But until then, a list of the meteors I've seen. I have no purpose for posting this here. It was already on my Facebook page anyway.
I wanted to make a list of the meteors I've seen because whenever anyone asks me how many I've seen I have to stop and count each event in my head. I figured this would be a great place to keep the list. This way I know I won't lose it.
Turns out I've seen twelve.
1. Early 90's, drving on I-90 Eastbound somewhere in Ashtabula County, Ohio. Probably about midnight. Meteor apeared through windsheild as a green streak, with a discernable "head", with a length that spanned the entire feild of view (from top of windsheild to horizon).
2. Early to mid 90's. Brunswick, Ohio, facing West. Meteor appeared as a single point of white light that was stationary (moving head-on), and then appeared to move to one side and quickly desintigrated.
3. Summer of 2004, while observing an unusually south reaching Aurora Borialis, in Brimfield, Ohio (near Kent) I witnessed a body of some sort (i'm guessing meteor) strike (what I believe to be) the upper atmosphere, creating what resembled a "wake" in the aurora, similar to a boat's wake.
4. 2004 or 2005, driving on I-76 eastbound between Mogadore and Brimfield between three and four in the morning, I witnessed a spectacular "fireball" meteor that almost amde me wreck my car! As it descended strait down, (either vertical or vertical with some head on movement), it initially appeared as red, then quickly changed to orange, yellow, and then white. Once it turned white, it illuminated some clouds and then vanished in a flash. I thought for sure something like Deep Impact was about to happen. Looking back, it probably wasn't much bigger than a TV, and probably didn't reach the ground.
5. 6. 7. 5 Aug, 2008, Vermillion, Ohio, on the shore of Lake Erie, looking north, but almost strait up, I saw three typical Perseid meteors. They appeared as white streaks in the sky, only taking up an eigth of the feild of view, and dissipating rapidly. Even though the beach was crowded, no one else bothered to look up.
8. 14 Nov 2008, around five pm, I was standing in the south lot at my apartment complex, in Tallmadge, Ohio. That particular complex underlies a strait line path between Kent State University Airport and Akron-Cantion International Airport. Trainer aircraft from KSU's fleet can often be seen flying directly overhead, and almost always, air traffic can be seen due south towards Akron-Canton. So, as I always did, I looked south. I saw two amber colored objects moving relativley slowly over what appeared to be the vacinity of the airport. Suddenly, the objects both broke apart into about a half dozen orbs of amber, yellow, and white color, and then faded out. For a moment, I thought I had witnessed an aircraft explosion. (very disheartening for an aviator, and especially for me, since there was a good chance that, were it a KSU aircraft, I would have personally known the souls on board) I was able to recall the exact date because on the same date there was a similar sighting in Madison Township, Ohio,many miles away, and in the opposite direction. A full search and rescue effort was undertaken because so many people had called 911 claiming to have seen an aircraft aflame! http://ww.sott.net/articles/show/169040-Suspected-Ohio-plane-crash-may-have-been-meteor
9. 10. 11. 12. Mid-November, 2010, in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, facing north-northeast to east-northeast, I witnessed four in a row from between one am and two am. These were Leonids. They appeared as white streaks in the sky, only taking up an eigth of the feild of view, and dissipating rapidly. I wanted to beat my previous record of three in a row, so after the fourth one, I went back inside.
From Wikipedia: The Perseids ( /ˈpɜrsiːɨdz/) are a prolific meteor shower associated with the comet Swift-Tuttle.
From Wikipedia: The Leonids (/ˈliːənɪdz/ lee-ə-nidz) are a prolific meteor shower associated with the comet Tempel-Tuttle.
As a meteor free falls through the Earth's atmosphere, it undergoes frictional stresses and heating. Eventually, the object may reach a point where the stresses are so great the object breaks apart abruptly, appearing to explode.Or, it may only partially break apart. The force from one "chunk" exploding can push the two peices away from each other. This is why meteors sometimes appear to change direction. Amyway, I used to think this limit was called The Roche Limit, but that has to do with orbital physics.
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