Posted on 09/12/2006 5:39:44 AM PDT by sonsofliberty2000
SEATTLE – Around 7:30 p.m. Monday, KING 5 News' phones started to ring as viewers reported seeing a ball of flames shooting across the skies of Western Washington.
The calls came in mostly from Pierce and Kitsap counties.
Michael Witig and his wife were out barbecuing when they saw something streaking through the sky. They kept rolling as the fiery tail grew behind the mystery object.
KING 5 News contacted the Air Force, FAA, National Weather Service and other local authorities, but could not immediately find an explanation for what streaked across the sky and what was caught on tape.
Not me.
I was hiding in the closet with my tinfoil hat securely in place. :-)
Since the speed of sound is only ~ 0.2 miles/second, I've often wondered how one could hear a bolide (at several miles' altitude plus angular dististance) in time to look up and see it still in motion...
a crater-looking formation below 'Blenheim'
small impact crater or large "blow hole" - looks like a large blowhole from the debris to one side of it.
I agree that it looks like a jet aircraft contrail and nothing more. It does not look like a typical bolide trail. However it is possible for bolides to twist and tumble and thereby turn and change direction much as a curve ball or a sinker changes direction in baseball. As pieces break off and change the profile of the rock, this may alter the path. The path can also be affected as the meteor slows when it passes through currents of denser air moving in different directions. Often these directional changes either cause a corkscrewing effect or a more broad sweeping curve. If a meteor turns while being viewed from a nearly head-on orientation, it can look as if it underwent a sharper turn than it actually has. Finally the smoke and debris trail left behind along the path of reentry can be distorted by winds and make it appear as if the bolide itself took a strange path during entry.
<img src="http://www.zombietime.com/fraud/ambulance/0,1658,5229225,00.jpg">
"Interesting! The in-atmosphere lifetime of a bolide is measured in seconds.
Since the speed of sound is only ~ 0.2 miles/second, I've often wondered how one could hear a bolide (at several miles' altitude plus angular dististance) in time to look up and see it still in motion..."
Some are moving relatively slow because they hit terminal velocity (compared to the speed they may have been traveling) and then may take on some ability to glide and skip through the atmosphere. If they hit the atmosphere at a very oblique angle, they can travel many hundreds of miles through dense atmosphere, not just a couple miles when entering the atmosphere at a near-perpendicular orientation. Plus if they are moving in a direction that overtakes the rotation and revolution of the earth, they are moving slower relative to the earth. When the shuttle reenters it has an ability to glide many thousands of miles, and under the right set of circumstances a bolide can do much the same. Some bolides even enter the atmosphere and skip back out or make a series of skips like a spinning rocking hitting the surface of the water.
The lifetime is not always in mere seconds, but can last many seconds. I've seen a couple that lasted upwards of 20 seconds and would have been visible even longer if I had noticed them sooner. I have heard one bolide and it had a distinctive crackling hiss with a low frequency rumble. I also witnessed a daylight bolide many years ago was pretty stunning.
Thank goodness. I'll stop worrying.
I was lurking in the Hole a while back and recall something about fireworks............
"Federal Aviation Administration officials in Western Washington told KOMO-TV that the light was a high-altitude jet that was leaving a contrail behind it. FAA officials say the sun was at just the right angle before sunset to reflect off the jet and create the illusion of smoke and fire."
he he he...."high-altitude" hmmm....steep decent followed by shallow turns to scrub speed....
It's not my fault!
sounds great... right up until you see it make the turn. The distance in which the turn was made was very short. The g-forces would be insane.
The turn radius only looks short from this angle and perspective...
Not me... I was staring into the sun. :~)
We know.
It's Dark's fault...
It could be Calypso Louie's mothership.
sarcasm?
I thought it was common knowledge that Roswell was a crashed 'spy balloon'--one of hundreds being used to monitor the Russians.
Was a wide open sky from horizon to horizon heading down the valley . Flash might have made me respond before the sound .Definitely lasted more than 4 seconds .
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