more likely space junk than a meteorite from the descriptiion. Could still be worth a lot of money though....some people love themselves some space junk.
Saw a meteorite last night. Up close.
- Thread starter zerosoma
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Originally Posted By: zerosoma
I'm driving home from church on a country road and all of a sudden out of the corner of my eye I see this bright luminescent object on my left and I turned my gaze towards it...
a falling star, a dying star, I don't know. But it fell (estimating) about 15 yards from where I was into the field. It was bright, large, and close, probably the size of a car tire. Green neon, was fizzling out as it fell, probably going 50 mph, and landed in the field. Reminded me of a gigantic roman candle or one of those fancy bottle rockets. It was definitely a star, meteorite, or whatever. I couldn't wrap my mind around what I just saw and I turned frantic saying "what what WHAT was that!!!?"
Anyways I did some research and saw that there was a meteor shower last night. I just didn't expect to find a meteorite falling just feet from me. I didn't hear a sonic boom or anything but I drive with my music loud so I may have missed it if there was one.
Anyone else see one of these before? Are they supposed to be green? Any ideas?
What you saw is not uncommon. I have seen several in my lifetime, always bright, neon green (chemical reaction of earth's atmosphere/meteoroid), and appearing to be very close (usually, in fact, many miles away) and falling relatively slowly (usually another illusion of actual size/distance from the viewer;speeds vary buy may be traveling thousands of mph). What you saw was not a star (aka sun)...you could put 10,000 earths inside our sun and rattle it like a child's toy rattle.
The value of a found meteorite depends on size, condition, composition, and other factors but can vary from $0.50/gram to $3-4/gram (1 ounce=28+ grams), or much more. A marble-sized iron sample in my collection is worth about $30-40.
I'm driving home from church on a country road and all of a sudden out of the corner of my eye I see this bright luminescent object on my left and I turned my gaze towards it...
a falling star, a dying star, I don't know. But it fell (estimating) about 15 yards from where I was into the field. It was bright, large, and close, probably the size of a car tire. Green neon, was fizzling out as it fell, probably going 50 mph, and landed in the field. Reminded me of a gigantic roman candle or one of those fancy bottle rockets. It was definitely a star, meteorite, or whatever. I couldn't wrap my mind around what I just saw and I turned frantic saying "what what WHAT was that!!!?"
Anyways I did some research and saw that there was a meteor shower last night. I just didn't expect to find a meteorite falling just feet from me. I didn't hear a sonic boom or anything but I drive with my music loud so I may have missed it if there was one.
Anyone else see one of these before? Are they supposed to be green? Any ideas?
What you saw is not uncommon. I have seen several in my lifetime, always bright, neon green (chemical reaction of earth's atmosphere/meteoroid), and appearing to be very close (usually, in fact, many miles away) and falling relatively slowly (usually another illusion of actual size/distance from the viewer;speeds vary buy may be traveling thousands of mph). What you saw was not a star (aka sun)...you could put 10,000 earths inside our sun and rattle it like a child's toy rattle.
The value of a found meteorite depends on size, condition, composition, and other factors but can vary from $0.50/gram to $3-4/gram (1 ounce=28+ grams), or much more. A marble-sized iron sample in my collection is worth about $30-40.
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Green ?
Well I know Lex Luthor is pretty rich, he'd probably give you millions.
You probably going to say, "I had a truck and a shovel too, I just wanted to be on my way...I couldn't be bothered."
You are probably the only one that would let that go. Everyone and their dog would be at least showing it to the local news crew, getting a sample sending it to a lab...I know I would.
Well I know Lex Luthor is pretty rich, he'd probably give you millions.
You probably going to say, "I had a truck and a shovel too, I just wanted to be on my way...I couldn't be bothered."
You are probably the only one that would let that go. Everyone and their dog would be at least showing it to the local news crew, getting a sample sending it to a lab...I know I would.
Originally Posted By: Smokescreen
Green ?
Well I know Lex Luthor is pretty rich, he'd probably give you millions.
You probably going to say, "I had a truck and a shovel too, I just wanted to be on my way...I couldn't be bothered."
You are probably the only one that would let that go. Everyone and their dog would be at least showing it to the local news crew, getting a sample sending it to a lab...I know I would.
I've always been unique. But thanks for noticing!
Green ?
Well I know Lex Luthor is pretty rich, he'd probably give you millions.
You probably going to say, "I had a truck and a shovel too, I just wanted to be on my way...I couldn't be bothered."
You are probably the only one that would let that go. Everyone and their dog would be at least showing it to the local news crew, getting a sample sending it to a lab...I know I would.
I've always been unique. But thanks for noticing!
Going home from church? You weren't in the Communion wine cache by chance?
Originally Posted By: jcwit
Going home from church? You weren't in the Communion wine cache by chance?
haha nice generalization.
no, I play with the worship team. Rehearsal was last night.
Going home from church? You weren't in the Communion wine cache by chance?
haha nice generalization.
no, I play with the worship team. Rehearsal was last night.
Tom NJ
$100 Site Donor 2026
The distances can be deceptive I saw one in central New Jersey back in the 60s, wobbling across the and sky spewing fire. I could have sworn it landed just a couple hundreds yards away, but I learned the next morning it fell in Massachusetts!
Tom NJ
Tom NJ
Originally Posted By: Tom NJ
The distances can be deceptive I saw one in central New Jersey back in the 60s, wobbling across the and sky spewing fire. I could have sworn it landed just a couple hundreds yards away, but I learned the next morning it fell in Massachusetts!
Tom NJ
Yeah what's crazy is that this one looked so incredibly close. It's like someone shot a roman candle next to my car.
The distances can be deceptive I saw one in central New Jersey back in the 60s, wobbling across the and sky spewing fire. I could have sworn it landed just a couple hundreds yards away, but I learned the next morning it fell in Massachusetts!
Tom NJ
Yeah what's crazy is that this one looked so incredibly close. It's like someone shot a roman candle next to my car.
Originally Posted By: zerosoma
Originally Posted By: Tom NJ
The distances can be deceptive I saw one in central New Jersey back in the 60s, wobbling across the and sky spewing fire. I could have sworn it landed just a couple hundreds yards away, but I learned the next morning it fell in Massachusetts!
Tom NJ
Yeah what's crazy is that this one looked so incredibly close. It's like someone shot a roman candle next to my car.
The last one I saw from I-205 south of Portland circa 1993 fell out of sight behind a ridge about 2 miles to the north. It appeared to have been on a vector to destroy downtown Portland.
The next morning, the news reported that is was a 3-4 ton piece of Russian space junk falling hundred of miles away over British Columbia.
Originally Posted By: Tom NJ
The distances can be deceptive I saw one in central New Jersey back in the 60s, wobbling across the and sky spewing fire. I could have sworn it landed just a couple hundreds yards away, but I learned the next morning it fell in Massachusetts!
Tom NJ
Yeah what's crazy is that this one looked so incredibly close. It's like someone shot a roman candle next to my car.
The last one I saw from I-205 south of Portland circa 1993 fell out of sight behind a ridge about 2 miles to the north. It appeared to have been on a vector to destroy downtown Portland.
The next morning, the news reported that is was a 3-4 ton piece of Russian space junk falling hundred of miles away over British Columbia.
A meteor would not be only 50 MPH.
Wow. . I'm a serious visual amateur astronomer. Seen lots of meteors. Nothing that close though. They usually appear green due to ionizing atmospheric gases. The air ahead of them can't get out of the way fast enough, so it's highly compressed, thus heated, and glows.
If it was the size of a tire and landed 15yrds away, you mostly likely wouldn't be typing! Orbital velocity is around 17,500mph, which is about Mach 23. Could have been space junk too. So even space junk is moving really, really fast when it initially enters the upper atmosphere.
Of course, it's not going anywhere near that fast 1000 ft. above the ground.
I've seen much, much smaller ones like bolides, leave shadows when they flash. Very cool. I'd of hit the brakes fast and gone to investigate! Recorded time, date, odometer reading, direction of travel, spray-painted-an-X-on-the road....
If it was the size of a tire and landed 15yrds away, you mostly likely wouldn't be typing! Orbital velocity is around 17,500mph, which is about Mach 23. Could have been space junk too. So even space junk is moving really, really fast when it initially enters the upper atmosphere.
Of course, it's not going anywhere near that fast 1000 ft. above the ground.
I've seen much, much smaller ones like bolides, leave shadows when they flash. Very cool. I'd of hit the brakes fast and gone to investigate! Recorded time, date, odometer reading, direction of travel, spray-painted-an-X-on-the road....
Agents Mulder and Scully carried spray paint to mark the road .
Propflux01
$100 Site Donor 2026
So....... Did you go back and look for it or what????
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