Meteor spotted 16/11/2017

[Guest Jes]

Hi

I spotted a very bright meteor this evening.  just before 9:00pm fron LE4 Thurmaston, Leicester.  emerging from the south heading north.  Very bright in a cloudless sky.

Did anyone else spot it?

[tuckstar]

Hi Jes, welcome aboard from another Thrumyite. I don't live there now but grew up in Thurmaston and lived there till a few years ago, Dad still lives there.

Anyway, I was out last night but didn't see any meteors. But it was quite possibly a Leonid.

If you get the chance put a post up in the welcome thread and tell us a bit about yourself, you'll find we're a friendly bunch. And feel free to ask any questions you might have, someone will have an answer.

Clear skies.

Edited November 17, 2017 by tuckstar

[BAZ]

Hi Jes, I saw a couple of bright ones last night, my best was 11.53 and moved from around Polaris towards the western horizon, just a sporadic, but a beauty.

Feel free to introduce yourself, tell us what you have been doing and what if any gear you have, they are a friendly bunch here. 

[newtyng5]

Hi Jes. Welcome to EMS! Feel free to post any questions you may have.

We was out last night (with Baz briefly), but only until 10pm. I think Tony may have seen that meteor, it was a good one apparently, about -1mag and quite a slow meteor, between Auriga and Taurus. From the trajectory that tony explain it sounded like a sporadic or maybe an Andromedid. I saw one later which was probably a Leonid (Radiant is around the sickle of Leo) . The maximum is tonight, lets hope for clear skies.

[Guest]

The best place to learn about meteors is here: https://www.imo.net/

 

You will find that loads of minor showers are active at the moment. I took loads of snaps last night but got to 116 and haven't found one yet. I usually target known showers but sometimes just point at a clear patch of sky and snap away.

 

I caught some Andromedids on camera recently.

Edited November 19, 2017 by Sunny Phil
4got something

[newtyng5]

I tend to go here. https://ukmeteornetwork.co.uk/

I find 'imo' a bit strange. Reports of a fireball, one or 2  say it's 0 mag, another few say it was -6 and some say -20(brighter than the full moon) and quite a few say say -26 > that's the suns brightness!(that's rather a big wad of difference). However the site has some information on it.

 ( a fireball is generally something of -4 or above/below? > think Venus or brighter)

Geminids soon, Quadrantids in Jan.

Edited November 22, 2017 by newtyng5

[Guest]

2 hours ago, newtyng5 said:

I tend to go here. https://ukmeteornetwork.co.uk/

I find 'imo' a bit strange. Reports of a fireball, one or 2  say it's 0 mag, another few say it was -6 and some say -20(brighter than the full moon) and quite a few say say -26 > that's the suns brightness!(that's rather a big wad of difference). However the site has some information on it.

 ( a fireball is generally something of -4 or above/below? > think Venus or brighter)

Geminids soon, Quadrantids in Jan.

The semi-official definition of a fireball is that it should match of exceed the brightness of Venus at maximum, about -4.5. I once saw one of magnitude -6 in Dusseldorf, brightest from the UK about the same as Venus.

 

The Alpha Monocerids should be visible but it's a minor shower but only about one per hour. I don't normally look for minor showers but once caught a bright Saggitarids "on film":

 

 

Although magnitude estimates from photographs are unreliable, it is obviously brighter than the stars in the Summer Triangle. Mag -1.0-ish anyone?

 

[newtyng5]

I think that is what I generally said?

3 hours ago, newtyng5 said:

( a fireball is generally something of -4 or above/below? > think Venus or brighter)

 

I still have journal from 1982, brightest I have seen is -10. Several -8, a couple -6 (included are some bolides). Not kept and logged everything since 2000 though really.

 

 

 

36 minutes ago, Sunny Phil said:

Although magnitude estimates from photographs are unreliable, it is obviously brighter than the stars in the Summer Triangle. Mag -1.0-ish anyone?

Much brighter, I would say -3. You can see the meteor train. Also it's moving, the stars are not, so its much brighter.