Meteor? Space rubbish? What fell near the Hebrides last evening? 14/09/22

[Aladdin]

'Fireball' spotted crossing the sky over Ireland and UK last night likely to be space debris

Astronomy Ireland’s David Moore told The Journal that they were “flooded with reports” of sightings of the fireball last night.

www.thejournal.ie

First reports were that this was a meteor.
Then it was "manmade".
Now it's space waste...

Anyone spot it?

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Space junk from elon musk apparently

Fireball over Scotland and NI no longer thought to be Elon Musk ‘space junk’

UK Meteor Network says it ‘cannot find any known space junk or satellite de-orbit’ to explain object

www.theguardian.com

 

[surreybrowncap]

 

[tommers]

Space junk from elon musk apparently

Fireball over Scotland and NI no longer thought to be Elon Musk ‘space junk’

UK Meteor Network says it ‘cannot find any known space junk or satellite de-orbit’ to explain object

www.theguardian.com

2hats said that wasn't the case but has been very silent on what it actually was.

 

[2hats]

Most likely a slow, natural meteor. Looked like (the light curve implied) it shed quite a lot of material on the way in but that's probably mostly in the sea now.

Definitely not the Starlink satellite - totally wrong orbital geometry and timing for the observations made*. Also looked like it was moving too fast for a re-entry from low Earth orbit.

​

* The only suitable candidates would be a small number of retrograde polar satellites - eg Earth resources such as Seesat 1, ERS 1 (perhaps debris thereof) or one of (or something, a sub-payload perhaps, originally associated with one of) the Topaz/FIA radar spysats. But I would still lean towards space rock on account of the apparent angular motion.

e2a: Also the last entry prediction for Starlink-4653 (and the only one anywhere close to the time of the fireball event and not subsequently established to still be in orbit) was for 14Sep2022 at 0038UTC ± 47 minutes. Another [failed] Starlink satellite from the same launch was expected to enter several hours later (on 15Sep) but that was recorded, still in orbit, after the observed fireball.

 

[Sue]

Most likely a slow, natural meteor. Looked like (the light curve implied) it shed quite a lot of material on the way in but that's probably mostly in the sea now.

Definitely not the Starlink satellite - totally wrong orbital geometry for the observations made*. Also looked like it was moving too fast for a re-entry from low Earth orbit.

View attachment 342881 View attachment 342880​

* The only suitable candidates would be a small number of retrograde polar satellites - eg Earth resources such as Seesat 1, ERS 1 (perhaps debris) or one of (or something, a sub-payload perhaps, originally associated with one of) the Topaz/FIA radar spysats. But I would still lean towards space rock on account of the apparent angular motion.

Or it was a sign from God about the Queen's death. Meteor indeed.

 

[Pickman's model]

Or it was a sign from God about the Queen's death. Meteor indeed.

Or about the death of King Charles, the third of his name

 

[Sue]

Or about the death of King Charles, the third of his name

Ah yes, that's a fair point.

 

[JimW]

Transport from the lizard planet come to collect the remains.

 

[bellaozzydog]

Has anyone gone blind yet?


I fear it’s Brenda’s comrades picking her up for the next stage of her universal overlord training

 

[Sue]

Has anyone gone blind yet?


I fear it’s Brenda’s comrades picking her up for the next stage of her universal overlord training

Ah, you're envisaging a Day of the Triffids type scenario..?

 

[Aladdin]

Ah, you're envisaging a Day of the Triffids type scenario..?

This is what I was imagining .. too..

 

[WouldBe]

Transport from the lizard planet come to collect the remains.

That's what I was thinking.

 

[klang]

thread title needs emojis.

 

[Aladdin]

thread title needs emojis.

You asked...
I obliged...

 

[Aladdin]

My sincere apologies to all on the crazy looking notifications about this thread.

You may apportion some blame to klang

 

[Sweet FA]

Needs more

 

[Sweet FA]

I think emojis should be the default for thread titles tbh.

 

[A380]

Has anyone gone blind yet?


I fear it’s Brenda’s comrades picking her up for the next stage of her universal overlord training

Watch the meteor shower tonight, say triffids

TONIGHT'S meteor shower is essential viewing, according to carnivorous alien plants.

www.thedailymash.co.uk

 

[Sweet FA]

Alerts are fucking gibberish though

 

[Sue]

Fuck's sake. This is not at all respectful to our alien lizard overlords.

 

[Sweet FA]

 

[Sue]

 

[bellaozzydog]

 

[klang]

my work here is done

 

[moochedit]

You asked...
I obliged...

My eyes!

 

[danny la rouge]

Excellent thread title.

 

[Aladdin]

Oh..
The emojis are gone...
Must have bovvered someone..

☹