Fireballs on 6/26/04

[dgruss23]

Last night while I was walking my dog, I saw 4 fireballs traveling together from west to east about 10:30 (give or take a half hour). Their were 3 in front clustered together and then the 4th was brighter and trailed behind perhaps 30-40 degrees of azimuth and passed about 10-15 degrees south of the moon. The brightest one was interesting because it brightened and faded as it travelled.

Since they took about 30-45 seconds to cross the sky I'm assuming they were high enough to be seen over quite a large area. I live in the Binghamton, NY area. Anybody else see them?

Note added: It was really cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[fireballs]

ten of us camping in Thompson,Ohio, once in a lifetime event!
Started out like wow!, but then it appeard to break up, we were all astounded!
Can anyone explain?
thanks,

[milli360]

Can anyone explain?

Welcome to the BABB, fireballs

Maybe they were Boötids! The timing is right, for the second peak.

[dgruss23]

ten of us camping in Thompson,Ohio, once in a lifetime event!
Started out like wow!, but then it appeard to break up, we were all astounded!

Welcome to the board fireballs!!

It was already broken when I saw it which makes sense since you're west of me.

[dgruss23]

Can anyone explain?

Welcome to the BABB, fireballs

Maybe they were Boötids! The timing is right, for the second peak.

That's what I was thinking. They were amazing! And to think I would have missed them if my dog hadn't pestered me to go out looking for rabbits. (He never catches them - just has fun rooting around for them).

[JustAGuy]

Spaceweather.com figures it was a re-entering russian rocket, so not quite a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but certianly hella-cool and something I deeply envy all of you for.

[Pottsy]

High, I'm new to this board. I found it by searching for info on that fireball lastnight. I live in Carrollton, Ohio and was out in my shop putting the F-head 134 engine back in my willys cj5 1959 jeep. When my female black lab, which was laying out in the drive on her favorite pillow started barking to the north. I walked out and looked up and in the northern sky at about 30° to 35° up I saw it. It was travel west to east and at about 10:30 PM. I watched it for about 30 sec. What a awesome thing to witness!

Pottsy

[Musashi]

Welcome Pottsy.

[beskeptical]

Spaceweather.com figures it was a re-entering russian rocket, so not quite a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but certianly hella-cool and something I deeply envy all of you for.

Ahemm...And how many Russian Rockets have you seen burning up on re-entry in your life time? :wink:


And a welcome hello to ya, Pottsy.

[mucsavage]

I saw something kinda cool a few nights ago.

It wasnt Sat night though........

I think it was either the night of the 21st or 22nd at 01 GMT.

There were what looked like 3 satellites in a formation going NW to SE, passing overhead.

Im trying to remeber did they look like they kept in formation or did they divirge from each other #-o

doubt they were fire balls anyway.

actually this reply is pretty piontless, isnt it?

muc

[jt-3d]

Though I've never seen it, this sounds like the Iridum formation. I'm an idiot but that's what I gather from reading around here.

[milli360]

Though I've never seen it, this sounds like the Iridum formation. I'm an idiot but that's what I gather from reading around here.

Not the Iridium satellites. They don't fly in formation.

[Musashi]

The triads... I read a link about them from somewhere, but they are some kind of spy sattelite that, for some reason, appear in a group of three (sometimes?). I obviously didn't retain much of what I read. ops:

[Archer17]

The triads... I read a link about them from somewhere, but they are some kind of spy sattelite that, for some reason, appear in a group of three (sometimes?). I obviously didn't retain much of what I read. ops:

You're thinking of the NOSS satellites. I've seen 'em a few years ago (although they didn't strike me as being fireballs).

[hedin]

I saw something kinda cool a few nights ago.

It wasnt Sat night though........

I think it was either the night of the 21st or 22nd at 01 GMT.

There were what looked like 3 satellites in a formation going NW to SE, passing overhead.

Im trying to remeber did they look like they kept in formation or did they divirge from each other #-o

doubt they were fire balls anyway.

actually this reply is pretty piontless, isnt it?

muc

I think i might have seen those once. was the morning of december 26 2003 7 a.m local time. In the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic. position is about 62 deg N 7 deg W reason i know the exact time is that i was on a passenger ferry after visiting my parents for the holidays. just checked the schedule cause this rang a bell.

[fireballs]

thanks for your posts and replies , Ive been learning lotts,
dgruss23, way cool! whatever we saw!
pottsy, High is how we all felt the rest of the nite...

[spacejunkie]

Regarding that beautiful mess in the night sky on 6/26: I was among the gang camping in Thompson, Ohio, and have to say it was one of the best spectacles I've ever seen! Crashing Russki engine block or Bootid, (and I would like to get some definitive answer to this ?), it had to be an object of some mass... It didn't really appear to fizzle out as it left our field of view, as much as it seemed to disappear into the distance. What fun!! And awfully nice to join in on the appreciation of space with you all!

[SarahMc]

Crashing Russki engine block or Bootid, (and I would like to get some definitive answer to this

Type: Proton-K Auxiliary Motor
NORAD Name: SL-12 R/B(AUX MOTOR)
NORAD Number: 22273
Int'l Designation: 1992 088E
Launched: 17 DEC 1992 @ 12:45 UTC
Site: Baikonur Cosmodrome LC200
Mission: Cosmos 2224
Observed Reentry Time: 27 JUN 2004 @ ~03:00 UTC

See this link for more information

[fireballs]

love to think it was the ruskie thing but wrong time and time
26th not 27th
lasted as long as one minuit
went from west to east from west horisin to east,
balls were gone but trails lasted
broke up, than
trail of only one was apparent
when it broke intoo five peices
two main fire balls
three little
the three little would have been the coolest
but it was much more
big ball in the west
split
silver
balls are gone
trails are silver overhead
reddish past the east
The three to four of us were yelling in awe
it took atleast 15 to 20 seconds for my brother to run out of the woods to see the last half
**** my bro has quite a few grand in scopes and all,
allways looking up
the back (west) trail was present and pulsating at the break up
a singel line trail was seen at the same time as the five
two big similer size
and three
the two balls were pulsating
the three small were as huge as the two were original
this lasted a few seconds
intoo the east the bright white balls were gone
but the trails became yellow/gold
all three trails were visible at the same time
cool as ****!
bootoid, space junk, irridium, dudes from another planet burning up, or whatever
right spot at the right time with the right people with the right head
i love my friends!
they bring me alot!

[Hamlet]

love to think it was the ruskie thing but wrong time and time
26th not 27th
lasted as long as one minuit
went from west to east from west horisin to east,

FYI, the date and time are given in Universal Time. For Eastern Daylight Time this would have been about 11pm on June 26th. The ground track from the web page shows a west to east track crossing south of the Great Lakes.

This may not have been what you saw, but it appears to be a good candidate.

BTW, welcome to the BABB!

[sgallagh]

I was with four other witnesses late Saturday night, looking into the northeast and eastern sky from the west end of Base Lake, near Pinkney, MI, (outside Detroit) and saw fireballs as well. We thought it might just be space rocks, but its oscillating brightness (especially the biggest piece) suggested burning & tumbling.

Immediately reported to local news outlet, but haven't seen anything on it nationally.

I echo other sentiments - it was spectacular!

Russian spacestuff burning up on reentry? Cool. Thank you, Cold War.