Tag Archives: fireball

Meteor Fireball

IMG_8439_EXPORTSo, me and some of my astronomy enthusiast friends went out to look for Aurora borealis here up in Northern Minnesota. As luck would have it we had a hard time dealing with cloud cover and the moon rising at around 9 pm local time . However as i was playing with may camera, trying to detect any signs of an auroral glow, this nice visitor showed up in front of my camera.

The bright meteor left a nice smoky trail as it blazed by. The fireball’s flash  was so bright that it could cast shadows on the ground.

Lyrid Meteor Showers Peak Apr 22nd

Earth is passing through a debris field of meteors left behind by Comet Thatcher (C/1861 G1). These meteors manifest themselves to us as a Lyrids. Expected activity at peak is 10-20 meteors per hour. But since the weather is nice and warm outside AT NIGHT, its officially time to go out and enjoy these space rocks with friends and family.

Lyrids seem to radiate from the bright star Vega in Lyra ( hence the name Lyrids ). For those who are not that interesting in meteors should know that what they lack in activity they make up in brightness. Lyrid meteors are usually bright and chances of seeing fireballs are good.