Fire in the SkyS


Attention

An Asteroid Missed Earth this Week -What are the Odds that We'll Always be Lucky?

Asteroid
© The Daily Galaxy

An asteroid the size of a truck zoomed near Earth this week (June 1), coming closer to us than the moon ever does. The 23-foot-long (7-meter) space rock, named 2009 BD, came within 215,000 miles (346,000 kilometers) of Earth at around 8:51 p.m. EDT (0051 GMT on June 2). The moon's average distance from us is about 239,000 miles (385,000 km).

Stephen Hawking believes that one of the major factors in the possible scarcity of intelligent life in our galaxy is the high probability of an asteroid or comet colliding with inhabited planets.

We have observed, Hawking points out in Life in the Universe, the collision of a comet, Schumacher-Levi, with Jupiter, which produced a series of enormous fireballs, plumes many thousands of kilometers high, hot "bubbles" of gas in the atmosphere, and large dark "scars" on the atmosphere which had lifetimes on the order of weeks.

It is thought the collision of a rather smaller body with the Earth, about 70 million years ago, was responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs. A few small early mammals survived, but anything as large as a human, would have almost certainly been wiped out.

Through Earth's history such collisions occur, on the average every one million year. If this figure is correct, it would mean that intelligent life on Earth has developed only because of the lucky chance that there have been no major collisions in the last 70 million years. Other planets in the galaxy, Hawking believes, on which life has developed, may not have had a long enough collision free period to evolve intelligent beings.

Meteor

Truck-Size Asteroid Zips Close by Earth

Image
© ESAThe European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft took this image of the asteroid Lutetia during a flyby on July 10, 2010.
An asteroid the size of a small motorhome zoomed near Earth last night (June 1), coming closer to us than the moon ever does.

The 23-foot-long (7-meter) space rock, named 2009 BD, came within 215,000 miles (346,000 kilometers) of Earth at around 8:51 p.m. EDT (0051 GMT on June 2). The moon's average distance from us is about 239,000 miles (385,000 km).

2009 BD never threatened to hit Earth on this pass, researchers said. But even if the asteroid had slammed into us, it wouldn't have been a big deal.

Sun

Another Comet Plunges Into Sun During Solar Storm

Comet Plunges into Sun
© NASASoon after a huge solar storm erupted on May 20-21, 2011, a comet (bright streak at lower right) plunged into the sun. This shot is a still from a video taken by one of NASA's twin STEREO spacecraft.

A sun-watching spacecraft has recorded views of an ill-fated comet plunging into the sun just after a huge solar eruption - the second time in 10 days that a comet dive-bombed Earth's star during a solar storm.

Over May 20 and 21, the sun unleashed a big coronal mass ejection (CME), an immense burst of plasma that sent solar particles streaking into space at fantastic speeds. Shortly thereafter, a kamikaze comet barreled into the sun. And one of NASA's twin STEREO spacecraft caught it all on video, agency officials announced last week.

"Soon after [the eruption], as a bonus visual, a sun-grazing comet came streaking in (from the right) heading for the sun," NASA officials said in a May 27 statement. "Its tail could be seen elongating substantially as it approached the sun and apparently disintegrated."

This dramatic series of events followed closely on the heels of a similar spectacle less than two weeks earlier. Between May 10 and May 11, NASA's SOHO spacecraft spotted a different comet diving toward the sun, never to be seen again. A massive CME erupted at about the same time.

Comment: The mental gymnastics NASA scientists must undergo to really believe their own nonsense is breathtaking!

Are they just willfully ignorant? Or are they intentionally covering up the glaringly obvious truth that comets interact electrically with our Sun, causing it to discharge enormous amounts of energy in the form of solar flares, CMEs, etc.?

In his book Planet X, McCanney claims that NASA personnel are "prohibited from disclosing to the public anything that would cause a national panic" (p.83) Like the 'in the interest of national security' excuse cited in the War on Terror™, this excuse about 'not wanting to cause a national panic' is wearing a little thin. So thin, in fact, that it has become transparent and, thanks to researchers and real scientists like James McCanney, we can see straight through it.

Planet-X, Comets and Earth Changes by J.M. McCanney


Sun

New 'Hot-Spot' on the Sun - AR11226

"This morning I pointed my solar telescope through a gap in the clouds to look at the new 'hot-spot' on the sun - AR11226," reports Pete Lawrence of Selsey, UK. "Wow! I'm glad I did. The bright flaring regions within the sunspot group are incredible." Caught in mid-eruption, the active region nearly saturated his camera:
Image
© Pete Lawrence - Selsey, UK

"A white light image of the region shows the underlying sunspot complex," says Lawrence. "Impressive!"

Sunspot 1226 and another unnumbered sunspot trailing behind it are responsible for this weekend's sudden surge of solar activity. The sunspots are crackling with C- and M-class solar flares. So far, none of the blasts has been geo-effective, but this could change in the days ahead as the active region turns toward Earth.

Meteor

Comet McNaught Caught Between Fireworks and Lightning

Sometimes the sky itself is the best show in town. In January 2007, people from Perth, Australia gathered on a local beach to watch a sky light up with delights near and far. Nearby, fireworks exploded as part of Australia Day celebrations. On the far right, lightning from a thunderstorm flashed in the distance.

Image
© Antti Kemppainen
Near the image center, though, seen through clouds, was the most unusual sight of all: Comet McNaught. The photogenic comet was so bright that it even remained visible though the din of Earthly flashes. Comet McNaught has now returned to the outer Solar System and is now only visible with a large telescope. The above image is actually a three photograph panorama digitally processed to reduce red reflections from the exploding firework.

Info

Geomagnetic Storms On The Way

A stream of high-speed solar wind is buffeting Earth's magnetic field and stirring up geomagnetic storms. At this time of year, the midnight sun interferes with the visibility of Northern Lights over Alaska and Scandinavia, but the situation is different on the other side of Earth. Southern Lights were on full display this morning in the dark autumn skies of Queenstown, New Zealand:

Southern Lights
© Minoru YonetoImage taken: May 29, 2011
Location: Queenstown, New Zealand
"I actually missed the most intense part of the display," says photographer Minoru Yoneto. But as this 30-second exposure shows, "better late than never!"

High-latitude sky watchers should remain alert for auroras as the solar wind continues to blow. NOAA forecasters estimate a 20% - 25% chance of geomagnetic storms in the next 24 hours.

Meteor

No Surprises There: Philadelphia, US: Mystery Boom Caused by Earthquake: USGS

Image
© Chopper 10People were out on the sidewalks as emergency vehicles blocked off streets -- everyone trying to figure out what caused loud bangs in Northeast Philly Friday night.
A loud bang in Northeast Philadelphia on Friday night was caused by a 1.7 magnitude earthquake, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.


Comment: Interesting. Considering U.S. Geological Survey's claims, we have to ask how come Japan's 9.8 magnitude earthquake wasn't followed by terrible and deafening explosions? And we are not talking about the consequences of the devastating tsunami. Is it really too hard to consider the possibility that the earthquake was caused by the "loud bang" and not the other way around?


The USGS reports that the depth of the quake was 4.2 km (2.6 miles).

The site also says that it hit 2 miles from Cornwells Heights-Eddington, PA, 4 miles from Beverly, NJ, 5 miles from Riverton, NJ and 10 miles from Philadelphia.

People all over the Northeast and in nearby places like Bensalem, Pa. were reporting having heard an explosion or boom in the area of Knights and Fairdale Road around 9:35 p.m., according to the Philadelphia Fire Department.

Some witnesses even claimed to feel their houses shake.

Meteor

And the Drops Keep Falling! US: Mystery Boom Causes Panic in Northeast Philadelphia


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Sun

Southern Lights

A solar wind stream is buffeting Earth's magnetic field, sparking Southern Lights around the Antarctic Circle. Ian Stewart sends this picture from a jetty near Hobart, Tasmania:

Image
© Ian Stewart
Not long after sunset a friend rang to ask whether a faint arc of light crossing over the southern sky was an aurora. It was!" says Stewart. "This is the first time in the new solar cycle that I have managed to photograph the Aurora Australis. Previous events either have not been strong enough to view at 43o South, or have occurred during our daytime. Perhaps this is the beginning of a good aurora season for the southern hemisphere."

Meteor

US: NASA Sky Cameras Capture Man-Sized Meteor Over Macon, Georgia


Astronomers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center have recorded the brightest meteor seen by their network in almost three years of operation. On May 20, 2011, at 9:47 p.m. CDT, a six-foot diameter fragment of an unknown comet entered the atmosphere approximately 66 miles above the city of Macon, Ga., traveling northwest at a speed of some 24 miles per second (86,000 mph). At this velocity, the boulder-sized "dirty snowball" possessed an energy or striking power somewhere between 500-1000 tons of TNT.

This was seen by many eyewitnesses in Georgia and Alabama; the American Meteor Society has some of the reports here.

It was tracked by two NASA all sky cameras, one located in Chickamauga, Ga., and the other at the Tellus Science Museum in the town of Cartersville, Ga. Analysis of the video data from these cameras enabled the Meteoroid Environment Office to estimate the trajectory, speed, mass and orbit of the meteor. More information on these cameras and a log of recent meteor events can be found here.