h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I saw a very bright fireball in the sky this evening. It was a greenish colour and it plummeted nearly vertically. As I was in a car at the time I don't know if there was any noise or trail left behind it. For a brief instant it lit up the sky. I'm sure that more people than me saw it. I've logged the sighting with the International Meteor Organisation just in case.

I also accidentally saw the ISS yesterday also. After the bad weather of the last few weeks, it's a good time to go out and look at the stars and planets, particularly with Mars so prominent in the sky these nights. Venus is also very bright in the early evening.

Could it have been ballfire? It happens sometimes

Very strange- I thought I saw something like that last night, though I could have very well been mistaken.

Looked just like a meteor, but a lot bigger, and lasted a lot longer? Seemed to sort of drop toward the horizon instead of just streaking away?

Apparently, the Taurid meteor shower is producing spectacular fireballs this year. It's quite possible you saw an earth-grazer - a meteor that hit the Earth at an oblique angle, appearing to streak across the sky rather than heading down towards the Earth. It would still be quite fast, mind. Even the longest meteors will only last a second or two.

There was one caught on camera - on the BBC news website, I recall it was in Australia. I'll see if I can find the link (it's a video clip)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolavconsole/shared/player/player.stm?title=Meteor%20light%20show%20shocks%20Australian%20city&clipurl=http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/avdb/news_web/video/9012da68002d380/bb/09012da68002d5b2_16x9_bb.ram&cs=news

Venus is pretty spectacular isn't she? I went out my new French doors a couple of nights ago and only came back in when I was blue and had a very stiff neck

Two summers ago in the Alps saw a green fireball streak almost horizontally across the night sky near Salzburg, Austria. It was travelling West to East.

Yes - Venus is amazing at the moment!

I have only seen really bright fireballs very rarely. When I was a student I spent the night watching the Perseids and I saw some beautiful fireballs that night. The one I saw from my car was about as spectacular as I have ever seen.

I've only once seen a fireball, and it was about 20 years ago. It seemed to take about 2 seconds to streak across the sky (which seemed like a very long time) and was totally silent. Very impressive.

Something unforgettable but worth talking about years later.

I've been to see (in a secluded dark field) a fantastic Perseid meteor shower, saw many, many Perseids but no fireballs.

Will keep watching though

Anything worth looking out for in the night sky, asteroidwise, between now and Christmas? We have clear skies in Central Europe at the moment.

I suspect that black cloud in SE England might cause a bit of pollution in the next few days. Could lead to an interesting sunset or two perhaps?

In Ireland, in September I saw the 2-second green flash as the sun set beyond Dingle.

The Geminids peak tonight. Unfortunately it co-incides with a full moon, so visibility will be limited. Apparently the best time to see them is around dawn tomorrow morning.

I'll be walking to work just before dawn tomorrow morning, so I'll keep a look out.