Giant flash in the sky

Wynd · 03-27-2003, 02:43 PM

Last night just before midnight central time, my friend and I were walking outside when all of a sudden the sky changed from black to purple to sea-green to whitish blue, all in the space of a few seconds. It was really bright, i mean brighter than day. Then it faded back to normal. We listened to the news on the radio and people were saying it was a meteor shower, and people saw it as far north as Milwaukee and as far south as tenessee. Anyone else see this or hear anything of it?

mcleodnine · 03-27-2003, 02:48 PM

http://www.spaceweather.com/

Subscribe to the mailing list - it's low volume and gives nifty alerts for aurora watches and other nifty solar/plantary events.

Dave Skywatcher · 03-27-2003, 03:59 PM

Great site -- thanks, mcleodnine!

mcleodnine · 03-27-2003, 04:25 PM

It would be an _awesome_ site if they could get the Auroras to happen on a clear night.

jgr220 · 03-29-2003, 07:38 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by mcleodnine
http://www.spaceweather.com/

Subscribe to the mailing list - it's low volume and gives nifty alerts for aurora watches and other nifty solar/plantary events.

Great site but a rock 1-2 meters wide weighing 10 metric tons? Concrete weighs approximately 3300 lbs per cubic yard. Musta been some prety dense stuff.

moses · 03-29-2003, 09:47 AM

A metric ton is 1000 kg, which would give a density of (assuming a sphere):

Code:

10000kg/[4/3 * Pi * (1m)^3] ~ 2386 kg/m^3.  
or
10000kg/[4/3 * Pi * (2m)^3] ~ 298 kg/m^3.

This is easily just rock. Basalt (frozen lava) is about 3000 kg/m^3.

Kurt Weber · 03-29-2003, 09:55 AM

I saw "Giant flash in the sky" and I was thinking of breasts...

mcleodnine · 03-29-2003, 10:58 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by moses
A metric ton is 1000 kg, which would give a density of (assuming a sphere):

Code:

10000kg/[4/3 * Pi * (1m)^3] ~ 2386 kg/m^3. or 10000kg/[4/3 * Pi * (2m)^3] ~ 298 kg/m^3.

This is easily just rock. Basalt (frozen lava) is about 3000 kg/m^3.

It looks like moses beat me to it.

My good friend Carole has a rock and gem store so of course I checked with her and she provided me with a meteorite sample. It's a blobby little hunk of metal that weighs in at about 107g and is quite attracted to a magnet recovered from an old hard drive so I'm going to assume it's mostly iron.

Armed with a postal scale and some water I figured this piece to be around 4700kg/m^3.

It's pretty obvious that I really need to find something better to do with my weekends.

moses · 03-29-2003, 07:48 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by mcleodnine
It looks like moses beat me to it.

My good friend Carole has a rock and gem store so of course I checked with her and she provided me with a meteorite sample. It's a blobby little hunk of metal that weighs in at about 107g and is quite attracted to a magnet recovered from an old hard drive so I'm going to assume it's mostly iron.

Armed with a postal scale and some water I figured this piece to be around 4700kg/m^3.

It's pretty obvious that I really need to find something better to do with my weekends.

It's kind of my "real" job (linux sysadmin isn't my "real" job, I only
do that about 1/4 time). That meteorite she provided you with is
probably nickel-iron (most commonly found, least common impactor).
I like your volume measurement technique, most people don't
remember Archimedes. =-}

Pcghost · 04-01-2003, 07:16 PM

I use to love to see the aurora in Alaska back in the eighties (I imagine it hasn't changed). Most beautiful thing I have ever seen.