North of Boston - what did I just see?

February 2, 2018 3:03 PM

I saw a shooting star-type object on my evening commute that seemed unusual for a few reasons. I'm wondering if anyone else either saw it or knows what it might have been.

This was at 5:29pm. I was driving on the 495 South just past the I-93 interchange, between Lawrence and Lowell. I would estimate the location of the object as just west of Lowell. The unusual aspects were:

-it was larger than a typical shooting star.
-it appeared to have a green tint at the leading edge.
-it moved pretty quickly.
-its path was nearly plumb vertical downward.

The combination of theses factors made it appear that something was falling out of the sky, to the point where I actually looked to the ground to see if there would be an impact explosion. (There wasn't.) I suppose it could have also been a firework or something like that.

And then, *intrigue*, I saw a helicopter in a similar spot in the sky a few minutes later.

Any theories?

posted by kevinbelt to Grab Bag (7 answers total)

I'd guess you just saw a big meteorite. Maybe do some Twitter searches over the next couple of hours, or check the local news, to see if anyone else saw it. The fact that you saw it at 5:30 PM in light-polluted Greater Boston means it was probably a big one. I've seen large ones that have had a greenish tint to them.

The helicopter could have been a coincidence. You're not far from Lawrence and Bedford airports and you're in peak traffic time.

Other possible explanations could be some MIT laser experiment or something, or maybe a weird reflection off a plane approaching Lawrence.

Unlikely you'll get a definitive answer unless there is news of other people seeing something. I'd go with a meteorite.
posted by bondcliff at 3:25 PM on February 2, 2018

Was it in the sky North of you? The ISS passed over that area around that time. The ISS flares particularly well in the evening sky.

http://www.isstracker.com/
posted by humboldt32 at 3:31 PM on February 2, 2018

I live not far from there, and was in my car at around that time in the Drum Hill area, and didn't see or hear anything unusual.
I don't think I've been taken over by body snatchers or anything.
posted by jozxyqk at 3:51 PM on February 2, 2018

A big meteor is called a fireball, and there's a database of them. You can (and should) report it. You can read their criteria there. The most important thing is speed. They go fast, like a shooting star. They hit the earth going speeds that are measured in kilometers per second, so they can also cover several states. Something that hovers in the air or stays lit for more than a few seconds is not a fireball, not that it's not an interesting phenomenon of some other kind. I checked the reports page (5:29 p.m. Boston is 22:29 GMT, which is the time zone used for most astronomy) and didn't see anything yet, but keep an eye out.
posted by wnissen at 4:38 PM on February 2, 2018

There is a State Police helicopter based in Lawrence, which would be behind you as you crept south on 495, but only a few minutes from anywhere in the area..

FWIW, the Lowell Sun hasn't reported any sky things.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 8:23 AM on February 3, 2018

*intrigue*, I saw a helicopter in a similar spot in the sky a few minutes later

Meteors are quite valuable, far more valuable than the marginal cost of helicopter fuel. Of course anyone with a helicopter in the area would find it worthwhile to try and figure out where a valuable object that fell from the sky had landed.

Of course news and police helicopters often check out unusual things as well.

There's not intrigue here, one would expect a helicopter to check out such a thing. It would be more surprising if that wasn't the case.
posted by yohko at 1:48 PM on February 3, 2018

As a half kryptonian I'm capable of creating that effect but I was at work so you can rule me out.
posted by vrakatar at 9:56 PM on February 3, 2018