<p>Congratulations, you have seen a fireball. An especially bright meteor. It was bright and fast. This is a rock, a very small asteroid, hitting our atmosphere and "buring up". It is also possibly a satellite or space junk re-entering. Re-entering satellites look move slower than asteroids. You can see fireball videos on youtube, as well as re-entries, to compare.</p>

<p>This event was also <a href="http://fireballs.imo.net/imo_view/event/2017/3030" rel="noreferrer">witnessed from Puducherry</a>, the details seem to match up quite well. The time is slightly out, but the location is spot on. You can add your report at <a href="http://fireballs.imo.net/members/imo/report_intro" rel="noreferrer">http://fireballs.imo.net/members/imo/report_intro</a></p>

<p>No, its not Florence, which will not be entering our atmosphere, and so will not appear to be burning, it will be a single point of light. It will be moving much slower, and won't be visible with the naked eye.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-01T21:01:52.703Z
2017-09-01T21:01:52.703Z
James K
<p>No, it's not Florence.  Florence is quite faint - 9th magnitude currently- so about 1/15th of the brightness of the faintest star visible to the unaided eye. If it were a long enough exposure to show Florence, there would likely be other stars visible in the picture. </p>

<p>And although Florence is moving quite quickly, I doubt it's moving as fast as appears in your photo, but without knowing how long the exposure is, it's hard to be definitive.  </p>

<p>In addition, the brightness appears to vary, which suggests that is could be a satellite, or a meteor, or possibly an aeroplane.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-01T19:48:29.100Z
2017-09-01T19:55:52.623Z
2017-09-01T19:55:52.623Z
Dr Chuck
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/xQNDz.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/xQNDz.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>I saw this blazing thing in the sky from Chennai, India at around 21:00 IST. Is this by any chance the Florence asteroid ? If not, what is this ? I'm pretty sure that this cannot be a firecracker because it was huge with large flames and it actually lasted in sky for at least 30 seconds till it reached heights where commercial aircrafts fly. </p>

<p>NOTE: This object was moving from the ground and upwards towards the atmosphere.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-01T18:11:15.453Z
Hi, which direction were you looking (compass points)? What were your coordinates?
Beta Decay
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-01T18:41:01.837Z
@BetaDecay I was looking North East and the coordinates are 12.913892,80.232253
steam7137
<asteroids>
Is this the Florence asteroid?
steam7137
# Is this the Florence asteroid?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-09-01)

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/xQNDz.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/xQNDz.jpg)

I saw this blazing thing in the sky from Chennai, India at around 21:00 IST. Is this by any chance the Florence asteroid ? If not, what is this ? I'm pretty sure that this cannot be a firecracker because it was huge with large flames and it actually lasted in sky for at least 30 seconds till it reached heights where commercial aircrafts fly.

NOTE: This object was moving from the ground and upwards towards the atmosphere.

**Tags:** asteroids
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Hi, which direction were you looking (compass points)? What were your coordinates?  
> **username_0**: @BetaDecay I was looking North East and the coordinates are 12.913892,80.232253  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2017-09-01. Score: 6

Congratulations, you have seen a fireball. An especially bright meteor. It was bright and fast. This is a rock, a very small asteroid, hitting our atmosphere and "buring up". It is also possibly a satellite or space junk re-entering. Re-entering satellites look move slower than asteroids. You can see fireball videos on youtube, as well as re-entries, to compare.

This event was also [witnessed from Puducherry](http://fireballs.imo.net/imo_view/event/2017/3030), the details seem to match up quite well. The time is slightly out, but the location is spot on. You can add your report at <http://fireballs.imo.net/members/imo/report_intro>

No, its not Florence, which will not be entering our atmosphere, and so will not appear to be burning, it will be a single point of light. It will be moving much slower, and won't be visible with the naked eye.


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### Answer by username_3 on 2017-09-01. Score: 0

No, it's not Florence. Florence is quite faint - 9th magnitude currently- so about 1/15th of the brightness of the faintest star visible to the unaided eye. If it were a long enough exposure to show Florence, there would likely be other stars visible in the picture.

And although Florence is moving quite quickly, I doubt it's moving as fast as appears in your photo, but without knowing how long the exposure is, it's hard to be definitive.

In addition, the brightness appears to vary, which suggests that is could be a satellite, or a meteor, or possibly an aeroplane.


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