Meteor over Western France. 01/06/04

[meteor01]

I guess this doesn't really belong on Rumours and News and will get moved but hopefully not before I have made contact with anyone who saw the spectacular and very unusual meteor over the west of France on Tuesday night. We were about 40nm South East Bordeaux and saw a bright object come out of the northern sky, it was trailing smoke and then produced a huge comet like tail that was illuminated by the full moon. It was a truly fantastic sight the like of which I have never seen before and I would like to get in touch with anyone else who saw it to confirm what we all saw. I would really like to contact the crew whom I spoke to who were near Korul at the time and also had a good view. Anyone heading North that night in the area would have seen it.

I am trying to contact several meteor observing organisations who may have some info. on it and if anyone who saw it wants to be appraised of any findings please PM me on pprune or email me at [email protected] and I will let them know.

[max nightstop]

i was around those parts in the early hours, but didn't see it sadly, but then i was playing efis golf at the time.

Seriously though, it is moments like that which make all the bull**** worthwhile.

keep looking out of the window...

[False Capture]

Max,
How do you play EFIS Golf? I've played FMS Battleships before but I've never heard about golf. Does it also involve using the FIX function and dual FMS?

[Ronald]

Yes saw it as well. It was very unusual, however, from my perspective it appeared to come from the west then change direction with its trail illuminated by the moon. I didn't have French NOTAMs to hand but it could have been a missile test.

[GrazingIncidence]

Hmmm....see

http://www.startribune.com/stories/1556/4810072.html

Related, perhaps?

GI

[Kooka]

What you have described is very similar to a Shuttle Main Tank re-entry I witnessed over the Pacific some years ago. Unlike a meteor entry, which is all over in a second or two, the spectacle lasted a over a minute (or 2 or 3) from appearing ahead of us, passing overhead and disappearing behind.

[Krueger]

In Portugal, there were several witnesses of that "UFO". Anyone had a TCAS RA?:}

[sluggums]

EFIS Golf & FMS Battleships, please explain. (I know not related to thread) Need something to do on long flights

[Krueger]

Have tried to sleep?:cool:

[meteor01]

Hadn't considered that it might have been a missile test, good point. I think it was quite likely now that it was not a meteor as such but maybe a satellite burning up although the missile theory does account for the change in direction which we also thought we saw but were not sure as it was then going away from us. The crew I spoke to just afterwards who were at the southern end of the Bay of Biscay were quite sure that it had changed direction and gone straight over them. Very strange.

Krueger, where did you hear that there were some reports from Portugal?.

[meteor01]

Just found this report on News24.com on Tuesdays strange sighting, it seems to have caused quite a stir.

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1537275,00.html

[Krueger]

I heard the report on the news un Portugal.
The Air Force said they had something on their scans but definitely not an airplane. Some scientists said that it shouldn't be a meteor but probably something like a satelite or missile...
Not very clear, though...:E

[Jet A1]

Heading home that night and we saw it when passing over Southern France. Will certainly remember the sight for a long time. Spectacular especially the near full moon lighting up the contrail. Would go along with a missile test cos it seemed to shoot straight up then set course toward the Atlantic at a high altitude. The glow only lasted for about five mins.

[Sliding member]

Just out of intrest the News24 report mentions that a meteorite would make a lot of noise, anyone know what sort/how loud, just wondering.

[Phoenix_X]

Maybe in relation to this, the following newspost makes an interesting read (not sure what I think of it though :E ).

http://frontpage.fok.nl/nieuws/42436

It's in Dutch, but the sources at the bottom of the post are to English sites.
Basically is says that a scientist who was asked by the US to keep quiet, has decided to let the world know he discovered our solar system is about to pass through a dangerous solar dustcloud, with possible severe meteor inpacts at 19 or 20 july. It's also got some sources about the fact that 'ufo' (meteor) sightings have soared and there are massive fleet movements by the worlds sea fleets.

Draw your own conclusions ;). I think it's another 'oh no the world is about to end' story.

[Jazz]

I was flying north that night, I think it was at about 2100hrs zulu, and we were somewhere near Bordeaux. There was a very bright light with an amazing contrail tailing off behind the light. There were about four aircraft on my frequency, and a couple of them reported the activity to the French ATC, asking for information. After a brief pause, it was confirmed by ATC to be missile testing.

Regards
Jazz.