Fire in the SkyS

Meteor

Hundreds See 'Exploding Fireball' in Sky

Washington - Reports indicate that hundreds of people in the Netherlands and Germany have reported seeing a huge exploding fireball in the sky on October 13.

According to a report in National Geographic News, amateur photographer Robert Mikaelyan captured the phenomenon on camera.

Mikaelyan managed to capture several shots of the fireball as it swung low over the northern city of Groningen, Netherlands, and began to break apart into smaller chunks.

"I suddenly saw a light in the sky coming fast and quickly got the pictures taken," Mikaelyan said.

Comment: Every 20-25 years? Somebody's not been paying attention. These are from the past 3 weeks:

October 9th: Caught on camera: Meteorite streaks across New Mexico sky

October 5th: Video: Fireball lights up sky over Iceland

Septmber 28th: Cosmic shock and awe: Fireball explodes over Argentina

September 25th: Spectacular Fireball filmed over Canada


Meteor

Canada, Ontario: Small meteorite broke windshield of SUV

Scientists say a golf ball-sized rock that smashed through the windshield of an SUV is a meteorite, possibly from a spectacular fireball that streaked across the sky above Hamilton three weeks ago.

University of Western Ontario researchers confirmed the rock was a meteorite. It will be unveiled today at a media conference.

The fireball was captured on video Sept. 25 by a network of cameras administered by Western that regularly watch the skies at night. One of the cameras is located at McMaster University.

Meteor

Video: Grimsby, Ontario meteor 25 September


Comment: You can read a report of this sighting here


Meteor

US: Meteorite streaks across New Mexico sky

Scientists think a fireball that flew over New Mexico may have been close enough to actually hit the ground.

A Santa Fe astronomer was able to catch the fiery streak on video. Thomas Ashcraft says the fireball didn't disintegrate when it hit the atmosphere. It may have landed somewhere near Taos.

Meteor

Canada, Ontario: Grimsby meteorite found

The Grimsby space rock has been found.

A fragment of meteorite the size of a golf ball smashed in the windshield of a Grimsby family's sport utility vehicle on Sept. 25, according to a media release from the University of Western Ontario.

Meteor

Astronomers digging for meteors in Grimsby, Western Ontario

Image
© University of Western OntarioA composite photograph of the meteor that streaked across southern Ontario Sept. 25. It is believed meteorites landed in the Grimsby area.
Space rocks formed when the solar system was created billions of years ago are believed to have fallen to Earth near Grimsby in a fiery light show two weeks ago.

Astronomers will be digging through farmers' fields Thursday and Friday on the hunt for hunks of a meteor that blazed across the skies of southern Ontario Sept. 25 shortly after 9 p.m.

The beachball-sized meteor was first picked up by cameras operated by the University of Western Ontario's physics and astronomy department 100 kilometres above Guelph as the fireball streaked southeastward at a speed of about 75,000 km/h.

Astronomers at the university have traced the meteor's path and believe chunks of it may have landed above the escarpment within a 10-km radius of Grimsby.

"We're pretty certain something came down," said Phil McCausland, a postdoctoral fellow with the university's astronomy department.

Meteor

Meteor explodes over Groningen, Netherlands: Fireball seen from Belgium and Germany

Image
© NU.nl/Robert Mikaelyan
Hundreds of people report seeing a spectacular fireball or meteorite over the Netherlands in Tuesday's clear evening skies.

The police emergency number, Dutch coastguard and KNMI weather bureau report dozens of phone calls about the meteorite, which was seen in Germany and Belgium.

'I was standing in front of my window when there was a bright flash of light and a white fireball in the sky fell apart into three smaller ones,' eyewitness Erik Alberts from Zuidbroek in Groningen province told Nos tv. 'Like fireworks. A few seconds later, perhaps half a minute, there was a low rumble and the windows shook.'

Meteor

Video: Fireball lights up sky over Iceland

A police dash-cam catches a fireball lighting up the sky in the south of Iceland

Translation of article:

The police in Selfoss caught these weird lights in the sky on tape shortly after midnight last night. The officers were going east during a routine highway patrol on Eyrarbakka-road when they noticed a spectacular flare which to them seemed to be heading to the river ร–lfusรก. Speculations are that this was a meteorite entering the atmosphere.

Meteor

UK: Strange Fireball Seen in Night Sky

A Bosbury man who witnessed a strange light in the sky on Saturday night is wondering if anyone else saw the same thing.

Mark Beard saw the orange glow at around 9.45pm to 10pm as he was standing outside his rural home.

He said: "I was at my back door looking east, and to my left, appearing above the tops of houses was a large fireball, a tenth the size of the moon."

He said it was orange and moved through the sky for about two or three minutes in a north-south direction. It then slowly started to fade and then disappear, fading out before it had reached the horizon in the south.

Meteor

Cosmic shock and awe: Fireball explodes over Argentina

Fireball over Argentina
A glowing trail left down by the meteor that exploded over Mendoza, Argentina on 29th September 2009.

Yesterday afternoon the inhabitants of Mendoza, La Pampa, San Luis, and Cordoba saw a meteorite coming down the sky. It finally desintegrated with a loud explosion before it hit the earth.

The object, which initially scared the residents, was seen yesterday in the General Alvear Department. It could be a meteorite or space junk, but the place where it fell isn't known, according to what the Copernicus Institute said today.

From 18.30 there was a cloud in the sky and the explosion was felt almost by all people, asaid Julio Alcaraz, police officer of Santa Isabel, a town located 320 kilometers west of Santa Rosa and 40 miles south of the border with Mendoza.

The chief of the Copernicus Institute, Jaime Garcia, said that "by the color, it would apparently be a meteorite." He added that "the meteorite's location is unknown but according to the information collected it wouldn't have landed on Mendoza".