Meteor Blasts Russia - The Something Awful Forums

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The Something Awful Forums > Main > General Bullshit > Meteor Blasts Russia

Deteriorata: Feb 6, 2005; TEAM LIBERAL
Defending and rationalizing Democratic policy since 2008
Please note: I represent the farthest left of allowed D&D discussion. Going beyond this point may result in probation

Blimpkin posted:

Is there a way for me to check the ISS flightpath in reverse time? Like, a map of it's path, but then scroll it back 5-6 days to see the last time it was over NYC?

I have an east facing unobstructed view of the sky from my apt, and routinely I scan the skies while smoking cigarettes in the window. The other day, was about 5:20-5:30, just before the Sun was completely set, and as I'm watching the sky, I see what I thought was a plane (I'm in the La Guardia flightpath, and so I see them all day), but then I realized two things about it, it was silent, and where a plane would track a path in the sky in the space between space and the ground, this seemed to be at the extreme edge of that plane. While I watched it, over the course of maybe 10 seconds, it tracked a path away from me, basically due straight east of me, and got brighter and brighter then flashed a little brighter and disappeared.

I realize I probably did in fact see a flare off a satellite, but I'm curious to see if maybe it's identifiable because if it wasn't the ISS, then I caught the view of something special.

You can try http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdat...P/JavaSSOP.html

The SkySearch tab lets you put in your location and then search for possible sightings for any date, past or future.

# ? Mar 4, 2013 15:32

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# ? May 23, 2013 08:27

Blimpkin: Dec 28, 2003; World's Greatest #1 Son

Deteriorata posted:

You can try http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdat...P/JavaSSOP.html

The SkySearch tab lets you put in your location and then search for possible sightings for any date, past or future.

Yeah I have SkyFree installed on my phone, it's an iOS Augmented Reality stargazing app, and when I put it up to the sky, the ISS was down at the horizon, and the only thing that was in view was a Saturn-V stage floating around there

and I seriously doubt it was that.

# ? Mar 4, 2013 15:38

Lazlo Nibble: Jan 9, 2004; It was Weasleby, by God! At last I had the miserable blighter precisely where I wanted him!

Blimpkin posted:

Is there a way for me to check the ISS flightpath in reverse time? Like, a map of it's path, but then scroll it back 5-6 days to see the last time it was over NYC?

SkySafari Pro has an enormous satellite database; if it's visible from the ground it's in there. If you don't want to drop the forty bucks, I can check it for you�just give me the exact date and time and as good a description of the path as you can.

# ? Mar 4, 2013 15:51

Blimpkin: Dec 28, 2003; World's Greatest #1 Son

Lazlo Nibble posted:

SkySafari Pro has an enormous satellite database; if it's visible from the ground it's in there. If you don't want to drop the forty bucks, I can check it for you�just give me the exact date and time and as good a description of the path as you can.

Hmmm. I mean, it was either Thursday or Friday, 28th or 1st. Just before sunset, so probably between 5:00-6:00PM EST.

In my compass app here's my guess as to where it was:

Facing:

118* SE

40*49'10" N, 73*57'0" W

It's path was one that had to have gone directly overhead, in that direction.

# ? Mar 4, 2013 16:11

Plinkey: Aug 4, 2004; Can't we all just be friends?

Blimpkin posted:

Hmmm. I mean, it was either Thursday or Friday, 28th or 1st. Just before sunset, so probably between 5:00-6:00PM EST.

In my compass app here's my guess as to where it was:

Facing:

118* SE

40*49'10" N, 73*57'0" W

It's path was one that had to have gone directly overhead, in that direction.

You can also sign up at http://spotthestation.nasa.gov/ to get an email on the day that you'll be able to see it from wherever you live for future reference.

# ? Mar 4, 2013 18:26

Lazlo Nibble: Jan 9, 2004; It was Weasleby, by God! At last I had the miserable blighter precisely where I wanted him!

That was definitely the ISS then. Just before 5:30 PM Thursday. It moves fast enough it could easily have dropped to the horizon in the time between when you spotted it and when you had SkyFree fired up.

# ? Mar 4, 2013 20:56

Blimpkin: Dec 28, 2003; World's Greatest #1 Son

Lazlo Nibble posted:

That was definitely the ISS then. Just before 5:30 PM Thursday. It moves fast enough it could easily have dropped to the horizon in the time between when you spotted it and when you had SkyFree fired up.

AWESOME, I'm most definitely going to get Sputnik! then, because now I know exactly what to look for! That's so incredible.

# ? Mar 4, 2013 21:14

redshirt: Aug 11, 2007; At my post

Also http://www.heavens-above.com/

Pretty nifty sites, especially for keeping an eye on Iridium flares. And for real - catching a major Iridium flare is an incredible experience. Like a flash of a laser that travels across the sky.

# ? Mar 4, 2013 21:17

Daimo: Sep 14, 2007

There's a Horizon special about Meteors on BBC 2 at 23:20 tonight. Hopefully it's not too dumbed down with 80's pop music and CGI.

# ? Mar 4, 2013 21:20

Blimpkin: Dec 28, 2003; World's Greatest #1 Son

redshirt posted:

Also http://www.heavens-above.com/

Pretty nifty sites, especially for keeping an eye on Iridium flares. And for real - catching a major Iridium flare is an incredible experience. Like a flash of a laser that travels across the sky.

Exactly. Just like that.

# ? Mar 4, 2013 21:27

GWBBQ: Jan 2, 2005

As much as I love getting alerts on my phone for ISS passes and Iridium flares, nothing beats spotting a satellite on your own and figuring out what it is. I was outside last April to watch a really right Iridium flare, and after a few minutes of looking up I spotted a dim pulsing reddish spot moving across the sky. After checking cataloged satellites, I concluded that it must have been Envisat but it appeared to be slowly tumbling. A day or two later, ESA announced that they had lost contact with it.

redshirt posted:

Also http://www.heavens-above.com/

Pretty nifty sites, especially for keeping an eye on Iridium flares. And for real - catching a major Iridium flare is an incredible experience. Like a flash of a laser that travels across the sky.

Once you put in your location, you can pick an object and go forward or back in time to check start, maximum elevation, and end time.

# ? Mar 5, 2013 03:11

Handen: Jun 29, 2003

Daimo posted:

There's a Horizon special about Meteors on BBC 2 at 23:20 tonight. Hopefully it's not too dumbed down with 80's pop music and CGI.

Awe yeah.

If for whatever reason it says you can't watch because of region-specific blocking, install this addon.

# ? Mar 5, 2013 07:50

Ochn0e: Sep 2, 2012

Daimo posted:

There's a Horizon special about Meteors on BBC 2 at 23:20 tonight. Hopefully it's not too dumbed down with 80's pop music and CGI.

There was also a documentary about this incident on channel 4. Meteor Strike: Fireball from Space. I don't know if this is the same as the one you have mentioned. It seems you can watch it online on channel4 but unfortunately not in my country.

# ? Mar 5, 2013 08:09

That 70s Shirt: Dec 6, 2006; You ever notice people who see shit are always crazy?

Latest news:

Sky and Telescope article

Looks like there may be pieces on the bottom of the lake after all.

# ? Mar 6, 2013 21:58

Venusian Weasel: Nov 18, 2011

That 70s Shirt posted:

Latest news:

Sky and Telescope article

Looks like there may be pieces on the bottom of the lake after all.

Yeah, it doesn't sound like the conditions were all that great for looking in the first place, and if it had a good bit of mass to it, the meteorite probably buried itself into the mud.

# ? Mar 7, 2013 00:30

Charlz Guybon: Nov 16, 2010

evensevenone posted:

Finally, when it does explode (and it was a decent-sized explosion), there wouldn't be any nuclear radiation. Again, there are space and ground based detectors for the type of radiation produced by nuclear detonations and it's super-obvious when there is an aboveground nuclear event (underground tests are harder).

What if the meteor happened to have a vein of uranium in it?

# ? Mar 7, 2013 05:44

Chamale: Jul 11, 2010; Men on the moon and men spinning around the earth and there's not no attention paid to earthly law and order.

Charlz Guybon posted:

What if the meteor happened to have a vein of uranium in it?

Naturally occurring uranium doesn't go off in nuclear explosions. You need a large dense mass of purified Uranium-235, and the ore is crumbly stuff mostly containing Uranium-238. I don't think a meteor could have uranium anyway, they tend to be made of lighter and more abundant elements like iron and nickel.

# ? Mar 7, 2013 06:07

7thBatallion: Apr 14, 2007; You remind me of the boss
What boss?
The boss with the power
What power?
The power of voodoo
Who-doo?
You do.
Do what?
Remind me of the Boss.

Natural uranium vanes have reached critical mass, but as they are not pure enough for fusion they just warm up.

# ? Mar 7, 2013 07:22

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# ? May 23, 2013 08:27

Ialdabaoth: Nov 3, 2006; _{East side, west side,

All around the block,

The Bootlegger's

rushin' bizness

At all hours

of the clock.}

Chamale posted:

Naturally occurring uranium doesn't go off in nuclear explosions. You need a large dense mass of purified Uranium-235, and the ore is crumbly stuff mostly containing Uranium-238. I don't think a meteor could have uranium anyway, they tend to be made of lighter and more abundant elements like iron and nickel.

Generally yes, but there may be fringe cases of uranium planets that reached critical mass + went off in nuclear explosions, sending uranium meteors across the cosmos.

# ? Mar 7, 2013 16:51

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