Fireballs are bright meteors that appear as bright as Venus in the sky. They are often large and can occasionally reach the Earth’s surface without burning up. They can vary in appearance and are usually unnoticed due to occurring during daylight or over uninhabited areas. Fireballs can have trails and make sounds, and those that explode with a bright flash are known as bludgers. Thousands of fireballs occur in the Earth’s atmosphere every day, and sightings should be reported to scientific organizations.
A fireball is a meteor that appears to the human eye to have a brightness equal to or greater than that of Venus when visible in the sky. To achieve this level of brightness, the meteor is usually relatively large and occasionally falls to the Earth’s surface without being destroyed as it passes through the atmosphere. Fireballs are actually a fairly common occurrence, but they often occur during daylight or over uninhabited areas. They can appear to be different colours, have trails and even make sounds on rare occasions. If a fireball explodes with a bright flash, it is known as a bludger.
A brightly lit meteor is often referred to as a fireball. According to astronomy experts, the precise definition is that the meteor must appear at least as bright as Venus when viewed in the evening or morning sky. According to the commonly used luminosity scale, Venus is a magnitude -4, with measurements further along the negative scale appearing brighter; for example a full moon has a magnitude of -12.6. For the fireball to be visible in daylight, it must be at least -6 magnitude, brighter if it appears near the sun.
In general, to be bright enough to be classified as a fireball, a meteor must be relatively large. Some are actually large enough to safely pass through Earth’s atmosphere without burning up and falling to the planet’s surface, but this is a fairly rare occurrence. It is estimated that thousands of fireballs occur in the earth’s atmosphere every day. Most fireballs are never noticed and reported because they occur over uninhabited areas or appear during daylight hours and are not bright enough to be seen.
Fireballs can vary greatly in appearance and duration. They can look like different colors, ranging from red to bright blue and purple; these hues are thought to result from the extreme heating of the minerals and other substances that make up meteors. Fireballs often appear to have a trail that can be made of smoke and visible during the day or exhibit a glowing “train” of excited and ionized air molecules typically seen at night. The fireball and its trail can be visible for a variety of durations ranging from a few seconds to more than a minute. Anyone wishing to report a sighting should note the general appearance, colour, location and duration of the phenomenon, then pass that information on to the appropriate scientific organization for the region.
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