Fire in the SkyS


Meteor

Indonesia: Blue Meteor Falls in Cirebon

Cirebon: A meteor allegedly fell on an open area in Tersana Baru Sugar Factory in Babakan, Cirebon, yesterday. The strange object gave off a strong sulphuric stink and burned the grass, creating a one-meter wide hole

A company staff, Dudi, explained that the employees first heard a thundering sound, following by a loud crash.

They were shocked to find a blue object melting on the field. "It even formed the Arabic writing of the word God," he said. The melting stopped and dried up like asphalt.

Because of the strong stench, the local people were curious and came to the site and covered the area of the fall with sand. "It was to reduce the smell," Dudi said.
Tersana Baru staff and the people took pictures of the strange object with their cell phones. Some people even brought home small chunks of the meteorite. The police later came and collected the chunks for further investigation.

Meteor

US: 10-Year-Old Boy Says he Discovered a Meteorite

Leon Springs -- A family out of Leon Springs had a strange experience Monday night.

It was 8:45pm when 10-year-old Benjamin Gardea says he stepped outside his house for a few minutes

"I was outside near the garden hose cleaning off some dirty shoes," Said Gardea.

And suddenly he heard a loud sound like an old lawn mower trying to start. At first Gardea says he thought the electricity lines were malfunctioning and sparks were flying out.

But then, "I looked up and I saw this fireball, I was scared and at first I thought martians." Said Gardea as he stared at the sky.

Ben's mom, Marianna Gardea was inside the house when she says Gardea ran to her screaming for help.

"He walked in just pale as a ghost, and said mom something happened outside, I don't know what it was," Said Marianna Gardea, "Finally a meteor just came to our mind."

The family walked outside to check out what Gardea just witnessed. Gardea said they looked for a while and finally found this piece of rock where he believes the fireball touched the ground before his eyes.

Meteor

US: Hegins Man Suspects Meteorite Struck Home

Hegins Meteroite_2
© VICKI TERWILLIGER/staff photos
Hegins - Whatever struck Ralph Lucht's home in Hegins punched a hole through asphalt shingles and the flashing on the roof.

Lucht believes a meteorite may have struck his Pine Drive home at the end of July or beginning of August.

The metal of the white flashing is peeled outward several inches, as if it had suffered a tremendous force or heat.

A cable to a lighting rod on the roof was also severed by whatever apparently fell from high above, Lucht said. It grazed the edge of the cable, barely missed entering the house, then landed in a solid concrete patio surrounding Lucht's pool.

The indentation in the concrete was about one-inch-by-one-inch wide and a half-inch deep. Inside the hole was rust-colored flecks of material.

"The flecks were magnetized. It had to be a projectile," Lucht said. "I looked around for parts, but didn't find any," he said of whatever had made the depression in his patio.

The family did not hear anything, but recently noticed the damage when they went outside. Lucht does not believe the damage could have been caused by a stray bullet.

His home is in a mountainous region in a wooded area in Hegins Township with no homes in close proximity. Hegins Township had no other recent reports of similar damage, according to Supervisor Vicki Harman.

Meteor

US: Ohio Man Says He Was Hit By Meteorite

Hit By Meteorite
© 10News.comOhio Man Says He Was Hit By Meteorite.
Quaker City, Ohio -- An Ohio man claims he was hit in the shoulder by a chunk of meteorite falling from the sky Sunday night.

"I didn't know what it was," Pat Foraker said. "I thought somebody was playing a prank on me and threw something at me."

But Foraker said he doesn't believe the rock was thrown by his neighbor or anyone else in Quaker City.

"Hit me right here, I heard it," he said. "It was like a whistling noise. It thumped my shoulder and landed in the swimming pool."

The rock sliced the skin on Foraker's shoulder, and was still warm when he plucked it out of the pool.

Geologists at Ohio State University will examine the rock, but believe it's likely a meteorite.

"It's kind of a 'strange things happen to strange people,' I guess," Foraker said.

Meteor

Italy: Perseid Fireball Capture on Video

Another fireball of the Perseids captured last night, 8th of August 2010 at 22:27:14, T.U., visual magnitude about -7.

Regards to all, Maurizio Eltri Venice, Italy.


Meteor

Russia: Fireball Over Russia

5 magnitude and 9 sec train was captured by my camera in the night 5/6 August.

Best regards, Mikhail Maslov


Meteor

US: Bright Fireball Kicks Off Perseid Meteor Shower

Fireball_1
© NASA/MSFC A Perseid meteor, about 1 inch in diameter and moving at a speed of 134,000 mph, entered the atmosphere 70 miles above the town of Paint Rock, Ala., on August 3 at 9:56 p.m.
On the night of August 3 at 9:56 p.m. a Perseid meteor -- about 1 inch in diameter and moving at a speed of 134,000 mph -- entered the atmosphere 70 miles above the town of Paint Rock, Alabama. At such a tremendous velocity, the meteor cut a path some 65 miles long, finally burning up 56 miles above Macay Lake, just northeast of the town of Warrior. The meteor was about six times brighter than the planet Venus and would be classified as a fireball by meteor scientists.

The Perseid radiant was low in the sky when the meteor appeared --only 9.5 degrees elevation. Therefore, this meteor could be considered an "Earth grazer" because of its long, shallow path, with an atmospheric entry angle of only 12 degrees.

Meteor

UK: 'Fireball Could Have Been a Bolide Meteor'

I write regarding Jeremy Charles Atkins' letter in last week's Bromsgrove Standard about a 'circular ball of red and orange flame with a tail of fire'.

He said it was traveling 'east to west on a line corresponding to Windmill Avenue in Rubery.' It is likely that the fireball was a meteor sometimes known as a bolide.

Some are made of rock others of metal.

A bolide is a meteor brighter than any of the planets and is usually magnitude -4 or greater.

'Bolide' is derived from the Greek word for bolis which translates to a 'flash' or 'a missile'.

Our group Anomalies Central England (ACE) scientifically investigates, for free, a range of anomalous phenomena eg UFOs, ghosts, poltergeists etc.

Meteor

US: Arizona Fireball Reported 3AUG2010

On Tuesday August 3rd, at approximately 12:58 a.m. I saw a bright fireball that broke up into five or six pieces.

I was driving directly south on Old Spanish Trail (in the Jeremy Wash/Rincon Creek area). The fireball appeared in the vicinity of Iota Aquarius, and went south to about two degrees of Fomalhaut. Fortunately there were some good landmarks in the sky (but it took me a while to figure out which stars they were). Its path was directly between those stars. I didn't hear anything because I had my window up. I had a great view - it was very bright, but because of the moon, it was hard to judge just how much it lit the area up. It was very awesome to say the least.

The track didn't seem to be too long, so it's possible it was falling at a very steep angle. Maybe pieces made it to the ground in Arizona rather than Mexico. It also appeared that when it broke up, the pieces were traveling laterally, not in single file (not sure if that is significant). Hopefully it was caught on a few cameras. Please pass the word for people to check their cameras and the Doppler. It should have been caught on Mt. Hopkins like Whetstone Mountains fall. It also left a trail that glowed about 10 seconds, so hopefully that means something will show on the radar (?).

Meteor

Significant fireball over New Mexico July 31, 2010

There was a significant fireball over eastern New Mexico this morning that "turned night into day" as the saying goes. I am still processing the data but here is a preliminary movie with the audio of the radio head echo. The full radio reflection was over three minutes duration. (Of possible significance is the subtle "whizz" or whistle sound initially which may be direct meteor emission rather than forward scatter reflection.)

It is also possible this meteor was an SDA or alpha Cap or may trace back generally to that radiant region. Not sure about that though due to cloud.


mp4 video by Thomas Ashcraft, New Mexico, Link