Fire in the Sky

Fireball: 21 June 2011, 11:10am, Rotorua, New Zealand

NZScorps
YouTube
Thu, 28 Jul 2011 18:48 UTC

Bearing in mind I know nothing of comets, I initially thought it might be one. I googled for other sightings and haven't found anything as yet. I did find Asteroid 2011MD but that wasn't due to go past till 27 June 2011. What's your opinion? One of the above? Meteorite? Some kind of UFO? We're stumped and really surprised there's been nothing in the media about it.

Reader Comments

carefix · 2011-08-06T00:36:54Z

Its an aircraft

I'm constantly surprised by the number of meteor(ite) and comet videos presented as such by the uncritical. All meteors travel significantly in excess of eight miles per second and therefore can only be in view for a few seconds. For a high flying comet or asteroid this might be fifteen seconds from horizon to horizon if it flies directly overhead and if you can actually see both horizons.

It is almost always the case that the head of a large meteor is incandescent and radiating much light of one or more colours. The only exceptions to this are very large meteors e.g. asteroids and cometary cores. Because they are so large they carry a great deal of atmosphere along with them in the same way that avalanches and pyroclastic flows do so the friction with the atmosphere is much reduced. In consequence plasma (flame) generation is reduced also and the head can appear dark but with some flame. This effect also prolongs the atmospheric path life of these very large bodies which are therefore capable of orbiting the planet with part of the orbital path being through the atmosphere for some significant time.

So if any of you people have seen such an asteroid in orbit as I have please let SOTT know. The Dark Headed Meteor is with us now, it is in a three body orbit and I expect it to return towards the end of this year and/or in about two years time. It has been seen by many, it is capable of the destruction of a continent as a minimum and possibly a hemisphere or worse.

It is with us and it is going to come down.