Guate Balls of Fire!

Last night I left the office around midnight. (Yes, these are the sacrifices I make for you, the esteemed readers of this journal.) Upon reached my apartment I decided to climb the stairs to the flat rooftop and admire the surprisingly stunning display of stars.

I say "surprisingly" because the bright lights of this big city often wash out all but the brightest stars. Lately Mars has been one of the few evening beacons visible from my corner of Guate.

Anyway, after admiring the heavenly carpet of constellations I started to head back down when suddenly a blazing firework shot across the sky. I waited for the accompanying whistle or bang, but none came. I waited for a follow-up flare of fireworks, but none came.

"A shooting star?" I wondered. But it seemed so... so.... bright. So intense.

After standing for a while in the still and chilly air, I decided to call it a night. I also decided that I shouldn't tell anyone else about seeing strange lights in the sky while standing on my roof at midnight. Let's face it, my friends already have their doubts regarding my ironclad grasp on reality. "El Canche", for example, is just one of my nicknames here in Guatemala... "Roberto loco" is another.

That's why I was immensely relieved to chance upon the following article. Not that it necessarily proves my sanity, but at least it explains what I saw in the sky last night:

Fireball Sightings

by Dr. Tony Phillips

Science at NASA Headline News

Earth is orbiting through a swarm of space debris that may be producing an unusual number of nighttime fireballs. Astronomers have taken to calling these the "Halloween fireballs." But there's more to it than Halloween. The display has been going on for days.

What's happening? "People are probably seeing the Taurid meteor shower," says meteor expert David Asher of the Armagh Observatory in Northern Ireland.

Every year in late October and early November, he explains, Earth passes through a river of space dust associated with Comet Encke. Tiny grains hit our atmosphere at 65,000 mph. At that speed, even a tiny smidgen of dust makes a vivid streak of light--a meteor--when it disintegrates. Because these meteors shoot out of the constellation Taurus, they're called Taurids.

Most years the shower is weak, producing no more than five rather dim meteors every hour. But occasionally, the Taurids put on quite a show. Asher thinks 2005 could be such a year.

When should you look? You might see a fireball flitting across the sky any time Taurus is above the horizon. At this time of year, the Bull rises in the east at sunset. The odds of seeing a bright meteor improve as the constellation climbs higher. By midnight, Taurus is nearly overhead, so that is a particularly good time.

According to the International Meteor Organization, the Taurid shower peaks between Nov. 5th and Nov. 12th. "Earth takes a week or two to traverse the swarm," notes Asher. "This comparatively long duration means you don't get spectacular outbursts like a Leonid meteor storm." It's more of a slow drizzle--"maybe one every few hours," says Asher.

A drizzle of fireballs, however, is nothing to sneeze at. So keep an eye on the sky this month for Taurids.

Read the entire article

Tags: Guatemala, Fireballs, Taurids