A fireball that blazed brighter than the full moon as it streaked across New Mexico's sky on 9 November may be related to Comet Encke and perhaps to the object that exploded over Tunguska in 1908, flattening more than 2,000 sq km of Siberian forest.

Every October and November bring a flurry of fireballs from a pair of meteor showers whose meteors diverge from radiant points in our E evening sky. Called the Northern and Southern Taurids after the constellation Taurus, their meteors are relatively slow at 27-29km per second but few in number, rarely more than five per hour even under ideal dark skies. They do, though, include a good proportion of fireballs which we can define as a meteor that rivals or surpasses Venus in brightness. There seem to have been more fireballs than usual this year.


Taurids follow similar solar orbits to Comet Encke, though it is not clear whether their material comes from that comet or an earlier and larger predecessor. One theory for the origin of the Tunguska object is that it, too, was a fragment of Comet Encke or its predecessor.

Another meteor shower, the Leonids, peaks on Saturday but is likely to fall well short of the stunning displays it gave a few years ago. Its very swift (72km per second) meteors stream away from a radiant in the Sickle of Leo which climbs from low in the ENE at 23:00 to high on the meridian by dawn. Peak rates may touch 15 per hour but should already be declining as the radiant rises that night.

On Thursday, July 5, 2012, around 6:50 p.m. local time, a mysterious red rain shower fell for about 15 minutes in Kannur, Kerala, India. Locales within a one kilometer area in the Indian state of Kerala experienced this phenomenon, as it filled courtyards with blood red rain and stained people's clothes pink.
View slideshow: Mysterious red rain in India some form of extraterrestrial life?

Nostradamus, Century 2, Quatrain 46

After a great misery for mankind an even greater approaches. The great cycle of the centuries is renewed: It will rain blood, milk, famine, war and disease.In the sky will be seen a fire, dragging a tail of sparks.

Kannur block panchayat President Shaija M collected a sample of the mysterious red rainwater. It was dark and had the smell of raw beetroot. His first thought was that an animal had been killed and its blood had mixed with the rainwater in the courtyard.

However, this is not the first time this "mysterious red rain" has fallen in the state of Kerala. Actually, it has been reported several times during the past decade.

These photographs apparently show a large fireball in the skies above Chelmsford.

The pictures are just two of a series taken by Eleanor Collop, 13, and her 17-year-old sister Leanne, after they spotted the 'meteor' from outside their home on the Beechenlea Estate.

The burning object was seen high in the sky last Friday at 4pm and appeared to fall to earth, leaving the sisters to wonder whether they had just witnessed a plane crash.

Eleanor, a student at Hylands School, said: "I haven't seen anything like that before - it was so bright."

She spotted the object - with a distinctive fiery core and long, forked tail - as she got ready for her after-school paper-round.

"I was just taking my trolley from the garage when I caught sight of it," said Eleanor.

"At first I thought it was a plane but it got brighter and brighter.

"I shouted for my sister and then we called our dad, who told us to take a picture."

The fireball - thought to be caused by debris burning up in the earth's atmosphere - spent five minutes visible in the Chelmsford sky before it disappeared behind some houses.

"I'm not sure what it was but it was bright and it definitely looked like it was burning," added Eleanor, who used a normal ten-megapixel camera to capture the images.

Everett, Washington, US -- Another night, another fireball.

The Snohomish County Sheriff's Office received a 911 call of streaking light in the night sky around 10:15 p.m. Thursday. It was similar to reports on Halloween night from people seeing a strange light in north Snohomish and Skagit counties.

One caller on Halloween described a large explosion of white light and thought it might have been a plane crash off I-5.

Shari Ireton, the sheriff's office spokeswoman, did some investigating Friday morning. She talked to a NASA scientist who believes he has an explanation: Taurid meteors.

He referred her to a NASA web page that offers a description of why the fireballs often can be seen each fall.

Initial Sighting Reports

15 November 2012 - Edsel. London, Ontario 06:40 EST

5 seconds duration - Traveling north west. It looked greenish in color. As bright as a full moon. I could see a tail with debris as it flared out in the sky.

15 November 2012 - Kevin. Monumental, West Virginia 06:40 EST

3 seconds duration - SE to NW direction. I was facing West. White/green color, no sound. Bright enough to be seen during daylight. Yes, I saw sparks.

15 November 2012 - Brian. Dayton, Ohio, USA 06:42 EST

5 seconds duration - Northeast to west. I was facing Northeast. White color at first, then green - no sound. Venus brightness. Trail of sparks visible. It looked like a star at first but I noticed it was moving very fast and then before I knew it, it was almost right above me and faded out as sparks streamed off the back and the flame turned green.

There was an unexpected sight in the sky Thursday morning for some 680News listeners, who called the newsroom to say they believe they saw an asteroid of meteor shooting over the sky around 6:45 a.m.

One listener named Sherry said she was waiting for a coffee when she saw a very bright light that caught her eye.

"You know how the North Star is really bright and big. From where I was looking it was five times bigger than that from the naked eye; it was huge, it was massive," Sherry said.

Although it's not yet confirmed, an astrophysicist and lecturer with the University of Toronto isn't doubting what people saw, and he too, is pretty sure it was a meteor.

"The 680News report that I got from a woman that I heard this morning, that sounded like there be some real meat to it," Dr. Ian Shelton said.

Initial Sighting Reports Indicate TWO Meteor Events

05 November 2012 - Melanie Downey, Leominster, MA 20:42:00

4 secs duration - North to south. Bright white, including trail. Brighter than Venus, remained bright for 3 secs until it trailed off.

05 November 2012 - Kathy, White Plains, NY, US 20:35 EST

Approximately 3-5 seconds duration - I was driving West and noticed a large white ball, traveling possibly from N-E towards S-W. I was in a car, so I didn't hear anything. Bright as Venus... had a bring white tail following it. It was awesome.

Initial Sighting Reports

08 November 2012 - Sarah, Newmarket, Ontario, Canada 21:12:00

Approx 4 secs duration - Western trajectory. Large, white, bright ball falling and the faded out moon... had what looked like a tail, it faded out slowly and was very big.

08 November 2012 - Braeden Miller, Tottenham, ON, Canada 21:07:00

3 secs duration - Facing north, went down to the left. Yellow sparks, brighter than the moon. Noticed it while inside watching TV. Looked similar to a sparkler. Was the brightest meteor I've ever seen. It surprised and startled me. Seemed to last a few seconds.

08 November 2012 Rick Lash, Toronto, Ontario, Canada 21:05:00

5 seconds duration - Facing north, traveling overhead, down toward northern horizon. Green colour, bright as Venus. Not obviously bearing straight downward.

Initial Sighting Reports

08 November 2012 Dawn, Kissimmee, Florida 21:00:00

5-10 seconds duration - Facing north, [it passed overhead] on my right. Primarily red ( fire tail ), very bright... moving fast, disintegrated. This was very large and very bright! Moving fast with long fire tail... amazing!

08 November 2012, Dee, Asheville, NC 8:50pm est

5 sec duration - E-W direction. Facing south. Light green hue. From 300ft saw fall area, 14 acre empty area.

08 November 2012 - William Mull, Maiden, NC, USA 20:40:00

2.5 sec duration - E-W direction. Facing south. Bright white, very bright. Long tail. It appeared to be on a downward trajectory. One of the largest I personally have ever seen.

08 November 2012 - Love Dearth, Spring Hill, FL, USA 8:40 PM Eastern Standard

3-5 seconds duration - E-W direction, right to left. Facing North. Bright looking ball with good trail. Looked awfully close. No noise. As bright as the moon. Either largest or closest I have ever seen.