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Showing posts with label fireballs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fireballs. Show all posts

Aug 30, 2013

August 30, 2013: Fireballs and Auroras!

This just in:

Space Weather News for August 30, 2013

MAJOR FIREBALL EVENT: Two nights ago, a ~100 lb meteoroid traveling 53,000 mph hit the atmosphere over the southeastern USA and exploded, producing sonic booms and a fireball as bright as a full Moon. Researchers are now scouring the countryside for fragments that could reveal the nature and origin of the meteoroid.

A movie, more information, and updates are available at SpaceWeather News.

WEEKEND AURORA WATCH: A solar wind stream is expected to hit Earth's magnetic field on August 30-31. The impact could produce minor geomagnetic storms and auroras at high latitudes. Geomagnetic storm alerts are available from SpaceWeather.com.


Nov 18, 2009

Fireball over western US turns night to day 11.18.09

Space Weather News for Nov 18, 2009

FIREBALLS AND METEORS: As forecasters predicted, the Leonid meteor shower peaked during the late hours of Nov 17, favoring sky watchers in Asia with an outburst of 100+ meteors per hour. Just as the outburst was dying down, an even bigger event took place over the western USA. Something hit Earth's atmosphere and exploded with an energy equivalent of 0.5 to 1 kiloton of TNT.

Witnesses in Colorado, Utah, Idaho and elsewhere say the fireball "turned night into day" and "shook the ground" when it exploded just after midnight Mountain Standard Time. Researchers who are analyzing infrasound recordings of the blast say the fireball was not a Leonid. It was probably a small asteroid, now scattered in fragments across the countryside.

Efforts are underway to measure the trajectory of the asteroid and guide meteorite recovery efforts. Please visit SpaceWeather News for images and updates. #

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Hmmm....there were fireballs sighted over Colorado in 2008...they can sometimes indicate experiments taking place. Or perhaps...going awry.

Then again it could be actual 'signs in the heavens' couldn't it?

Feb 16, 2009

Weekend Skies: Fireballs and Sonic Booms

Space Weather News for Feb 16, 2009

WEEKEND FIREBALLS: A daylight fireball over Texas on Sunday, Feb 15, triggered widespread reports that debris from a recent satellite collision was falling to Earth. Those reports were premature. Researchers have studied video of the event and concluded that the object was more likely a natural meteoroid about one meter wide traveling more than 20 km/s--much faster than orbital debris. Meteoroids hit Earth every day, and the Texas fireball was apparently one of them.

There's more: On Friday, Feb 13, people in central Kentucky heard loud booms, felt their houses shake, and saw a fireball streaking through the sky. This occurred scant hours after another fireball at least 10 times brighter than a full Moon lit up the sky over Italy.

Although it is tempting to attribute these events to debris from the Feb 10 collision of the Iridium 33 and Kosmos 2251 satellites, the Kentucky and Italy fireballs also seem to be meteoroids, not manmade objects.

Italian scientists are studying the ground track of their fireball, which was recorded by multiple cameras, and they will soon begin to hunt for meteorites.

Videos, eye-witness reports and more information about these events may be found at SpaceWeather.com.

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Ah, yes, apparently the fireballs are only meteoroids - not to fret, silly Earthlings!

But if you'd like an example of more fireball, sonic boom, and earthquake - yes, earthquake - reports, click Leuren Moret's article link and scroll about halfway down to the section on the Aum Shinrikyo Sect for eye-witness accounts from May 28, 1993. It's instructive and shows what certain experiments can cause in our skies.

Aren't fireballs and sonic booms occurring rather frequently these days? And 'satellite debris' from the Feb 10 'collision' being semi-portrayed as the possible cause of these mysterious celestial events may be only a smokescreen to muddy the issue...for how would we know any differently?