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Fire in the SkyS
An Okanagan farmer who regularly takes photos of the sunrise captured a whole lot more this week when she spotted a meteor in the sky. Janette Casey Ewens, who owns Labyrinth Farms north of Kamloops, was in the barn yard at 6 a.m. on Monday when she saw a "thing" falling from above, she told The Huffington Post B.C.
"I ran back up to the house and grabbed my camera and snapped a few pics then hit the record button," she said in an email. "It happened twice a few minutes apart. The second time it happened faster."
The American Meteor Society received three reports of a fireball being spotted from West Kelowna, Cranbrook, and Three Hills in Alberta. Joanne Rosvick, an astronomer and associate professor at Thompson Rivers University, said it was likely space debris that perhaps came from a satellite, reported CFJC.
© File photo
"There was no sonic boom but it was quite large," said Fry, who lives near 5900 S. 800 West in Murray. "It looked like [the meteor] was ... a little smaller than the sun."
That silence tells experts like Fry that the meteor that lit up Utah's skies was likely far, far away from us. Patrick Wiggins, the NASA/JPL solar system ambassador to Utah, hasn't spoken to anyone who heard any sonic boom associated with the meteor.
Fireballs in the sky Davison, Michigan September 25,2014 My camera died on the first video. This is after I plugged it in.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkmIc... this is a link to the first video.
Comment:
So many new comets were discovered last year that astronomers named 2013 the 'Year of the Comet'. Less popularlized was the noticeable increase in fireball meteors observed in the Earth's atmosphere. Another year has passed and fireballs are still raining down like never before, with their rate apparently increasing exponentially.
SOTT.net has been cataloguing fireball events since 2002, and a couple of other websites have sprung up since then, but in general the lack of record-keeping and media coverage of this phenomenon is shocking, especially given how extraordinary the phenomenon is (or rather, was - apparently it's 'normal' now!) and whatever it may portend for civilization, sometime in the future, if not immediately.
2013 saw a dramatic increase in meteor fireballs - What does 2014 have in store?
© Screen Capture
The video above, shared today by RT.com, shows the object as it streaked toward the western horizon over the Kemerovo region of Siberia. Even through the glare of streetlights and oncoming car headlights it could easily be seen... as to exactly what it was, that's not yet known.
© Joel Rydel/Facebook Screengrab
According to the American Meteor Society's website, people in Charlotte, Mint Hill and Lancaster were among those who spotted the streaks in the sky. Reports came in around 11:15 Friday night and 3:15 Saturday morning. Twenty-nine reports were made in total.
One man in Virginia Beach captured the light on camera. Jim Rydel's video doesn't directly capture the meteors but shows the flashes in the sky. Some say it appears like more and more fireballs are passing over us but NBC Charlotte's Brad Panovich says it's likely just social media. People can make reports more easily and more often nowadays.
Brad encourages anyone who saw the fireballs to make their report here.
© AMS
AMS stated three of the events all occurred within an hour and a half of each other--- a rare happening. The AMS concluded each event was unique, due to the analysis of time, proximity of witnesses and pointing data gathered. It's likely several were captured by NASA, said AMS.
Locations of the events were reported all the way from Florida to Michigan.
Anyone who witnessed the fireball can report the event to the AMS on their website.
Comment: SOTT's fireball heat map for the past year:
A military aircraft flying over Columbus apparently broke the sound barrier Tuesday afternoon with a thunderous boom, setting off cars alarms and sending people out into the streets.
The loudest sound ever heard by some residents rocked the city shortly before 5 p.m. It was heard at the airport, north to Midland, west to Phenix City and east to the Fort Benning reservation.
A sonic boom is created when an object is traveling through the air faster than the speed of sound. Breaking the sound barrier is only possible with a military aircraft.
Comment: One would think after the amount of media coverage given to the Russian meteor in 2013 that reporters and people would realize another possible source of objects breaking the sound barrier!
This was an extreme boom and it is doubtful the boom was caused by a sonic boom from aircraft given the information provided in this article. A reader of another article about the boom commented:
Here is a video of the Russian meteor as a reminder:
Kathleen Bergen, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said there were some military flights in the area but not supersonic. "We are aware that military flight activity was underway over the area, but we don't know about any supersonic flights," she said.
Shortly after the boom, a Columbus patrolman near the airport said two aircraft flying over broke the sound barrier, but Police Lt. J.F. Ross said nothing had been confirmed in connection with the loud noise.
The loudest sound ever heard by some residents rocked the city shortly before 5 p.m. It was heard at the airport, north to Midland, west to Phenix City and east to the Fort Benning reservation.
A sonic boom is created when an object is traveling through the air faster than the speed of sound. Breaking the sound barrier is only possible with a military aircraft.
Comment: One would think after the amount of media coverage given to the Russian meteor in 2013 that reporters and people would realize another possible source of objects breaking the sound barrier!
This was an extreme boom and it is doubtful the boom was caused by a sonic boom from aircraft given the information provided in this article. A reader of another article about the boom commented:
I don't buy the 'routine testing' soundbyte either. We have lived here for many years, and we've never heard anything like that since we came to Columbus. Even an M1A1 Abrams, or a Paladin aren't as loud as what we heard today, ubless you're very close to them. I also thought there was an FAA regulation against making sonic booms like that over cities...unless there was a darn good reason. GA Air Nat'. Guard routine testing should normally not be done over cities-whatever their website says.Looks like the military aircraft sonic boom excuse is being given in this case as a means to cover-up the increasing frequency of meteors entering and exploding in the atmosphere. Can't have people waking up and realizing their leaders are powerless to protect them.
Here is a video of the Russian meteor as a reminder:
Kathleen Bergen, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said there were some military flights in the area but not supersonic. "We are aware that military flight activity was underway over the area, but we don't know about any supersonic flights," she said.
Shortly after the boom, a Columbus patrolman near the airport said two aircraft flying over broke the sound barrier, but Police Lt. J.F. Ross said nothing had been confirmed in connection with the loud noise.
Every night, a network of NASA all-sky cameras scans the skies above the United States for meteoritic fireballs. Automated software maintained by NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office calculates their orbits, velocity, penetration depth in Earth's atmosphere and many other characteristics.
On Sep. 13, 2014, the network reported 253 fireballs.
(250 sporadics, 3)
On Sep. 13, 2014, the network reported 253 fireballs.
(250 sporadics, 3)
© Unknown
This disintegration of this bright fireball lit up the sky of New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania on September 2014
Social media exploded with reports of a fireball streaking across the sky.
A fireball is another term for a very bright meteor, according to the American Meteor Society (AMS).
"Incredibly bright #meteor even at apparently low altitude just fell over #DC. Wonderful moment!" tweeted photojournalist William B. Plowman from Washington, D.C.
Comment: More footage of same.
A fireball mesmerized people in parts of B.C., Washington and Oregon on Saturday night.
Jen Pickard was fortunate enough to snap a photo of the tail end of what's believed to be a meteor. She and her friend were paddling in Qualicum Beach on Vancouver Island after watching the sun set, when a "huge ball of fire flew by" at about 8:20 p.m.
"It was yellowish blue and flew in an arc," Pickard wrote in an email to The Huffington Post B.C. She described the 45-second streak like a shooting star but much larger and closer.
Jen Pickard was fortunate enough to snap a photo of the tail end of what's believed to be a meteor. She and her friend were paddling in Qualicum Beach on Vancouver Island after watching the sun set, when a "huge ball of fire flew by" at about 8:20 p.m.
"It was yellowish blue and flew in an arc," Pickard wrote in an email to The Huffington Post B.C. She described the 45-second streak like a shooting star but much larger and closer.
© Jen Pickard/Ruth Stefanek
Comment: See video footage below. Notice how the fireball just 'goes out' after the first flash. Fascinating!
A second video can be viewed here.