[meteorite-list] Ball Lightning May Explain Some FireballSighting

Sat Dec 4 17:10:16 EST 2010

I have been lucky enough to see ball lightning twice.

The first was a brilliant, basketball-size globe that bounced lazily down a 
neighbor's sloped driveway (after a nearby CG lightning strike) and 
dissipated noiselessly after a total of five or six seconds.

The second was not much more than baseball-size, sizzling and spitting as it 
dropped out of a furnace damper adjacent to a friend's basement workshop 
(again, immediately after a very near lightning strike).  Presumably, this 
one came right down the chimney and found it's way out the damper.  It 
bounced slowly across the basement floor a couple of times, dissipating with 
a bang like a large firecracker and leaving a strong ozone smell. 
Startling, to say the least!

Mark
mlangen at execpc.com

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Gilmer" <meteoritemike at gmail.com>
To: "Steve Dunklee" <steve.dunklee at yahoo.com>
Cc: <baalke at zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>; <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Saturday, December 04, 2010 10:04 AM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Ball Lightning May Explain Some 
FireballSighting

> Back in the 1970's when I was growing up in Florida, I saw some wicked
> ball lightning during an electrical storm.
>
> My father and I looked out the window and saw a brilliant flash of
> light, followed by a glowing ball of plasma that "bounced" across the
> neighbor's yard, near the ground.  It left a trail of purple, reddish
> and yellow light behind it.  It persisted for about 10 seconds and
> then vanished.  From our vantage point, it appeared to be the size of
> a beachball.
>
> I've never seen anything like it since.
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
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>
> On 12/4/10, Steve Dunklee <steve.dunklee at yahoo.com> wrote:
>> this sounds like good science to me. Lightning can be produced by 
>> volcanos.
>> Plate tecktonics and other phenomenom. So why not from the energy of a
>> fireball? Cheers Steve
>>
>> On Fri Dec 3rd, 2010 7:00 PM EST Ron Baalke wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11877842
>>>
>>>Ball lightning 'may explain UFOs'
>>>By Jonathan Amos
>>>BBC News
>>>November 30, 2010
>>>
>>>Some UFO sightings could be explained by ball lightning and other
>>>atmospheric phenomena, claims Australian astrophysicist Stephen Hughes.
>>>
>>>The scientist has made a detailed study of an unusual event in 2006 when
>>>large meteors were observed over Brisbane.
>>>
>>>Their appearance occurred at the same time as a brilliant green object
>>>was seen to roll over nearby mountains.
>>>
>>>Dr Hughes has put forward a theory linking the object - presumed to be
>>>ball lighting - to the fireballs.
>>>
>>>His idea is that one of the fireballs may have momentarily triggered an
>>>electrical connection between the upper atmosphere and the ground,
>>>providing energy for the ball lightning to appear above the hills.
>>>
>>>He has written up his explanation <http://eprints.qut.edu.au/38939/> in
>>>a journal of the Royal Society <http://rspa.royalsocietypublishing.org/>.
>>>
>>>Dr Hughes says the extraordinary episode, which occurred during a night
>>>of fine weather, is just the sort of happening that might lead some to
>>>think they had witnessed UFO activity.
>>>
>>>"If you put together inexplicable atmospheric phenomena, maybe of an
>>>electrical nature, with human psychology and the desire to see something
>>>- that could explain a lot of these UFO sightings," he told BBC News.
>>>
>>>Rendering of fireball Eyewitnesses were asked to draw what they saw.
>>>This is how graphic designer David Sawell recalled a fireball
>>>
>>>The scientist, who is a senior lecturer at the Queensland University of
>>>Technology, initiated the study after being called in by the local TV
>>>station to look over and explain photos of the fireballs captured by
>>>members of the public on camera phones.
>>>
>>>Fireballs are exceptionally bright meteors and are produced by fragments
>>>of space rock larger than the sand-grain-sized particles responsible for
>>>shooting stars; but like shooting stars they cross the sky at great 
>>>speed.
>>>
>>>It seems at least three individual fireballs were seen on the night of
>>>16 May 2006.
>>>
>>>Fireball over Brisbane (Roy Soc) This photo gives a sense of the intense
>>>brightness of one of the fireballs
>>>
>>>A subsequent survey organised by the university brought forward many
>>>more eyewitnesses, including a farmer who recalled seeing a luminous
>>>green ball rolling down a slope of the Great Divide, a mountainous ridge
>>>about 120km west of Brisbane.
>>>
>>>This object described as being about 30cm in diameter appeared to jump
>>>over some rocks and follow the path of a metal fence for "some minutes".
>>>The farmer said he saw the green object come into view just after a
>>>fireball had passed overhead.
>>>
>>>He thought at first he was witnessing a plane crash and called the
>>>police, but a search the following day found no wreckage.
>>>
>>>Ball lightning seems an obvious explanation, says Dr Hughes. These
>>>bright, hovering spheres of light are not fully understood. They are
>>>known to be associated with thunderstorms, but not always, and there was
>>>certainly no electrical storm activity in the vicinity of the Great 
>>>Divide.
>>>
>>>Dr Hughes does not offer a new explanation for the causes of ball
>>>lightning, merely how enough energy might have been put into the ground
>>>to trigger it.
>>>
>>>He proposes that the natural flow of current that exists between the
>>>upper-most reaches of the atmosphere, the ionosphere, and the ground was
>>>increased by the passage of the meteor that streamed charged particles
>>>and other conductive materials in its wake.
>>>
>>>The Great Divide The ball lightning was seen to roll down the slope
>>>following the line of a wire fence
>>>
>>>"Could it be that the meteor descending through the atmosphere, having
>>>passed through the ionosphere, actually created a transient conductive
>>>connection between the ionosphere and the ground, even if it was only
>>>for a few seconds? Was that enough to put charge into the ground, and
>>>then with the discharge form some kind of plasma ball above?
>>>
>>>"Think of the ionosphere and the ground as the terminals on the battery
>>>and you put a wire between those two terminals and current flows, and
>>>literally you get a spark."
>>>
>>>Other scientists have suggested that charges dissipating through the
>>>ground can create balls of glowing ionised gas above it.
>>>
>>>Dr John Abrahamson from the University of Canterbury, NZ, championed the
>>>idea 10 years ago that ball lightning consisted of vaporised mineral
>>>grains kicked out of the soil by a conventional lightning strike, an
>>>idea later tested with some success by Brazilian researchers.
>>>
>>>He described Dr Hughes' work as "relatively feasible" and something
>>>which made "interesting connections".
>>>
>>>"There's a long way to go before everyone will be happy and satisfied
>>>that we have a full solution," he told BBC News.
>>>
>>>Dr Hughes said his publication in Proceedings of the Royal Society A:
>>>Mathematical and Physical Sciences was intended to start a debate.
>>>
>>>"It's not a vigorous theory; it's more a suggestion that may be worth
>>>exploring," he said.
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>>
>>
>>
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