Lindy & All,
This is Bob Lunsford from the American Meteor Society. Fireballs can come from any souce be it sporadic or the Quadrantid meteor shower. It's the brightness that makes it a fireball as any meteor as bright as the planet Venus (at magnitude -3) qualifies as a fireball. Bolides are bright meteors that seem to explode into many fragments. Bolides are sometimes accompanied by sonic booms, which usually occur a minute or two after the event.
The green color that is reported in many fireballs is not actually from the object itself. As the fireball passes through the upper atmosphere it "excites" the ionized oxygen molecules which give off a green glow.
Fireballs are fairly common but you need to be outside at the right place and at the right time under clear skies. They are certainly awe-inspiring and something remembered throughout ones lifetime.
Clear Skies!
Bob Lunsford
Space/Science » in reply to Quantradid?
re: Quantradid?
The whole thread (37 posts)
- Saw a Bolide Tonight