Why don't I see the Meteor's anymore?

Question

I remember as a kid, maybe 20 years ago, there was a meteor shower. I got up on the roof of my home and laid down to watch it. I remember seeing a big gourp of rocks fly by. It was crazy. They were big enough to be seen, but to far away from the atmosphere to burn up. I haven't had too many chances since then to watch the showers. But, whenever I do, I only see the meteors that are flashes of light passing throught the atmosphere. Was that rare that I could actually see the meteors? Or, is it now that the city lights are just blocking my view?

Answer 1

The city lights drown out the faint light of meteors.

You can get notified of all sorts of things going on in space if you subscribe to spaceweather.com - click below for the link. You can also find out about satellites passing overhead at heavens-above.com.

Answer 2

You must have seen something else. Satellites, military jets, balloons, UFO's. Maybe some football game released thousands of helium balloons all at once.

If you could see an asteroid that didn't enter the atmosphere, it would have been front page news---unless you're the only person who saw it. The next time something like that is likely to happen will be April 13, 2036, when Apophis has a 1:50,000 chance to hit Earth like a 400 megaton bomb.

I witnessed a large green fireball meteor on March 12, 2005. It was seen from Texas to British Columbia. My best guess is that it was at least a 100 meters across and maybe 50 km away when I saw three red splashes thru the trees as it skipped across the Pacific Ocean. It may have gone sub-orbital and splashed again a thousand miles away, or it may have gone back into space. Unfortunately, this part of the coast is in the radar shadow from both Portland and Seattle, so it was not tracked on radar; therefore it never became big news.

I posted a full account with illustration at the following MSN community.

Answer 3

I've been watching the sky for over 50 years and have seen thousands of meteors, but they all were flashes of light and no more. Some were very bright, but I never saw any actual rocks. Actual falls of meteorites are very rare. I wonder whether someone was playing a practical joke on you?

Answer 4

is impossible to see the "rocks", because they burn in the high atmosphere or they fall in a fire ball, and you must have the best pair of eyes to be able to see "rocks" in the space. the best you can see is a tiny light crossing the sky, and even then you can't say if it was a "rock" or a satelite or even a plane... your lie will be better if you say that you saw an ufo.

Answer 5

I think your memory is playing tricks on you, there would be a written record of such an event.

Answer 6

Those city lights are tarnishing your view.