Fire in the SkyS


Meteor

And the fireballs keep falling: Massive explosion rocks Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin - Media again pretends homes were shaken by 'frost-quake'

Todd Hicks
620WTMJ
Wed, 08 Jan 2014 15:58 UTC
A series of mysterious booms have left some people in Fond du Lac County shaken.


Residents in cities like Waupun, Campbellsport and Markesan heard loud pops Tuesday night around 6:00 pm.

One of them was Wayne Guenther. He was sitting at his kitchen table with his wife and a friend when his house shook.

"It sounded just like an explosion." He said.

Comment: So rare and yet, so commonly used of late to explain 'mystery booms' ...

SOTT.net sez 'BS alert!'
This is what cryoseisms sound like, nothing like a "sudden explosive sound that shook my whole house."

Given that fireballs are raining all over the place, isn't it far more likely these folks are hearing overhead meteor explosions?

Multiple fireballs: Over 1,400 reports in 48 hours from coast to coast; booms; ground shaking, house shaking explosion

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Comet

Another overhead explosion: People baffled after being awoken by sound 'like single explosion' echoing across East Yorkshire, UK

JBurton
Hull Daily Mail
Thu, 09 Jan 2014 15:41 UTC
Image
© UnknownThe mysterious sound woke people up across Hull and East Yorkshire
Baffled families were woken by a mysterious loud bang heard across East Yorkshire early this morning. Dozens of people from Hull to Withernsea took to social media after hearing the noise echo through the skies at about 3.30am.

Others posted about the sound from as far away as Cleethorpes and Derby. Many believed a thunderclap was to blame but the Met Office said there was no storm in the area at the time.

Writing on the Mail's Facebook page, Alan Key said the noise "woke us up and scared us to death. People say it was thunder but to me it sounded more like an explosion."

Friends in Beverley and west Hull told Mr Key they also heard the sound. Karen Holdstock, who lives in the Greatfield estate, said it woke her too.

Martin Hardcastle said it sounded like "amazingly loud thunder" at his house in Withernsea and Ruth Clarkson reported it in Patrington.

Michelle Ketley posted saying she was frightened by how sudden it was.

She wrote: "I've been thinking about it all morning. I was shaking when it woke me up and I'm not scared of thunder at all. It was very bizarre."

Twitter users have also been discussing the sound today.
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Fireball 4

Did you see the fireball that broke up over Ireland last Friday evening?

Nicky Ryan
The Journal, Ireland
Tue, 07 Jan 2014 16:49 UTC
Fireball
© Petar Petrov/AP/Press Association Images
A dramatic fireball broke up over Ireland last Friday evening.

Astronomy Ireland have confirmed they received dozens of reported sightings of the fireball, thought to have occurred just before 6pm last Friday.

The astronomy organisation say it was seen in multiple counties including Mayo, Cork, and Wexford.

One reader of TheJournal.ie got in touch to say he spotted it over Dublin at 5.40pm, adding that it was an "amazing sight".

"It would have probably broken up quite high in the atmosphere for it to be seen in so many counties," Conor Farrell from Astronomy Ireland said.
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Fireball 2

'Frost-quakes' or overhead meteor explosions? Massive boom shakes houses in Toronto


RT
Mon, 06 Jan 2014 10:29 UTC
Image
As temperatures around Toronto and across Ontario drop to -20 Celsius (-4 Fahrenheit), residents are reporting frost quakes that are powerful enough to shake houses and rattle nerves.

Usually found in extreme polar regions, the recent outbreak of frost quakes, known to meteorologists as cryoseisms, are now affecting many residents of Toronto, Canada's most populous city.

The weather-related phenomenon, which can feel like an earthquake, happens when water and moisture deep underground freeze as the temperature drops.

Frost quakes typically occur between midnight and dawn, the coldest part of the night, thus many residents are being jolted awake by the booming sounds.

Comment: So rare and yet, so commonly used of late to explain 'mystery booms' ...

SOTT.net sez 'BS alert!'

This is what cryoseisms sound like, nothing like a "sudden explosive sound that shook my whole house."

Given that fireballs are raining all over the place, isn't it far more likely these folks are hearing overhead meteor explosions?

Multiple fireballs: Over 1,400 reports in 48 hours from coast to coast; booms; ground shaking, house shaking explosion

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Fireball

Oh, puleeze..."We saw it coming - dinky asteroid hits Earth, burns up"

Ian O'Neill
Discovery News
Fri, 03 Jan 2014 15:01 UTC
Image
For only the second time in history, an asteroid has hit Earth that was discovered hours before impact. But don't panic! The asteroid didn't put a city-sized divot in our planet, it most likely burned up somewhere between Africa and South America over the Atlantic Ocean at midnight EST.

Asteroid 2014 AA, the first asteroid discovery of the year, was spotted by astronomers using the Mt. Lemmon Survey telescope in Arizona. As shrewdly pointed out by Bad Astronomer Phil Plait, the asteroid was the approximate size of a couch - measuring only a couple of meters across. That's around one-half of a Mini Cooper, whichever takes your fancy. But whatever your preferred size comparison, the outcome was likely the same; the asteroid burned up on atmospheric entry as a meteor.

This might have provided a nice visual spectacle only a day after New Years, but 2014 AA is notable as being the first pre-impact discovery of an asteroid since 2008.


Comment: Obviously this article is really trying hard to put forward a "nothing to worry about, go back to sleep" schtick - here's the real story: First observed 'Near Earth Object' this year, named asteroid '2014 AA', impacted planet several hours later!

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Fireball 5

First observed 'Near Earth Object' this year, named asteroid '2014 AA', impacted planet several hours later!

Ernesto Guido
Remanzacco Observatory
Thu, 02 Jan 2014 12:03 UTC
M.P.E.C. 2014-A02 issued on 2014 Jan. 2 at 13:08 UT reports the discovery of the asteroid 2014 AA (discovery magnitude 19.1) by Mt. Lemmon Survey (MPC code G96 ) on images taken on January 1.2 with a 1.5-m reflector + CCD. 2014 AA had an estimated size of 1.7 m - 3.8 m (based on the object's absolute magnitude H=30.9).

As reported on this MPEC:
It is virtually certain that 2014 AA hit the Earth's atmosphere on 2014 Jan. 2.2 +/- 0.4, as demonstrated by independent calculations by Bill Gray, the MPC and Steve Chesley (JPL). According to Chesley, the impact locations are widely distributed, most likely falling on an arc extending from Central America to East Africa, with a best-fit location just off the coast of West Africa on Jan. 2.10. 2014 AA was unlikely to have survived atmospheric entry intact, as it was comparable in size to 2008 TC3, the only other example of an impacting object observed prior to atmospheric entry.
Below you can see one of the discovery images of 2014 AA. The asteroid is the streak just left of center, surrounded by the purple circle.
Asteroid 2014 AA
© Courtesy of Catalina Sky Survey / NASA
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Fireball 4

A new major meteor shower in 2014? Earth might be sandblasted with debris from Comet 209P/LINEAR May 24, 2014

Deborah Byrd
EarthSky.org
Thu, 02 Jan 2014 08:25 UTC
Image
© Michael Jager Comet 209P/LINEAR on April 25, 2009 as captured by Michael Jager in Austria.
The list of major meteor showers hasn't changed much in recent decades, but it has changed a little. Meteor showers are part of nature, after all, and the list of major showers shifts and changes slightly, as all things in nature do, with one shower or another becoming more or less exciting as the years pass. In 2014, though, an exciting new meteor shower might come on the scene. This possible shower stems from a comet - Comet 209P/LINEAR - discovered in 2004. Comet 209P/LINEAR passed near the sun in 2009 and will pass near it again in early May, 2014. On the night of May 24, 2014 - if the predictions hold true - Earth might be sandblasted with debris from this comet, resulting in a fine display of meteors, or shooting stars.


Comment: Wondering what else the Earth may be 'sandblasted' with? Comets and the Horns of Moses

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Fireball 5

Explosive booming noises mystify Vermont residents

Jack Thurston
NECN
Tue, 31 Dec 2013 07:59 UTC
Strange booming noises were reported across the Champlain Valley Monday night, mystifying and even scaring Vermont residents who heard them.


"Extremely alarming," said Christy Morgan of Colchester, who told New England Cable News she heard a bizarre noise. "It was very violent and very intense, and only [lasted] a second."

Morgan said the sound terrified her because she thought it was an explosion. It struck around 7 p.m., Morgan said. "[It was] like somebody had pushed their refrigerator over onto its side and it was a violent crash and the whole house shook," she remembered.

Morgan said there was no sign anything had gone wrong in the house or outside of it. Others around the Champlain Valley reported hearing strange noises too; several took to social media sites to describe the noises that were puzzling them.

"They're called cryoseisms," said Larry Becker, Vermont's state geologist.

Comment: BS alert!

Image
This is what cryoseisms sound like, nothing like a "sudden explosive sound that shook my whole house."

Given that fireballs are raining all over the place, isn't it far more likely these folks are hearing overhead meteor explosions?

Multiple fireballs: Over 1,400 reports in 48 hours from coast to coast; booms; ground shaking, house shaking explosion

Read More...
Fireball 4

Multiple fireballs: Over 1,400 reports in 48 hours from coast to coast; booms; ground shaking, house shaking explosion

MrMBB333
You Tube
Sat, 28 Dec 2013 00:00 UTC
Image
Massive ground shaking meteor explodes over Minnesota. Daytime fireballs reported in Michigan, Missouri, Iowa, Indiana, Wyoming, Idaho, Kansas, California, Nevada and more.

Reports from the U.S. are coast to coast and other parts of the world.

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Fireball 5

Mysterious loud boom rattles, rolls most of Texas City


KRISTV.com
Mon, 30 Dec 2013 19:33 UTC
Loud Boom
© KRISTV.comStillshot from video below.
Corpus Christi - A loud boom Sunday evening sent many people out of their homes and sent emergency crews scouring the city for answers.

The city's 911 system was flooded with calls around 630PM from people all over town, who either heard the boom, or had their homes shake from the sound wave. Reports of the boom stretch from the Rodd Field and Yorktown area to downtown and many places in between.

But after an extensive search of the area, no evidence of an explosion or fire was ever found.

No one knows for sure where the boom came from or what caused it. It's quite possible that the sound might have been a sonic boom from a passing aircraft. An investigation is underway.
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