Angela Word
KFOXFri, 05 May 2006 12:00 UTC
May 5, 2006 -- If you saw a bright light in the sky Thursday night, you're not alone.
Astronomers said a large meteor shower crossed straight over El Paso just before 9:45 p.m. Thursday.
One meteor was so large that it cast an orange glow against the mountain.
Pasadena CA - NASA said Thursday there is no danger that Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 - or any of its many fragments - will strike Earth during its closest approach next month. To provide further reassurances, the agency has employed the Hubble Space Telescope to take high-resolution images of the approaching object, and will soon follow suit with Spitzer to observe the fragments in infrared light.
"We are very well acquainted with the trajectory of Comet 73P Schwassmann-Wachmann 3," said Don Yeomans, manager of the agency's Near-Earth Object Program, at Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "There is absolutely no danger to people on the ground or the inhabitants of the International Space Station, as the main body of the object and any pieces from the breakup will pass many millions of miles beyond the Earth."
Comment: None of this hoopla has happened before when a comet when sailing by the planet. NASA just stated it wasn't a threat, and that was that. If they are so confident that none of the 73P fragments will hit, why are they scrambling all their resources this time "to provide further reassurances"??
You do not have to look to the outer edges of the solar system, or even out beyond Neptune to observe a reservoir of comets. A bevy of the ice-containing bodies lies disguised as main-belt asteroids between Mars and Jupiter, claim astronomers from the University of Hawaii, US.
David Jewitt and Henry Hsieh have dubbed the new population "main belt comets". They describe three objects with near circular, flat orbits in the asteroid belt that stream volatile materials, producing an observable tail for weeks and months at a time.
The finding backs a theory that ice-bearing asteroids - or "comets" - from this much closer region may have played an important role in forming the Earth's oceans.
Astronomical observatories have received a number of reports of a fireball, described as flashing orange or blue, seen in the skies over the Kanto region around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday.
A TOP Russian scientist has suggested that global warming was started by a meteor that exploded in the atmosphere nearly 100 years ago.
Scientists have long known that a major ingredient in comets is water ice, but they were unsure whether the ice was contained mainly inside or if it could be found on the surface as well.
A new analysis of data from NASA's Deep Impact mission last year provides the first evidence that water ice can indeed exist on a comet's exterior.
People looking to the sky Wednesday morning got a special treat. A fireball appeared in the sky south of Calgary just before seven o'clock. It moved quickly from east to west before it burned out. Witnesses say it broke into pieces when it flared out.
Several people have reported the fireball to University of Calgary professor Alan Hildebrand. He's hoping that someone close to where the fireball exploded, saw it, or heard the sonic boom, will call in. That will help locate pieces of the meteorite.
A 'meteor' from outer space fell with a big bang on a field in Singpara village of sadar upazila yesterday afternoon creating panic and curiosity among people.
No one was reported hurt.
NBC
NBCSat, 21 Jan 2006 12:00 UTC
MOBILE, Ala. - It wasn't an earthquake, but it felt like it to many of you.
What sounded and felt like an intense explosion rocked much of the local area around 2:30 Thursday afternoon, shaking homes and businesses and shaking up a lot of residents.
"I heard a shaking and a rattling,ย said Lana Cook, who experienced the boom in her home off Moffet Road. "It was like someone pounding with their fists."
The boom created some scary moments for residents throughout much of the local area, who experienced what sounded and felt like an explosion.
"This was hard, loud and continuous,ย Cook added.
A MYSTERIOUS big bang which shook a town and villages could have been a sonic boom caused by an aircraft flying too fast, it has been claimed.
People across Spalding and as far as Eye, near Peterborough (Southern England), were left reeling after the boom, which was heard and felt at about 2pm on Thursday, January 12 2006.
Today, January 13, the cause of the noise is unclear, although many suspect it was a sonic boom, caused by a jet breaking through the sound barrier. But nobody can give a definite answer to the questions.
Stuart Green, a spokesman for the Ministry of Defence, said: "There is a channel for military aircraft off the east of England, and, occasionally, pilots go through it too fast.
"RAF pilots go to a lot of trouble not to make sonic bangs, and they don't like it when aircraft from other countries go too fast."
David Galloway, assistant seismologist at the British Geological Survey, said: "We have national and regional monitors which would normally trace something like a sonic boom. But I checked for half an hour either side of the time the noise was reported and nothing came up."
Comment: Comment: Would anyone care to offer a theory as to what these booms, that have been regularly heard around the globe in recent years, are? In most cases, they are obviously not sonic booms. So what are they?
Comment: None of this hoopla has happened before when a comet when sailing by the planet. NASA just stated it wasn't a threat, and that was that. If they are so confident that none of the 73P fragments will hit, why are they scrambling all their resources this time "to provide further reassurances"??