Fire in the SkyS


Fireball 2

Flaming meteor fireball seen exploding in South Africa

The Southern Cross, near where the meteor fragment passed.
© Wikimedia. The Southern Cross, near where the meteor fragment passed.
A resident was astounded when he spotted a large fireball while stargazing at Kaapmuiden last week. He approached an astronomical expert to find out what it was.

A resident spotted a massive fireball in the sky, the result of a falling meteor fragment, while stargazing last Tuesday at 19:35.

Bertus van der Merwe said he was standing outside his house, looking south, when a large fireball came from the east, moved west over the treetops and exploded. He was stunned and mesmerised, as it wasn't just a light, he could make out flames.

He said when he went back into his house, he joked that he now knew where the expression "great balls of fire" comes from.

Van der Merwe found a fireball report form on the Internet and sent it to Tim Cooper of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa for answers.

Given the size and brightness of the fireball, Cooper stated that it might have been a large meteor fragment. After determining Van der Merwe's location, Cooper plotted the path the meteor may have followed.

Fireball

Possible meteorite impact in Jaipur, India

Possible Meteorite Impact
© TopYaps
The universe has its own peculiar ways to establish contact with the planet Earth. Although we have been quite lucky for the past hundreds of years that nothing as destructive as the extinction of dinosaurs has happened, however, every now and then, the cosmic bodies give us a visit in the form of meteorites.

Monday night turned into a nightmarish experience for the people of Mukundpura village when a mysterious object resembling a fireball fell on the farm of Banshi Bagha. Scared and skeptical of the object, people spent the night fearing an explosion. The area is situated on the outskirts of city of Jaipur.

Fireball 2

Meteor fireball filmed across Washington DC sky

Fireball spotted across DC sky
Fireball spotted across DC sky

Some people around D.C., Maryland and Virginia witnessed a fireball light up the sky Tuesday night just before 10 p.m.

This fireball, which appears to be a shooting, burst of light, is actually a meteor. The meteor is a piece of debris and appears bright because it is burning up as it passes through our atmosphere.

This fireball or meteor was reported to the American Meteor Society 28 times. If a fireball or meteor were to reach Earth's surface, it would be called a meteorite.

Small meteors pass through our atmosphere almost every day, but most go undetected.


Camera

Greek photographer captures meteor fireball over Corfu

Corfu, Greece fireball
© Bill Metallinos
The photo above showing a startling fireball appearing to rip apart the night sky was seen during a star observation session at Mount Pantokrator on the Greek island of Corfu.

I had set my camera up to get a picture of our small group and before long this brilliant meteor lit up the surrounding landscape. It was approximately -8 magnitude or about 25 times brighter than Venus at its brightest -- so bright that we were bathed in a sea of blue-green light. You can see the reflection on my 16 in (41 cm) telescope, on the table at right-center and on the side of my car.

Click here to see a short animation. [Revised May 2017]

Meteor

Doorbell camera captures meteor fireball exploding over Arizona

Meteor over Arizona
© Via YouTube/Vivint Smart Home
A meteor flew over Arizona at 3 a.m. Not many saw it, but these 2 Vivint Smart Home customers were able to catch it on their doorbell camera.


Fireball

Meteor fireball lights up southern English coast

A fireball brighter than the moon lit up the skies over Dawlish on Thursday night - and a video shows the spectacular ball of light plummeting down to earth.

An amazing video, shot by Dawlish Beach Cam, shows the fireball, otherwise known as a meteor, at 11.38pm. It is reported that over 50 members of the public reported seeing phenomenal light ball to the UK Meteor Network.

The operators of the Dawlish Beach Cam reported the sighting to the UK Meteor Network.

A spokesman from Dawlish Beach Cam said: "This particular type is known as a Bolide fireball which means that it is brighter than the moon.

"The team are still collating information on this particular event but they do have some other footage and the trajectory they believe the fireball took.

Fireball 5

Meteor fireball explodes over southern Switzerland

bolide over Switzerland
© YouTube/OGVT (screen capture)
#Meteor over the southern part of #Switzerland recorded in #Montsevelier #ValTerbi #Jura on 06/02/2017, 00:38:41 UTC

Further data: http://www.meteorastronomie.ch/detail...


Fireball 2

Bright meteor fireball observed over England and N.W. France

UK meteor fireball 010617
© AMS/google maps (screen capture)
The American Meteor Society (AMS) received 74 reports about a meteor fireball seen over England, Bretagne, Saint Andrew, Torteval, Saint Peter Port, Vale, Saint-Sauveur, Wales, Hauts-de-France and St Martin on Thursday, June 1st 2017 around 22:39 UT.

It was captured by UK Meteor Network's Wilcot station (see video below).


Fireball 2

Meteor fireball filmed over Buffalo, New York

Weather cam catches meteor over downtown Buffalo
Weather cam catches meteor over downtown Buffalo
You never know what you are going to see in the wee hours of the morning on Daybreak, and this morning, while taking a live picture from our Buffalo weather camera, we caught a meteor falling on live television.

Storm Team 2 Chief Meteorologist Patrick Hammer says the meteor was probably the size of a baseball that burned up in the atmosphere. In order for it to be caught on camera, it is likely that it was also much brighter and more brilliant to the naked eye.

See video footage here

Fireball 5

Meteor fireball filmed over Asiago, Italy

Fireball - stock image
Stock image
Fireball from Cima Ekar, Asiago at 2017 05 30 23 09 23