Whoa... cool! Just saw a beautiful shooting star.

[Zenlitened]

Meteorite, I believe is the proper term?

I was looking up at the Moon, wondering if the bright planet visible near it is Mars... when a shooting star streaked right across them both.

It flared at the end, like a match-stick being struck, lovely orange and yellow.

Nifty! :)

[Bill McBlueState]

1. yeah, that's Mars.

Thanks for the reminder; I'll go check that out! I bet they're pretty close by now.

[Zenlitened]

7. Thought so. It had a very orange-y cast to it. And the moon...

... was just amazing. The Harvest Moon, I think. I went out with my binoculars, and it was one of those nights when every detail was crystal-clear. I'm always amazed by that impact crater toward the bottom, that sent out streamers like a giant starfish over half the surface.

Here's a pic I found on Google:

[Up2Late]

12. I'm fairly sure the crater at the lower center is called the Copernicus...

...Crater, I think, I'd have to check to be sure. It's named for the Astronomer.

On Edit: Nope, just checked, that's the Tycho Crater, Copernicus is almost in the middle of the disk. Here's a link to an interactive Moon Map: <http://www.penpal.ru/astro/map.shtml>

How long (time wise) was the Meteor? I've seen a few that went for 2 to 3 seconds in the past, but those are rare.

[Zenlitened]

13. Wow, that's an awesome map -- thanks!

Wonder if it shows any magnetic anomalies around Tycho? :D

The meteor I spotted went 2 or 3 seconds, just as you describe. Only the second time in my life I've seen one like that. At the very last instant, it looked just like a match being struck. Neat-o.

:hi:

[Bernardo de La Paz]

2. Very cool

[MercutioATC]

3. I saw one on my way into work last night at about the same time...

(about 9:50pm)

[Zenlitened]

6. Yep, would have been right about that time.

Went from west to east. A beauty! I've only seen one other in all my years of looking at the night sky -- it crackled away in big fragments as it sped across the sky, bright yellow with a greenish glow at the edges. Yow! My eyes nearly popped right out of my head. :)

[MercutioATC]

8. The one I saw went from east to west..bright orange (Ohio).

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. 'Meteorite' is the term for one that lands

One that burns up completely in the air is 'meteor'.

[Zenlitened]

5. Thanks!

I was thinking "ite" as in too small to reach the ground. :D

[greyl]

9. Do all meteoroids that become meteors

either burn up completely or reach the ground? I think many merely skip through our atmosphere for a split second or two.

Fun fact: Astronomers estimate that hundreds of tons of meteoroids enter our atmosphere every day. Under good viewing conditions, one can expect to see 1 shooting star for every hour of "looking up".

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. Good point - I hadn't thought of that, but it seems they can

Despite this fact, it could prove interesting for us around here because around 11:00 pm, the constellation Leo, the storm's radiant, is just on or slightly above our eastern horizon. We could then be witness to some so-called Earth-grazing meteors.

These particles will be encountering the upper atmosphere by running parallel to the Earth's surface. Hitting the atmosphere at such a low angle will make many of them appear to "skip," like skipping a stone across the surface of a lake. Some may skip back out into space, but most can't resist the Earth's gravity, despite their high velocities and they'll be annihilated like the rest.

http://www.theskyscrapers.org/contentmgr/showdetails.php/id/256

[rman]

11. no

as you say, some merely 'graze' the earths atmosphere.
And some explode in the atmosphere before they reach the ground.
Satellites designed to detect nuclear explosions do detect dozens of explosions high up in the atmosphere every day. Those are small comets.
This was unexpected and caused quite a stir when those satellites were first put to use. They had to devise a way to distinguish between those explosions and 'real' nuclear explosions.

There's also the Tunguska event where a large metoeor or comet exploded a few miles above the ground in Siberia, leaving no crater but flattening trees for a many miles around.
http://www-th.bo.infn.it/tunguska/