Giant Meteors over UK 15/11/10

[DaveH64]

Giant Meteors seen over Scotland this morning about 0540GMT Article here with a number of sightings listed across Scotland. I was up to defrosting car

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-11757146

[rjgjr]

That must have been quite a sight to see, and so many got to view it according to the bbc accounts.

[martinastro]

Thanks for posting the BBC link up Dave.

Some people will think I'm raining on the parade with my thoughts on this but honesty is the best policy so here it is...

From reading all of the reports in detail there is no evidence to suggest that an exceptional event took place, the object(s) being reported range from ordinary bright meteors to sighings of one or possibly two Taurid, or early Leonid, fireballs (most likely the former) which are very typical of what one would expect from this shower every year. The Taurids are famous for slow moving fireballs with multiple colours, long tails, and fragmentation - they can be a stunning visual sight, however none of the reports indicate a major fireball of any kind, certainly no sonic boom reports or any hint at extraordinary magnitudes with the possiblity of a meteorite fall.

I think members of the public who are not used to observing these events can get carried away and overdo the reports, and in this case the media jumped on the band wagon with very poor words for a headline which over cooked what really happened, all in the name of drama. This is similar to the fireball seen over Ireland last year which was supposed to have hit  . I quite frankly get sick of exaggerated reports of meteors and fireballs in the media here, the object depicted in the above report is a sight a dedicated observer would see periodically, exciting yes, amazing to catch on camera for sure, but not an event which would force us to contact the media. The Leonid fireball I saw before dawn during Nov 2009 was the best fireball I have ever seen, stunning beyond belief, however the media had no interest in that because joe public missed it. Am I being cyncial or does anyone else think the same? 

Now I'm in the mood for Leonid/Taurid fireballs....

[Anton]

Totally agree Martin, don’t get me wrong here its great that the general public report what they see in such an enthusiastic way but the media do have a trend to amplify the events even more. I for one will be setting the alarm prior to sunrise in the hope of observing and imaging some Leonids that’s subject to the camera working after dropping it last night  .

Thanks

Anthony

[John9929]

The people on the BIMS mailing list reckon this was a bright Taurid, so the media appears to have blown it out of all proportion, nothing unusual there I hear you say!

[hal2000]

To be fair to the ordinary media, it is their job to exaggerate these things. However, even the astronomy mags do it. Every year without fail, there are articles entitled "Get ready to observe the spectacular Perseids" or suchlike, and every year without fail, they're c**p (the meteors that is, not the magazines, although...........)

[markt]

Was an interesting read that BBC article, I agree about people jumping on the propoganda band wagon though. 

One report caught my eye from a chap in Kidderminster, which is only a matter of a few miles south from me - i thought his report maybe anomalous given that the majority of the other reports were from 'up north' - however yesterday a pupil from my GCSE astronomy class eagerley found me to tell me about the 'bright meteor' him and his dad saw.  When I asked him about details he was very specific and detailed in his account - direction, altitude, brightmness etc, it tallies in with this report - I have no reason to doubt him.   I showed him the link in this thread and he was most happy he had seen something that was in the 'news'!