Ukrainian space officials said on Thursday that a bright flash that lit up the sky over Kyiv late Wednesday probably came from a meteorite entering the atmosphere and not a NASA satellite or a Russian military attack.
Ukraine has been under an invasion by the Russian military since February 2022 but the country's space officials said the bright glow observed over its capital was more related to a cosmic body entering Earth's atmosphere.
Gianna Montesano tcpalm.com Wed, 19 Apr 2023 10:49 UTC
Blink and you might miss it.
While delivering food for Doordash, driver Steve Salmasian was on East Torino Parkway about 8:30 p.m. April 7 when his dashcam caught a bright blue-green meteor illuminating the evening sky.
Meteors — also called fireballs, falling stars or shooting stars — are common occurrences in the Earth's atmosphere. Every day, there are several thousand meteors of "fireball" magnitude, meaning -4, which is about as bright as the planet Venus in the morning or evening sky, according to the American Meteor Society.
This gorgeous bolide was spotted over Spain on April 17, at 5:59 local time (equivalent to 3:59 universal time). It was almost as bright as the full Moon. The event was generated by a rock (a meteoroid) from Comet C/1861 G1 (Thatcher) that hit the atmosphere at about 178,000 km/h. The fireball overflew the province of Toledo (Spain). It began at an altitude of about 96 km over the locality of Pulgar (province of Toledo), moved along an almost vertical trajectory, and ended at a height of around 59 km.
This bright meteor was recorded in the framework of the SMART project, operated by the Southwestern Europe Meteor Network (SWEMN) from the meteor-observing stations located at Huelva, La Hita (Toledo), Calar Alto, Sierra Nevada, La Sagra (Granada), Sevilla, and Faro de Cullera (Valencia). The event has been analyzed by the principal investigator of the SMART project: Dr. Jose M. Madiedo, from the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC).
We received 96 reports about a fireball seen over Bremen, Drenthe, Friesland, Gelderland, Groningen, Nedersaksen, Niedersachsen, Noord-Brabant, Noord-Holland, Overijssel, Région Wallonne, Rheinland-Pfalz, Schleswig-Holsten, Utrecht and Zuid-Holland on Tuesday, April 18th 2023 around 19:57 UT.
We received 287 reports about a fireball seen over Brussel, Drenthe, England, Flevoland, Friesland, Gelderland, Groningen, Hauts-de-France, Limburg, Noord-Brabant, Noord-Holland, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Overijssel, Région Wallonne, Utrecht, Vlaams Gewest, Waals Gewest, Wallonia, Zeeland and Zuid-Holland on Monday, April 17th 2023 around 19:31 UT.
Locals are reporting that a bright "bolide" meteor was sighted over Israel.
The bolide crossed the sky at a fast speed going northeast, and was seen for approximately three seconds before exploding. Many locals reported hearing a supersonic boom.
The Israeli Astronomical Association says it received reports of an explosion that was heard after the bolide was sighted. "We heard a boom like from a plane," commented one Facebook user on the association's post concerning the meteor.
Another Facebook user wrote: "It was heard well above Ramat Gan," "What a boom!" wrote another. Other users shared that they thought it was a missile or an Iron Dome interception.
Comment: Footage of the fireball:
1/4 The Israeli Astronomical Association posted: A Bolide-type meteorite (A particularly bright meteor) in broad daylight in the sky of Israel! Update 5:50 p.m.: We continue to receive reports from the center and north.
A fireball that caused loud sonic booms and even lit up the daytime sky on Saturday was the first radar-observed meteorite fall seen in Maine, NASA confirmed.
"Booming" noises were heard near Calais, Maine, shortly after the fireball was seen moving through the sky. This apparent meteorite fall occurred at 11:56 a.m. local time, NASA said.
NASA's radar was able to observe the event for nearly five minutes and calculated fallen meteorite masses from 1.59 — 322 grams, or less than a pound, "although larger masses may have fallen."
Comment: Footage of the fireball:
Another video can be found on Jpost here.