger