Thursday, December 11, 2008

Very neat fireball sighting

Saw a surprising but lovely sight tonight in the north Austin, TX area. At about 2057 local, I was driving home from the store, and despite the big, near full moon and bright construction lights nearby I watched a really big bolide (i.e. fireball) streak across the sky! It was in the northern sky, almost starting from the Gemini area and left a sparkly, broken-up trail behind it which lasted for maybe 1-2 seconds. Geminid, maybe? The brightness of it was really surprising given the nearby moon and my location. If I had seen something like this under very dark skies, it would have been an amazing, if not alarming, sight.

Interesting to note that many astronomers are observing very bright fireballs currently, in Canada and around various other parts of the US. Keep your eyes peeled to the skies!

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