Fireball Streaks Across Bay Area Sky (San Fran)

NBC Bay Area ^ | 2/15/13 | Anon

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Jodi Hernandez reports on the cosmic close encounter that the earth is experiencing tonight and the real one Russia experienced this morning.

On a day that had a lot of people talking about meteorites and asteroids, a fireball of some sort was seen streaking across the Bay Area skies.

The fireball was seen around 7:45 p.m.

There are reports into the newsroom from people as far north as Fairfield and as far south as Gilroy. It was also seen in Sacramento, Newark, Walnut Creek, and St. Helena.

It was bluish in color and appeared to be heading straight to the ground, according to one viewer in Santa Clara.

"I saw that meteor/fireball over Solano County after spending the day reporting on asteroids and fireballs," said NBC Bay Area reporter Jodi Hernandez.

Candice Guruwaiya told us on Facebook she saw it in San Jose. "I was leaving Safeway on Branham and Snell when I saw it. It looked like it was headed for the Capital Auto Mall area. It was a bright green when it first appeared, then it went to a bright yellow. It was awesome!" Guruwaiya posted.

Gina Johnson also saw it in San Jose. She also posted on our Facebook page that she had just walked out of a Fresh and Easy in San Jose's Willow Glen neighborhood. "It looked just like the one I saw back in October except it was a little smaller. It was greenish in color just like the one on October. Everyone in the parking lot stopped and looked at it," Johnson posted

[444Flyer]

And this one:

Acts 2:19-21

'...I will show wonders in heaven above
And signs in the earth beneath:
Blood and fire and vapor of smoke.
The sun shall be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood,
Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.
And it shall come to pass
That whoever calls on the name of the Lord
Shall be saved.’

[steve86]

At 1,200+ km the meteor would be right on the horizon and very dim. And depending exactly where the observer sits in these hilly Washington locations the horizon is not exactly flat like it is in Kansas. Later today I’ll run a simulator and determine the moon altitude/azimuth since the meteor was supposedly “up towards (sic) the moon”.

[Vendome]

Missed it. was hoping a meteor shower followed but bupkus ....

[ApplegateRanch]

Thanks for doing a simulation. Please post the results. It could have been a pair, one a bit ahead of the other. I would have liked to have seen more reports from points in between.

I did notice that there were more than one who mentioned it was “going straight down”, which, of course, only means it was really headed toward the horizon. Most don’t have any idea just how far away or how high it really is.

I’ve seen many meteors during showers that WERE going “straight down”: they appear as quickly brightening pinpricks of light near the radiant that equally quickly fade out, like a mini-flashbulb going off in the distance.

I wouldn’t think it would be seen over the Bay Area from Puyallup, but rather while somewhere in between. Redding, for example, is 850 KM. OTOH, 1200 KM is a around 30 seconds at 45 KPS, so I know it would not have traveled over both Puyallap and the Bar Area.

[steve86]

BTW, thanks for the interesting link.

I still remember seeing photos from my youth of the meteor (probably in the 60s) that cruised on by the Grand Tetons and was seen through the inter-mountain west. As I recall, it gave the impression it was moving “slowly” and left a nice smoke train, grazing the atmosphere during its brief visit. Maybe this was the same one that finally found a home near Chelyabinsk LOL.

The one fireball I have seen myself was right near here in Washington State, a bright green one.

[steve86]

Originally published Saturday, February 16, 2013 at 7:30 AM

Cuba, too, reports powerful meteorite explosion

Cuba apparently experienced a phenomenon similar to but smaller than the meteorite that detonated over Russia this week, island media reported, with startled residents describing a bright light in the sky and a loud explosion that shook windows

[steve86]

They should have used the term meteor, not meteorite. Dumb AP.

[ApplegateRanch]

Gee, maybe the sky IS falling! LOL

[timestax]

[Teacher317]

Strange that the Cuban meteor didn’t get on anyone’s camera. The Russian one was caught on dozens... the CA meteor was caught on a few, AT NIGHT. Cuba? Not so much. Economics matter!!

[steve86]

I don’t know. Most people in that remote part of Russia would be poor also, except for a few in top jobs in defense and some industry. Probably fairly comparable. It may have more to do with government restrictions in Cuba on what’s imported. Not really sure.

[RegulatorCountry]

Russian drivers as a group have an odd fixation on dashcams. Maybe driving there is so wild that it’s necessary, maybe their version of insurance requires it? Don’t know, but there are an incredible number of Russian dashcam videos on YouTube, from private citizens.

[steve86]

I read its because of corrupt cops who charge them for infractions or accidents they weren’t even involved in, or were not at fault. And judges have been accepting the videos as evidence for the defense..

[steve86]

it’s

[MD Expat in PA]

I read it’s because of corrupt cops who charge them for infractions or accidents they weren’t even involved in, or were not at fault. And judges have been accepting the videos as evidence for the defense..

That and also from what I’ve read, because there are a lot of scam artists who stage, purposely cause accidents and try to extort money from their victims.

[RegulatorCountry]

A likely glimpse of our own situation a few years from now, might be a good idea.

[MD Expat in PA]

Another Meteor Flashes Across Bay Area Skies

This is a good example of exactly what I was talking about chessplayer – not so much the article which isn’t all that too bad, but the “news” video. Now and probably for many months to come, every time someone sees a shooting star or a meteor streak across the sky, rather common events BTW, it will get all sorts media coverage and comparisons will be made to the Russian meteor and to such and extent that breathless news readers will infer and low information type folks will believe that all of a sudden there are just so many of them, more now than ever before it would seem and ask “why is this happening all of a sudden?” when just like the “Summer of the Shark” in truth, they happen all the time with no more or less frequency than before.

I predict that 2013 will be the "Spring of the Meteors" (although "Cruise Ship Sewage Disaster Worse Than the Titanic" might be in the running as well) just as 2001 was the Summer of the Sharks, and some year, I don’t remember which it was, was the “Poison Apple Year” thanks in part to Meryl Streep, and some other year was the “Dead Fish Washing Up On The Shore Year”, and some other was the “Run Away Car Accelerators Year”….etc. and on and on, that is of course until some other sensational and overwrought story takes over.

[RegulatorCountry]

Well, get used to it because 2013 actually *is* going to be unusually active from an astronomical perspective, enough so that I got my niece a decent lower end telescope for Christmas.

There’s one more known near-Earth asteroid, then comet PANSTARRS in March, followed by the green comet Lemmon already visible in the southern hemisphere that will be visible to us in April, and then there’s the big one, comet ISON, that appears poised to be the second brightest object in the sky for a month or so, behind only to the sun, visible in broad daylight.

It will be at it’s brightest after it passes perihelion in late November, assuming it doesn’t break up from passing fairly close to the sun as comets go.

[MD Expat in PA]

Good point and you are correct that 2013 is going to be a very interesting and active year astronomically speaking, both for scientists and people interested in such things from a scientific perspective, but that wasn’t what I was talking about. I was speaking to the media hype surrounding rather frequent events like shooting stars and meteor fire balls and making it seem like all of a sudden there are a lot more of them than usual when most likely, it only appears that way because the media is suddenly giving them more attention, or for that matter, blaming it on global warming (eye roll).

I am really looking forward to seeing comet ISON and am really hoping it doesn’t break up or fizzle out. Of course I'm also hoping that it doesn’t bring out the dooms day cult nuts and if it does, at best they are only mildly disappointed when the World doesn’t come to an end or that they only off themselves and not anyone else.

And kudos to you for getting your niece a telescope for Christmas. If only I had had a really cool uncle like you : )

[RegulatorCountry]

I’m intrigued with there being a literally green comet. I’ve seen green meteors before, and I’ve read historical accounts of a red one, but a green comet is a new one on me.

It’s really too bad that this green comet Lemmon is not the bright one, wouldn’t that be a sight, a tremendous glowing lime green streak across the sky? But then again, the believed source(s) of the green coloration are highly toxic, so on second thought, maybe it’s for the best that it’s more at a distance.