Fire in the SkyS


Fireball 4

Meteor fireball flies over Andalusia, Spain

Meteors
YouTube
Mon, 17 Jul 2017 06:07 UTC
Fireball over Spain
© YouTube/Meteors
This ball of fire flew over Andalusia on July 17 at 6:07 local time (4:07 UT). The event was caused by the entry into the Earth's atmosphere of a meteoroid of cometary origin.

The luminous phenomenon began on the province of Jaén, at a height of about 120 km above sea level, and ended at an altitude of about 75 km.

Read More...
Fireball 2

Slow meteor fireball recorded over Mediterranean Sea

Meteors
YouTube
Wed, 26 Jul 2017 06:48 UTC
Meteor fireball over Mediterranean sea
© Meteors (CAHA)
This beautiful fireball overflew the Mediterranean Sea on July 26 at 00:18 local time (22:18 Universal Time on July 25). The event was produced by a rock from an asteroid that hit the atmosphere at around 25.000 km/h. The fireball began at a height of about 83 km and ended at an altitude of 36 km. It was recorded in the framework of the SMART Project from the astronomical observatories of Calar Alto (Almería, Spain), La Sagra (Granada, Spain) and Sevilla (Spain).

Read More...
Telescope

Astronomers detect space rock 3 days after it passes close to Earth

Eddie Irizarry
EarthSky
Tue, 25 Jul 2017 13:21 UTC
Artists rendering of an asteroid passing Earth
© Earth SkyArtist’s concept of an asteroid passing near Earth.
A space rock now designated as asteroid 2017 OO1 was detected on July 23, 2017 from the ATLAS-MLO telescope at Mauna Loa, Hawaii. An analysis of its trajectory revealed it had been closest to Earth on July 20 sometime between 10:27 p.m. to 11:32 p.m. EDT (between 02:27 to 03:32 UTC on July 21).

This means the asteroid's closest approach occurred 2.5 to 3 days before it was seen. Asteroid 2017 OO1 flyby had passed at about one-third the Earth-moon distance, or about 76,448 miles (123,031 km).

Although that's still a safe distance, a fact that stands out is that asteroid 2017 OO1 is about three times as big as the house-sized asteroid that penetrated the skies over Chelyabinsk, Russia in February, 2013, breaking windows in six Russian cities and causing more that 1,000 people to seek treatment for injuries, mostly from flying glass.
Read More...
Comet 2

New Comet: C/2017 O1

Ernesto Guido
Remanzacco Blogspot
Tue, 25 Jul 2017 18:58 UTC
CBET nr. 4414, issued on 2017, July 24, announces the discovery of a comet (magnitude ~15.3) in the course of the "All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae" (ASASSN) program, from images taken with the 14-cm "Cassius" survey telescope at Cerro Tololo on July 19.32 UT. The new comet has been designated C/2017 O1.

I performed follow-up measurements of this object, while it was still on the neocp. Stacking of 10 unfiltered exposures, 60 seconds each, obtained remotely on 2017, July 23.7 from Q62 (iTelescope network) through 0.50-m f/6.8 astrograph + CCD + f/4.5 focal reducer, shows that this object is a comet with a sharp central condensation surrounded by diffuse coma about 3 arcmins in diameter.

My confirmation image (click on it for a bigger version)
Comet C/2017 O1
© Remanzacco Blogspot
Below you can see the discovery image by ASASSN survey
Read More...
Fireball 2

Meteor fireball observed over São Paulo, Brazil

Exoss Citizen Science
YouTube
Tue, 18 Jul 2017 22:10 UTC
YouTube/Exoss Citizen Science (screen capture)
YouTube/Exoss Citizen Science (screen capture)
On July 17th, just four days after rattling windows and shaking walls scare residents in the region of Campinas, another fireball is registered in the State of São Paulo by Exoss Citizen Science, a Brazilian meteor monitoring organization.

Read More...
Fireball

'Long slow' meteor fireball seen over Hawley, Texas

Kevin Palivec
Space Weather
Tue, 11 Jul 2017 21:41 UTC
Meteor over Hawley, TX
© Kevin Palivec
Most of the time Meteors are quick zippy things! This morning over north central Texas we had a long slow lazy meteor. I caught this lazy fireball as it took over 4 seconds to blaze its way across the morning skies!

Read More...
Fireball 2

Meteor rattles windows and scares residents in Campinas, Brazil


G1 - Eptv
Fri, 14 Jul 2017 17:48 UTC
Photo of the Observatory of Campinas shows meteor trajectory in the sky
© EPTVPhoto of the Observatory of Campinas shows meteor trajectory in the sky
Noise and tremor scare residents of Hortolândia and Sumaré on Thursday night

The Municipal Observatory of Campinas (SP) caught the passage of a meteor in the region on Thursday night (July 13th). The cameras captured the moment when a luminous ball appears in the sky. See the meteor's trajectory in the video above. Residents reported feeling the shaking walls and windows and a loud noise.

Astronomer Júlio Lobo explains that "When a meteor falls and explodes, it causes a sonic boom, which usually shakes the walls and windows. [...] When this happens, it produces a meteorite, which is the 'pebble' that will stay on the ground. So if anyone happened to see a falling meteor, communicate us because this is of great scientific importance".

According to the astronomer, the Campinas observatory currently has six cameras, and this is the largest number of cameras in a Brazilian observatory. Many other meteors were recorded on Thursday night.

"We recorded 88 meteors on the same night. There is a network that studies this officially," said the astronomer.


Comment: It is well worth remembering what can come out of the sky, without any warning at all, like the Chelyabinsk meteor fireball.


Even NASA's own space data supports citizens' recent observations, namely the inconvenient fact that meteor fireballs are increasing dramatically.

Read More...
Fireball

Loud boom over North Carolina caused by meteor fireball


WLOS
Fri, 14 Jul 2017 21:48 UTC
Meteor over NC
© American Meteor SocietyThe American Meteor Society received about 50 reports about a fireball seen over the Southeast late Thursday night. This map shows places that reported seeing the fireball.
The American Meteor Society received about 50 reports about a fireball seen over the Southeast late Thursday night.

AMS said the fireball was seen shortly after 10 p.m. in North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, Virginia and Kentucky and Tennessee.

Because there was nothing other than the fireball reported in the area at the time of the boom, speculation is that the boom was likely a meteor breaking up in the atmosphere.

Click here to see the AMS report.
Read More...
Fireball 3

Meteor fireball explodes over South Australia (VIDEOS)

Emma Pedler and Daniel Keane
ABC Online
Thu, 06 Jul 2017 07:32 UTC
South Australia meteor fireball
© facebook/Matthew Graziano (screen capture)
Six days after a suspected meteor shook Streaky Bay and very briefly lit up parts of South Australia's night sky, the event remains the talk of the town.

CCTV images of the spectacle show a bright light in the sky, lasting a couple of seconds, just before midnight on Friday, with locals reporting a thunder-like rumble a few minutes later.

Those lucky enough to have witnessed the event have described an "orange fireball" which could be seen from across the West Coast and Eyre Peninsula and as far afield as Elliston, Port Lincoln, Whyalla, Riverton and even Mount Barker, near Adelaide.


Comment: See also: Possible fast moving meteor fireball sighted over South Australia

Read More...
Fireball

Glowing meteor fireball flies over the Mediterranean Sea

Meteors
You Tube
Tue, 04 Jul 2017 17:41 UTC
Fireball over the Mediterranean Sea
© YouTube/Meteors
This amazing fireball overflew the Mediterranean Sea on 4 July 2017 at 0:09 UT ( 2:09 local time). The event was produced by a sporadic meteoroid. The bolide began at an altitude of about 90 km above the sea level and ended at a height of around 50 km above the sea. The fireball was recorded in the framework of the SMART Project from the astronomical observatories of La Hita (Toledo, Spain), Calar Alto (Almería, Spain) and Sevilla (Spain).

This impressive fireball flew over the Mediterranean on July 4 at 2:09 am local time ( 0:09 UT). The event occurred by the entry into the terrestrial atmosphere of a sporadic meteoroid. The luminous phenomenon began at a height of about 90 km above sea level, and ended at an altitude of about 50 km.

Read More...