Fire in the SkyS


Meteor

Malta: Burning UFO thought to be a fireball


Times of Malta
Thu, 25 Aug 2011 08:37 UTC
A strange object spotted by residents in the skies above Birżebbuġa on Saturday night could have been a "very bright meteor", also referred to as a fireball, according to the Astronomical Society of Malta.

It has attempted to shed light on the outlandish sighting, described by curious resident Charles Caruana as resembling a "hot air balloon" because it was clearly on fire.

Mr Caruana, who filmed the sight, said it advanced at speed from Żurrieq and over the water polo pitch towards the Freeport until it disappeared in the distance within minutes.

It was about 9 p.m. when he caught sight of it and zoomed off to get hold of his camera, saying it was the size of a car and was neither too high nor too far.

Mr Caruana excluded that it was a flying saucer because it was alight, but was still curious to know what it was. His curiosity was not satisfied when he went to buy the newspapers the next day.
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Meteor

Canada: Burning Fireball Lights Up Sky

Tara Funke
Portage Online
Wed, 24 Aug 2011 16:58 UTC
Fireball
© Portage OnlineExample of a fireball. This is not a photo from Tuesday night.

A number of southern Manitoba residents noticed something unique in the sky last night. Scott Young is an astronomer at The Manitoba Museum, and shares they've already received quite a few reports.

Young tells us people were able to watch it for a few seconds, and it was one of those once in a lifetime kind of experiences. If you did witness it he says consider yourself one of the lucky ones. Young explains they are currently collecting as many as reports as possible, and have activated their meteorite search team. He adds even if they narrow it down they'll be covering a lot of ground and that takes a lot of people. Anyone interested in volunteering in the search can contact the museum.

He shares only 13 actual meteorites have ever been found in Manitoba even though people bring potential meteorites to the museum once a week, and have for 40 years. Young tells us they receive calls daily about events or sightings in the night sky.
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Sun

Shape-Shifting Sunspot


Space Weather
Tue, 23 Aug 2011 13:28 UTC
Every time you look, sunspot 1271 has a new outline. For the past two days the active region has been in a constant state of change, altering its shape on an hourly basis. Click on the image for 48 hours of shape-shifting:


These rapid changes have caused the sunspot's magnetic field to criss-cross and tangle. The magnetic field now has a "beta-gamma" configuration that harbors energy for M-class solar flares. Any such flares today would be approximately Earth-directed because the sunspot is not far from disk-center.

Sunspot 1271 is so big, it's catching the attention of observers unaided by solar telescopes. Sarah E. Baur of Anaconda, Montana, noticed it yesterday through the smoke of a nearby fire:
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Meteor

Meteorites Possible From Irish Fireball


Irish Weather
Tue, 23 Aug 2011 09:47 UTC
Image
© UnknownA fireball, similar to the one pictured, was observed over Irish skies on 23 August 2011
Astronomy Ireland (AI) has confirmed that a fireball meteor entered the atmosphere above Ireland in the early hours of Tuesday morning (23 August 2011).

The organisation added that meteor fragments are likely to have reached the surface but it remains unclear at this stage if the impact occurred overland or in the Atlantic Ocean.

Astronomy Ireland says it has already received dozens of reports of a bright fireball shooting across Irish skies at approximately 12:15 AM on Tuesday. 60-70% of reports received came from the Greater Dublin area with other reports being received from Tipperary, Meath, Cork, Mayo and Kerry.

Initial reports suggest the fireball moved westward in a line from north Dublin to south Mayo, meaning anyone living to the north of this line would have observed the fireball to the south and vice versa for those living south of the Midlands.
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Meteor

Scotland: Unidentified Falling Object Seen Over Loch Ness

Sean McLachlan
Gadling.com
Mon, 22 Aug 2011 12:52 UTC
Fireball
© Wikimedia Commons
Scottish police are scratching their heads over a mysterious occurrence at Loch Ness this weekend, The Scotsman newspaper reports.

On Saturday night several eyewitnesses saw an object falling into or near the loch. Some describe it as a white light, others as a blue light. People said it was a balloon, or an ultralight, or a parachute. Some people said it didn't fall at all, merely passed over the tree line.

In other words, nobody has the faintest idea what they saw.

So many people called emergency services, however, that it's certain something strange was going on in the skies, and the police, the coastguard, a lifeboat crew, and the Royal Air Force went in search of it. Several hours of looking in the water and along the shore turned up nothing.
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Meteor

Meteor Measured From Space Station - How Big Was That Perseid?


SPACE.com
Mon, 22 Aug 2011 15:56 UTC
NASA scientists have analyzed the photograph taken by Ron Garan aboard the ISS during the 2011 Perseid Meteor Shower and have deduced the size and speed it was traveling at when it hit the Earth's atmosphere.

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Meteor

Missing the Forest for the Trees: Kamikaze Satellite Could Be Earth's Last Defense Against Asteroid

Mark Brown
Wired
Mon, 22 Aug 2011 10:00 UTC
Image
© Dan Durda/IAAA
Chinese researchers from Beijing's Tsinghua University have revealed plans to divert the asteroid Apophis - which may well collide with Earth in a couple decades - by smashing a kamikaze solar sail into it.

The asteroid, 99942 Apophis to give it its full title, is a 46 million tonne, 1,600-foot-wide chunk of space rock that's currently hurtling its way towards our planet. In 2029 it will soar safely past Earth, but we won't be out of the woods just yet.

There's a possibility that it will pass through a slim gravitational keyhole - a tiny, 600 mile area of space - that would cause the asteroid to turn back on itself and strike Earth some seven years later in 2036.
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Meteor

Two Comets to Pass Close to Earth in Early October

Mark Paquette
AccuWeather.com Astronomy Blog
Mon, 22 Aug 2011 10:21 UTC
As mentioned before in previous blogs, Comet Elenin will pass close to Earth in six weeks or so. We had previously talked about the theories out there with this comet. To read them, please click here and here.


Comment: Actually, for a better analysis of the facts and myths surrounding Comet Elenin, check out:

Elenin, Nibiru, Planet-X - Time for a Sanity Check


For even better treat, on Oct. 7, Comet Honda will brighten to a magnitude 5 in the constellation Leo and favor a horizon view before sunrise for Northern sky observers.

That is not all, Comet Honda will join Comet Elenin, and both will be visible on that morning in the same wide field of view in binoculars and camera lenses, a rare treat with two comets at once! You should be able to get some spectacular photos of this event. I will have to remind you as we get closer to the event so that you can post some pictures for me.

Comet Honda
© UnknownComet Honda is Shown (Bright Object in the Center of the Photo)
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Meteor

Best of the Web: Cosmic smoke and mirrors, or how crumbs of truth are mixed with confusion and lies: The mystery of Comet Elenin


Russia Today
Fri, 19 Aug 2011 02:23 UTC
Astronomers and other outer space experts are speaking out on a comet expected to make a close call with colliding into Earth later this year. The consequences could be dire, so why are so many people unaware of it?


"I think it's worth a raised eyebrow" says author Brooks Agnew. He's done a lot of research on Elenin and tells RT that there are some rather strange coincidences regarding the comet that people should take into consideration.

"A lot of people are concerned about it," says Agnew. "We've done a lot of research on Comet Elenin and what we've found is there's a lot of missing data on this comet"

Agnew says that NASA calls the comet just "a harmless little fuzzball of ice" that won't come within more than 20 million miles from Earth. Others, he says, are claiming that this comet should raise concern since it doesn't look like a comet, doesn't act like a comet and is coming from outside of the area where most comets are accustomed to originate out of.

"There are a lot of things about this comet that don't make sense," Agnew says.

Comment: There has been much disinformation and plain hysteria around the topic of Comet Elenin that contribute to the general confusion regarding possible effects of the comet on Earth and our civilization.

We advise our readers to take a look at the following articles that bring sanity to this highly charged topic.

Elenin, Nibiru, Planet-X - Time for a Sanity Check

Cosmic Propaganda Alert! Comet Elenin: Just Passing By - With SOTT Commentary

Interview with Russian astronomer Leonid Elenin - The discoverer of Comet Elenin

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Telescope

Delicato, an unusual solar prominence


Space Weather
Fri, 19 Aug 2011 17:33 UTC
With two big sunspots turning toward Earth and a variety of prominences dancing around the solar limb, the sun is attracting the attention of amateur astronomers. Alan Friedman sends this report from Buffalo, New York: "The activity on the sun today was so diverse in intensity and character I was reminded of movements in a symphony. This very massive prominence (pictured below) was so very faint--almost invisible when others circling the limb were properly exposed. It's delicate tendrils inspired the name Delicato."

Image
© John Stetson
In Falmouth, Maine, photographer John Stetson turned his solar telescope toward sunspot group 1271 and found it seething. "The active region is bright and crackling, surrounded by long, twisting filaments of magnetism that seem poised to produce some powerful flares," he says. Indeed, NOAA analysts note that the sunspot has a "beta-delta-gamma" magnetic field that harbors energy for X-class explosions.
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