4 ms·
When I was a pre-teen I witnessed a phenomenal event that I never saw discussed on the evening news the next day. I saw a meteor skip off the atmosphere. It w
by UI_at_80x24 6y ago
When I was a pre-teen I witnessed a phenomenal event that I never saw discussed on the evening news the next day. I saw a meteor skip off the atmosphere.
It was the summertime (northern hemisphere) around the year 1982. I was 'camping' in the backyard with a friend and while we were running around the neighbourhood we saw a very large rocky object in space.
We were facing south and at an angle between 20-45 degrees above the horizon there was a large (size of tennis ball at arm's length) orange-red object covered in impact craters moving towards the horizon. The object bounced twice and then disappeared in a westerly direction past the horizon. The bounce (or skip) was small (maybe half the diameter of the meteor).
The most interesting bits that stick out to me 40+ years later:
-It was a very bright and clear orange/red. (Which I now know is because it was in the Earths shadow like
during a lunar eclipse.)
-It was covered in impact craters. As distinct and varied as you see on the moon.
- echelon 6y ago> -It was covered in impact craters. As distinct and varied as you see on the moon. Are you sure you aren't misremembering or embellishing your memory? That's an incredible level of detail. That sort of resolution isn't even seen in the Chelyabinsk meteor (it was a fireball), and that created a lot of physical damage. > there was a large (size of tennis ball at arm's length) orange-red object covered in impact craters moving towards the horizon. That's obscenely large. Something that massive would have caused all sorts of damage. People would have noticed.
- DoctorOetker 6y agoI was asking myself the same questions, also how can it bounce twice, it would have to be an elliptical orbit to bounce twice on a spherical (convex) atmosphere
- UI_at_80x24 6y agoI of course have to conceed to the possibility that I am not remembering it accurately; I sincerely don't think so. I don't think it entered the atmosphere (I never witnessed any atmospheric entry flames or fireball, I think it missed us (which is why I'm bringing it up here related to 'Near Earth' items.
- DoctorOetker 6y agoyou probably saw something, do you still have contact with the friend? does he recall the event? regarding embellishment, if 2 people witness a fleeting (not immediately explainable event) observation, they will typically confirm having also seen facet X or property Y, for not wanting to have missed out, when such a thing happens its best that all parties immediately write down for themselves in as much detail as they can what they think they saw "lock the doors" without consulting each other.