Fire in the SkyS


Meteor

US: Did a Meteorite Smash Into a Monroe Home?

Kirsten Joyce
Q13Fox.com
Wed, 01 Sep 2010 16:52 UTC
Monroe Meteorite
© Q13Fox.com

A Monroe man thought his house came "under fire" but instead found what he believed to be a small meteorite stuck to the side of his house.

We checked with the experts to find out what the likelihood is of a meteorite falling to earth and wedging itself into Greg Weller's home.

Weller said he noticed the dark charcoal substance for the first time on Saturday while he was gardening. "It looked like the brick just broke off, and there was something dark underneath it."

The night before, Weller says he'd heard what he thought were gunshots outside. Once he noticed the substance he started digging around, and began to suspect something a little more "out of this world."

"I looked up some stuff about meteorites and found a magnet and stuck it to it... And they said that's a test right there. And the more I read, the more I was sure it was a meteorite."
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Meteor

Hunt for Meteorite that Could be Worth €100k

Michael Lavery
Herald.ie
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:46 UTC
Meteorite
© ReutersValuable: The meteorite, which astronomers believe fell here, would look smooth and black.
The hunt is on for a meteorite that could be worth more than its weight in gold.

A fireball blazed across the night sky on Wednesday, leading astronomy experts to believe it came down somewhere here.

Astronomy Ireland chairman David Moore said the discovery of a meteorite would be very rare -- only three meteorites have been found in Ireland in the past 200 years.

A meteorite was last found in Ireland in 1999 when a Carlow woman found a handful of shattered meteorite pieces on a country lane near Leighlin Bridge.

The collector who bought the fragments valued them at €100,000.
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Meteor

Meteorite takes name of Wisconsin township where it landed

William Mullen
Chicago Tribune
Wed, 01 Sep 2010 17:46 UTC
A meteorite that lit up the night sky over the upper Midwest as it plummeted into southeastern Wisconsin on April 14 now has a name: Mifflin, for rural Mifflin Township where it fell.

Tens of thousands of eyewitnesses in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois saw the meteor as it streaked down to Earth shortly after 10 p.m., setting hundreds of professional and amateur meteorite hunters scrambling over farm fields for several weeks afterward in search of pieces of the alien rock.
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Meteor

UK: Peter Rowell Listener Spots 'Meteor' Over Bristol


BBC
Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:59 UTC
Bristol Meteor
© Gordon BuscheLook at the top middle of this picture: Gordon Busche thinks it's a meteor

A Bristol man has the local weather-world talking after spotting what looks like a meteor in broad daylight.

Gordon Busche got in touch with BBC Radio Bristol's The Afternoon Show presenter, Peter Rowell, and sent in the image from his mobile phone.

Gordon said he was at Cabot Circus in Bristol at about 2.30pm on Tuesday when he spotted the shape in the sky.

He said: "We've just seen what looks like a meteor going across the sky from east to west.

"Very bright and fast, not sure if anyone else saw it."

BBC Bristol weatherman Richard Angwin said the image looks surprisingly good.

"There seems to be a really bright blob in the center of the image and a really long trail to the right of the image," said Richard.

"This meteor cannot be tied directly to the recent Perseid Meteor Shower, which peaks around the 12th night of the month.
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UFO 2

Fireball object flew along the coast at Grand Bend, Ontario, Canada

Brian Vike
The Vike Factor (Into the Paranormal)
Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:12 UTC
Posted: August 30, 2010

Date: August 29, 2010
Time: Approx: 8:40 p.m.

Hi, this is my first time reporting, but I seen a fireball object, fly along the coast of the beach in Grand Bend. This was seen by me and a few friends on August 29th 2010 at around 8:40 at night. The object seemed to change direction after coming straight on to the beach, and then turned and went parallel with the beach front. Hope this helps, P.S. Let me know if anyone else seen that.
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Meteor

Australia: Meteor Explosion Wows Community


Bombala Times
Wed, 25 Aug 2010 02:41 UTC
Many of us heard the loud rumble, and some were even lucky enough to see something in the sky, but simply everyone is talking about the supposed meteor that exploded over the Tombong area last Tuesday afternoon.

A huge number of locals report having heard a loud unexplained "thundering" noise on Tuesday at around 2pm, while others tell of seeing a light falling through the sky at around the same time.

No one got quite as close as local Country Energy worker, David Turnbull, however, who was at Craigie Range, preparing to climb a power pole to make repairs.

David says it was a calm quiet day, when he suddenly noticed a light in the sky, which started travelling straight towards him in an east to west direction from Mount Wog.

He knew the bright object was travelling far too quickly to be an aircraft, and he watched in astonishment for over 20 seconds as it flew over the top of him, making a loud hissing or "swooshing" sound.

He said the initially bright object dulled and broke up into four or five pieces over Delegate, with a huge roar to be heard.

"Everything shook," he said. "I've never been in an earthquake, but it was that kind of a thing."

David laments the fact that he had no phone or camera to record the event, and can't believe that no one else has reported seeing the object so clearly.

Of course word spread quickly that a meteor had exploded within the local area, and the Bombala Times contacted the Sydney Observatory to try and confirm that this was indeed the case.
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Meteor

Iran meteor shower heralded by fireball


PressTV
Sun, 22 Aug 2010 07:20 UTC
Image
The fireball falling on Iranian ground
Iranian meteor shower enthusiasts have particularly enjoyed the August show put on by the Perseids, which was heralded by a brilliant fireball, streaking across the eastern sky.

The Perseid meteor shower reached its peak last week and announced its annual August arrival with a bright fireball over Iran's eastern cities.

Iranian astronomists say the fireball was caused by a meteor, as it struck Earth's atmosphere.

The fireball was observed by skywatching cameras operated by an Iranian space center, the Mehr News Agency reported.

This year's Perseid meteor shower peaked on the night of August 12-13 between midnight and dawn.

The fireball occurred low in the sky when it entered Earth's atmosphere above the eastern cities of Zahedan and Taftan.
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Meteor

Indonesia: Blue Meteor Falls in Cirebon


TEMPO Interactive
Thu, 19 Aug 2010 13:56 UTC
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.
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Meteor

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

Sarah Forgany
KENS 5
Tue, 17 Aug 2010 22:56 UTC
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.
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Meteor

US: Hegins Man Suspects Meteorite Struck Home

Vicki Terwilliger
Republican Herald
Tue, 17 Aug 2010 15:34 UTC
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.
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