by Matt Worthy
I'm not sure if these things should be reported, or to whom, so I thought I'd mention it here.
I went home to Mt. Shasta this weekend for the holiday and to take advantage of some very dark skies. All was better than anticipated, however something very peculiar happened last night.
I was driving north on I-5 at around 1am, taking a friend home to Lake Shastina. Just before we hit the south Weed exit there was an amazing strobe-like flash in the western hills. We both looked left just in time to see an enormous green fireball streak down into the trees, I'm guessing no more than a mile away! The bluish-green color was magnificent, and the bright glowing center must have been the size of a small automobile. I'd compare it to the most exceptional earth-grazing Leonid I saw last year, except 100 times closer! My friend and I were both speechless--besides the immediate explitives--as well as excited, and we exited the highway and drove up some dirt roads towards where we thought the impact sight might be. I was certain something that big must have caused a fire in the dry summer brush. Unfortunately, after some time looking around, we found nothing.
Perhaps I should call someone at the college up there tomorrow and mention it? I think I remember reading that about 100 of these impacts happen every day, so maybe it's nothing special. But seeing it certainly was something I shall never forget!!!!
As for my weekend of observing, I had three cloudless/windless/warm/spectacular nights at 3800 ft. The report would be pages and pages long, so I'll just sum it up by saying that you Shingletowners have an amazing sky to look forward to. I don't remember ever seeing the Milky Way that bright during the ten years I lived up there--in fact it almost seemed to wash out other objects in the sky!!! A number of times I had to correct family and friends who insisted it was clouds, or smoke from a wood-stove. The greatest "oohs" and "ahhs" were garnered by no less than the Andromeda galaxy... in my 7x50 binos! I could have left the dob at home and still impressed everyone in the neighborhood with just that. Okay, maybe the Swan nebula at a mere 48x with a plain old plossl, showing clearer than I've ever seen it through a nebula filter, was impressive too :) An ISS siting, as well as a -8 iridium flare (according to heavens-above) only added to the unbelievable weekend.
So many wonders, and what a beautiful place to view them all. Will I ever stop kicking myself over the fact that I never owned a telescope while living there? Oh well, plenty of time ahead.
I'll cross my fingers and toes that you all have as much luck with the weather as I did.