Wish upon a shooting star...

Shawn

Shawn

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Shawn
Just not one a freaking mile out dead ahead during a a night flight!...scared the bejesus outta me! I am 6000' feet descending and here comes a green streak not more than a mile dead ahead straight down right in front of me and burns out about 2000' AGL!

For a second I thought the martians were invading!
 
Too cool,must have Ben one great sight.
 
Shawn said:
Just not one a freaking mile out dead ahead during a a night flight!...scared the bejesus outta me! I am 6000' feet descending and here comes a green streak not more than a mile dead ahead straight down right in front of me and burns out about 2000' AGL!

For a second I thought the martians were invading!
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Odds are, it was A LOT further than you thought. There is no way you could judge distance to an object of unknown intrinsic brightness and unknown size.

Once upon a time, I went up Empire Grade to watch the Perseids. Saw a green streak like you describe, bright enough that you could see the vapor trail inside it, and not much else afterward. I thought it must have landed in Bonny Doon.

I found out the next day, there was indeed a meteorite strike observed at that time, and in that direction. It landed near Arcata.
 
MAKG1 said:
Odds are, it was A LOT further than you thought. There is no way you could judge distance to an object of unknown intrinsic brightness and unknown size.
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Agreed, likely a lot farther away than you think. More like 50-100 miles, much higher in the atmosphere, giving the appearance of being closer/lower.

If it really "burned out" at 2,000' AGL, odds are high an impact event occurred.
 
I saw a pretty impressive one last night as well, to the south, from central oregon.
 
I saw one while flying at night about two weeks ago as well! Looked a lot like the one in Chelyabinsk last year but didn't burn near as long. Could still see the smoke trail glowing after it burned out. Definitely one of the most amazing things I've ever seen!
 
Jeff Oslick said:
Agreed, likely a lot farther away than you think. More like 50-100 miles, much higher in the atmosphere, giving the appearance of being closer/lower.

If it really "burned out" at 2,000' AGL, odds are high an impact event occurred.
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May have been more than a mile, but was between me and the airport I had just spotted which was 6 miles out and it definitely burned out below my altitude. Had plenty of city lights and surrounding hills with lights for visual reference. Felt a lot closer to me than to the airport beacon.

I was actually looking to see if there was any sign of an impact as I followed it down visually where it would have hit. Didn't see anything.

It was just a little streaker...not a fireball ripping across the sky. That would have been much more impressive!

I know...pics or it didn't happen!...wasn't that fast on the camera draw!
 
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Which airport? Watsonville?

What time, and what location?

If that really was that close, you're almost certainly not the only witness. Assuming it wasn't something much smaller.
 
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