Shooting stars that don't shoot?
August 13, 2023 1:47 AM Subscribe
I'm enjoying this year's Perseid meteor shower. But in addition to watching satellites and shooting stars with nice trails, I'm also seeing something I've never seen before: Bright but stationary flashes. Can meteors hit the atmosphere without a streak?
FWIW, I'm watching from the Southern Gulf Islands in Canada. The sky is dark, lots of stars. This year's Perseids are really good, with lots of shooting stars. But every once in a while, I'm seeing bright, stationary flashes here and there. They seem as bright as a meteor, but appear to flash on then off, like a star that exploded, then faded out.
It doesn't seem to be man-made satellites: Those are less bright, maintain the same luminosity, and travel in a slow straight line.
So what are they? Are they exploding debris? Or can Perseid meteors hit in a single point? Maybe hitting the atmosphere at such a steep angle that they simply explode but don't bounce and streak like a shooting star?
Surely, distant stars don't go supernova every hour. Have Starlink satellites begun to self-destruct as a protest against what's happening at Twitter/X?
FWIW, I'm watching from the Southern Gulf Islands in Canada. The sky is dark, lots of stars. This year's Perseids are really good, with lots of shooting stars. But every once in a while, I'm seeing bright, stationary flashes here and there. They seem as bright as a meteor, but appear to flash on then off, like a star that exploded, then faded out.
It doesn't seem to be man-made satellites: Those are less bright, maintain the same luminosity, and travel in a slow straight line.
So what are they? Are they exploding debris? Or can Perseid meteors hit in a single point? Maybe hitting the atmosphere at such a steep angle that they simply explode but don't bounce and streak like a shooting star?
Surely, distant stars don't go supernova every hour. Have Starlink satellites begun to self-destruct as a protest against what's happening at Twitter/X?
I saw those, too!
I thought they were meteors coming straight on towards Earth.
While it could be iridium flares, that's increasingly unlikely. The satellites with the big shiny solar panels that created the flares are all slowly falling back down to earth.
posted by Guess What at 8:04 AM on August 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
I thought they were meteors coming straight on towards Earth.
While it could be iridium flares, that's increasingly unlikely. The satellites with the big shiny solar panels that created the flares are all slowly falling back down to earth.
posted by Guess What at 8:04 AM on August 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
My first thought is that's what you'd see if they were headed towards you. Or perhaps also directly away would foreshorten the streak enough as well.
posted by Lady Li at 9:21 AM on August 13, 2023
posted by Lady Li at 9:21 AM on August 13, 2023
Response by poster: Thanks, all, that makes sense. I'm glad this wasn't the Last Night!
posted by Bigbootay. Tay! Tay! Blam! Aargh... at 10:15 AM on August 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Bigbootay. Tay! Tay! Blam! Aargh... at 10:15 AM on August 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
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posted by rd45 at 2:02 AM on August 13, 2023 [7 favorites]