Scientists have long known that a major ingredient in comets is water ice, but they were unsure whether the ice was contained mainly inside or if it could be found on the surface as well.
A new analysis of data from NASA's Deep Impact mission last year provides the first evidence that water ice can indeed exist on a comet's exterior.
People looking to the sky Wednesday morning got a special treat. A fireball appeared in the sky south of Calgary just before seven o'clock. It moved quickly from east to west before it burned out. Witnesses say it broke into pieces when it flared out.
Several people have reported the fireball to University of Calgary professor Alan Hildebrand. He's hoping that someone close to where the fireball exploded, saw it, or heard the sonic boom, will call in. That will help locate pieces of the meteorite.
A 'meteor' from outer space fell with a big bang on a field in Singpara village of sadar upazila yesterday afternoon creating panic and curiosity among people.
No one was reported hurt.
NBC
NBCSat, 21 Jan 2006 12:00 UTC
MOBILE, Ala. - It wasn't an earthquake, but it felt like it to many of you.
What sounded and felt like an intense explosion rocked much of the local area around 2:30 Thursday afternoon, shaking homes and businesses and shaking up a lot of residents.
"I heard a shaking and a rattling, said Lana Cook, who experienced the boom in her home off Moffet Road. "It was like someone pounding with their fists."
The boom created some scary moments for residents throughout much of the local area, who experienced what sounded and felt like an explosion.
"This was hard, loud and continuous, Cook added.
A MYSTERIOUS big bang which shook a town and villages could have been a sonic boom caused by an aircraft flying too fast, it has been claimed.
People across Spalding and as far as Eye, near Peterborough (Southern England), were left reeling after the boom, which was heard and felt at about 2pm on Thursday, January 12 2006.
Today, January 13, the cause of the noise is unclear, although many suspect it was a sonic boom, caused by a jet breaking through the sound barrier. But nobody can give a definite answer to the questions.
Stuart Green, a spokesman for the Ministry of Defence, said: "There is a channel for military aircraft off the east of England, and, occasionally, pilots go through it too fast.
"RAF pilots go to a lot of trouble not to make sonic bangs, and they don't like it when aircraft from other countries go too fast."
David Galloway, assistant seismologist at the British Geological Survey, said: "We have national and regional monitors which would normally trace something like a sonic boom. But I checked for half an hour either side of the time the noise was reported and nothing came up."
Comment: Comment: Would anyone care to offer a theory as to what these booms, that have been regularly heard around the globe in recent years, are? In most cases, they are obviously not sonic booms. So what are they?
Signs Team,
I'm currently living in a town named Chelmsford in Essex, UK. Usually I would be hesitant to give this information out, but I felt that some people here may be interested in the odd report from time to time of strange meteoric activity in the skies over this area of the UK.
Last night on 11th January 2006 at roughly 19:10hours I witnessed a descending meteoric phenomena which, if I were to hazard a guess, was a small meteor breaking up to the NE of my position.
I'd guess no more than 3-6 miles from my position as the view I had was clear enough to see a glittering trail of sparks and colour descending with it, although there was no impact sound, I didn't really expect any. It was in my view for around 1.5 - 3 seconds, so I hadn't seen it descend from a great distance and my view was obscured quickly by other houses.
A smattering of early risers across a wide area of the Eastern Upper Peninsula were startled by the brilliant light from a falling meteor or some "space junk" in the northern sky about 6:05 a.m. today.
The bright light traced a lightning-fast path over the northern horizon from west to east, briefly and silently illuminating the dark winter sky for a few seconds in the pre-dawn cold.
One witness, Dixie MacArthur, said the object's path appeared to skim the treeline from west to east, making no sound as it flashed through the sky. Other similar reports were made by the few other observers up and out of doors when the brightly-burning object crossed the sky.
A spokesman for the National Weather Service in Gaylord was not aware of the early morning sighting today. He said the object would not register on U.S. weather radar, since meteors usually burn up in earth's atmosphere at an altitude of 40 to 70 miles, far above the reach of weather radar.
Comment: That's right, just because meteors "usually burn up" high in the atmosphere, we should all therefore ignore the plethora of recent fireballs all around the globe that have been creating massive booms or actually impacting the ground. Nothig to see here.
Commuters coming into Whitehorse were treated to some free fireworks Thursday morning, as a meteoroid streaked across the sky.
A spectacular meteorite fireball has lit up the sky over a wide area of Western Australia.
The spectacle is reported to have been in the north of the state, also as far east as Kalgoorlie, nearly 500km from Perth, and in the south at Albany, which is just over 400km from the capital.
A huge ball of light and fire filled the night sky as a meteor streaked toward Earth.
Residents in Perth, Australia, saw the spectacular light show Saturday night. The meteor left a bright tail in its wake.
Karun Cowper, who was enjoying a meal with his family at Halls Head, caught the meteor on his video camera.
Comment: Comment: Would anyone care to offer a theory as to what these booms, that have been regularly heard around the globe in recent years, are? In most cases, they are obviously not sonic booms. So what are they?