1860 Great Meteor
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The 1860 Great Meteor procession occurred on July 20, 1860. It was a unique
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 ...
ic phenomenon reported from locations across the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. American landscape painter
Frederic Church Frederic Edwin Church (May 4, 1826 – April 7, 1900) was an American landscape painter born in Hartford, Connecticut. He was a central figure in the Hudson River School of American landscape painters, best known for painting large landscapes, ...
saw and painted a spectacular string of fireball
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 ...
s cross the Catskill evening sky, an extremely rare Earth-grazing
meteor procession A meteor procession occurs when an Earth-grazing meteor 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, DanForensic astronomer solves ...
. It is believed that this was the event referred to in the poem ''Year of Meteors, 1859-60'', by
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 t ...
. In 2010, 150 years later, it was determined to be an Earth-grazing meteor procession.


See also

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1783 Great Meteor The 1783 Great Meteor was a meteor procession observed on 18 August 1783 from the British Isles, at a time when such phenomena were not well understood. The meteor was the subject of much discussion in the ''Philosophical Transactions of the Roya ...
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1913 Great Meteor Procession The 1913 Great Meteor Procession occurred on February 9, 1913. It was a meteoric phenomenon reported from locations across Canada, the northeastern United States, and Bermuda, and from many ships at sea, including eight off Brazil, giving a tota ...
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1972 Great Daylight Fireball The Great Daylight Fireball (also known as the Grand Teton Meteor ) was an Earth-grazing fireball that passed within of Earth's surface at 20:29 UTC on August 10, 1972. It entered Earth's atmosphere at a speed of in daylight over Utah, Unite ...


References

{{Modern impact events Meteoroids 1860 in science 1860 in the United States 18600720 Modern Earth impact events Earth-grazing fireballs July 1860 events