Marshall Space Flight Center Meteoroid Environment Office – Page 6

Bright Leonid Fireball

There are numerous reports of a bright fireball over northwest Alabama on Sunday, Nov. 18 at approximately 7:30 p.m. EST (6:30 p.m. CST). Southeastern cameras managed by NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office recorded the fireball, which was brighter than the moon.

(Credit: NASA/MFSC/MEO)

The image above is from the Marshall Space Flight Center camera. The moon is the bright object at the bottom right, and the fireball is the REALLY bright object. Even though this was a very bright fireball, the meteor fragmented too high in the atmosphere to produce meteorites on the ground — very spectacular, but nothing of substance survived.

Details for the fireball meteor:

Time: Sunday, Nov. 18, 7:29:25 p.m. EST (6:29:25 p.m. CST)
Speed: 28,400 mph
Direction: Roughly north to south

The fireball appeared 49 miles above the Alabama/Tennessee state line just north of Athens, Ala. It disintegrated 28 miles above Ole Carriage Dr., just east of Athens. A map of the meteor trajectory appears below.

(Credit: NASA/MFSC/MEO)

This may very well be the brightest fireball we have seen with the Marshall Center camera!

Young Moon Sets Stage for Annual Leonids Meteor Shower

This year’s Leonids meteor shower peaks on Nov. 17 at 4:30 AM Eastern Time. If forecasters are correct, the shower should produce a mild but pretty sprinkling during the night of the 16th/morning of the 17th. The moon will be a waxing crescent setting before midnight, clearing the way for some unobstructed Leonid viewing. “We’re predicting a normal year of 15 to 20 meteors per hour” says Bill Cooke of the Meteoroid Environment Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.

Leonids are bits of debris from Comet Tempel-Tuttle. Every 33 years the comet visits the inner solar system and leaves a stream of dusty debris in its wake. Many of these streams have drifted across the November portion of Earth’s orbit. Whenever our planet hits one, meteors appear to be flying out of the constellation Leo.

For best meteor viewing Cooke suggests going to a location away from city lights, dressing warmly, and lie flat on your back and look straight up. No special viewing equipment needed — just your eyes.

The Leonids occur each year in mid-November.

Leonid meteor storm of 1999 (NASA)

Leonids meteor shower as seen from Joshua Tree National Park in 2001 (Wally Pacholka/AstroPics.com)

Halloween Fireballs also known as Taurid Meteors are Upon Us

“Halloween fireballs” or Taurid meteors are frequently seen in the night sky from mid-October until mid-November. The Marshall all-sky camera network captured an image of an early Halloween fireball Tuesday morning. The fireball appeared low on the horizon from Huntsville at 6:10 a.m. Tuesday morning and was visible just above trees from the Tullahoma station.

“The bolide or fireball appeared some 44 miles above a point midway between the towns of Stanton and Mason, Tennessee and moved slightly north of east at a speed 3 times faster than that of the International Space Station.” said Dr. Bill Cooke, lead of Marshall Space Flight Center’s Meteoroid Environment Office in Huntsville, Ala. “The fireball finally terminated above the town of Pinson, which is southeast of Jackson, TN.,” Cooke continued, “with an altitude at last visibility of 18.1 miles, which is fairly low for a meteor.”

Widely referred to as shooting stars, meteors are generated when debris enters and burns up in Earth’s atmosphere. Taurids are thought to be debris left behind by Encke’s comet.

Image credit: NASA/MSFC