You may go your whole life without seeing a meteor. But Andy Steblyk has already seen two in less than four years.
First, there was the big meteor that made international headlines in November 2008. Steblyk had a front row seat as he was driving south of Grande Prairie. And then Tuesday night as he was driving in downtown Edmonton, Steblyk saw something very similar in the eastern sky.
"A huge fireball, and the tail was just sparkling," recalls Steblyk. "It's like something you'd see in a cartoon or in a movie."
"Even telling the story again, it makes me shake a bit that I get to see this kind of stuff. Not too many people get to see one in their lifetime, and I got to see two," adds Steblyk, estimating that the whole thing lasted between five and seven seconds.
At first he thought the flash of light was a plane crash. But as it kept falling and getting brighter, Steblyk noticed how similiar it was to what he saw in 2008. He says with luck like this, he knows exactly what he needs to do next.
Fire in the Sky
It is reported, that the local residents heard two loud explosions in the sky and then saw the traces of fire falling meteorites. While the investigated area is only about a few square kilometers, scientists may be able to find more meteorites in this place. How to say the Chinese scientists - all meteorites are the fragments of a large meteorite, which crashed, when it entering in the Earth's atmosphere.
Calgary - Social media was abuzz about what appeared to be a meteor shooting over the city Tuesday night, with sightings also reported from Edmonton and parts of Saskatchewan.
One reader told the Herald she saw the bright green fireball northeast of Cochrane shortly before 9 p.m. followed by a sparking tail of yellow and orange.
Alan Dyer, an astronomer with Telus Spark, encouraged people to file reports online here.
"If we get at least a few dozen reports, we can begin to triangulate the location," he said, adding witnesses should indicate where they were when they spotted the meteor.
He said most meteors burn up entirely before making it to earth.
Source: Postmedia News
One reader told the Herald she saw the bright green fireball northeast of Cochrane shortly before 9 p.m. followed by a sparking tail of yellow and orange.
Alan Dyer, an astronomer with Telus Spark, encouraged people to file reports online here.
"If we get at least a few dozen reports, we can begin to triangulate the location," he said, adding witnesses should indicate where they were when they spotted the meteor.
He said most meteors burn up entirely before making it to earth.
Source: Postmedia News
Today, the new Moon passed in front of the sun, off-center, producing a partial solar eclipse. The only place to see it was from space. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) sends this picture from geosynchronous orbit approximately 36,000 km above Earth's surface:
Using a bank of 16 megapixel cameras, SDO observed the event at multiple extreme ultraviolet wavelengths. Scan the edge of the Moon in this 171 Å image: The little bumps and irregularities you see are lunar mountains backlit by solar plasma.
Beyond the novelty of observing an eclipse from space, these images have practical value to the SDO science team. The sharp edge of the lunar limb helps researchers measure the in-orbit characteristics of the telescope--e.g., how light diffracts around the telescope's optics and filter support grids. Once these are calibrated, it is possible to correct SDO data for instrumental effects and sharpen the images even more than before.
The next solar eclipse visible from Earth's surface occurs on May 20, 2012: video.
© NASA
Beyond the novelty of observing an eclipse from space, these images have practical value to the SDO science team. The sharp edge of the lunar limb helps researchers measure the in-orbit characteristics of the telescope--e.g., how light diffracts around the telescope's optics and filter support grids. Once these are calibrated, it is possible to correct SDO data for instrumental effects and sharpen the images even more than before.
The next solar eclipse visible from Earth's surface occurs on May 20, 2012: video.
Cbet nr. 3021, issued on 2012, February 16, announces the discovery of a new comet (discovery magnitude 21.6) by Larry Denneau and Richard Wainscoat in four exposures taken with the 1.8-m Pan-STARRS 1 telescope at Haleakala on February 15.3. The new comet has been designated P/2012 C3 (PANSTARRS).
We performed some follow-up measurements of this object, while it was still on the neocp. Stacking of ten R-filtered exposures, 60-sec each, obtained remotely, from the Siding Spring-Faulkes Telescope South on 2012, Feb. 16.6, through a 2.0-m f/10.0 Ritchey-Chretien + CCD, shows that this object is a comet: faint fan-shaped tail, nearly 6-arcsec long in PA 284.
Our confirmation image:
M.P.E.C. 2012-D03 assignes the following preliminary parabolic orbital elements to comet P/2012 C3: T 2011 Oct. 11.99; e= 0.61; Peri. = 346.39; q = 3.67 AU; Incl.= 9.38
We performed some follow-up measurements of this object, while it was still on the neocp. Stacking of ten R-filtered exposures, 60-sec each, obtained remotely, from the Siding Spring-Faulkes Telescope South on 2012, Feb. 16.6, through a 2.0-m f/10.0 Ritchey-Chretien + CCD, shows that this object is a comet: faint fan-shaped tail, nearly 6-arcsec long in PA 284.
Our confirmation image:
© Remanzacco Observatory
© Iowa Geological and Water Survey
The Des Moines Register reports that the 1,600 residents of Manson, Iowa are struggling to locate a site for the town's well due to the geological impact of the meteorite. The crash created the underground Manson Crater - which has a diameter of 24 miles and reaches into four neighboring counties.
"It's hard to predict exactly what you are going to hit," state geologist Robert Libra told the Register. "It's a jumbled mess."
For a little context, the asteroid blamed for wiping out the dinosaurs and most life on Earth 65 million years ago is estimated to have been about 9 miles in diameter. According to a 2010 article in the journal Science, that impact was the equivalent of 1,000,000 Hiroshima nuclear bombs, creating tsunamis and earthquakes measuring more than 10 on the Richter scale.
© BBC News
Experts said it would have taken at least four people to lift the meteorite
Experts said it would have taken at least four people to lift the meteorite
Experts had wondered if the space rock had initially landed in another part of the world several thousand years ago and had been brought at some stage over to England
However, researchers now believe the 1.6ft (50cm) long rock may have landed 30,000 years ago closer to home - making it possibly the largest meteorite ever found in Britain.
Sometimes the sky surprises us. On Feb. 14-15, with little warning, geomagnetic activity rippled around the Arctic Circle, producing an outbreak of auroras that veteran observers said was among the best in months. At the height of the display, a US Defense Meteorological Program satellite photographed a whirlpool of Northern Lights just north of the Bering Sea:
"A number of images from the DMSP F18 satellite captured the dramatic auroral event of the last couple nights," says analyst Paul McCrone, who processed processed the data at the US Navy's Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center in Monterey, CA.
The reason for the outburst is still not completely clear. It got started on Feb. 14th when a magnetic disturbance rippled around the Arctic Circle. No CME was obvious in local solar wind data at the time; the disturbance just ... happened. Once begun, the disturbance was amplified by the actions of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) near Earth. The IMF tipped south, opening a crack in our planet's magnetic defenses. Solar wind poured in and fueled the auroras.
© US DMSP
The reason for the outburst is still not completely clear. It got started on Feb. 14th when a magnetic disturbance rippled around the Arctic Circle. No CME was obvious in local solar wind data at the time; the disturbance just ... happened. Once begun, the disturbance was amplified by the actions of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) near Earth. The IMF tipped south, opening a crack in our planet's magnetic defenses. Solar wind poured in and fueled the auroras.
A streaking flash of blue light, what many witnesses are calling a UFO, burst over the midnight skies of South Carolina early on Monday morning. What was it? No one really knows, but the object, caught on tape, has astronomers trying to allay fears in a nervous public.
The unidentified flying object was caught on a home security cam, reflected in the window of a parked car, and a nighttime sky camera which showed the UFO blasting through the sky trailed by a flashing tail.
Local astronomers were immediately consulted and tried to allay public fears by saying the UFO was probably a comet or meteorite, even though such celestial phenomenon are usually well-known and expected by the time an object of this size burns up in the atmosphere.
Still, one local resident, interviewed by the local FOX affiliate in the video below, admits she was scared and wondered for just a moment if it was "aliens" attacking.
The unidentified flying object was caught on a home security cam, reflected in the window of a parked car, and a nighttime sky camera which showed the UFO blasting through the sky trailed by a flashing tail.
Local astronomers were immediately consulted and tried to allay public fears by saying the UFO was probably a comet or meteorite, even though such celestial phenomenon are usually well-known and expected by the time an object of this size burns up in the atmosphere.
© Unknown
Comment: Was Andy Steblyk just 'lucky' or is there presently a greater probability of anyone in the region seeing more than one fireball in his or her lifetime? Meteor statistics suggest that many more of us will have the opportunity to 'wish upon a shooting star' in the coming years.
Canada: Halifax 'fireball' probably a meteor, 2 February 2012
Meteor Flashes Through Edmonton Sky, 13 January 2012
Fireball streaks across early-morning sky in Edmonton, 31 March 2009
Fireball spotted in Edmonton sky, 27 November 2009
Fireball over Edmonton, 20 November 2008
Meteorites hit near Redwater, passed over Edmonton, 29 May 2007