Date: 3/23/13 6:42 am
From: jugbayjs <JugBayJS...>
Subject: Re: [MDBirding] Re: Duck!! (Holy @#$%, that was not a bird!)


Update:

Sorry - this is not bird related but is of high interest to birders, especially any who watch and listen to the sky in the evening, which is what I was doing when I saw it. I had no knowledge of it prior to the event, but apparently many did - there was an article in yesterday's Washington Post to alert people of it. It was seen by hundreds, but reported to be heard by only a few. Reports can be viewed at http://www.amsmeteors.org/2013/03/update-for-march-22-2013-northeast-fireball/

I don't know for sure what I saw, or heard, but it may have been something other than the main fireball. Of course Ed is right, light travels faster than sound (i.e., lightning/thunder) so it doesn't make sense that I heard it before I saw it, but that is what happened.

I retraced my experience, and the trajectory was closer to NE/ENE. I am 100% sure on that. I also know I heard something, and what I thought I heard was the meteorite that I saw. I had been standing in a very quiet rural area, listening intently, and could hear everything very clearly. I could hear ducks, geese, and even some songbirds as they passed by (both the sound of wind passing over their wings when wings are held stiff, and/or the sounds wings make when they flap).

I heard it before I saw it, as it came from behind the direction I was facing and flew more or less over me, VERY quickly. Then I saw the fireball and its trail. It was deep orange and then turned to green and blue, then lost color. I could actually see the object, and it appeared to be very close (LOW!) but it may have been much higher than I realize (tens of miles?). It was arcing downward, and the trajectory seemed like a course bound for somewhere near by, but I heard nothing else (no crash).

Maybe I saw the main fireball and somehow got mixed signals in my brain, but I don't think so. Most reports had it traveling east and in a straight line. What I saw was clearly arcing downward, and I heard it. Perhaps I may have seen a small piece of it that broke off and came through the atmosphere and down to earth? Anyway, it was something I will never forget!

P.S. Last week (Mar 12) I saw the Pan-STARRS comet, I think ~ 8:10 pm, low in the western sky (at the time to the left/south of the crescent moon). Needed a scope to see it, but it was very cool to see.

Regards-
Jeff Shenot
Croom MD

On Friday, March 22, 2013 9:46:16 PM UTC-4, Ed Boyd wrote:
> I was fortunate to be looking to the northeast from the tower at BWI when the meteor appeared in the northern sky. It first skipped once then lit up with greater and brighter intensity as the seconds went on. First appearing bluish, it turned mostly green with flashes of orange and yellow as it moved from the northern sky to the east. It lit up like a sparkler and pieces broke off before eventually breaking up into�multiple pieces at its last moments. This was one of the best fireballs that I have ever seen (although I once saw one in the middle of the day that was amazing for that reason alone).
>
>
> �
>
> Jeff, I don't know what sound you heard but I suspect it wasn't the meteor as the object was probably in the upper reaches of the atmosphere when it was observed and the sound, if you could have heard it, would have been tens of seconds out of sync with the visible object. It takes about 5 seconds for sound to travel a mile (remember that during thunderstorms when your trying to figure out how far lightning is from you), so something miles up in the sky would take a while for the sound to reach you. Think about the�last time you saw a jet liner a few miles up in the sky passing by and then hearing the sound far behind the aircraft's location above you.
>
>
> �
>
> Regardless, for anyone fortunate to have seen this it was an amazing sight.
>
> �
>
> The comet was still visible in the NW about 45 minutes or so after sunset tonight. It has dimmed noticeably since I first saw it on the 12th and it will continue to do so over the next couple of weeks.
>
> �
>
> On a bird note. I was at an M&T Bank this afternoon near the airport. While I was at the drive through I noticed a dead bird in the rocks next to the building, an apparent window strike victim I assumed. At first I thought that it was a Mourning Dove as it was about the right size from where I was sitting but the color was wrong. When I got out of the car to check it out I found it to be a Woodcock. I was surprised to find it in the middle of this industrialized area as suitable habitat was some distance away.
>
>
> �
>
> Ed Boyd
>
> Chestnut Hill Cove, MD
>
>
>
> On Fri, Mar 22, 2013 at 8:57 PM, Rob Hilton <rob.hil......> wrote:
>
> We saw it in downtown Silver Spring!! �We didn't hear any noise though. �We were diffidently looking for the comet, without binoculars and a little too early, when it streaked across the sky in a generally easterly direction.
>
>
> It has been reported from Boston to the Outer Banks, so it had to be fairly high in the sky for it to be seen over that large an area.
>
> Rob Hilton
> Silver Spring
>
>
>
> On Friday, March 22, 2013 8:12:19 PM UTC-4, jugbayjs wrote:
> > Duck! As in "hit the dirt!
> >
> > At ~ 7:53 pm (minutes ago) I was at home (Jug Bay, PG Co), watching for evening flights/woodcocks. I had just heard some wood ducks buzz by low, their wings whistling in the wind. All of a sudden I heard a much louder FFFFFF, expecting more ducks but somehow so close they sounded LOUD. Instead, what I saw was a meteorite, VERY LOW, shooting at about NNE and blazing orange. Weird thing was, after a second or two it turned green and blue before losing color altogether. I was expecting to hear a crash, but nothing else was heard. From the trajectory, it looked bound for a landing somewhere in AA County, or maybe the Bay if it made it that far.
>
> >
>
>
>
>
> > Cheers!
> > Jeff Shenot
> > Croom MD
>
> --
> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Group 'Maryland & DC Birding'.
> To view group guidelines or change email preferences, visit this group on the web at http://www.mdbirding.com
>
> Posts can be sent to the group by sending an email to <mdbi......>

--