COMMENTARY:It’s A Bird, It’s A Plane ... What Is It?
LIGHT SHOW IN THE SKY WOWS, 10-SECOND SPECTACLE HAD FLAMING RED TAIL
Posted: November 16, 2009 at 4:05 a.m.
ROGERS — It was one of those perfect Indian summer nights. It was shirt-sleeve weather and the stars popped out of the heavens like they were on sticks. Karen, Jeff and I were staring up, looking at the Little Dipper then there it was: “Wow!’ “Did you see that?” “What was that?” “Holy cow!” The 10-second spectacle was over as quickly as it started. What exactly it was remains something of a mystery, even a week a later. I have seen shooting stars and this was no shooting star. Karen, the more scientific of us, seemed to lean toward space debris.
We kind of decided it was a meteor shower after hearing from my mom that one of the television stations were reporting an active period was beginning.
According to the Web site for the American Meteor Society, www.amsmeteors. org, meteor showers occur each year. The Orionids — one of two showers associated with Halley’s Comet — was active through the first week in November.
The Taurids are most numerous through the first half of November. The Leonids can be seen best in mid-November but next the big show isn’t expected for 33 years.
The truth is, however, I don’t think this was a meteor. The more I read, the more I am inclined to think it was a fireball.
Meteor showers are just that, showers, and they appear to be far away. All we saw was one bright ball of light so close I wondered briefly where it landed except it seemed to disappear rather than hit the ground. Bright white, with a blue undertone and a flaming red tail, albeit it a short tail.
The Orionids displays have been accompanied by fireballs which are bright meteors that exceed the brightness of Venus, according to the society.
I don’t suppose we will ever be certain what we saw. But it is nice to know that in a cynical world we can still be wowed by a light show in the sky.
LEEANNA WALKER IS THE LOCAL EDITOR OF THE ROGERS MORNING NEWS.
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