Fire in the SkyS


Fireball 5

Probable meteor impacts field near Lancaster Pennsylvania


FireEngineering.com
Sat, 15 Dec 2012 07:18 UTC
What the heck landed in Christ Beiler's cornfield nearly two weeks ago? A number of people in East Lampeter and Upper Leacock townships reported hearing a loud explosion Sunday, Dec. 2, about 5 a.m.

That noise coincided with what Beiler reportedly saw while he was milking cows on his farm along Hobson Road near Smoketown.

According to a friend, Sam Stoltzfus, of Gordonville, Beiler saw a light streak into his field before he heard a "boom.''

"He did find the spot in his field and you can still see it,'' Stoltzfus reports. "There was also a strong acrid smell. That's why they called the fire company.''

Christian Kauffman, assistant fire chief of the Witmer Fire Co. and Stoltzfus' son-in-law, says a number of people dialed 911 and the county's 9-1-1 Center alerted the fire company. Among the concerned were East Lampeter Township Police officers. They heard the explosion inside their station along Route 340, Kauffman says.
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Fireball

Fireball lights up early morning sky over Maryland and Virginia, 13 December 2012


lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com
Thu, 13 Dec 2012 15:42 UTC
Initial Meteor Sightings

13 December 2012 - Millie Schaefer, Hunt Valley, MD, USA 06:35 AM EST
3 seconds duration - W-E (right to left), I was facing south. It was green, orange, white. As bright as the moon. Looked like a ball of fire.
13 December 2012 - Michael Esposito, Washington, DC USA 0635 EST
2 seconds duration - SSE - Right to Left - I was facing south. White, blue, orange colour. Much brighter than Venus - like a comet. Largest I've ever seen.
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Fireball 3

Two separate fireballs, arriving 1.5 hours apart, fragment over Ontario, Canada, 12 December 2012


lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com
Thu, 13 Dec 2012 06:40 UTC
Two meteor events: ~22:30 and ~23:50 ET, 12 December 2012

12 December 12 - Glen, London, Ontario, Canada 23:50 EST
4 seconds duration - Straight down, looking east. Bright green large firework, slight fragmentation, like an upside down firework.
12 December 2012 - Yvonne MacInnis, TORONTO, Canada 1130PM
2-3 seconds duration - E-W, N-S. Bright orange with white blue tail, as bright as the sun/moon. Travelling southeast at Redpath and Eglinton. Brilliant!!
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Fireball

Eyewitnesses report possible fireball impact and loud explosion in Sweden, 11 December 2012


Aftonbladet
Thu, 13 Dec 2012 06:00 UTC
Translated from Swedish by a SOTT.net reader

What is it that struck in Värmland County? SOS, police and the air rescue center has received calls from concerned Värmland citizens after a ball of light is said to have exploded in the evening.

"It lit up the sky and flew over us, then we heard an explosion," says Jessica Berg. Jessica Berg was out walking with a friend when they were surprised by the strong lights.

Calls have come from Stöllet, Ekshärad, Karlstad and Forshaga. All have seen a mysterious ball of light which then struck down - followed by an explosion. "They say they have seen a sharp blue glow, then a sharp orange ball strike," says Leif Svensson, duty officer at the Värmland police.

Surprised by the strong light

"The sky was completely silent when it flew over us. Then it hit ground near Klarälven river somewhere. Then we were struck by the sound, like an echo after an explosion," she says to Aftonbladet news paper and continues: It was mysterious.
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Fireball

Fireball explodes above Sweden, 11 December 2012


The Local
Wed, 12 Dec 2012 06:14 UTC
Frightened residents in western Sweden reported seeing a bright, blue light racing across the night sky on Tuesday before an orange-coloured orb smashed into the ground in a mysterious phenomenon that has yet to be explained.

"It lit up the sky and flew over us, then we heard an explosion," witness Jessica Berg told the Aftonbladet newspaper.

"It was very weird. Uncomfortably weird."

Another witness, 24-year-old Sandra, thought the light may have been due to fireworks, but began to wonder when she never heard an accompanying pop.

"Then I thought it was a comet because it looked a little like an orb. It was red with a yellow sheen that surrounded and followed it," she told the paper.

Comment: Of course not, why should they bother? Nothing to see here folks, go back to watching TV...

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Fireball

Meteorite lights up sky, falls into the Black Sea off northern Turkish coast


trthaber.com
Wed, 12 Dec 2012 13:38 UTC

Image
The region where the camera is is about 5 kilometers away from the actual event came to an end on the Black Sea. During the incident, which occurred around 22:00 hours on the 11th Dec 2012, a man working as a security guard, Hakan Cesur, said that he felt a little jolt out of the face of the sky at the time.

"It was a ball of fire coming down from heaven into the sea, I was just staring at the TV to see if there was anything going on in Turkey, he said."

A slight vibration was felt in the district as a result of a falling meteor, which was recorded by security cameras.

The meteorite fell into the sea during the night. A flash of light and an explosion were heard. Some citizens panicked.

Comment: h/t freesurfer for this original footage with added explosive sound!



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Comet

Power poles burst into flames in Texas one day before Fireball sightings


KWTX.com
Sun, 09 Dec 2012 14:28 UTC

    • Comment: One very plausible explanation for these bizarre fires on power poles is the the many fireballs/cometary fragments that were seen approximately 24hrs later over wide swathes of Texas. See here for the many eyewitness reports of this increasingly common event.

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    Fireball

    NASA: Texas fireball likely a fragment from an asteroid belt and not associated with the Geminid meteor shower


    NASA
    Fri, 07 Dec 2012 14:51 UTC
    This morning at 6:43 AM Central Standard Time, eyewitnesses across Texas and adjacent states saw a very bright fireball streaking across the sky, moving roughly east to west. It was also recorded by a NASA meteor camera in Mayhill, New Mexico some five hundred miles to the West, which is very unusual and testifies to the brightness of the event. This was not the re-entry of Kosmos 2251, which was destroyed in a collision with an Iridium satellite in February 2009; it is a meteor, most likely a fragment from the asteroid belt and not associated with the Geminid meteor shower.

    Preliminary results indicate that there are meteorites from this meteor on the ground north of Houston, Texas--analysis is currently underway to refine the impact area. If pieces are recovered, it will be the 13th meteorite fall recorded in the state since 1909, and the first since Ash Creek, which fell in February of 2009.

    A video (in Windows Media format) of the fireball as recorded by the NASA camera in New Mexico is attached to this message. The Moon is the bright object at lower center; the fireball is on the horizon at left and is surrounded by a white box when the camera detects it. Up is north, and left is east in the video.


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    Fireball

    Alaska burning? Explosion near Eagle leads to mysterious geologic ground craters - meteor landing or mini volcano crater?

    Lori Townsend
    AlaskaPublic.org
    Sat, 08 Dec 2012 14:40 UTC
    Residents in the Yukon River community of Eagle are excited about a mysterious geologic event that is emitting fire, steam and a sulfur smell. Yukon Charley Rivers National Preserve lead Interpretative Ranger Pat Sanders says it all started on Sept. 27. "An explosion was heard, in Eagle, which is rare so of course we were interested," Sanders said.

    Sanders says on Oct. 10 a fire was spotted about 2 miles up the Tatonduk River, known locally as Sheep Creek. She says the fire spread to about 15 acres. "And on the 15th of October we had snow and the fire was still going although it appeared to be emitting steam and there was a sulfur smell," Sanders said.

    No one has been on the ground there yet, but overflight photographs reveal a slumping area that is steaming and looks a lot like a mini volcano crater.
    Image
    © Linda Stromquist, NPS
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    Fireball 2

    NASA confirms North Texas fireball

    Emily Trube
    CBSDFW.com
    Fri, 07 Dec 2012 13:45 UTC
    Did you see it? Just before 7 o'clock this morning, there was a bright flash in the sky. North Texas callers to the KRLD Listener Line described it as a "fire ball" with a long greenish-blue tail. People as far south as Houston and as far East as Louisiana saw it as well. Bill Cook, the lead for NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office, says that their cameras in New Mexico picked up the flash of light at 6:43 am. "That's several hundred kilometers away," says Cook. " You normally don't see a meteor that far away."


    Comment: That's a pretty big basketball to be seen over that large of an area (250 miles between Dallas and Houston) - and it was reported being seen much farther away than Houston:

    NASA said Friday afternoon the meteor is likely a fragment from an asteroid belt and not associated with the Geminid meteor shower

    Friday morning mysterious bright flash in sky reported across Texas - fireball not associated with the Geminids

    American Meteor Society receives 30 reports of a bright fireball that occurred near 06:45 CST on Friday December 7, 2012 - Texas

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