Gord
professor emeritus
Reged: 01/06/04
Posts: 692
Loc: Toronto, ON, Canada
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Hi,
Just witnessed this a few mintues ago. Anyone else see it?
I'm north of the city proper. It was about 45deg up in a W-SW direction and heading S. Exploded less than about 20deg elevation. INTENSELY bright green, with an orange smoke trail, noisy with a boom when it exploded. Just before exploding there was a shower of orange like "sparks". *VERY* bright, light up the yard, easily as bright at the first 1/4 moon, but as a point.
What it reminded me of was fireworks, the kind that burn as an intense point while ascending before exploding.
Amazing! I've never seen one even remotely close to this brilliant!!!
Anyone else?
-Gord
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* Celestron C10/Normand Fullum primary
* Tasco 11TR/Normand Fullum primary
* Orion StarBlast
* Orion Apex 102
* SkyWatcher 80ED
* Celestron CG5a mount
* MallinCam Pro & Color II
* Lots of other astro toys
...and the best wife I could ever dream of for letting it all happen! 
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star drop
Guilty as Charged
Reged: 02/02/08
Posts: 16099
Loc: Snow Plop, WNY
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We saw it to our north from a location about fifty miles south southeast from Buffalo, NY. My friend said it was a longer streak but I only caught the last few degrees of travel. The bit that I saw had to be at least -6 to -8 magnitude and heading straight down.
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Ted
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Gord
professor emeritus
Reged: 01/06/04
Posts: 692
Loc: Toronto, ON, Canada
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Hey Ted,
I was wondering if anyone in northern NY would have seen anything. I agree, it was easily in the -8 mag range. Incredibly bright.
Just got back in from my observing session. I spotted this thing when I was setting up my scope. Looks like I was not alone in seeing it over the GTA:
http://www.cp24.com/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090925/090925_meteor_gta/20090925/?hub=CP24Home
I'll try to put together a sky map of the direction of travel.
Clear skies!
-Gord
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* Celestron C10/Normand Fullum primary
* Tasco 11TR/Normand Fullum primary
* Orion StarBlast
* Orion Apex 102
* SkyWatcher 80ED
* Celestron CG5a mount
* MallinCam Pro & Color II
* Lots of other astro toys
...and the best wife I could ever dream of for letting it all happen!
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Footbag
sage
Reged: 04/13/09
Posts: 457
Loc: Scranton, PA
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I was at our clubs observatory in Northeast, PA for a public night. A clubmember saw one right around that time and called it out. She's a seasoned astronomer and still was in awe of the brightness. It was approx NW. My back was turned, but as I turned I did see a bit of the reflection from it off the wall of the observatory. It had to be bright!
I'm approximating the location because I didn't get a good view of it.
My wife was facing it and got good view. Lots of others saw the flash.
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Adam
Celestron CPC 800, Celestron HD Wedge
Hyperion 17mm, Celestron 40mm Plossl, TMB 9mm
WO 66, SSAG
Modded Canon XS
Lackawanna Astronomical Society
My Gallery
Edited by Footbag (09/26/09 12:53 AM)
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ursamajor
super member
Reged: 07/24/07
Posts: 145
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A friend of mine, an observer for decades saw it and said it was the brightest he had ever seen. His location was in the Kitchener Waterloo area (South Central Ontario).
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Using a goto scope is like fishing with hand grenades...
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TahaSiddiqui
super member
Reged: 10/09/08
Posts: 105
Loc: Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
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Me and my friends weer all in the backyard just talking when out of nowhere the sky around us turned bright blue. I turned and looked up to see and it was incredibly bright. THe brightest and longest i've ever seen. Me and my friends were in shock and kept asking if that just happened lol  . The scariest thing afterwards was that as soon as it disappeared, dozens of bats were flying all around and screeching. It was amazing !
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Orion XT8
32mm, 25mm, 17.5mm, 10mm, 2X barlow
Low quality bino's
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Michael A. Earl
vendor- Canadian Satellite Tracking and Orbit Research
Reged: 11/17/08
Posts: 1098
Loc: Brockville, Ontario, Canada
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I saw it too!
I saw it in the northern sky about 45 degrees up (near Polaris). It trailed for about 100 degrees before it disappeared. It was a bright yellow colour and heading eastward. It left an amazing smoke trail and stayed yellow for most of its appearance.
I was conducting an astronomy class but unfortunately the students were inside the classroom at the time. I was setting up my telescope for the night's observing when I saw it.
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Michael A. Earl - Vendor
Canadian Satellite Tracking and Orbit Research
www.castor2.ca
Celestron NexStar 11 GPS
Celestron NexStar 8i SE
SBIG ST-9XE CCD
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panhard
Mongo
Reged: 01/20/08
Posts: 5185
Loc: Markham Ontario Canada
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I was at our viewing site last night. It was simply awsome out there. I almost missed it as I was just looking up from the eyepiece. It looked so low that it could have struck a plane if one where in its path. It was very bright and the colour a blue orangish with a long tail that was very visible. I have never seen one that looked so close and was that large. 
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ursamajor
super member
Reged: 07/24/07
Posts: 145
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There should be reports from the Ottawa and Montreal areas.This thing has a huge sighting area.
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Using a goto scope is like fishing with hand grenades...
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ischua
Under the Radar
Reged: 07/17/08
Posts: 191
Loc: Franklinville New York
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This was the best one I can remember in a long long time. So fast I almost didn't have time to tell Ted to look up. Didn't even think it might have made it all the way down would be neat to get a piece of one I saw fall
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Mike
Meade 2080
and assorted parts
Edited by ischua (09/26/09 01:22 PM)
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davidc
sage
Reged: 11/24/05
Posts: 252
Loc: Mesa, Arizona
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Gord,
Those are always awesome to see. We had a huge fireball about 4 years ago at the All Arizona Star Party, about 25 miles north of Tucson, Arizona. It came into the area about 2:00 am sunday morning, and everybody thought it was a border patrol hellicopter search light, because the land owner has problems with foot traffic from illegals coming over from mexico. It lit up the whole area really bright for about 1 minute, and was followed by a long tail. That left us all in amazement that early morning.
David
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13.1 Inch-F/4.8 Royce Conical Homebuilt Dob
8 Inch-F/5 Orion Dob
4 Inch Celestron Reflector Camping Scope
25mm Meade W/A Ep
13mm Orion Stratus Ep
8mm Orion Stratus Ep
2X Meade Barlow
Meade Cheshire/Sight Tube
East Valley Astronomy Club
Searching For Rainbows In The Dark
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panhard
Mongo
Reged: 01/20/08
Posts: 5185
Loc: Markham Ontario Canada
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Re what we saw last night. I will say up front paranoia runs amock. Check out the link that follows.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_fireballs
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Cotts
Just Wondering
Reged: 10/10/05
Posts: 903
Loc: Richmond Hill, Ontario
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From 30km north of Trenton,ON the fireball was seen by about 20 observers at 'Fall-n-Stars' Star Party. It began about 60deg up due west and went almost straight down through the upper half of Ophiuchus. It was the brightes bolide ever seen by all of these 20 experienced observers. On of us, from London ON, got a phone call that it was seen in the Eastern sky from there. Thus, west of Trenton, East of London and north of upstate New York. Directly over Toronto indeed!!!! Dave
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David Cotterell
14th Floor Observatory
Richmond Hill, Ontario
200 mm Intes f/10 Mak-Cass
80mm WO Zenithstar FD
66mm WO ED
Losmandy G-11 mount with Gemini
Ioptron minitower
Canon XSi
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Cotts
Just Wondering
Reged: 10/10/05
Posts: 903
Loc: Richmond Hill, Ontario
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Is there any video????
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David Cotterell
14th Floor Observatory
Richmond Hill, Ontario
200 mm Intes f/10 Mak-Cass
80mm WO Zenithstar FD
66mm WO ED
Losmandy G-11 mount with Gemini
Ioptron minitower
Canon XSi
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Gord
professor emeritus
Reged: 01/06/04
Posts: 692
Loc: Toronto, ON, Canada
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Hi Everyone,
I haven't seen any video, and the only picture I saw was blurry mess.
Given the relative directions of sighting being reported, I'm thinking anything that made it down from this either went splash in lake Ontario, or maybe made it just into NY state. All you in the Buffalo and surrounding areas will have to be on the lookout!
Here's a picture of the approx. path as I saw it. Could have started a bit farther up to the right in Hercules, but this is about when I noticed it.
Clear skies,
-Gord
--------------------
* Celestron C10/Normand Fullum primary
* Tasco 11TR/Normand Fullum primary
* Orion StarBlast
* Orion Apex 102
* SkyWatcher 80ED
* Celestron CG5a mount
* MallinCam Pro & Color II
* Lots of other astro toys
...and the best wife I could ever dream of for letting it all happen!
--------------------
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panhard
Mongo
Reged: 01/20/08
Posts: 5185
Loc: Markham Ontario Canada
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Quote:
From 30km north of Trenton,ON the fireball was seen by about 20 observers at 'Fall-n-Stars' Star Party. It began about 60deg up due west and went almost straight down through the upper half of Ophiuchus. It was the brightes bolide ever seen by all of these 20 experienced observers. On of us, from London ON, got a phone call that it was seen in the Eastern sky from there. Thus, west of Trenton, East of London and north of upstate New York. Directly over Toronto indeed!!!! Dave
David I was just east of Mount Albert and it seemed like It was heading toward the Pickering Ajax area. Possibly the Oshawa area. It was great to see such a beautiful thing. I will remember that for quite a while.
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star drop
Guilty as Charged
Reged: 02/02/08
Posts: 16099
Loc: Snow Plop, WNY
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After looking at a map I estimate that it was between Toronto and Oshawa as seen from our location. It definitely did not disappear from our sight by dropping below foreground objects.
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Ted
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captfran
newbie
Reged: 09/27/09
Posts: 4
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We were headed for Block Friday evening. Watched beautiful sunset over the stern (It was right on schedule). Weather clear and nasty SE of Watch Hill RI in Block Island sound. About 21:00 observed spectacular fireball over Watch Hill RI. I spotted an intense white ball, several times larger than Jupiter, a few degrees above the horizon. The ball traveled straight down. Than a few pieces flew from it streaming orange flame. The disintegration did not seem to diminish the original size or color. The entire display lasted about 2-3 seconds. Could this have been the same event? I hope this data may be of use.
Fran Cichowski SV "Southern Comfort"
If this not sent to all please forward it.
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panhard
Mongo
Reged: 01/20/08
Posts: 5185
Loc: Markham Ontario Canada
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Where is Block?
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star drop
Guilty as Charged
Reged: 02/02/08
Posts: 16099
Loc: Snow Plop, WNY
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Hi Fran,
Welcome to Cloudy Nights.
The time of the night and elevation coincide. Would the meteor have been roughly to your northwest?
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Ted
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