Fire in the SkyS


Telescope

Flashback Meteorite explodes over Rio Cuarto, Argentina

Residents of Cordoba and Santa Fe claim to have seen, around 7 pm, "an enormous object in the sky" similar to "a blue and green ball" which drew the attenton of hundreds of perople who contacted the media to report the phenomenon.

"I did not see the object but it was without any doubt a bolide that entered the atmosphere and disintegrated. This is very common. They are highly brilliant and can be seen even in the daylight," said Jorge Koglan of the Liga de Astronomia. According to Koglan, this would have been "interplanetary material that hit the ground head-on. It must've occurred very high up, which accounts for its visibility in various locations. The greenish hue is associated with its components."

Star

Flashback Peru: Meteorite falls and makes a crater in the ground

The countrymen of Carancas (Peru) saw a luminous object that produced a loud sound when it impacted. Apparently it was a meteorite that crashed near the border with Bolivia.

Question

So which is it? Stony or iron meteorite in Peru?

Peruvian astronomers said Thursday that evidence shows a meteorite crashed near Lake Titicaca over the weekend, leaving an elliptical crater and magnetic rock fragments in an impact powerful enough to register on seismic charts.

Black Cat

Peru meteorite landing confirmed, illnesses questioned

A fiery meteorite crashed into southern Peru over the weekend, experts confirmed on Wednesday, but they remain puzzled over claims it gave off fumes that made 200 people ill.

Local residents told reporters that a fiery ball fell from the sky and smashed into the desolate Andean plain near the Bolivian border Saturday morning.

Jose Mechare, a scientist with Peru's Geological, Mining and Metallurgical Institute, said a geologist had confirmed that it was a "rocky meteorite," based on the fragments analyzed.

Question

Health official blames "collective psychosis" for Peruvian sickness following meteor strike

"Those who say they are affected are the product of a collective psychosis," said Jorge Lopez Tejada, health department chief in Puno, the nearest city.

©Los Angeles Times

Question

Mystery illness strikes after meteorite hits Peruvian village

Villagers in southern Peru were struck by a mysterious illness after a meteorite made a fiery crash to Earth in their area, regional authorities said Monday.

Question

Explosion like boom blamed on fighter jet test in Ohio

People in a part of northwest Ohio now know why their windows shook Thursday morning from what they thought was an explosion.

Turns out it was a sonic boom.

Comment: This article quotes an Air Force officer, "planes aren't allowed to fly fast enough to create a sonic boom over U.S. land, except over some remote areas."


Question

Sonic booms along South Carolina?

What sounded like sonic booms in the North Myrtle Beach area Wednesday night were probably made by fighter jets from Shaw Air Force Base conducting routine training exercises, an official said.

Shaw F-16 pilots are conducting night training this week and were flying off the coast of the Grand Strand between 10:30 p.m. and 11:15 p.m. Wednesday, said Judy Lewis with the public affairs division of Shaw Air Force Base.

Comment: A family saw and recorded strange lights at North Myrtle Beach that night, but no mention of booms in their story.


Telescope

Another Fireball Shoots Across Southwestern Skies; Unpredicted Meteor Shower Underway

ANOTHER FIREBALL: "After seeing the September 13th New Mexico fireball on spaceweather.com, I was surprised to catch a very bright fireball here in Texas just two nights later," reports Tom King who operates an all-night, all-sky camera near Watauga, Texas, not far from Dallas/Fort Worth. "In the video, you can see where the meteor is bright enough to illuminate a power poleand trees!"

©Watauga Skies Observatory

Star

New Mexico Fireball

On Sept 13th at approximately 3 o'clock in the morning MDT, an extremely bright fireball streaked over New Mexico, "It was terrifying," says eyewitness Susan K. Burgess. "I was stargazing outside my house near Santa Fe when the landscape started becoming very bright, as if a brilliant full moon was quickly rising from the southwest. The fireball itself [slowly moved] over the house and disintegrated with a great deal of scatter in the northwest sky."

At the Sandia National Labs in Albuquerque, a Sentinel all-sky video camera captured the fireball in flight.