Fire in the SkyS


Bizarro Earth

Flashback Arthur C. Clarke on the tsunami's aftermath and the roles of science fiction and technology in predicting future disasters

Sir Arthur C. Clarke
Wired
Tue, 01 Feb 2005 14:47 UTC
Colombo, Sri Lanka -- Although the devastating tsunami struck coastal areas only a few kilometers from Colombo, I have not ventured out to see any of its damage. I am not sure if I can bear to look at what the killer waves have done to my favorite beaches in Unawatuna, Hikkaduwa, and elsewhere along Sri Lanka's southern coast.

The New Year dawned with the global family closely following the unfolding tragedy via satellite television and the Web. As the grim images from Banda Aceh, Chennai, Galle, and elsewhere replaced the traditional scenes of celebrations, I realized that it would soon be 60 years since I conceived the communications satellite (in Wireless World, October 1945 -- I still think it was a good idea).
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Telescope

Another Fireball Spotted Over Canada

Rachel Punch
Sudbury Star
Mon, 17 Mar 2008 10:02 UTC
Another fiery object was seen falling in the sky near Sudbury during the weekend.
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Telescope

Two meteors fall to earth in Canada in one week

Tenille Bonoguore
Globe and Mail
Sat, 15 Mar 2008 07:28 UTC
Hopes of tracking down the elusive bounty that fell from Ontario's sky recently are fading faster than a meteor trail in full sunlight.
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Meteor

SOTT Focus: Letters From the Edge

Laura Knight-Jadczyk
Sott.net
Fri, 14 Mar 2008 12:41 UTC
Image
Today I'm going to write a letter; a letter to all our readers. I'm also going to include a transcript of a very interesting letter SOTT.net has received from Prof. Victor Clube. I hope that these letters will change your life, your future, and mine as well.

Here at SOTT.net, we have been pretty busy working on our legal defense, as if you couldn't guess! I'm sure that everyone notices that we are nowhere near our goal for having enough funds to cover this expense. All of you just remember, if 1,000 people can donate $100.00 each, we are in the clear. If 2,000 people donate $50 each, we are in the clear. And certainly, with over 10,000 of you reading this site every day, we ought to be able to do that!

Just keep in mind what you would be missing if we were gone! Who else would spend days, weeks, months and even years digging down to the deepest levels of our reality to bring you reports and analyses of what is really going on? After all, it is not just a matter of the political chaos out there; there are cosmic reasons for that chaos and historical cycles demonstrate clearly that times such as these generally manifest other symptoms that we all need to be aware of. For example...

Comment: Continue to Part Nine: Meteorites, Asteroids, and Comets: Damages, Disasters, Injuries, Deaths, and Very Close Calls

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Arrow Down

Canada: Meteor? Did You See It?


250 News
Thu, 13 Mar 2008 10:44 UTC
Prince George, British Columbia - The search is on for a fiery object spotted over Prince George.

Callers tell Opinion 250 that just before 1:00 this morning, a large object with a fiery tail crossed over the city in a northwest direction. One caller says truckers were on their radios saying they thought it was a plane of some sort.
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Sherlock

Astronomers searching for meteorite that crashed in Ontario


CBC News
Tue, 11 Mar 2008 10:40 UTC
Astronomers from the University of Western Ontario are searching for a meteorite that landed in central Ontario last week.

The "large fireball" was captured falling last Wednesday at 10:59 p.m. ET by sky-monitoring cameras at the London, Ont.-based university. Astronomers narrowed the impact site down to about 12 square kilometres centred on Parry Sound, which is around 220 kilometres north of Toronto.

Image
©University of Western Ontario
The astronomy department at the University of Western Ontario captured this rare footage of a meteor streaking to Earth last week over Parry Sound, Ont.
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Arrow Down

Canada: Fireball over central British Columbia was Russian space junk


Canwest News Service
Thu, 13 Mar 2008 10:36 UTC
A large fireball that flashed through the sky over central B.C. early today was caused by a Russian rocket that fell from space, the third time pieces of Russian space junk have fallen in the province, police said.

Const. Gary Godwin of the Prince George RCMP said dozens of witnesses called about 1 a.m. saying they had seen a huge orange-red "meteor" in an area over Prince George.

"We had numerous reports of bright flashes across the sky going from east to west," said Godwin.
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Meteor

Ontario, Canada: Sudburians watch the skies; Falling debris catches residents' attention

Laura Stradiotto
The Sudbury Star
Wed, 12 Mar 2008 18:54 UTC
Goodness gracious, great balls of fire were seen falling from the sky Monday.

The sightings have puzzled astronomers and local experts who've failed to come up with an explanation.

Some witnesses described the unidentified flying objects as being bright blue, green, red or yellow.

While most sightings were reported around 1:30 p.m. near Sudbury, Hagar, Highway 69 North and North Bay, Wayne Lachance spotted something in the sky earlier in the morning.

Lachance was driving home to Massey after a night shift at Vale Inco Ltd. when something caught his eye around 7:30 a.m.

"I thought it was a real bright star," he said. "It was getting brighter and coming down with sparks."
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Video

Canadian astronomers tape meteor fall


United Press International
Tue, 11 Mar 2008 12:37 UTC
Canadian astronomers at the University of Western Ontario are hunting for pieces of a meteorite they videotaped falling to Earth.

Associate Professor Peter Brown said the university's network of all-sky cameras shot video of the large fireball at 10:59 p.m. last Wednesday.

Brown and post doctoral student Wayne Edwards are asking for the help of local residents in recovering meteorites that might have crashed in the Parry Sound area.
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Meteor

Mysterious lights appear in Western Australia sky

Sandra Bahbah
Sunday Times
Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:03 UTC
The mystery behind the lights which appeared over WA skies early this morning has been solved. The Perth Observatory says the lights were caused by a meteorite building up in the atmosphere.

Coloured lights could be seen in the sky from Bunbury to Geraldton around 5.30am.

Residents contacted the Observatory and the WA Water Police, looking for answers.

They described the colours of the lights as green, white and yellow.

Perth Observatory technical officer and astro-photographer Richard Tonello said the green flashes were a tell-tale sign of a meteorite.
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