Fire in the SkyS


Fireball

Meteor fireball flies over Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, Germany, Italy and France

Fireball over Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, Germany, Italy and France
© YouTube/AMS/M. Fuolega
On May 10, 2019, a meteor fireball was reported over Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, Germany, Italy and France. The American Meteor society uploaded video footage of the event taken by M. Fuolega in Chioggia, Italy:


Fireball 3

Meteor fireball captured flying over central eastern Brazil

Fireball over east central Brazil
© YouTube/Bramon - Brazilian Meteor Observation Network
On May 9, 2019, YouTuber Brazilian Meteor Obsevation Network (BRAMON) uploaded video footage from 5 cameras capturing the celestial event. They were recorded over Brazilia, Nhandeara, Patos de Minas and Batatais:


Comment: Just two days prior, a meteor was recorded over Mato Grasso, Brazil. And another was seen on April 26th flying over Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.


Fireball 2

Meteor fireball lights up sky over Katingan Regency, Indonesia

Fireball over Indonesia
© YouTube/AsMus Channel
On May 7, 2019, YouTube user 'AsMus Channel' uploaded footage of a fireball flying through the skies of Katingan Regency, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia:


Fireball 5

'Brilliant' meteor fireball seen flashing across skies of Michigan, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana

Perseid meteor shower in rural Oregon in 2016.
© Mark Graves (file photo)The meteor "fireball" seen in Michigan on May 11, 2019 was reported to be even more brilliant than this image of a Perseid meteor shower in rural Oregon in 2016.
A flash of light from a "fireball" meteor had people buzzing across parts of Michigan early this morning.

"We are hearing about a brilliant meteor that was seen before 3 a.m.," the National Weather Service office in Grand Rapids posted on its Facebook page early Saturday. Sky-watchers were quick to respond.

Reports of sightings came in from Coopersville, Manistee and Muskegon. Most of the reports seemed to indicate the fireball was spotted about 12:45 a.m.

One person in Coopersville responded to the NWS, describing her fireball sighting: "Saw it while I was putting plastic over my garden boxes, (because of the frost) the light began flickering so I turned around to look at the light pole behind me and there was the bright green meteor streaking across the sky, crumbling into pieces as is fell towards the treeline. It was close enough to see the reds and oranges of the fireballs breaking apart and the flashing neon green light eminating around the fiery rock bits. The tail was a bright white streak being left behind it."


Comment: There are reports that the meteor was seen by some as far as Ohio, Ilinois and Indiana.

The Woodridge, Illinois police department posted video of the event on Facebook:




Meteor

Loud boom heard in Kingman, Arizona possible meteor strike

Meteor fireball (stock)
© Ikonacolor/Getty Images (file photo)
Residents all over Kingman heard a very large boom last night about 9:15 p.m.

Reports poured in from Facebook with people saying the boom shook their house, their windows and scared their pets.

Anise Wight, from Kingman, said on Facebook that the loud explosion was sometime after 9 p.m.

"I live near Ames and Melody," said Wight. "I checked to make sure a neighbor's house didn't blow up."

Another resident, Kari LeeAnn, said she heard it and went outside.

"I saw what looked like lightning by the mountains from the northwest, so I thought it was just thunder," said LeeAnn. "I thought it was weird when I realized there wasn't hardly any clouds above me."

Fireball 2

Bright meteor fireball reported over Mato Grosso, Brazil

meteor brazil
© YouTube / AMS (snimanje zaslona)
The American Meteor Society (AMS) has reported a meteor fireball over Mato Grosso on Tuesday, May 7th 2019 around 02:00 UT. A video of the event (2056-2019) was uploaded to the AMS website.


Fireball 2

Bright meteor fireball lights up the skies from Wales to France and is recorded on multiple sky cameras

fireball uk 7th may
© UK Meteor Network/Clanfield Observatory
At 02:48GMT a meteor fireball lit up the skies at an estimated magnitude -5 brightness, apparently burning up over Cambridge, England. Multiple sky cameras from Cardiff, Wales to East Barnet in North London and Wimeraux, France captured the event.

It's believed that this particular sighting could be part of the Eta Aquariids which were spawned by Halley's comet. EarthSky.com writes:
Because Comet Halley has circled the sun innumerable times over countless millennia, cometary fragments litter its orbit. That's why the comet doesn't need to be anywhere near the Earth or the sun in order to produce a meteor shower. Instead, whenever our Earth in its orbit intersects Comet Halley's orbit, cometary bits and pieces - oftentimes no larger than grains of sand or granules of gravel - smash into Earth's upper atmosphere, to vaporize as fiery streaks across our sky: meteors.

It so happens we intersect Comet Halley's orbit not once, but twice each year. In early May, we see bits of this comet as the annual Eta Aquariid meteor shower.
While this brilliant sighting may be part of the Eta Aquariids, as SOTT's Fire In The Sky section has been documenting, fireball activity continues to increase with every passing year, and, throughout the year, at times when there isn't a known meteor shower occurring.

Fireball 2

Falling meteor fireball captured on dashcam in Pretoria, South Africa

Meteor fireball over Pretoria, SA
© Clinton Kruger
Social media went crazy last night after a Pretoria resident posted rare video footage of a shooting star in the city online.

This rare astronomical show happened just before 20:30 on Thursday evening.

In the video, taken by Clinton Kruger, a meteor is seen flashing through Pretoria's night skies.
i just saw a freaking falling star ❤️😭
- frafra (@Francinedoranxx) May 2, 2019
Speaking to Rekord, Kruger said it was astonished to see a shooting star in Pretoria.


House

Houses rocked after 'unexplained big boom' in southeast suburb of Queensland

Loud boom in QLS, AUS
© The Courier Mail
Residents of a southeast suburb are scratching their heads after experiencing a loud "boom" and feeling the earth shudder early on Sunday evening.

Cornubia resident Shaun Pask said his West Coorang St house was rocked by the event which took place just before 6pm.

Mr Pask said he felt as if a large object had hit the roof of his house.

"My wife and I were inside when we experienced the house shuddering - it was so loud I could not image any handheld device could possibly create that amount of noise," he said.

"It was not a small object hitting a small part of the roof - it was like something fell from the sky and it landed on our whole roof at the one time.

Fireball

Meteor Fireball seen streaking through skies in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

brazil meteor fireball april 26th 2019
Another big fireball was seen in Brazilian skies at 20:08 (23:08 UT) this Friday, April 26, 2019. This time, the bright meteor was reported in the north of Rio de Janeiro and east of Minas Gerais and recorded by BRAMON's cameras.

The space rock entered Earth atmosphere at an altitude of 80.8 Km over Rio das Flores, RJ, followed a northeasterly direction at a speed of 19.14 Km / s (68.9 thousand Km / h) before disappearing 5.67 seconds later, at an altitude of 38.4 Km over Argirita, MN.

Comment: Activity in our skies is really heating up: