i live in north carolina and saw a brillient comet a few mins ago but it faded away?

Question

i couldnt find any info on this comet if ne1 knows anything about it please let me know

Answer 1

These are parts of e-mails that some friends of mine sent in a group forum:
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At first I thought it was an existing satellite that had come to grief, but in fact it's been tentatively identified as the spent upper stage of an Atlas-Centaur rocket that was making quite a show, jettisoning propellant, above Florida
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A launch of an Atlas Centaur 5 rocket was followed by a huge fuel dump.

The results were spectacular - a hazy blob twice the size of Comet Holmes
and about magnitude -1 (!). Through binoculars, it looked a lot like a comet
with a tight nucleus (actually the rocket) and a huge, fan-tailed coma (the
dispersing rocket fuel). It was moving rapidly from Cygus into Cassiopeia
and by 7:45pm or so had just about faded away. But just a little after 7pm
EST this evening, it really produced one of the most amazing spectacles!!!

I knew that no comet was in that area so it couldn't have been an unexpected outburst, and after a few minutes, its apparent motion across the sky became obvious so it was obviously in Earth vicinity.

Answer 2

If it moved really fast and had the same brightness through out, you saw a meteor. If it moved someone fast, but changed in brightness, you saw what we call an Iridium flare, caused by an Iridium satillite passing overhead and reflecting sunlight off of it's reflective panels. However, you did not see a comet...sorry to disappoint. A comet wouldn't fade away in a like that. There are several showers going on, but being able to identify which one caused what you saw would require knowing which direction it traveled through the sky, the point of origin, time, which direction you were looking, and also a more exact location of where you were (what city). Some of which would be hard for you to accurately give if you aren't very familiar with constellations. That info happens to also be the most important in identify which shower caused it. I'd say if it was a great view, enjoy what you saw. It was a meteor, and if you take some time, you will likely see more as we approach Dec. 14th.

EDIT:
This is were knowing more information would make a difference. Now, if it truly lasted about 20 minutes (if that is what you were talking about), you could have easily seen a slow moving piece of space junk reentering the atmosphere. It isn't common, but it does happen enough and would have the appearance of a flare or meteor, while moving much slower. MIARMYGUY....question...if you've been doing astronomy for two years, you might be able to help give me a better description of what it was...maybe location in the sky, direction, point of original, exact times for the start and stop of it (or at least start and stop times for when you witnessed it), even a visual description (how did the streak and nucleus look). I've been doing astronomy for almost 7 years..including doing research and teaching astronomy at the college level. If you or anyone else saw it...the more information you can provide about it, the easier it is to identify.

Oh...based on reports from others that I have heard..the times were closer to 7:00 PM EST in those reports. I did get a better description. From what I saw there...it sounds like space junk reentering. Someone reported a nucleus with somewhat flashing lights when looked at through binoculars, a funnel shaped cloud following it, and a couple of meteor-like objects appearing in close proximity. Definitely sounds more like space junk.

Definitely not Comet Holmes, just in case anyone is wondering. While the appearence of Holmes has grown to larger than the moon, the light is also diffuse enough that it would not appear that bright. If something happened that did brighten it up, based on it's behavior since the first flare-up, it would have remained that way for longer than 20-30 minutes.

Answer 3

I have been doing astronomy for about 2 years now and it was NOT a meteor. It was NOT a comet. It was NOT an iridium flare. Too fast to be a comet. Too slow to be a meteor. Iridium flares don't have the streak that this thing had. It moved a little more than a quarter of the sky in a half hour.

Answer 4

I saw it here in Louisiana it was about 5:50 pm 12/10/07
Could only see it for about 20 min. It was not Comet Holmes wonder which one it is

Answer 5

If you saw a comet, it would still be visible, as comets don't just "whoosh, and go".
You most likely saw a satellite, or the ISS, or even a meteor.
Nothing too far out of the ordinary... Most of us who stand out under a blanket of stars every night see things like that all the time...
Don't get discouraged...

Keep Looking Up!
Clear Skies!
Bobby

Answer 6

It was an Atlas Centaur rocket fuel dump. Launched from the Cape around 5 pm.

Answer 7

Look up Iridium satellites on Google or Wikipedia. That is most likely what you saw.

Comets do not behave like that.

Answer 8

Hi. I posed this question http://answers.yahoo.com/question/;_ylc=X3oDMTE1aThkdWZ2BF9TAzIxMTU1MDAxMTgEc2VjA2Fuc19ub3QEc2xrA2Fuc21vcmU-;_ylv=3?qid=20071210160259AABd2vZ It was NOT an Iridium flare, as I have observed many of them. It is in Perseus, same as the comet. If it isn't the comet then I'm baffled!

Answer 9

Meteor.

Answer 10

I saw it too, in Morrisville, NC