Fire in the Sky

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Meteor fireball streaks across sky over Texas

Calily Bien
kxan.com
Fri, 19 May 2017 15:36 UTC

For the past two years, Aaron Olmsted has had a dash camera mounted in his car. He says he has it because he drives a quick car and the camera comes in handy in certain situations.

But early Friday morning was the first time his camera ever captured a fireball streak across the sky in Bastrop. Olmsted and his wife were driving back to their Bastrop home from the Austin airport around midnight when they noticed the bright light.

"We both spotted it," says Olmstead. "My wife was driving, and I was in the passenger seat and we both saw it and we were both amazed."

The couple said they're not sure if anyone else saw what they saw because it was late and there weren't that many people driving on State Highway 71 in Bastrop at the time.

Meteor fireball filmed over Tashkent, Uzbekistan

ca-news ca-news
YouTube
Thu, 18 May 2017 14:29 UTC

Residents of Tashkent saw a meteorite in the sky above the city.

Green meteor fireball turns on explosive performance over New Zealand

The Gisborne Herald
Fri, 19 May 2017 01:17 UTC

Hundreds of people across the district last night got a perfect view of an extraterrestrial visitor, as a meteor briefly entered the atmosphere and exploded in a ball of green light.

"It was like a shooting star then it sort of exploded and fireballed itself a bit further, then it was gone. It was as moving so fast, but so so pretty," one witness reported to The Gisborne Herald.

Other witnesses said it resembled a "green fireball", and one said it was the size of "six houses".

Scores of others also reported the sighting to weatherwatch.co.nz.

"Biggest brightest comet we've ever seen in all our 56 years. Quick and flashy. Seen in awe from Otoko near Matawai," one report said.

Sightings of the meteor were recorded from 7.15pm onwards, and were noted across New Zealand.

Met Service meteorologist Lisa Murray confirmed there were no unusual atmospheric conditions at the time.

"There was plenty of clear sky, so it would have been perfect viewing, with a temperature of 12 degrees and very light winds."

Bright meteor fireballs recorded over Brazil

Sott.net
Thu, 18 May 2017 17:12 UTC

A bright meteor fireball was captured by an Exoss camera located in São Sebastião / São Paulo, Brazil on 13th May 2017. The second video below shows a slow moving meteor recorded from Bramon (Brazilian Meteor Observation Network) station ARA1 / RJ on the same day.

Comet Johnson joins the ranks of visible comets

Bob King
Sky & Telescope
Wed, 10 May 2017 18:52 UTC

Another binocular comet? You better believe it. Comet Johnson takes center stage at nightfall this month and next.

Nothing against Giacobini, Kresak, Mrkos, and Pajdusakova, but this is one comet name I can pronounce with confidence. Even better, it's been humming along very well, thank you, while waiting for its turn at center stage.

At magnitude +8.5, Comet Johnson (C/2015 V2) is already bright enough to join the ranks of this year's band of binocular comets: NEOWISE (C/2016 U1), 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova, 2P/Encke, 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak, Lovejoy (C/2017 E4), and PanSTARRS (C/2015 ER61). Comet watchers appreciate the bonanza; we've been happily toting out scopes and binoculars to follow the progress of each in its turn.

As the Moon toddles east and wanes, dark skies return as soon as May 12th. The timing couldn't be better, with Comet Johnson making a steep dive through the constellation of Boötes high in the southeastern sky at nightfall while also reaching peak brightness.

I last caught sight of the comet shortly just before dawn on May 6th. In 10×50 binoculars, Johnson was a faint, patchy glow in Canes Venatici. The view in my 15-inch reflector was more satisfying. At 76×, Johnson displayed a moderately condensed coma about 8′ across with a ¾° long broad, diffuse tail pointing northwest. Upping the magnification to 286×, I could see a tiny, almost stellar nucleus of magnitude +13.5 at coma center.

© Rolando Ligustri
What a little sunshine won't do. By May 1st, Comet Johnson had developed a long, faint ion tail pointing straight away from the Sun as well as a stubby dust tail.

Studying a comet's nucleus is a strange experience. At low magnification, it might appear fairly bright, but the more you magnify, the smaller and fainter the nucleus (pseudo-nucleus actually, since the true nucleus is hidden by reflective dust) becomes until you're staring at just a faint pinprick of light at the heart of a dusty maelstrom.

Meteor fireball filmed streaking over South Florida

Sun Sentinel
Wed, 26 Apr 2017 18:46 UTC

Keys deputy among those who spotted meteor streaking over South Florida

A fireball streaked across the sky overnight, according to multiple reports.

By 4 a.m. Wednesday, the American Meteor Society received nearly 50 reports about the flaming streak in the night sky.

A meteorologist at CBS Miami also recorded video, the station's website said.

The object was likely a meteor breaking up in the atmosphere. It was visible from the Keys to Port St. Lucie on the east coast and as far north as Tampa on the west coast, reports said.

Bright light seen shooting across Wellington's night sky

Stuff
Tue, 25 Apr 2017 22:40 UTC

When Stephen Moore installed a dashcam in his vehicle, it wasn't to capture footage of UFOs.

But that's exactly what happened when his son witnessed a bright light shoot across the Wellington sky shortly before 8pm on Tuesday.

The pair eagerly returned to their home in Hataitai and downloaded the footage from the camera.

"It records in real time, so after we saw it we thought it was too fast to be a plane," said Moore.

Brett Jennings saw something similar in Nelson, and said the light was bright green in colour.

Loud, mysterious bang leads New South Wales residents to look toward the heavens

Jarrard Potter
The Daily Examiner
Tue, 18 Apr 2017 09:00 UTC

Lower Clarence residents were looking to the heavens last night after a loud, mysterious bang was heard in Maclean, Townsend, Gulmarrad, Wooli and Ashby shortly before 9pm last night.

The incident caused a stir on social media, with more than 170 comments on Maclean Buy, Swap and Sell Facebook page.

The Daily Examiner is investigating the cause of the loud bang. But with no definitive answers yet, theories being shared range from the logical such as a sonic boom from a meteorite, to the outrageous, including a UFO crash.

If you heard or saw anything from last night's big bang, tell us your story.

Earlier this week there were reports of other loud bangs following meteorite sightings across northern NSW and south-east Queensland.

Comment: The above event was on Sunday, about 6pm according to reports: Bright meteor with house-shaking sound reported over Queensland, Australia

The timing has coincided with the start of the annual Lyrid meteor shower event, which is active from about April 16 to 25.

Beach camera films bright meteor fireball over Dawlish, UK

DB Simon
dawlishbeach.com
Tue, 11 Apr 2017 17:50 UTC

Whilst sat enjoying the late night view on the cameras, i was very surprised to see a bright light shoot across the screen.

Considering tonight is a very bright full moon we don't often see much of the night sky.

The following video will give you your own chance to make your mind up as to whether this is another meteor or just a vert bright shooting star.

Bright meteor with house-shaking sound reported over Queensland, Australia

Cathy Adams
Northern Star
Mon, 17 Apr 2017 02:35 UTC

THERE have been reports of a house-shaking thud in Killarney after the meteorite was spotted in our skies last night.

Our sister paper, the Warwick Daily News reported the buzz on social media: Brigitte Jones said, "I felt it out here, the house shook."

Madeline Wilkins posted "I'm in Toowoomba and saw a burning light in the sky maybe a meteorite, heading that direction just before I saw this post... Maybe related?"

Killarney resident Krissy Bloomfield said, "On Brosnan Rd kids saw what we thought shooting star just before the bang."

Some residents reported thinking the noise was thunder or fireworks.

Louise Reed from the Queen Mary Falls Caravan Park posted, "We heard it up here too. It looked like a shooting star right before it and then bang."

And this from Krystal N Lillee Cook, "We heard it in oak street...was really loud like a big crack of thunder."

Comment: Last September a 'huge meteor' exploded off the Queensland coast with a shockwave coming onshore, rattling residents and homes.