Comet on 16th April 2010??

[Cassiopeia]

On the Friday 16th of April i saw a bright light in the sky around 10pm ish and so i looked up quickly and saw what looked like a line of redy,yellowy fire trailing behind something. It was traveling quite fast, heading in the east direction and disapeared after about 4 seconds. I went and asked my brother what he thinks it coulve been but hes not sure and said it coulve been a comet or meteor??

Did anyone else see a similar thing or could tell what it is??

[Cornelius Varley]

Most likely a meteor or fireball.

Peter

[Talitha]

Glad you got to see it, it sounds like an 'earthgrazer' meteor from the Lyrid shower (16-25 April).

Meteors are particles which were cast off by a comet (and iirc, an occasional asteroid), and Earth passes through these debris paths every year in our orbit around the Sun. The debris paths are located in various areas of the sky, and the meteor showers produced are named after the host constellation. In this case Lyra hosts the Lyrids, and the debris stream is from Comet Thatcher (C/1861 G1).

The best time to see the most meteors in a shower is between approximately 2am and dawn. But between sunset and midnight is when we can see the beautiful 'earthgrazers'. Rather than plunging headfirst into our atmosphere as they do in the wee hours of the morning, they come in on a shallow angle and skim through it, taking longer to burn up (compare it to a stone skipping on the water instead of being dropped straight down into it). Since these earthgrazers take longer to burn up, they often display golden or reddish colors, and many have glittery 'Tinkerbelle' trails following behind them.. quite lovely.

[Cassiopeia]

Thanks guys I didnt know there was such a thing called a EarthGrazer! haha thanks

[acey]

Also a thread here about it:

http://stargazerslounge.com/observing-discussion/101985-comet-friday-16th-april.html#post1419037