Comet over Los Angeles? 3:57AM March 23rd 2006

At about 3:57AM I saw what I can only imagine was a comet of some sort
over LA. From where I was standing it was heading East-northeast. I
have seen comets before, but they looked like faint blips compared to
this. The sighting was so very dramatic compared to what I have seen
previously, it looked like a big ball of color, I could hardly believe
my eyes.

What sort of authorities on sky sightings do I contact to corroborate
this? It seems so surreal that I am having a hard time believing that
it happened.

How about if you describe in greater detail what you saw?

You said it was about 3:57AM. That is very helpful.
It rules out a number of possibile things that might be
seen near sunrise or sunset.

You said that from where you was standing, it was heading
east-northeast. Can you say roughly where you were in the
LA area? In which direction did you first see the thing?
(Either a compass heading or direction to a landmark.)
In which direction did you last see it?

Did you have to turn to follow it accross the sky?

Did it change direction at all, or did it move in a
straight line?

How high in the sky did it appear? In degrees above the
horizon (90 degrees is straight up), or hand-widths above
the horizon. See this web page for info on estimating
height above the horizon (or "altitude") in hand-widths
(halfway down the page):

http://www.cloudbait.com/science/fireballs.html

What was the altitude when you first saw it? When you
last saw it? When it was at its highest?

How long was it visible? A couple of seconds? A minute?
Five minutes?

What shape was the object? Was it a pinpoint like a star
or planet? Was it round or elonglated in the direction
it was moving?

How big was the object, in terms of angle? If you hold
up your little finger at arm's length, it will more than
cover the full moon. Was the object wider than that?
Wider than your thumb? Wider than your hand?

Did the object look sharp-edged or fuzzy?

How bright was it? Compare the brightness to something
you could see from the same location at the same time,
such as a streetlight that you know is a mile away, or a
lighted wall or billboard in the next block.

What color or colors did it have?

That should pin it down fairly well.

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

How about if you describe in greater detail what you saw?

You said it was about 3:57AM. That is very helpful.
It rules out a number of possibile things that might be
seen near sunrise or sunset.

You said that from where you was standing, it was heading
east-northeast. Can you say roughly where you were in the
LA area? In which direction did you first see the thing?
(Either a compass heading or direction to a landmark.)
In which direction did you last see it?

I was exactly at this point:
http://www.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en...eles,+CA+90007

I was facing due north, and the object appeared at North North East
(about 23 degrees)

Did you have to turn to follow it accross the sky?

No.

Did it change direction at all, or did it move in a
straight line?

Straight line

How high in the sky did it appear? In degrees above the
horizon (90 degrees is straight up), or hand-widths above
the horizon. See this web page for info on estimating
height above the horizon (or "altitude") in hand-widths
(halfway down the page):
http://www.cloudbait.com/science/fireballs.html

It was at about 70 degrees.

What was the altitude when you first saw it? When you
last saw it? When it was at its highest?

It was the highest when I first saw it (at 70 degrees) then it traveled
for perhaps a little over a second and disappeared (then about 60
degrees to the ground).

How long was it visible? A couple of seconds? A minute?
Five minutes?

A bit more than a second.

What shape was the object? Was it a pinpoint like a star
or planet? Was it round or elonglated in the direction
it was moving?

It was the shape of a ball that grew as it shone and then disappeared.
Also, the object had a trail, made no noise and disappeared in a flash.
Very much like this:
http://www.cloudbait.com/science/200...024409_002.gif

How big was the object, in terms of angle? If you hold
up your little finger at arm's length, it will more than
cover the full moon. Was the object wider than that?
Wider than your thumb? Wider than your hand?

It was about the size of the moon.

Did the object look sharp-edged or fuzzy?

Fuzzy, it was kind of glimmering, like a firework looks.

How bright was it? Compare the brightness to something
you could see from the same location at the same time,
such as a streetlight that you know is a mile away, or a
lighted wall or billboard in the next block.

What color or colors did it have?

Green/white, a bit like: http://www.cloudbait.com/science/peekskill.jpg

That should pin it down fairly well.

I am sure that anyone looking at the sky at 3:57AM last night must have
seen this, it was impossible to miss. Maybe there will be some reports,
but I have not heard anything yet.

Good description!

It definitely sounds like you saw a small but bright
meteor. It may have been headed approximately toward
you, and/or it may have exploded. I've never seen a
meteor break apart or explode, so I think that's fairly
rare.

I've seen a few really bright green meteors, and they
also lasted only about a second.

My guess is that the meteoroid was about the size of a
marble. The majority of visible meteors are only about
the size of a small pea. Anything much smaller than
that isn't visible. Anything much larger than a marble
would probably last longer than the meteor you saw.
I think the Peekskill meteor was visible for a minute
or longer. The biggest and longest-lasting meteor I've
ever heard about, by far, is one that was seen in the
middle of the day on August 10, 1972. A bright meteor
was seen and photographed from Utah to Alberta, Canada.
The meteoroid, estimated to be the size of a house, or
larger, is the only one known to enter and then leave
Earth's atmosphere. Good thing that it didn't hit the
ground, because it could easily have wiped out a whole
city. It was visible for about 20 minutes.

I asked about your location and the direction you were
looking because I thought there was a possibility that
you saw a rocket launch from Vandenberg AFB. Your
description of the object rules that out.

The first time I saw a bright meteor I wanted to get
some kind of confirmation from an astronomer, too.
My dad didn't know a lot about astronomy, but he knew
that astronomers don't try to keep track of every bright
meteor, and suggested to me that my expectation was a
bit unrealistic. There are only a few places that have
cameras watching the sky all night long, in hopes of
imaging a fireball and then using the images to find a
meteorite on the ground. The Cloudbait Observatory in
Colorado is one. I don't know whether the technique has
worked for anyone, yet.

You could look on the Griffith Observatory website for
info about asking questions. I'd guess that they get an
awful lot of questions, and don't have time to answer all
of them, but they may be putting Q & A online now.

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

Thanks for the help.

Maybe I will never have this confirmed, but it eases the mind to know
that it was likely a meteor.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Thanks for the help.

Maybe I will never have this confirmed, but it eases the mind to know
that it was likely a meteor.


Comets don't appear to visibly move, by the way. They're too far away
(except in the unlikely event you were watching one about to hit the earth.