Astronomer photographs Bolide and contrail

[Kyle]

I thought this was too cool not to share, original post on Reddit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZXqmPhd8AQ

 

[Quick_Nick]

I hope someone here who really knows their stuff can identify it. Reddit has a habit of identifying everything as something extraordinary. It's contested in the comments whether or not this is an ordinary meteor. Obviously probability says it's just a neat shot of an ordinary event. I haven't seen any solid reason to think otherwise, though I don't know what a 'bolide fireball' REALLY looks like. (Rather than what redditors say it looks like)

 

[Kyle]

Having seen several bolide fireballs, I'd hazard to guess this is one. They're really not that uncommon, just pretty hard to photograph on camera as you don't know where, when, or if there is one coming. The person who posted it appeared to be doing star trails with a wide lens (50mm f/1.4) photographing a large portion of the sky and accidentally caught one. The fact that it only appeared for one 10" frame and then gone the next one, leaving just a contrail that later dissipates, pretty much rules out plane or satellite, having photographed both during star trails.

 

[Gerdih]

Man, its just Picard and Enterprise-E coming from the future to stop the Borg... uh, wait... they missed the year! We are all gona die!

 

[Loru]

Please. It's a weather baloon.

 

[Scav]

All right, there was no alien. The flash of light you saw in the sky was not a UFO. Swamp gas from a weather balloon was trapped in a thermal pocket and reflected the light from Venus.