I saw a fireball once many years ago (early 70s). I never forgot it. Amazing thing to see. Jim Scotti wrote:Hi Trisha, Was it moving relatively fast or relatively slowly? If it lasted a few seconds, it was probably a meteor and was likely 50 to 100 kilometers above the ground while you watched it enter. The brightness and glare tend to make such objects look much larger and much closer than they really are. How bright was it - say compared to the full moon or Venus? It's great when you see color in meteors. If it was really bright, it might have resulted in a meteorite landing on the ground, but most likely, it burned up high above the ground. If the object moved fairly slowly across the sky, then it is likely a re-entering satellite which might take a minute to slowly travel the entire width of the sky as it descends and burns up. You can usually see satellites break up into lots of pieces as they slowly go across the sky - very much like the Columbia did as it broke up. A meteor is moving much faster and doesn't last nearly as long, so it's relatively easy to tell them apart. I've had the pleasure of seeing several really bright fireballs in the sky and it's always really fun to watch them and think of what is causing them. Most meteors you see in the sky are just little dust particles are maybe small pebble sized things. The brightest things most people see in their lifetimes might be small boulders, maybe basketball sized or at most Volkswagen sized. If you're really lucky, you might see a house sized object enter and if you are really _unlucky_, you might be under a skyscraper or football field sized object that explodes straight over your head (luckily, those don't happen too often!) like the Tunguska fireball over Siberia in 1908. We're coming up on the best meteor season starting at about the begining of July and lasting through mid August, so get your lawn chairs out and turn the lights out and enjoy! Jim. On Thu, 16 Jun 2005, Trisha Brasher wrote: > (Sorry folks for the off-topic post, but hey, I gotta ask the > expert....) > > Hey Jim, > > We just saw something in the sky drop towards the ground, low. We > were facing (driving) north of Prescott Valley, approx 2058hrs, and > this green-light object looked BIG. It could have been a > meteorite...hopefully not a man-made object dropping out of the > sky.....if it was in northern AZ, it was big 'nuff. We have quite a > bit of visibility that direction, so if it was farther away, it was > HUGE. > > Anything we need to know??? > > Trisha ~ Lightning > Jim Scotti Lunar & Planetary Laboratory University of Arizona Tucson, AZ 85721 USA http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~jscotti/ ____________________________________________________________ Az-Geocaching mailing list listserv@azgeocaching.com To edit your setting, subscribe or unsubscribe visit: http://listserv.azgeocaching.com/mailman/listinfo/az-geocaching Arizona's Geocaching Resource http://www.azgeocaching.com Tsegi Mike and Desert Viking Till a voice, as bad as Conscience, rang interminable changes On one everlasting Whisper day and night repeated -- so: "Something hidden. Go and find it. Go and look behind the Ranges -- "Something lost behind the Ranges. Lost and waiting for you. Go!" Rudyard Kipling , The Explorer 1898 --------------------------------- Yahoo! Sports Rekindle the Rivalries. Sign up for Fantasy Football