Comets

[r carl]

Has anyone noticed an increase in comet, falling star, etc. activity? It seems I see several a week now in the south and west, and I'm not looking for them.

[Skooter]

Coming from one who lived 51 years in the cloudy rainy southeast and now relocated to AZ, I can tell you the clear skies out here are a treat. It's amazing what you can see, and how often. Which means, you can actually see the sunset just a bit more northward each evening as sunset approaches going into spring. In TN you almost never see a sunset, perhaps for trees and hills, but mostly due to clouds and/or haze. TN is lovely when it's sunny and certain other times, but for sky viewing...ahh, AZ is a breath of fresh air.

[jayseejay]

Hi R Carl.

If what you are seeing are points of light that move across the sky at about the speed of a plane, those would be man-made satellites in orbit around the earth, like the International Space Station. These are most often visible just after sunset and just before sunrise, when the light from the sun hits them just right. There are lots of them, and more are put in orbit all the time. Apps are available that will tell you when and where to look for the brightest ones.

If what you are seeing are occasional super-fast moving streaks of light that come and go in an instant, those are likely meteors - bits of rock and such burning up when they hit earth's upper atmosphere at high speed. On any given night with a dark sky and unobstructed horizon, you may see a few per hour. On nights of established meteor showers, you might see dozens or even hundreds per hour.

Comets are not often visible to the naked eye, but when they are, they generally look like faint, nebulous blobs that appear motionless in the sky, unless you watch for a very long time. These are balls of rock and ice and gas in long, slow orbits around the sun. Comets visible to the naked eye generally make the news and get well publicized, so this is not likely what you are seeing.

Hope that helps.

Joe

[A W Warn]

Originally Posted by r carl

Has anyone noticed an increase in comet, falling star, etc. activity? It seems I see several a week now in the south and west, and I'm not looking for them.

Comet 45P was closest to earth in its orbit around the sun on 10 & 11 Feb. It has been in the news (where I am in FL) lately that it is visible in the early morning.
I would assume some of its debris would create a few extra meteoroids entering our atmosphere as it passes. Maybe that's what you are seeing.

[jayseejay]

Comet 45P got a lot of press recently, but it was a difficult object to spot even with binoculars, and we are not passing through its debris trail, so I think it's unlikely that's what the OP observed. Joe

[r carl]

Not sure what I seen but looks like this pic. It always is going from right to left and it burns out.

[jayseejay]

That is definitely a meteor, and that particular photo looks like a brighter version of a meteor sometimes called a fireball. Beautiful! Joe

[Ray Eklund]

If it was a 'slow mover', maybe space junk. It travels slower than a meteor upon entering the atmosphere.

Space junk puts on a better light show, as well. Most falls into the Oceans, but nothing like a burned out satellite ending up in your yard and being a celebrity for a couple days!

Maybe... next time.

[Jim & Susan]

Originally Posted by r carl

Not sure what I seen but looks like this pic. It always is going from right to left and it burns out.

We had one these very bright objects fall near us maybe five years ago. Sometimes called a "bollide" (if I spelled that correctly). This one was referred to in the media reports as the "Macon Meteor" because the projected path would have it appear over/fall around the Macon, Ga, area, which is near us. I was sitting on the back porch at the time talking to our daughter on the phone. The entire sky was suddenly illuminated green, all around me. I asked my daughter if there were any thunderstorms out near them about 10 miles away. No thunderstorms. Found out the next morning on the news that it was indeed a bollide, was actually tracked by the NASA telescopes in the SouthEast. They have 'scopes all over the country that just look up at night to catch this sort of thing going by. It was really cool! Oh, and the reason the sky turned green? Because of the mineral content of the of the bollide. I think they said that it was probably about the size of a basketball and made principally of copper (copper burns green, if I remember that high school chemistry stuff ).

Enjoy your views. Dark skys are hard to find these days.

Jim

[Jim & Susan]

If you're out west, try looking for this.

It's also really, really cool. It's a little hard to spot at first, until your eyes are completely accustomed to the darkness (takes a few hours in darkness conditions). Susan and I spotted this once when were stationed in West Texas. The Zodiacal Light is basically the left over dust from the origin of the Solar System. All the "stuff" that didn't fall on a planet or the sun and is left floating around "in between" all the solar system objects.

Enjoy!

Jim

[Mattirs]

What that looks and sounds like to me is an Iridium satellite flash. They are reflections of sun light off their solar panels. They happen at dusk or dawn and are very bright. Heavens Above is a website that predicts where and they will happen. There is an app for Apple and Android phones also.

[Jim & Susan]

You can track the ISS and other satellites on the NASA site here:

https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/sightings/

The ISS is really bright and easy to spot. But the NASA page allows you track other stuff, too.

Jim