11 ms·
Transcribing the interesting bits from 18:15 Man A (ATC?): There's nothing showing on either primary or secondary Woman A: Ok, it was moving so fast. [Inaudib
by minota 8y ago
Transcribing the interesting bits from 18:15
Man A (ATC?): There's nothing showing on either primary or secondary
Woman A: Ok, it was moving so fast. [Inaudible]
Man A: Alongside you?
Woman A: Yes, it was rapidly [inaudible] bright light and then it just disappeared at a very high speed. I am still wondering.
Didn't think it was likely collision course. Wondering what sort it could be.
Man B: Meteor or another object. Some kind of re-entry. Seem to be multiple objects following the same sort of trajectory. Very bright where we were
Woman B (ATC?): Ok, that's copy, so what's the direction it was going in.
Man B: Virgin 76 [inaudible] saw that NRS 11-o'clock position two bright lights.
Woman B: Roger that's copy, thank you.
Man C: So that wasn't just me?
Man B: No. Yeah, very interesting, that one.
Man B: Virgin 76. I saw two bright lights 11 o'clock. Seem to bank over to the right and then climb away. Speed at least Mach [inaudible]
Woman B: Okay, we're passing that on, thank you.
Man D (or is it Man A?): [inaudible] 94 Shannon.
Man D: Just to let you know that other aircrafts in the area have also reported the same thing. So we're going to have a look and see.
Man E: Speed was astronomical. It was like Mach 2.
Man D: Roger, OK. Thank you.
- codezero 8y agowould be interesting to know the relative trajectory – would help determine if it was a known satellite reentry or on a typical orbit of debris (lots of periodic comets have well known debris trails, they form most of the "meteor showers" that happen yearly.)
- slg 8y agoThe transcript above refers to the object banking and climbing. That sounds a lot more like a secret military vehicle than falling space debris.
- flukus 8y agoCould be one skipping off the atmosphere. Aero breaking (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerobraking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerobraking) if you want to stick with the spacecraft theory.
- gnulinux 8y agoI'm not an astronomer but it seems unlikely to me a meteor skipping off atmosphere would be as slow as Mach 2 and not hot enough to shine red.
- lloeki 8y agoWhat if it was perceptually at Mach 2 / distance X yet really was at Mach 20 / distance 10 * X ? (Bullshitting numbers here, but you get the point) Angular speed across FoV is a function of distance from the object and the only thing that makes us understand that high altitude airplanes are nowhere close to a standstill is that we can infer distance from the intrinsic knowledge of the airplane size. If all observers are close enough together we'd be unable to uncover the illusion, as that would require a widespread enough configuration. Additionally, I question the "astronomical" attribute, especially with planes cruising at ~800kph, Mach 2 is at most 2.5 their typical speed. Concorde is hardly astronomical, and although jet fighters are not chasing for top speed anymore some of them are still able to go to such Mach factors. Now, Mach 12, that would be closing in to being astronomical (entering the order of magnitude of an ICBM descent speed).
- tigerlily 8y agoI believe they call such a thing a 'bolide'
- starbeast 8y agoCould be outgassing.
- rbanffy 8y agoOr plain lift. If the object is flat when it hits the atmosphere, it may get some lift and bounce back to space.
- speeq 8y agoMaybe it's something from the recent Rocket Lab launch?
- gnulinux 8y agoSeems extremely unlikely air traffic control wouldn't know of it, since it's potentially a >200-casualty mistake if it hits a commercial airline.
- Ono-Sendai 8y agoThe rocket lab launch was south from New Zealand - and there aren't many planes flying around down there as far as I know. I'm guessing only the final stage would still be airborne/in space once it orbited around to populated areas. And the second/final stage should be deliberately de-orbited for exactly this reason, right?
- smaili 8y agoI know meteors seems to be a common theory, but do they normally travel that fast?
- ceejayoz 8y agoMach 2? Yes. Far in excess of it.
- garmaine 8y agoThey enter at orbital velocity or higher, so yes. Mach 20 or 30 would be on the low end. Of course depending on their shape and mass they lose a lot of it on the way down...
- rbanffy 8y agoAnd all the light the aircrews reported was kinetic energy before hitting the atmosphere.
- eof 8y agoWhat I want to know is, do they tend to "bank and climb away"
- walkingolof 8y agoFar more likely that the observer interpreted it the wrong way, happens all the time.
- Gustomaximus 8y agoDo meteors ever dip into the atmosphere, light up, and skip away? Like a skipping stone?
- bo0tzz 8y agoIf the meteor has a shape that could generate lift in some way, I can definitely imagine this happening.
- 8y ago
- umichguy 8y agoIt was either Swamp Gas or Weather balloons. Everyone knows that.