Yet another meteor? Fireballs over Florida

[Berlum]

But don't get yourself in a dither. We have been assured by an 'expert' that the Russian Meteor was a once-in-a-decade thingie. Thus, the San Franciso and Florida Fireballs must be just WOO WOO. Right?

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/18/17001094-another-meteor-fireballs-light-up-florida-sky?lite


But fear not. Here for you Doubting Thomases is your official DU "scientific" "assurance" that this is just "woo" "woo"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022379427

[Berlum]

1. Could it be that people are actually seeing "Flaming Meatballs?"

[Ian David]

2. I think you're misunderstanding the argument. n/t

[Scuba]

3. Russia was the last decade. Florida is the next.

And if there's another one on Wednesday, duck!

[arcane1]

4. The NBC link describes the ones in FL as "common"

I'm not sure how the term "woo" applies to this natural occurrence

[pinboy3niner]

10. That's just what we would expect alien-infiltrated FL media would say

[arcane1]

12. Haha! PLEASE tell me people aren't playing the alien card!

Is that the "woo" theory referenced in the OP?

[pinboy3niner]

13. Scoff if you will...

[Warpy]

5. I'm thinking the Russian meteor wasn't traveling alone

and that there was a whole bunch of space junk around it with the same composition. The rest of it is smaller and seems to be blowing apart a lot farther up.

It's either that or this stuff happens all the time and nobody bothers to notice it until after something dramatic happens.

It's just fortunate that the big one blew itself apart so far up and that most injuries were minor.

[RobertEarl]

11. You're thinking correctly

I watch the north star... a lot. It's my only view, is why. All these trees.

Anyway, the night in question i saw at least three meteors flying just to the west of where Polaris resides. Thought, wow, that's unusual.

The span of time was over 5 or 6 hours with the median time being the time that Russia was hit. There was a gaggle of them that night going over the north pole.

[Lex]

6. Fireballs happen all the time.

Most all break up and burn up before anything hits the ground. There are occasional exceptions, and the one in Russia was a rare large one.

[SidDithers]

7. Awwww, poor you...

Are you sad that your secret has been revealed?

Read any good chemtrail threads lately?

Sid

[msanthrope]

14. 3-3 jury to keep this post. nt

[SidDithers]

15. Good jury result...

Sid

[Berlum]

23. Have you been OD'ing on Huehueteotl's Flaming Meatballs again, Sid?

You have posted a VERBOTEN thotForm word, frend. Some eVil WooVillan sOmEwherE might aLerT on you. oNe caNNot be two ceRtain of unKnowable uNknoWablEs, as you might verY well know.

[NutmegYankee]

8. The rarity is the size of the meteor.

How many broken windows were there in Florida?

Sorry, I've seen fireball meteors here in Conn. But were they THE size of the one in Russia? Nope!

[Motown_Johnny]

9. The Russian one was ~10,000 tons

Nobody is saying that the other ones are "WOO WOO". They are simply smaller and more common.

[greytdemocrat]

16. I saw one of these...

When I was on vacation in Puerto Rico one night. It was pretty cool.

[Tree-Hugger]

17. There are thousands of fireballs daily

They typically go unnoticed, according to the American Meteor Society, because they frequently occur during the day, over the ocean or in less populated areas. What's uncommon are fireballs of this size plus the additional sonic boom.

This website has a lot of information about the frequency of fireballs.

http://www.amsmeteors.org/fireballs/faqf/

Edit: I know there have been folks on DU who have said they've seen them. You can report your sightings to the American Meteor Society. They like to log sightings. http://www.amsmeteors.org/fireball_event

[SidDithers]

18. Asteroid Fast Facts from NASA...

'course, they're a bunch of "scientific materialists", so you're free to ignore them

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/asteroids/overview/fastfacts.html

Size and Frequency

Every day, Earth is bombarded with more than 100 tons of dust and sand-sized particles.

About once a year, an automobile-sized asteroid hits Earth's atmosphere, creates an impressive fireball, and burns up before reaching the surface.

Every 2,000 years or so, a meteoroid the size of a football field hits Earth and causes significant damage to the area.

Finally, only once every few million years, an object large enough to threaten Earth's civilization comes along. Impact craters on Earth, the moon and other planetary bodies are evidence of these occurrences.

Space rocks smaller than about 25 meters (about 82 feet) will most likely burn up as they enter the Earth's atmosphere and cause little or no damage.

If a rocky meteoroid larger than 25 meters but smaller than one kilometer ( a little more than 1/2 mile) were to hit Earth, it would likely cause local damage to the impact area.

Sid

[WilliamPitt]

19. Derp

[The Straight Story]

20. The Latest Worldwide Meteor / Fireball Reports:

http://thelatestworldwidemeteorreports.blogspot.jp/2011/12/december-2011-meteorfireball-sighting.html

[cherokeeprogressive]

21. What's REALLY wierd is that The City of Big Bear Lake seems to attract more than other places.

I kid you not. Stay outside for about 3 hours and I PROMISE you'll see at least one per hour.

Crazy? Nope. True.

What's the strangest thing is that they seem to come from all directions! Personally, I think that means other civilizations have been shooting spitballs at us for tens of thousands of years and they're finally getting here.

[WCGreen]

22. I've seen a couple over the years...

When I was a kid about 9 or 10, saw one over the farms out west of Cleveland. It was cool. Probably wouldn't see it today, too many street lights.

[Posteritatis]

24. Anyone equating Chelyabinsk with a typical meteor doesn't know what they're talking about. (nt)

[pintobean]

25. Keep an eye out for the

[Jamastiene]

26. What is "woo" is all the people who think meteors are all that rare

and are panicking about it. FFS, even those of us out in the sticks know what meteors, meteorites and meteor showers are. Look up at the sky sometime and quit being so superstitious. There is a whole universe "happening" above your head at all times. No need to panic.

Meteor showers happen a lot. They are especially prolific in certain months. The most popular are the Perseids and the Leonids. The Perseids will be most visable on the nights of August 11th and 12th of this year. The Leonids will be most visable in November 16th. If you can find some way to get out of the city and go look at them, in a place where there is less light pollution in the night sky, it might calm your fears some. They are actually quite beautiful.

The one in Russia was rare, because of its size. Most aren't that big.

You'd be better off worrying about lightning hitting you. You actually have more of a chance of lightning hitting that being struck by a meteor. Just chill out.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

27. Sunday night when I was driving in my car I swear I saw something streak out of the corner of my eye

It look like it streaked from west to east, and my first thought was a meteorite.

But I didn't get a good look at it. Might just have been a reflection of a street light.

I did see a fireball once in Maryland over my house. It was the craziest thing.