Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Astronomy Picture of the Day - Fireball over Cape San Blas
NASA ^ | 23 Jul, 2025 | Image Credit & Copyright: Jason Rice

Posted on 07/23/2025 1:50:58 PM PDT by MtnClimber

Explanation: Have you ever seen a fireball? In astronomy, a fireball is a very bright meteor -- one at least as bright as Venus and possibly brighter than even a full Moon. Fireballs are rare -- if you see one you are likely to remember it for your whole life. Physically, a fireball is a small rock that originated from an asteroid or comet that typically leaves a fading smoke trail of gas and dust as it shoots through the Earth's atmosphere. It is unlikely that any single large ground strike occurred -- much of the rock likely vaporized as it broke up into many small pieces. The featured picture was captured last week from a deadwood beach in Cape San Blas, Florida, USA.


TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: apod; astronomy; jasonrice; meteor; meteorite; meteorites; meteors; nasa; science

Click here: to donate by Credit Card

Or here: to donate by PayPal

Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794

Thank you very much and God bless you.

To be added or removed from the Astronomy Picture of the Day ping list please send me a request via "Private Reply" (Mail).

For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.

1 posted on 07/23/2025 1:50:58 PM PDT by MtnClimber
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

2 posted on 07/23/2025 1:51:22 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

3 posted on 07/23/2025 1:51:44 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: 21stCenturion; 21twelve; 4everontheRight; A Navy Vet; A_perfect_lady; abb; AFB-XYZ; AFPhys; ...
Pinging the APOD list

🪐 🌟 🌌 🍔

4 posted on 07/23/2025 1:52:39 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

Wow.


5 posted on 07/23/2025 1:57:48 PM PDT by No name given ( Anonymous is who you’ll know me as)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

Cool.


6 posted on 07/23/2025 1:57:55 PM PDT by No name given ( Anonymous is who you’ll know me as)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

Here. :D


7 posted on 07/23/2025 2:37:33 PM PDT by SkyDancer ( ~ Am Yisrael Chai ~)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber
I think it was 1989, fellow astronomy club members and myself met at our dark sky site. I had just finished setting up my scope when a bright flash made us look up. A meteor was streaking across the sky, East to West, and lit up the countryside with a bright green glow like it was daytime. It was spectacular!

Haven’t seen anything like that since. It left a smoke trail with the Milky Way as a backdrop for a good twenty minutes afterwards.

It was kind of hard to get excited about stargazing after that.

8 posted on 07/23/2025 7:57:07 PM PDT by telescope115 (I NEED MY SPACE!!! 🔭)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson