Fire in the SkyS


Fireball 2

Bright slow-moving meteor fireball recorded over the English Channel

English Channel meteor trail
© FIONA HAYESThe trail, seen here over Torquay, was thought initially to have been caused by an aircraft
A bright, slow-moving meteor fireball was recorded over the English Channel on September 8, 2019. The American Meteor Society (AMS) received 179 reports from people living across England and northern France.


Meteor

Mystery boom resounds throughout northern New York; shakes buildings

Sarnac Lake, NY
© Mwanner/Wikimedia Commons
Some people heard it as a boom, some as a bang, some as a series of explosions. Imagine the noise of a dump truck being dropped from 100 feet in the air onto pavement. It shook buildings.

Many people said it sounded like it was coming from inside their building on on their block. But it wasn't just local; people heard it around the same time across a huge swath of northern New York. In response to an Enterprise Facebook post, people wrote that they had heard it as far west as Cranberry Lake, as far north as Malone, as far east as AuSable Forks and as far south as Eagle Bay, plus throughout the Tri-Lakes villages.

That boom was heard in Saranac Lake 10:13 a.m. Some people also reported hearing a later one, perhaps around 1 p.m.

The cause of the noise remained a mystery as of Friday afternoon.

There was no record of any earthquake within 2,000 miles of the Adirondacks, according to the U.S. Geological Survey's online global tracker.

Comment: See also:


Fireball

NASA turned blind eye to car-sized asteroid that exploded over Caribbean

asteroid
© NASA . JPL-Caltech
The agency said that it has detected and flagged bigger asteroids than the one in question. It has also confirmed that it was sure the space rock would do no harm as it wouldn't survive entry into the atmosphere.

NASA has detected but not taken measures against an asteroid that entered the Earth's atmosphere and exploded over the Caribbean.

The space agency admitted in a statement that the rock, measuring about 5 meters in size and designated 2019 MO, was first spotted when it was about 500,000 kilometres from Earth, just before it hit the atmosphere.

"This was roughly the equivalent of spotting something the size of a gnat from a distance of 310 miles (500 kilometres)," NASA said.

Comment: See also: Meteorites, Asteroids, and Comets: Damages, Disasters, Injuries, Deaths, and Very Close Calls


Meteor

Bright flash of light, loud boom filmed in Acworth, Georgia

Flash and boom in Acworth, GA
© YouTube/AMS/M. Nixon
On August 30, 2019, a bright flash of light and loud boom from an exploding meteor was recorded on a home surveillance camera in Acworth, Georgia. The footage was uploaded to the American Meteor Society by M. Nixon.


Camcorder

Meteor fireball caught on home surveillance camera over Nutley, New Jersey

Fireball over Nutley, NJ
© YouTube/AMS Meteors/S. Petronio
On September 3, 2019, S. Petronio uploaded footage to the American Meteor Society's website of a fireball as it flew over Nutley, New Jersey:


Comment: A loud boom attributed to an exploding meteor was heard just the day before in the New York area.

American Meteor Society: Loud boom heard in central New York caused by meteor


Meteor

American Meteor Society: Loud boom heard in central New York caused by meteor

Daytime meteor - stock
© ABC NewsStock photo
People living in Oswego, Madison and Onondaga counties reported hearing a loud 'boom' just after 5 p.m. on Monday that, in some cases, shook their homes.

Robert Lunsford of the American Meteor Society says a fireball, which was larger and brighter than typical meteors, entered the Earth's atmosphere over Lake Ontario. It also caused a loud sound.

"Fireballs that are larger than normal and manage to penetrate down to the lower atmosphere will produce a sonic boom. The folks that did report some sound, they happen to be pretty close to the track of this object," Lunsford said.


Question

What was that loud boom heard in northern York County, Pennsylvania?

Loud boom in York County PA
© Getty Images (stock photo)
Was it an earthquake?

York County 911 received several calls late Friday night about a loud boom in the northern end of the county, according to a dispatcher. One of the calls came around 10:50 p.m. from the area of Siddonsburg Road and Glen Arden Drive in Fairview Township.

Emergency responders in both York and Cumberland counties responded to check it out, but no one found anything, said Chris Weidenhammer, deputy fire chief for the Fairview Township Fire Department. Those that went out included Fairview, Monaghan and Lower Allen townships.

The Fairview Township Fire Department posted on its Facebook page that officials even checked a pipeline but nothing was found.

No earthquakes were recorded. "It's a great mystery," Weidenhammer said.

Fireball

Bright meteor fireball streaks over Edmonton, Canada

Rain wasn't the only thing falling in our city this evening, social media was flooded with reports of a sighting of what appears to be a meteor over Edmonton.
Blazing Meteor
© Pete Saloutos

Comment: More views from social media:



The American Meteor Society (AMS) received 106 reports about the meteor fireball, which was seen over Alberta, MT and Saskatchewan on Sunday, September 1st 2019 around 04:28 UT.

"This fireball would have been seen for 600km from either side of it, probably," said Mike Hankey, operations manager for the American Meteor Society, who speculated that the object was likely a bolide, a very bright meteor, based on the reports he has received.

The meteor spectrum ranges from meteor, to fireball, to bolide and super bolide, which is brighter than the Moon and almost as bright as the Sun.


Attention

Loud flat-shaking 'explosion' panics residents of Glasgow, Scotland

Mysterious boom in Glasgow, Scotland
© Visit Scotland
Glasgow residents were shook last night as many reported hearing a loud explosion in the north of the city.

A large number flocked to social media to tell of the loud "bang" at around 3am. Panic set in as worried locals frantically tried to find out exactly what had happened.

It is still unclear what caused the bang, and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service only have record of a refuse fire in the area.

After being woken through the night, social media users in the north of Glasgow speculated over the "explosion."

Fireball

Meteor fireball lights up western sky in Washington and British Columbia

Meteor fireball (stock)
© Ikonacolor/Getty Images (file photo)
This is only the second time in my life that I've seen a meteor flash this bright in the night sky. And I was in the right place, at the right time, looking in the right direction.

Walking home from work Thursday night around midnight in Spokane, Washington (because my car had a flat tire of all things), I saw the astronomical spectacle sometimes known as a "fireball," flash across part of the western sky low to the ground. It only lasted about three seconds. No time to take a picture, but I did tweet about the experience a minute later.

I wasn't the only one either. Several from Washington and British Columbia also saw the meteor fly across the sky.