Go To Fireball Picture and Detailed Information.
Fireball of 1991 November 8th. Amidst the red glow of an active auroral display seen throughout Gt Britain on the night of the 8/9 November 1991 a bright shooting star passes overhead only to explode into a brilliant fireball. ( Go To Fireball picture and Detailed Information). The effect of the aurora display is not seen in this black and white reproducion). The two bright stars to the left on the picture are Alpha.Ursa Majoris and Beta.Ursa Majoris, known as the Pointers.These are used in navigation to point to Polaris, the Pole star. NB: As the Earth orbits around the Sun it is travelling at amazing 66 thousand miles per hour. Throughout the year Earth passes through areas of dusty material left over from visiting comets. As the Earths upper atmosphere brushes the dust grains that are no larger than grains of sand they are heated up by friction and we see them as bright streaks cross the sky. These are known to everyone as shooting stars. Occasionally a larger piece of rock about the size of a hens egg enters the upper atmosphere. A brilliant flash streaks across the sky and explodes into a brilliant fireball. This fireball came from the Taurid meteor shower, which formed from the material left over from the tail of the visiting comet Encke. J.F. M.T.O. UK.