![The Meteor of 1860](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/The_Meteor_of_1860.jpg)
A meteor procession occurs when an
Earth-grazing meteor
A meteoroid () is a small rocky or metallic body in outer space.
Meteoroids are defined as objects significantly smaller than asteroids, ranging in size from grains to objects up to a meter wide. Objects smaller than this are classified as micr ...
breaks apart, and the fragments travel across the sky in the same path. According to physicist
Donald Olson, only a few occurrences are known, including:
[Falk, Dan]
Forensic astronomer solves Walt Whitman mystery
''NewScientist'', June 1, 2010
*
Great Meteor of August 18, 1783
*
Meteor procession of July 20, 1860
The 1860 Great Meteor procession occurred on July 20, 1860. It was a unique meteoric phenomenon reported from locations across the United States. American landscape painter Frederic Church saw and painted a spectacular string of fireball meteor ...
; believed by Donald Olson to be the event referred to in
Walt Whitman
Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among ...
's poem ''Year of Meteors, 1859-60''.
* Meteor procession of December 21, 1876; sighted over Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania.
[Report of the annual meeting British Association for the Advancement of Science 1877 pages 149-15]
/ref>
* 1913 Great Meteor Procession, Meteor procession of February 9, 1913; a chain of slow, large meteors moving from northwest to southeast, sighted over North America, particularly in Canada, the North Atlantic and the Tropical South Atlantic.
See also
* 1972 Great Daylight Fireball
* Bolide
A bolide is normally taken to mean an exceptionally bright meteor, but the term is subject to more than one definition, according to context. It may refer to any large crater-forming body, or to one that explodes in the atmosphere. It can be a ...
* Comet breakup
* Earth-grazing fireball
An Earth-grazing fireball (or Earth grazer) is a fireball, a very bright meteor that enters Earth’s atmosphere and leaves again. Some fragments may impact Earth as meteorites, if the meteor starts to break up or explodes in mid-air. These phenom ...
* Forensic astronomy
Forensic astronomy is the use of astronomy, the scientific study of celestial objects, to determine the appearance of the sky at specific times in the past. This has been used, if relatively rarely, in forensic science (that is, for solving problem ...
* Green fireballs
Green fireballs are a type of unidentified flying object (UFO) that has been reported since the early 1950s. Early sightings primarily occurred in the southwestern United States, particularly in New Mexico. Although some ufologists and ufology orga ...
* List of Earth-crossing minor planets
An Earth-crosser is a near-Earth asteroid whose orbit crosses that of Earth as observed from the ecliptic pole of Earth's orbit. The known numbered Earth-crossers are listed here. Those Earth-crossers whose semi-major axes are smaller than Ea ...
* Meteor shower
A meteor shower is a celestial event in which a number of meteors are observed to radiate, or originate, from one point in the night sky. These meteors are caused by streams of cosmic debris called meteoroids entering Earth's atmosphere at extre ...
* Unidentified flying objects
An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...
References
External links
Meteors, Meteoroids, and Meteorites
Meteoroids
{{meteoroid-stub