10 ms·

I saw this last night in NW Washington, DC (10:57 local time) while walking my dogs. It was very large and very bright. For several seconds after it had disapp

I saw this last night in NW Washington, DC (10:57 local time) while walking my dogs. It was very large and very bright. For several seconds after it had disappeared, I expected a large "boom" to occur. Quite an unsettling moment. edit: Looks like some dash cams caught it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbXdL5YTu50 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbXdL5YTu50 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szdGhRNg6h0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szdGhRNg6h0

52-6F-62 8y ago
Oh I saw one of these facing SW in Calgary (from the NW of the city) a about 11 years ago. It was amazing. I wasn't unsettled—more surprised. Assumed it was a meteorite burning up close by.
- craftyguy 8y ago
  I've seen one of these too a few years back. I'm waaay into astronomy but, in addition to being very exciting to see, it was still a bit unsettling because you have no immediate way of gauging how large the thing is, whether it might flatten a city nearby, or be 'the big one' (super slim chance, but tell that to your adrenaline).
CompelTechnic 8y ago
Being in D.C., did you expect it to be an ICBM? I would have.
- evrydayhustling 8y ago
  Does anyone know if an ICBM would be this bright? I'd expect that towards the end of the trajectory it might not even need its torch, so the first light would be payload.
  - mlindner 8y ago
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WagAKBuc_o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WagAKBuc_o Yes they're quite bright but more consistent in their brightness, but any ICBM is going to detonate quite a lot higher.
    - evrydayhustling 7y ago
      Wow - almost identical video with actual ICBM to compare. Thanks!! Also: why is it still bright? Don't understand why it would still be firing at that point. Is it burning?
      - mlindner 7y ago
        The part where it's leaving a trail is material ablating (vaporizing) off the outside of the re-entry vehicle. It's still bright after that because it's still traveling at mach 5-6 or so (very dense pointed entry vehicle that doesn't lose speed), so it maintains a superheated state where the surface is glowing white hot.
- acdanger 8y ago
  That's where my mind went in the initial seconds, yes. It's sad to think that there's a latent worry about that sort of thing living in this city.
  - stcredzero 8y ago
    It's sad to think that there's a latent worry about that sort of thing living in this city. Everyone, including grade school children old enough to be aware of it, used to worry about that sort of thing. That latent fear lay across everything and everyone in the US, until around the time the Berlin Wall fell. It was an incredible feeling of the lifting of a mental burden.
    - TomMckenny 8y ago
      When I was a kid in L.A., I saw an MX missile deploy its warheads high over L.A. (apparently a test from Edwards or somehing) I invited my little friends up to the roof to await the end. The cold war was such fun /s.
    - chrisdhoover 8y ago
      Grew up in the ‘60’s in DC. Our school had an air raid siren and monthly drill where we stood in the hall along the wall ordered alphabetically by last name. We never ducked and covered, we just stood there. At least we were practicing to die standing on our feet and not cowering in a fetal position
      - zipwitch 8y ago
        Duck and cover gets a lot of mockery, but my understanding from reading morbidly fascinating Cold War history and source material is that is was an easily-taught response that was pretty effective at minimizing the damage from a shockwave and associated debris, or from direct exposure to the thermal pulse. Of course, that is only a narrow range of all possible causes of injury from a nearby nuclear detonation. Rational Wiki has a good summaryhttps://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Duck_and_Cover https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Duck_and_Cover
- rorykoehler 8y ago
  Really? Out of the blue like that?
  - cgriswald 8y ago
    You know the bombs are coming and you have less than 30 minutes. Do you alert the public or grab your family and get to safety?
    - mlindner 8y ago
      Yes of course you alert the public. There's systems already in place for this. Ever since the 50s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Alert_System https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Alert_System
    - rorykoehler 8y ago
      It's more a question of if you think anyone (in possession of icbms at least) would take that risk in the current state of the world? Seems unlikely. That said after I posted I was reminded of the time I woke up the sound of the air raid siren in Latvia. That was disorientating to say the least.
      - fmihaila 8y ago
        > It's more a question of if you think anyone (in possession of icbms at least) would take that risk in the current state of the world? It doesn't have to be anybody's decision. Cascading mistakes and system failures happen.
      - vkou 8y ago
        Countries have quite happily committed suicide. Consider the attack on the United States by Imperial Japan. Everyone in that government knew that the war they were starting was unwinnable. They were right, and their empire and government was dismantled in 1945. You can't expect rational behavior from governments. In a time of crisis, there will always be some idiot in power, who doesn't want to face reality, or cares about their pet issue more then overall well-being, or feels that they have no alternative options.
- trickstra 8y ago
  you watch too much TV
  - whymauri 8y ago
    Seems kinda harsh. A giant glowing ball traveling insanely fast in the sky is a very bizarre event and it's reasonable for people to get a little scared.
    - trickstra 8y ago
      why would that be reasonable? US is not constantly under attack, neither is any other country. But Earth IS constantly bombarded by meteors, so it's completely reasonable to expect that once in a while a meteor will be big enough to become a glowing ball, instead of expecting a random ICBM. Not to mention ICBMs don't burn up in the atmosphere. Really the idea that at any moment there can be an ICBM coming your way and it will look like this is totally ridiculous and only created by fearmongering TV news. Real world is elsewhere. On a similar note - the number of people asking about ICBMs every time SpaceX has a twilight launch... facepalm
  - cgriswald 8y ago
    Or he grew up during the Cold War.
- yc-kraln 8y ago
  Funny you should mention this, when the earthquake hit some years ago my mind immediately went "NUKE!". Seemed more likely at the time.
jcurbo 8y ago
Caught by the camera at the University of Maryland Observatory: https://www.facebook.com/UMObservatory/posts/10159226539954815 https://www.facebook.com/UMObservatory/posts/101592265399548...
- craftyguy 8y ago
  Is there a non-facebook link to their video?
ChrisArchitect 8y ago
ha, I like the clip with the car music -- "Barefoot Blue Jean Night" by Jake Owen

52-6F-62 8y ago

Oh I saw one of these facing SW in Calgary (from the NW of the city) a about 11 years ago. It was amazing. I wasn't unsettled—more surprised. Assumed it was a meteorite burning up close by.

craftyguy 8y ago
I've seen one of these too a few years back. I'm waaay into astronomy but, in addition to being very exciting to see, it was still a bit unsettling because you have no immediate way of gauging how large the thing is, whether it might flatten a city nearby, or be 'the big one' (super slim chance, but tell that to your adrenaline).

CompelTechnic 8y ago

Being in D.C., did you expect it to be an ICBM? I would have.

evrydayhustling 8y ago
Does anyone know if an ICBM would be this bright? I'd expect that towards the end of the trajectory it might not even need its torch, so the first light would be payload.
- mlindner 8y ago
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WagAKBuc_o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WagAKBuc_o Yes they're quite bright but more consistent in their brightness, but any ICBM is going to detonate quite a lot higher.
  - evrydayhustling 7y ago
    Wow - almost identical video with actual ICBM to compare. Thanks!! Also: why is it still bright? Don't understand why it would still be firing at that point. Is it burning?
    - mlindner 7y ago
      The part where it's leaving a trail is material ablating (vaporizing) off the outside of the re-entry vehicle. It's still bright after that because it's still traveling at mach 5-6 or so (very dense pointed entry vehicle that doesn't lose speed), so it maintains a superheated state where the surface is glowing white hot.
acdanger 8y ago
That's where my mind went in the initial seconds, yes. It's sad to think that there's a latent worry about that sort of thing living in this city.
- stcredzero 8y ago
  It's sad to think that there's a latent worry about that sort of thing living in this city. Everyone, including grade school children old enough to be aware of it, used to worry about that sort of thing. That latent fear lay across everything and everyone in the US, until around the time the Berlin Wall fell. It was an incredible feeling of the lifting of a mental burden.
  - TomMckenny 8y ago
    When I was a kid in L.A., I saw an MX missile deploy its warheads high over L.A. (apparently a test from Edwards or somehing) I invited my little friends up to the roof to await the end. The cold war was such fun /s.
  - chrisdhoover 8y ago
    Grew up in the ‘60’s in DC. Our school had an air raid siren and monthly drill where we stood in the hall along the wall ordered alphabetically by last name. We never ducked and covered, we just stood there. At least we were practicing to die standing on our feet and not cowering in a fetal position
    - zipwitch 8y ago
      Duck and cover gets a lot of mockery, but my understanding from reading morbidly fascinating Cold War history and source material is that is was an easily-taught response that was pretty effective at minimizing the damage from a shockwave and associated debris, or from direct exposure to the thermal pulse. Of course, that is only a narrow range of all possible causes of injury from a nearby nuclear detonation. Rational Wiki has a good summaryhttps://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Duck_and_Cover https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Duck_and_Cover
rorykoehler 8y ago
Really? Out of the blue like that?
- cgriswald 8y ago
  You know the bombs are coming and you have less than 30 minutes. Do you alert the public or grab your family and get to safety?
  - mlindner 8y ago
    Yes of course you alert the public. There's systems already in place for this. Ever since the 50s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Alert_System https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Alert_System
  - rorykoehler 8y ago
    It's more a question of if you think anyone (in possession of icbms at least) would take that risk in the current state of the world? Seems unlikely. That said after I posted I was reminded of the time I woke up the sound of the air raid siren in Latvia. That was disorientating to say the least.
    - fmihaila 8y ago
      > It's more a question of if you think anyone (in possession of icbms at least) would take that risk in the current state of the world? It doesn't have to be anybody's decision. Cascading mistakes and system failures happen.
    - vkou 8y ago
      Countries have quite happily committed suicide. Consider the attack on the United States by Imperial Japan. Everyone in that government knew that the war they were starting was unwinnable. They were right, and their empire and government was dismantled in 1945. You can't expect rational behavior from governments. In a time of crisis, there will always be some idiot in power, who doesn't want to face reality, or cares about their pet issue more then overall well-being, or feels that they have no alternative options.
trickstra 8y ago
you watch too much TV
- whymauri 8y ago
  Seems kinda harsh. A giant glowing ball traveling insanely fast in the sky is a very bizarre event and it's reasonable for people to get a little scared.
  - trickstra 8y ago
    why would that be reasonable? US is not constantly under attack, neither is any other country. But Earth IS constantly bombarded by meteors, so it's completely reasonable to expect that once in a while a meteor will be big enough to become a glowing ball, instead of expecting a random ICBM. Not to mention ICBMs don't burn up in the atmosphere. Really the idea that at any moment there can be an ICBM coming your way and it will look like this is totally ridiculous and only created by fearmongering TV news. Real world is elsewhere. On a similar note - the number of people asking about ICBMs every time SpaceX has a twilight launch... facepalm
- cgriswald 8y ago
  Or he grew up during the Cold War.
yc-kraln 8y ago
Funny you should mention this, when the earthquake hit some years ago my mind immediately went "NUKE!". Seemed more likely at the time.

jcurbo 8y ago

Caught by the camera at the University of Maryland Observatory: https://www.facebook.com/UMObservatory/posts/10159226539954815 https://www.facebook.com/UMObservatory/posts/101592265399548...

craftyguy 8y ago
Is there a non-facebook link to their video?

ChrisArchitect 8y ago

ha, I like the clip with the car music -- "Barefoot Blue Jean Night" by Jake Owen