Fire in the SkyS


Fireball 3

Dramatic video captures the moment sonic boom from Russian meteor terrifies schoolchildren by smashing windows of sports hall


Daily Mail, UK
Fri, 22 Feb 2013 06:17 UTC
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Scary: Suddenly, the windows of the sports hall completely blow out, leaving the children completely terrified
Schoolchildren pictured practicing their karate moves on each other - Seconds later sonic boom from meteor smashes windows of hall - Children cover their ears with hands and run away in terror

It was a terrifying moment which left nearly 1,500 people injured and caused more than £20 million worth of damage.

But few images have been able to capture just how much every day life was turned upside down following the enormous Russian meteor than this video.

These pictures show young Russian schoolchildren practicing their karate moves on each other in a sports hall, completely unaware that their day was about to be completely transformed.
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Fireball 4

Copper green fireball streaks over California, 21 February 2013


lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.
Fri, 22 Feb 2013 05:59 UTC
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© SouthernCaliforniaWeatherAuthority.comPhotographer Susan Lary of the Southern California Weather Authority captured this amazing photo of the fireball while shooting a 1-minute exposure in Lancaster, Calif., on Feb. 21, 2013.
Initial sighting reports

21 February 2013 - Brittney Mcconnell, Pleasanton, CA 22:30 PST
Between 5-10 seconds duration. Lime green color with orange trail. Sun white hot in brightness but also lime green. No fragmentation observed, just the flaming trail behind it. It wasn't heading straight down but angled at about 30 degrees. I estimate that it landed in the Pleasanton/Sunol area.
21 February 2013 - Mark S. Dobkin, Costa Mesa, CA USA, Approx. 22:30 PST
2-3 seconds duration - I was facing West. East-West direction. Bright white ball of fire, then broke up. I was stationary in my car, so did not hear any sound. As bright as moon, but not as large. Considerably larger than Venus. Fragmentation observed. Fairly large. One of the largest I have seen.
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Fireball 5

Early morning meteor blazes over Maine, Maryland and Massachusetts, 21 February 2013


lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com
Fri, 22 Feb 2013 05:42 UTC
21 February 2013 - Charlene Libby, Buxton, Maine USA 3:54 EST
2-3 seconds duration. Southeast/Southwest direction. I was facing Southwest. It was green, with no noise and as bright as Venus. It had a visible long tail.
21 February 2013 - Robert Ahti, Seabrook, New Hampshire, USA 3:50 EST
5 seconds duration. The meteor was heading in a southwesterly direction. I was facing west. It was green. I'd say it was of medium brightness. It was very large compared to shooting stars I've seen over my years.
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Fireball 2

Six days after fireball blazes over San Francisco, another one lights up sky over Los Angeles

Samantha Tata
NBC Los Angeles
Thu, 21 Feb 2013 23:44 UTC
Telescope
© NBC Los Angeles

Several Southland residents late Thursday reported witnessing a bright light zoom across the sky.

Dozens of sky watchers told the American Meteor Society that they saw the fire ball. People in Ventura, Anaheim, Van Nuys, Los Angeles, Paso Robles, San Francisco and Santa Barbara posted on the group's website.

In an email to NBC4 News, Laguna Hills resident Patric Barry said he spotted the meteor out of his living room window at about 10:35 p.m.

"I saw a light and looked directly at the meteor as it came down in the ocean off Corona Del Mar. Bits came off, and it was bright white," he wrote.

The sightings come days after Bay Area residents were treated to a light show of their own when a fireball was seen streaking across the sky.

Comment: Fireball explodes over Bay Area, California, 15 February 2013 - Fifth bright fireball seen in Northern California in past five months

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Comet 2

SOTT Focus: Behind the Headlines: Cosmic Catastrophe, Drones and Social Hysteria

Sott Editors
Sott.net
Thu, 21 Feb 2013 14:20 UTC
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The meteorite that exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia, Friday 15th Feb. 2013. Almost 1,000 people were injured and many buildings damaged.
The final tally of injured people from the overhead cometary airburst in Russia last February 15th stands at 1,500. It's a miracle no one was killed. But will we be so lucky next time? The explosion above the city of Chelyabinsk was the largest since the 1908 Tunguska airburst, also in Siberia. What are we to make of the fact that this recent blast happened 12 hours before another asteroid about twice as large was scheduled to pass Earth by in 'the closest fly-by ever'?

This week hosts Joe and Niall sat down with Jason Martin and Laura Knight-Jadczyk to discuss this freak event.

But was it really a freak event, a 'coincidence', as NASA reassured us? If they didn't see this one coming, will they see others coming? In fact, there is strong evidence that, over the course of human history, repeated cometary bombardment from space has wiped the slate clean on our little planet. These cleansing events were naturally terrifying for people who lived through them. In time, the progenitors of those who survived rebuilt civilizations anew and eventually the horrors of the past were forgotten.

Running Time: 02:14:00

Download: MP3


Comment: See also SOTT's report on the Chelyabinsk airburst: Fireball explodes over Russian city: Widespread panic and structural damage, Thousand people injured

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Fireball 3

Separate daytime fireball recorded just 250km west of Chelyabinsk, 4 days before massive overhead explosion in Russia


lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com
Tue, 19 Feb 2013 06:49 UTC

View Fireballs Russia February 2013 in a larger map
A bright fireball was filmed in the Bashkiria sky

Online video of an unusual phenomenon in the sky, filmed from the highway between Ufa and Orenburg. The the video was shot last night, February 11, 2013, near the village of Bulgakovo in the Ufa area.

"This was a bright, luminous body, visible for long distances," said Professor Ufu, RU director of the Ufa "Planetarium", Anatoly Denisov. Have not been able to determine to what meteor shower this bolide belonged. It is possible that it did not belong to any particular shower; such fireballs are sporadic...

Source

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Fireball 5

Daytime fireball breaks up over Brazil, 20 February 2013


lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com
Thu, 21 Feb 2013 06:34 UTC
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© (c) 2013 LunarMeteorite*Hunter / Google Earth
Dr. Marcelo Souza, professor of physics in Campos Dos Goytacazes, called me and reported that witnesses had just seen this event from Campos Dos Goytacazes, Vitoria, and Cabo Frio, in Rio de Janeiro State, Brasil approximately 20 minutes prior. It has now been confirmed that there was a single bolide seen by many persons in north Rio de Janeiro State, Brasil.

Campos Dos Goytacazes Brasil Sentinel Allsky Network is currently checking for video capture.

Dirk Ross, LunarMeteorite*Hunter, Tokyo, Japan, Dr. Marcelo Souza, IFF-R.J. and Sentinel Allsky established the Brasil Allsky Network, the FIRST in South America, last year.

Ross says, "This event, along with the recent Russia and other large events demonstrates that Brasil needs to take the threat of an asteroid impact more seriously and expand the Brasil Allsky Network nationwide for detection".

Ross is hoping that Sao Paulo State will soon establish the second network.

Comment: A local TV report on this daytime fireball sighting in Brazil:



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Fireball

Florida fireballs: Meteor streaks through sky in Sunshine State


Travelers Today
Wed, 20 Feb 2013 00:37 UTC
Meteorite
© Wikimedia CommonsA fireball that was probably a sporadic meteor (not the one pictured) lit up the sky in Florida's East Coast on Sunday.

A meteoric fireball lit up the East Coast of Florida Sunday evening, only two days after a large meteor wreaked destruction in Russia, and a smaller fireball touched down in California.

The Florida meteor, sighted just before 6 p.m., was also tiny, experts told The Florida Times-Union.

But Thomas Webber, director of the Museum of Science and History's Bryan-Gooding Planetarium, said meteors and smaller meteorites strike the Earth "every hour of every day," so they're not rare.

But Sunday's sighting, though small, was bigger than most.

"This one wasn't grain-of-sand size, which what most of them are," Webber said to The Florida Times-Union.

"When we get something a little bigger, that maybe has a silicate coating that ablates off as it travels though the atmosphere and takes some of the heat with it, they can appear much brighter and last a lot longer."
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Fireball 2

Mystery 'loud booms' felt, heard over the Midlands, South Carolina

Tony Santaella
WLTX.com
Wed, 20 Feb 2013 16:11 UTC
Columbia, SC - News19 has gotten multiple reports of loud booms in Several Midlands neighborhoods.

The reports began coming in around 3:45 p.m. Wednesday.

We heard from worried residents in Sumter, Wedgefield, Manning, and Bishopville. The noise was so loud that windows rattled and homes shook.

Reports also came out of Summerton, Eastover, Mayesville, and Sandy Run.

We made several calls to try and find out what caused the sounds, and the State Emergecny Management Agency says it wasn't an earthquake.

Shaw Air Force Base hasn't reported any unusual flying activity and the Lynn Douglas with the Columbia Airport says she knows of no sonic booms in the Midlands.
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Fireball 2

Chelyabinsk meteor explosion in pictures: Videos and photos from Russia

Alexander Zaytsev
say26.com
Wed, 20 Feb 2013 11:14 UTC
I happen to live 300kms away from Chelyabinsk, where a large bolide exploded earlier today. Here are all the videos I could find featuring the massive explosion and its effects.

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