SpaceX (1 Viewer)

[Asta]

(So, after some eventual sorting out of what this thing actually is, lol… well, it’s only SpaceX. Thank you, Bert.)


comparing the two from google:
Mine

And

 

[Lila]

This is amazing. I've heard that meteors (which perhaps is what you meant?) as well as comets throw off chunks of themselves in bursts of light. It looks like you caught a really fine example in your close up.
So grateful you shared.
I wonder what this will bring

 

[Lila]

My understanding is this: a meteor is what we call it when it comes into our (Earth's) atmosphere which heats up traveling objects a lot and very quickly... so they come and go within seconds. Many of them are pieces of comets that are in predictable orbits so we have 'meteor showers' at predictable times, eg the Perseid meteor shower in mid-August feature remnants of the comet Swift-Tuttle.

A comet would be an object passing by outside our atmosphere. They go quite close to the sun and start to heat up, creating their 'tail' before rebounding way far out into the little known parts of the solar system. I once had the opportunity to view one over the course of several weeks. This was all over the news so it was even more fun when it came close enough to see with our own eyes.

 

[Linda]

That is astonishing - The image certainly looks like those of comets, but this close to the earth suggests a meteor. The only ones I've seen are the little ones - shooting stars some call them. You are very fortunate to have seen something so large.

 

[Asta]

My understanding is this: a meteor is what we call it when it comes into our (Earth's) atmosphere which heats up traveling objects a lot and very quickly... so they come and go within seconds. Many of them are pieces of comets that are in predictable orbits so we have 'meteor showers' at predictable times, eg the Perseid meteor shower in mid-August feature remnants of the comet Swift-Tuttle.

A comet would be an object passing by outside our atmosphere. They go quite close to the sun and start to heat up, creating their 'tail' before rebounding way far out into the little known parts of the solar system. I once had the opportunity to view one over the course of several weeks. This was all over the news so it was even more fun when it came close enough to see with our own eyes.

Thank you for clearing that misconception up! Needless to say, I didn’t really listen in my astronomy class, lol.

 

[Bert]

spaceX just lauched a rocket yesterday.
under the right circumstances it gives these kinds of light shows.

So my guess is that it was a rocked launch.

 

[Bert]

for comparison. these are typical meteors (faster, with a bright ball and a dimmer tail)

 

[Asta]

spaceX just lauched a rocket yesterday.
under the right circumstances it gives these kinds of light shows.

So my guess is that it was a rocked launch.

I just came across this realization too— the photo comparisons look exactly like the one I saw.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t a shooting star, then.

 

[Bert]

I just came across this realization too— the photo comparisons look exactly like the one I saw.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t a shooting star, then.

If you want to see shooting stars just look when there are showers, find a dark spot and a relaxing position and wait,...
https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/earthskys-meteor-shower-guide/

 

[Linda]

Still cool to see.

We had a neighborhood discussion about two lights that were being observed in the sky. Finally someone figured out it was starlink satellites. For me, the best part of the conversation was finding out how many people were fine with it being ETs.

 

[Lila]

for comparison. these are typical meteors (faster, with a bright ball and a dimmer tail)

This is a stunning video. Amongst other beauties, around 18:10 he captures a video of his friend pointing to a comet as a meteor whizzes quickly by. Then he talks about the stupendous distances involved!

Meteor shows are some of the most amazing things to see ever, IMO. I once had the incredible opportunity to view one where the meteor rate was measured at well over 100 meteors whizzing by per minute; that's ~2 meteors/second!!! Unforgettable.

 

[Lila]

spaceX just lauched a rocket yesterday.
under the right circumstances it gives these kinds of light shows.

So my guess is that it was a rocked launch.

Does the SpaceX rocket discard it's fuel? If so, that would be the bright piece coming off on the lower right of Abby's photo.
I'd love to see that one day.

Whatever it is, rocket, shooting star or fireball it's a stunning event to have seen. Very few people get that opportunity.
Here's a couple of video of fireballs that were bright enough to be seen during daytime (the first has another video which shows it clearly being daytime but it was really fuzzy so I chose this one which also has a brief commentary:

 

[Bert]

Does the SpaceX rocket discard it's fuel? If so, that would be the bright piece coming off on the lower right

this is the reusable first stage of the SpaceX rocket. this part comes back down and lands in a controlled way. then get overhauled and used again.

 

[Asta]

Still cool to see.

It definitely was still a breathtaking thing to see, massive too.