Order of Kilopi
Okay now I'm not one to worry, but there does seem to be a little more meteorite activity about than usual.
There have been the fireballs in the US, reports of a few others in Europe, and now we've been hit by two in as many days all during what is supposed to be a quite time. (And little ole NZ isn't that big a target)
Any ideas on where they are coming from and why?
Banned
Space rocks do hit this planet but I haven't seen anything that is ominous PW .. there is a kinda meteor shower in progress called the June Lyrids but I think net hoaxes like Aussie Bloke and 9/11 has played a part as well. It seems that suddenly us 21st Century sophisticates have a medieval fear of meteors, comets, and whatnot. The fireballs that have always happened seem to be so portentous now.
Order of Kilopi
Cool, thanks. I wonder if it possible that people haven't connected these, though they do seem a little early for it. While I have to agree tht the AB garbage has stirred up a hornet's nest, I also don't recall this amount of media reported activity for quite a while either, and having two hit us (NZ)within two days, I did start wondering if there was a comet trail we're heading through or something.
Established Member
Well, I'm kind of with Phantom Wolf in curiosity. Lets not forget that we've had several rocks whizz by the Earth recently. But then it may just be our detection capability improving.
Like weather radar and the "increase" in tornado reports.
Established Member
Would a future meteor shower have anything to do with causing an increase in activity?
Although I know meteorites are very common, I'm not entirely sure how common fireballs are, or how often a hit is reported. Are they very common or is it just coming to our attention more?
Established Member
PW Wrote:
It has been my experience over the course of my ~ ten years following the minor object 'scene' (FWIW my interest was sparked by the hubbub attending the 'return' of 109P back in 93) that episodes of heightened meteor / meteorite 'activity' (i.e. sightings, etc) come and go without regard to documented debris trails. It is my opinion that several factors are involved here; Firstly (beginning, I suppose, with SL9) there is a heightened awareness of minor object activity - then also there is less reluctance, on the part of a 'witness', to report his/her observations (especially following a ‘headliner’ event [CIP the WA Fireball]) - Not only are such observations greeted with greater interest and enthusiasm but they often make a 'minor celebrity' of the observer... (a corollary which causes me to greet unsubstantiated 'sightings' with some dubiety) --- Finally it is entirely possible (well... conceivable, anyway) that transient Earth crossings streams occur, owing to, for instance, jostling in the Main Belt productive of applicable ‘velocity modes’ (Clarification: Please recall that velocity is a *vector* quantity)...Okay now I'm not one to worry, but there does seem to be a little more meteorite activity about than usual.
BOTTOM LINE --- Please don't worry!!! Despite any hype the press might be throwing your way this is *NOT* at all unusual!!! :-)
Very best regards
D. Sarandon
Established Member
Toutatis Dan! You're back! We knew you'd never leave, it's your fate!But thanks for your reply here because the meteorite thing had been in the back of my mind too, and if we'd have many more, probably up to the front of my mind--and that's not good...
Member
Nothing to worry about in my opinion. Seems like recent conspiracies (Aussie Bloke! HA! GLP also!) have everyone a little bit jumpy at this time.
It's something that I'm losing no sleep over. Not worth the bother.
Oh, and a big HI to all by the way. I'm Phil. AKA Phil UK from the Net-Weather.co.uk forum.
Phil.
Established Member
Howdy, Phil. Welcome to the BABB.
Member
Thank you Barox.
Phil.
Order of Kilopi
Heya Phil! Nice to see you over here.
Member
Thank you Wolverine.
Phil.
Member
heh, im back as well..not that i ever helped at all.
Established Member
Perhaps the Earth is passing through a meteor shower. Usualy Earth passes through ones like Leonides every year. This one might be a new hithero undected swarm of meteorites.
Established Member
Apparently we're on our annual pass through the debris field from Icarus:-
More info: http://www.spaceweather.com/meteors/arietids.htmlDAYLIGHT METEORS: The strongest daylight meteor shower of the year, the Arietids, is underway. It's happening because Earth is passing through a stream of dusty debris possibly from sungrazing asteroid Icarus. Most Arietid meteors are invisible because the Sun is up when the shower is most intense, but you can listen to them by tuning into Stan Nelson's 67 MHz meteor radar located in Roswell, NM
So current meteorite activity is as expected
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