Tracking Meteorites

[dduckwessel]

My daughter saw a huge fireball in the sky last night on her way home. It was approximately 12:40 a.m. She said it looked like it could have landed in Andrew, Alberta, Canada. It was red in colour with a short tail, coming in super fast. Any ideas what it was? I googled it but couldn't find anything.

[Turtle]

tracking simply "by eye" is nearly impossible. many meteors never make meteorites because the meteoroids burn up completely in the atmosphere. here's a piece you may find helpful. (note: meteoroid is the object while in space, meteor is the object as it passes through atmosphere & heats up, and meteorite is any material that survives the burn & falls to the surface.)

 

Meteor Tracking Networks

 

This paper details the evolution of meteor tracking networks from 1960 to the present. Meteor tracking depends on technology, interest, and mission philosophy. This paper will analyze the evolution of meteor tracking networks in terms of their era, mission, technology, and overall support for the future...

[dduckwessel]

tracking simply "by eye" is nearly impossible. many meteors never make meteorites because the meteoroids burn up completely in the atmosphere. here's a piece you may find helpful. (note: meteoroid is the object while in space, meteor is the object as it passes through atmosphere & heats up, and meteorite is any material that survives the burn & falls to the surface.)

 

Meteor Tracking Networks

 

Thanks for the link. My daughter said this one was huge and lit up the sky, so possibly it didn't all burn up in the atmosphere and there is debris. There have been an unusual amount of meteor's sited in Mid/Southern Alberta, Canada in the last little while. What is the cause of this? And is it true that the recent earthquake that generated the tsunami that devastated Japan was caused by a solar flare? If so, is it possible the increased meteror activity and the solar flares are related?

[Turtle]

Thanks for the link. My daughter said this one was huge and lit up the sky, so possibly it didn't all burn up in the atmosphere and there is debris.

 

yes; that's possible. i think there are contacts in that article that you could follow up on with your question about a specific meteor.

 

 

There have been an unusual amount of meteor's sited in Mid/Southern Alberta, Canada in the last little while. What is the cause of this?

 

is that sighted? sited? cited? :edizzy: anyway, what is your source of information? what is a usual amount & what is a last little while? maybe more people were looking up. :shrug:

 

And is it true that the recent earthquake that generated the tsunami that devastated Japan was caused by a solar flare? If so, is it possible the increased meteror activity and the solar flares are related?

 

no; it is not true the quake was caused by a solar flare. no; solar flares do not affect meteor activity. there was however an x-1 class flare on march 9^th. follow this link to see the report @ Spaceweather.com. >> march 9, 2011 @spaceweather. go to their main page to get daily reports as well as find links to explanatory articles on all the where's & whyfor's of solar activity as well as asteroid tracking and meteor reports & photos.

 

Spaceweather. com Main Page

[Turtle]

hey duck. (sorry; that's our only birdicon. :doh:) anyway, besides visual evidence of meteors, they cause a distinct radio echo of interest to amateurs & professionals alike. to whit:

 

spaceweather.com

Friday, Apr. 8, 2011

RIPPING FIREBALL: "There was a rippingly fine fireball over north central New Mexico on April 5th at 01:50 am MDT," reports amateur radio astronomer Thomas Ashcraft. "Signals from distant radio stations bounced off the meteor's trail as it shredded the ionosphere. Here is a movie I made with the radio echo in stereo at two frequencies. The full radio reflection lasted more than two minutes." NASA video:

 

more fireballs: from Marsha Adams of Sedona, Arizona

 

keep looking - and listening - up! :Music: :thumbs_up

[Turtle]

thought this would be of interest.

 

METEORITE ALERT: Bill Cooke, head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office has issued a meteorite alert for residents of small towns east of Cleveland, Ohio. There could be space rocks on the ground waiting to be found. "On August 8 at 1:22 Eastern Daylight Time, all-sky cameras belonging to the Southern Ontario Meteor Network detected a fireball entering the atmosphere 54 miles above Lake Erie (80.944 W, 41.945 N), moving SSE at 25 km/s (55,900 mph). There is high confidence that this meteor produced meteorites." For one thing, the debris appears to have produced echoes from KCLE's doppler radar in Cleveland; note the circled reflections:

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