Yesterday night, I was observing the sky and identifying some new constellations for my Astronomy project. I was looking North, in the direction of Polaris, and I was trying to identify Draco. I suddenly saw this white "ball" crossing the sky really fast. I don't know if it really was a comet. I just know it went from the Big Dipper to Orion in about a second. I'm not sure if it was a comet. Until last night I thought comets would actually cross the sky slower than that, but after thinking about the speed of earth (30km/s) and the orbit of a comet (50000AU) I thought that it was so fast... Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Could it has been an insect that was iluminated by a light? Or maybe an UFO? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Any thoughts? Btw... it was on March 12, 20:44pm, in the north direction. Did anyone else see it? Oh... and I made a wish so I hope it WAS a comet... Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
You most likely saw a meteor. A comet wouldn't show any visible movement across the sky. In fact, it would take several nights to show a noticeable shift in position against the stars. Besides, any comet bright enough to be naked eye visible would have been detected by telescope months ago, and you would have seen predictions of its appearance all over the news.
Comet, meteor... who cares? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Btw... I saw another one yesterday! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Maybe it was the same one coming back? I saw it around the same region in the sky and going the opposite direction. I made another wish... Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Everyone cares!!! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! A comet would be worth us all going out tonight and observing it but what u saw was incredibly boring and can be seen most clear nights (believe it or not)!
Yeah...any area without a lot of light pollution, on a clear night, especially with a new or waning moon, you should be able to go out and witness at least a handful of meteors. Open countryside, mountaintops, beaches far from the city lights ... all good places to observe them. The chances of just looking up at any given time and seeing one are pretty slim. But staying out and observing the sky in the right conditions, chances are pretty good. Keep on the lookout in August for the Perseid Meteor Shower. November for the Leonids. If you've never seen a meteor shower, by all means try to do so. Sight worth seeing.
I observed them a little bit away from a "big" city. I'm in Victoria,BC and if you know here, I was on Oak Bay. There's still too much light here... :/ That happened with me twice in three days!!!! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! I just looked up and... there they were! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Yeah... I was thinking about the Leonids... Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
You get more meteors after Midnight. Pick a random clear night and lay on your back for an hour or so at 3 or 4 am, and you're fairly certain of seeing some nice fireworks.
If it's a little closer to dawn, you'll also get a few satellites, and maybe an Iridium flare or two. It pays to look up heavens-above.com beforehand, and pick a morning with some Iridium flares and an ISS pass.
Meteor showers are very nice; as it happens I met my wife while observing one (well, it was the first time I really got to talk to her). So don't think they are boring.
Meteors are basically space rocks that fall to Earth and burn up in our atmosphere. After midnight, you are turned more into the direction of the Earth's orbital motion. Since most of the meteors come from that direction, your chances of seeing one is greater.
"Orbital motion"...?? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Oh well... Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
