Sunday morning, something streaked across the sky in Arctic Bay. I didn’t see it myself I was, uh, sleeping. But a friend called me to ask if I knew what it was. Speculation was that it was the errant US spy satellite brought down early, but that didn’t seem plausible. In the different versions I’ve heard, some people heard an explosion and some heard a whistling. Whatever it was it left a twisted contrail in the sky, back lit by the sun hidden below the horizon. My guess? Difficult to know without seeing it (or probably even with seeing it) but probably a meteorite.
Here is a picture, the photo was taken by the tireless Ron Elliot. What do you think?
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13 responses
Do meteorites leave contrails? They don’t have engines. I suppose there could be some kind of process to do with them burning up in the atmosphere that leaves a similar trail; but I’d tend to assume that a contrail suggests it was a powered flight: aircraft or I suppose rocket. It’s all just guesswork though..
After looking at the picture, there is a very simple and logical explanation….
The moon is made of cheese.
Gobal warming is now so intense that it has melted the moon.
Cheese fell.
Although there is a strong argument to support the cheese theory, I’m gonna guess it was the dead satellite.
Harry, I’m not sure if “contrail” is the right word but I believe that they sometime leave vapour or “smoke” trails. Searching this morning I found something similar but smaller in this article about a meteoroid in the Yukon in 2000 http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ast01jun_1m.htm
(you might have to cut and paste the link).
I like your thinking Adam, although if it was cheese I think we would have noticed masses of Lemmings trying to find the source of the cheese odour wafting down from the skies.
Unless I’m mistaken the spy satellite is still up there Shelagh. Probably still trying to read my morning newspaper (ha, it’s over a week old). Of course there is a lot of space debris up there, so who knows.
Clare,
The spy satellite is still up in orbit … the US military isn’t going to go “hunting” until the space shuttle Atlantis ends its current mission … which is looking like Wednesday. What I can’t believe is the cost of shooting down this satellite – 74 million!
I’m guessing it was either space debris re-entering or maybe a meteorite as I did hear a loud bang around 7:00 am on Sunday … but never went out to investigate (figured it was just a skidoo backfiring).
i commented over way up that i thought it was the space station, which we could see fairly clearly in Ivujivik on Friday night. However, I was curious to see the photo and that ain’t it! Do you know if the photo was taken on a tripod? That light pattern looks really erratic. Also, how long was the exposure? It may well still be the space station with the shuttle docked but I will qualify it as a hazard guess, at best, based on this photo.
Thanks Kendra, I thought that the spy satellite was still up there as there were no news reports otherwise. It would seem that all things considered it is likely a fairly large bolide or meteoroid. It could be other space debris but some that large would probably be on the news
Unfortunately gary you’ve only got to see a picture or two. The streak that you see is not a light trail but vapour or smoke trail, it is glowing because it is backlit by the sun. The erratic pattern is not due to camera shake, it is the same or almost the same in many pictures, also if you can see the lights of town you’ll notice that they don’t show camera shake. I just heard that when it (whatever “it” is) first appeared it was almost too bright to look at. Also the vapour trail was straighter earlier in the event. This was an atmospheric event, which would eliminate the space station and shuttle. I’d say most indications are that it was a meteoroid. When I heard that the trail was straighter earlier I thought there was a possibility of a jet’s contrail just back lit by the sun, but the description of it being too bright to look at kind of eliminates it. I sent a query off to NASA and we’ll see if they have anything to add.
Hi Clare!
I remember from my flight service days that there is an actual reporting system in place for events such as these…the report name starts with “C” but memory fails beyond that. In any case, the Canadian reporting system is tied into NASA, so I’m sure all sighting reports will come together somewhere. I’m guessing a meteorite…oid…whatever 🙂 Cool!
I remembered: CIRVIS! That’s what the reporting system is called, instituted by the DND. Stands for Communications Instructions for Reporting Vital Intelligence Sightings, and covers everything from meteors, to…other things. Any unidentified flying objects, I suppose. I think the intent is to figure out what the objects are. With enough people reporting, no problem. Google “Cirvis Report” and you’ll get a whole lot of interesting hits.
First arora borealis doesn’t look anything like that. Second it doesn’t have any sound. Third that doesn’t look like what any aircraft would leave behind. Lastly I don’t think a meteor could’ve spiraled like that and that whatever trail it leaves could be that bright. I’ve been living in the north for all my life (23 years) and I never seen anything like that before.
Anita, thanks for that info. I’ve found another place to report it, the Canadian Fireball Database through the Meteorite Impact Advisory Committee, part of the Canadian Space Agency (which I should have joined, because everyone told me I took up Space at School). I’m in the process of trying to gather the info needed. Apparently at least two people saw the fireball. In general the current thought in town is that it is a meteor. I was using meteoroid improperly by the way. It’s a meteoroid in space, a meteor when it enters the atmosphere, a really big meteor is also called a fireball or bolide, and any pieces that make it to the ground are meteorites.
Thanks Vicky, it definitely isn’t an aurora, part of the confusion here comes from what the picture is of. From my understanding of the event there was a fireball (with sound) and what the pictures are is the vapour or smoke trail that was left behind. The reason it is bright is because the sun was behind it below the horizon and backlit the vapour. I also understand from someone who witnessed the trail about an hour before this picture was taken, was that the trail was straighter and it later spiraled at the end, possibly by wind currents. It would be an unusual event to be sure. If it is indeed a fireball/bolide/meteor they aren’t often seen and the combination of events including the time of day it happened probably make this seem even more unusual. I’m endevouring to find out. If you are Vicky P from Arctic Bay you have great access to one of the early witnesses of the event I understand, and thus probably know more than most of us.
After I read your post, my husband told me about this http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/02/19/bc-washington-meteor.html . I know the timing is a little off as well as the area, but I thought about your post and wondered if they could be co related? Sounds a little coincidental?
Hey LCP. Thanks for the link. It does seem unusual that there would be two significant fireballs so close together, as they are relatively rare. (and it does appear that our fireball was indeed a meteor, it was also seen in Greenland.) Perhaps now that they’ve practiced on their errant satellite the missile people will need to sharpen their skills on all these meteors.