Fire in the SkyS


Fireball 5

Bright lights, loud explosion in Eastern Cape, South Africa could have been meteor

Ahmed Areff
News24
Mon, 09 Nov 2015 11:11 UTC
Image
© Lisa Warren/NASA/JPL/APFile photo of a meteor.
The Kouga municipality in the Eastern Cape is investigating rumours that a meteorite struck near the Patensie area on Sunday night.

A News24 user and several others described seeing flashes across the sky, as well as a loud explosion. "We have heard the same rumour and our emergency services are going out this morning to go and check it out," municipal spokesperson Laura-Leigh Randall told News24 on Monday morning. "The fire department did not get any calls on it."

Francois Greyling, a Democratic Alliance councillor in the Despatch area, who lives relatively near to Patensie, also heard an explosion. "I studied in Potchefstroom where the army did bombing practice which had a distinct thumping sound. I was watching a movie with the kids and the wife, when I heard what sounded like a bomb going off. "It immediately reminded me of that thumping sound," he said. Greyling said he "though nothing of it" until he saw people talking on social media about a possible meteorite strike in the area.

A News24 user said on Sunday night: "Massive explosion... a series of 'several lightning flashes' were observed in Paradise Beach [Jeffreys Bay] in a westerly direction at 21:00 on 8th Nov followed by about approximately 3 minutes later the sound of a massive explosion as though a bomb had gone off." JBay News tweeted at Nasa, asking, "Is it true that a meteorite landed in Patensie South Africa on 8th November?"
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Fireball

Fireball lights up sky, Twitter in Saskatchewan, Canada


cbc.ca
Mon, 09 Nov 2015 15:31 UTC
Image
© Bill Allen/Twitter A Taurid meteor lit up the skies over Ralph, Sask., on Sunday night. 11/08/15
People in Saskatchewan are talking about a fireball that streaked across Saskatchewan skies last night.

It was a Taurid meteor that lit things up and was visible from Saskatoon to the Weyburn area.

Skygazers say it's a particularly good year for the Taurids — so named because they appear to come out of the Taurus constellation.

The meteor shower will continue for the next few days, but Saskatchewan skies are clouding over, so the golden opportunity may be over.

Meanwhile, as Sunday evening's meteor lit up the skies, it also lit things up on social media, with a variety of people tweeting about their sighting.

Among the lucky shutterbugs was Bill Allen, of the Ralph area near Weyburn, who captured a spectacular image of the fireball.
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Fireball

Huge fireball seen all over Ireland

Mark Dunphy
The Clare Herald
Sun, 08 Nov 2015 15:07 UTC
Image
Fireball (representative image)
Hundreds of reports of a massive fireball streaking across the skies over Ireland on Sunday night have been posted on social media.

Fireballs are caused when a large rock from space burns up in the atmosphere as it collides with Earth at speeds of the order of 100,000 mph.

Reports on social media suggest the fireball (featured over Kildare tonight in the video) was seen all over the island, including County Clare where one Clare Herald reader from Corofin said the sky lit up for five seconds as the blueish/greenish fireball crossed the country from west to east at approximately 8.13pm.

Anyone who saw the fireball is being asked to fill in an online report form on Astronomy Ireland's website 'astronomy.ie'.

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Meteor

Fireball explodes over Nydek, Czech Republic


Lunar Meteorite Hunters
Sat, 07 Nov 2015 01:53 UTC
Image
© Via You Tube/Martin Popek
Nýdek, Czech Republic Bolide Fireball Meteor captured 0153 UTC 07NOV2015.

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Fireball 2

Multiple meteor fireballs seen across US Northeast


News Works
Wed, 04 Nov 2015 16:10 UTC
Image
A "heat map" of fireball spottings over the New Jersey region last night.
If you saw a bright objects race across the sky between 9 p.m. and midnight yesterday, you're not alone.

Some took to the internet to post reports about fireballs passing overhead.

According to eyewitness reports on the American Meteor Society (AMS) website, the fireballs ranged from yellow and orange to green.

A fireball is another term for a very bright meteor, according to the American Meteor Society (AMS). AMS says "several thousand" fireballs occur each day, but they are rarely seen.

"The vast majority of these, however, occur over the oceans and uninhabited regions, and a good many are masked by daylight. Those that occur at night also stand little chance of being detected due to the relatively low numbers of persons out to notice them," a fireball FAQ from AMS notes.
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Fireball 2

Second meteor fireball in two weeks streaks across Hong Kong sky


Coconuts Hong Kong
Thu, 05 Nov 2015 16:00 UTC
Image
A ball of light was seen painting the Yuen Long bright green for a flash last night. The same mysterious light was seen zipping across Bangkok's night sky on Monday, with a celebrity fortune teller interpreting it as a sign that doomsday was coming.

Sorry to rain on your parade, Nostradamus 2.0, but those burning green fires were not foretelling future death and destruction. While their vibrancy fooled us into thinking they were some kind of silent Bonfire Night display, they are most likely fragments of a comet which has been disintegrating for the past 20,000-30,000 years. So you may have missed the boat on that one.

The "fireballs" are called Taurids, and occur around late October and early November every year, earning them the nickname of "Halloween fireballs". And here we were, losing our minds over regular old Halloween balls.

Surprisingly, a Taurid was also filmed in Yuen Long two weeks ago, ages before they're normally due to appear (what a keen bean). We're a tad disappointed that we didn't get to see them on HK island, but at least now we know where to be with our necks craned this time next year!

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Fireball 5

NASA reveals radio telescope images of 'Spooky' asteroid that zipped past Earth on Halloween


RT
Wed, 04 Nov 2015 13:33 UTC
Spooky asteroid 2015 TB145
© nasa.gov
Ready for a "Spooky" close-up? NASA is showing off high-res images of the 400-meter-wide (1,300 feet) asteroid that zipped past Earth on Halloween, revealing its eerie skull-like face.

Nicknamed "Spooky" for its skull-resembling shape, the asteroid - otherwise known by its NASA classification as 2015 TB145 - was flying 480,000 kilometers from Earth when it passed on October 31. It was impossible to see that far away, but now NASA pictures allow us to take a closer peek.

The agency used huge, Earth-based radio telescopes and antennas to capture the images. By bouncing radar signals off the asteroid, NASA created a detailed picture of Spooky's surface.

"The radar images of asteroid 2015 TB145 show portions of the surface not seen previously and reveal pronounced concavities, bright spots that might be boulders, and other complex features that could be ridges," said Lance Benner, who leads NASA's asteroid radar research program at its jet propulsion laboratory in Pasadena, California.
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Fireball

Bright fireball reported over New Hampshire skies

Josh Judge
wmur.com
Mon, 02 Nov 2015 18:50 UTC
Image
Fireball (representative image)
Many News 9 viewers reported seeing a bright fireball streaking across the sky over the weekend. Meteorologist Josh Judge take a look at what might have caused it.

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Fireball

Huge meteor fireball lights up skies over Thailand


Sott.net
Mon, 02 Nov 2015 17:34 UTC
fireball over Thailand 02.11.15
© youtube
A huge meteor fireball was observed over Thailand on November 2nd 2015 at approximately 20:39.


Comment: A couple of months ago a massive daytime meteor fireball was also witnessed in Thailand

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Fireball

Bright fireball lights up the sky over Bangkok


RT
Mon, 02 Nov 2015 18:12 UTC
Bangkkok fireball
© Saran Pol / YouTube
A bright fireball lit up the night sky above Bangkok on Monday, as an objected suspected to be a meteor burnt up in the atmosphere over Thailand.

The flash could be seen in several parts of the country, including the capital, Thai media report. Dashcam videos published soon after the fireball hit the sky show the dark night turn into day for a few seconds.


According to the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand, it is suspected that the fireball was a small meteor that burnt up in the atmosphere at a high altitude.
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