Limerick Astronomy Club

Hey Guys...

While doin a bit of collimating
and a bit of observing...
Myself and Dave were just about
to quit for the night, when at 11:35pm a streak
of light shot out of the sky from
Ursa Major and exploded just over
Capella leaving a trail of smaller pieces
and a trail of smoke behind it..

It was easily mag -3 to -4...

By far and away the best thing
I've ever seen in my short time
in this hobby... I'm still shaking
with excitement...

Cheers Roy

Just packing up after a long night myself.
Didnt see it, pity.

yea, it was amazing, it had a hugh persistant trail behind, wasnt traveling that fast either, the instant I saw it through the corner of my eye I thought it was a plane, it was going very slow for a meteor, it lasted easily 3 or 4 seconds and also had a very striking orange colour , almost like the amber you'd see in the traffic light. It wasnt white with an orange hue, its colour was like Mars at a close opposition, just not as red.

It started to the right of the plough, flew through lynx, then above capella by about 3 degrees and dissapeard by the auriga-perseus border.
If ever I saw something that might have reached the ground, this is the one as it appeared to glisten and fragment towards the end. It was easily mag -4.

I've seen many bright and brighter meteors but never anything like this,
I wonder does its colour and slow speed signify that it's some manmade debris re-entering the atmosphere ?

BTW, thats a nice scope there Roy, easily collimatable aswell.

Dunno how the F I missed it!
Was collimating the 10 at the time.
Wonder did anyone else see it?
It sounds like it may have produced a meteorite?!

Ya I reckin this hit
ground somewhere in
the nenagh or Offaly
region... The way it glowed
as it fragmented makes me
believe it might have a lot of metal..

Cheers Roy

Would have loved to have seen it!