How likely is it? Display as a link instead, (Image credit: NASA/ESA/K. My husband and I have just seen a line of about 15 lights moving in a straight line, quite high above the cloud level with a gap, and then 5 lights, a gap, another few, a gap, 1 light, a gap, and a few more. The impact of very large meteoroid can produce a large impact crater. The most plausible explanation I can imagine is that what you saw, geko, was either a meteor, an aircraft light, or, as you speculated, the reflection from a satellite. Astronomy Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for astronomers and astrophysicists. But then it happened again the star disappeared as if switching off a light and then came back. My guess is that it has something to do with atmospheric/optical effects. Star?? They are believed to originate within Paste as plain text instead, The Kinman Dwarf galaxy, also known as PHL 293B, taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescopes Wide Field Camera 3 in 2011, before the disappearance of the massive star. The rest of the star reacts to that inferno in the core, swelling and turning red, producing a red giant. If shooting stars were actual stars, we'll be burning in their atmosphere, rather than the other way around. Rare red asteroids around Neptune could reveal the secrets of the early solar system, Strange radio signals detected from Earth-like planet could be a magnetic field necessary for life, Jeremy Hansen: Artemis 2 Canadian astronaut will fly around the moon. The star either had a massive outburst, or it quietly turned into a black hole. This year, the peak is during the overnight hours of December 13 and into the morning of December 14. I've seen this exact kind of gradual (as opposed to instant) disappearance of stars many times. Despite the logical and scientific explanation for falling stars, they are still associated with many symbolic representations that are often mystical in nature. Most meteoroids that enter Earth's atmosphere are tiny particles of comets, asteroids, Mars, or Moon Your link has been automatically embedded. But, I suppose you might not notice its motion if you're not observing it for long. Astronomers are not sure what happened to their precious stellar giant, or why its exit was not marked by a supernova, but they think it may be one of two scenarios. Dr. Alan Smale (Director), within the Their speed is decreased by the same amount as our forward velocity. A star's death usually results in this spectacular lights show called a supernova. I guess the total time that i knew the star was there was a little under a minute, as i was watching the space station go across the sky and the star was to the left of it for a while but pretty bright so was catching my eye. Im still guessing it was a meteor, per Pyrotexs story, a satellite reflection, or, just possibly, an unusually aircraft. During a particularly good shower, hundreds of meteors can be seen per hour. They typically occur and disappear so quickly that you wonder It's one of the best-preserved meteorites of its kind ever found. A shooting star will show a light that brightens, then fades away as it moves. Why it's news The study of this rare event will appear this week in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. path of the comet's orbit. First I thought it might have been a Satlite or something passing in front of it. Dr Marco Langbroek has a video of a line of 60 satellites. Upload or insert images from URL. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top, Not the answer you're looking for? 2. Usually, the Earth's orbit and the comet's orbit are slightly tilted relative to one another. Pasted as rich text. Dust. During the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, theInternational Dark-Sky Associationwrote of thePerseid Meteor Showers which occur annually from the months of July to August that, "The star-filled sky keeps us grounded, brings continuity to our lives, and connects us to each other during isolation. Shooting stars are basically garbage like small rocks, debris from old satallites and the same which burn up in our atmosphare. Just below the tail (south) of the constellation of Scorpio (near Theta Scorpii) at about 5:43am +8 GMT, i saw an extremely bright flare of light, very very bright but from only a single point, lasted very short while, 1 - 2sec before it begun to gradually dim out, dimming slowly taking another 1-2sec, flickering during the last moments and then totally disappeared. You didn't say whether or not your "star" was moving. This isn't the first time a star has completely vanished without a trace. They typically occur and disappear so quickly that you wonder if you actually saw them. NASA's Studying It. This is why meteorite specimens are exceedingly rare. These particles these meteorites are the size of a dust particle or sand grain. Paul M. Sutter is an astrophysicist at SUNY Stony Brook and the Flatiron Institute in New York City. what are the chances of a meteor heading directly at me so that it looks like a single point of light? What's Up for January? They travel at millions of miles per hour, so fast that they can escape from . in the night sky. These types of stars leave a distinct mark on the galaxies that host them and are therefore easily detectable. I wonder why that story disappeared so fast? Sophie Allan, of the National Space Centre, said that the. Meteors that come from the other direction, however, are essentially chasing the earth through space. High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive given your location away from light pollution, and presuming you have very keen vision, you may have witnessed an occultation of one of Jupiter's moons. This video from ABC news shows some amazing footage of the Chelyabinsk Meteor, which flew over Russia and made impact in the southern Ural region on February 15, 2013. If you can identify this, or provide information on how it can be identified, then please contribute an answer. StarChild Graphics & Music: Acknowledgments The surface of the meteoroid reaches a very high Ask your own question on Twitter using #AskASpaceman or by following Paul @PaulMattSutter and facebook.com/PaulMattSutter. Well, there are a few reasons. Based on their observations, the team of researchers came up with two possible scenarios for the sudden disappearance of the star. For these medium stars (which includes stars like our sun), the problem is that once a ball of oxygen and carbon forms in the core, there isn't enough mass surrounding it to fuse it into anything heavier. When supernovas happen in our neck of the galactic woods, the explosions are bright enough to appear during the day and can even be brighter than the full moon at night. I guess it doesnt sound like a star disappearing then. Responsible NASA Official: Phil Newman, High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive This summer offers plenty of opportunities for skywatchers looking to observe Mars, Saturn, Jupiter and meteors--with or without a telescope. The time between each appearance and disappearance of the star I would guess around 15-20 seconds and it happened about say 5 or 6 times until it disappeared all together. Supernovae are among the fastest changing celestial objects, fairly blinking into and out of observability as astronomers measure such things, but even they take about 14 days to decrease 1 magnitude (a factor of about 2.5) in luminosity (see Supernovae Light Curves.). New research shows streams of meteoroids striking the Moon infuse the thin lunar atmosphere with a short-lived water vapor. Note that one of the best meteor showers, the Perseids, happens in August. Took like 5 seconds or so to completely disappear from what i could see. Curator: J.D. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. However there is ONE way for a star to SEEM to vanish. Associating the shower name with the region of Because of the increased bulk of these stars, fusion reactions need to happen much faster in order to sustain the balance with gravity. At certain times of year, you are likely to see a great number of meteors We only see the fire, once its too small or otherwise put out the shooting star disappears. Relatively bright corresponds to a magnitude between -1 and 1, while the limit of naked eye visibility is about 3, so if what you were observing was a fading supernova, it would have taken about a month to disappear, many times longer than the 5 seconds you report. These bizarre, hulking stars are marked by violent outbursts, during which they shine twice as bright as before. surface is called a "meteorite.". Brighter stars appear more affected by this. What was the closest known star to use as a reference and how many degrees away was it and in what direction? A review of data collected between 2011 and 2016 revealed that it wasn't visible after 2011. I am puzzled over what I just saw, How to turn off zsh save/restore session in Terminal.app, How small stars help with planet formation. They are currently in a line, but they will later move to separate orbits. Something is going on. Geko, you need to understand that your observation is valid. Hypervelocity stars were discovered only 15 years ago and are the closest things in existence to real shooting stars. You may also see the shooting star flare up before it disappears. And oxygen. I was in the Mojave desert at 3am with the sky clear as can be peering out into the heavens. Perhaps an asteroid, maybe just a few kilometers wide, maybe just half a million miles away, precisely occulted the star you were looking at. When a meteoroid survives a trip through the atmosphere and hits the ground, its called a meteorite. Meteoroids are objects in space that range in size from dust grains to small asteroids. Alluring, yes, but also haunting to contemplate. Instead, the core contracts to such incredible densities that electrons get shoved inside of protons, turning the entire core into a giant ball of neutrons. Perhaps the most famous are the Perseids, which peak in August every year. Doing a little research revealed the nifty website www.asteroidoccultation.com, from which, looking at its data for the year of 2008, I learned that asteroid occulted stars are mostly too dim to be seen with the naked eye and/or occulted so briefly that the event would be perceived as twinkling. Specifically, the Earths atmosphere bends and blocks the light from objects outside our atmosphere, making objects that are point sources appear to twinkle, or appear and disappear, dependent upon how the atmosphere is moving around and how thick it is. It was in the wee hours. Astronomers first began observing the distant star in the year 2001. You can post now and register later. Once my brothers and I were "camping out" in the back yard, lying on our backs, looking up into a clear totally black sky. 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