© YouTube/Bramon - Brazilian Meteor Observation Network
Fire in the Sky
© YouTube/AsMus Channel
© 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.
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.
"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."
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."
© YouTube / AMS (snimanje zaslona)
© UK Meteor Network/Clanfield Observatory
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.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.
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.
© Clinton Kruger
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 ❤️😭Speaking to Rekord, Kruger said it was astonished to see a shooting star in Pretoria.
- frafra (@Francinedoranxx) May 2, 2019
© The Courier Mail
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.
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:
- Meteor fireball explodes over Costa Rica, possibly crashes into home (23rd April 2019)
- 'Green meteor' streaks across skies of northern Melbourne, Geelong, Australia Easter weekend (21st April 2019)
- Dazzling meteor fireball spotted soaring over Washington DC area (16th April 2019)
- A meteor fireball flies over the Mediterranean, falling off the Moroccan coast (14th April 2019)
- Meteor fireball lights up the sky in the upper Midwest (14th April 2019)
© KY3
Several viewers from Branson to Mountain Home shared with us they heard a loud boom around 4 p.m. They also say the boom shook their homes.
Taney County Sheriff Jimmie Russell says his office received several calls throughout the county. He doesn't know exactly what it is. He believes it could be a sonic boom. As for what this is, when we find out, we'll let you know.
The Ozarks has a history with these type of 'booms.' When they happen, law enforcement say they receive 60 to 75 calls.
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.