Fire in the SkyS


Fireball

Night sky meteor fireball stuns residents of Warwick, Australia

fireball
© Flickr Creative Commons
Social media lit up as bright as the sky last night in Warwick with reports of a large fireball in the eastern sky.

Residents from across the region recounted seeing a bright meteor in the sky towards the Great Diving Range for a few second before it dipped from sight at about 8pm yesterday.

Eyewitness reports indicated the light in the sky was "low and bright".

It's possible the meteor was a remnant of the Perseid meteor shower, one of the brighter meteor showers of the year, which occurs every year between July 17 and August 24.

The shower tends to peak around August 9-13.

Typical rates are about 80 meteors an hour, but in outburst years, such as last year, the rate can be between 150-200 meteors an hour.

The meteor was seen by residents in Warwick and further afield including Leyburn.

Fireball

Meteor fireball streaks over Southern California

Fireball over SO Cal
© Via YouTube/lightvalve
AMS Event 2579 2017 - Meteor streaks over California. Video from South East facing Nest Cam, August 5, 2017 10:01PM 31 seconds


Fireball 2

Meteor fireball flies over central Florida

Central Florida fireball
© Via YouTube/International Meteor Organization
Caught this meteor over Florida i am using 3 Axis 1435-E IP cameras this was the East camera the frame is centered at 125 degrees


Fireball

Asteroid Florence to sweep past Earth on September 1st

Named for Florence Nightingale, asteroid 3122 Florence is the biggest near-Earth object to pass this close since this category of objects was discovered over a century ago! It might be visible in binoculars.
Asteroid 3122 Florence
© StellariumAsteroid 3122 Florence – named for the founder of modern nursing – on August 27 at 11:50 pm CDT as seen from central U.S. Illustration by Eddie Irizarry using Stellarium.
The next attraction coming up in our skies after the spectacular total solar eclipse of August 21 might be an asteroid big enough to be seen in small telescopes, and maybe even in binoculars, as a small, very slow-moving "star." Asteroid 1981 ET3 - also known as 3122 Florence - is a huge space rock at least 2.7 miles (4.35 km) in diameter. According to Paul Chodas at the Center for Near Earth Object Studies:
Florence is the largest asteroid to pass this close to our planet since the first near-Earth asteroid was discovered over a century ago.
Asteroid 3122 Florence will safely pass by our planet on September 1, 2017 at over 18 times the Earth-moon distance. The asteroid will not be visible to the unaided eye. It will, however, become visible in small amateur telescopes by late August, in the course of what will become the closest encounter to Earth by this asteroid since 1890.

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Homeowner who heard a loud bang discovers a 15-inch wide blazing crater in his garden in Appling, Georgia

Meteor hole
A stunned homeowner in Georgia has spoken about the moment a glowing red meteor crashed outside his house, leaving a huge crater.

Jay Sullivent heard a loud bang while he was at home in Appling, and initially thought it was a car crash.

Unable to find a wreckage he took a walk around his lawn before stumbling on a burned circle of grass with smoke rising from it.

The drama happened on July 21.

When he approached, Mr Sullivent discovered the middle was alight, with a pink rock in the middle.


Fireball 5

Experts: Loud bang over Weston, UK may have been comet or asteroid

Comet over Weston, UK
© thewestonmercury.com
A small comet or asteroid could have been the cause of a sudden flash and loud bang over Weston-super-Mare in the early hours of Monday morning

People all over the town, and as far out as Kewstoke and Banwell, reported hearing the noise which made some windows shake at around 1.20am on Monday.

Many reported on social media that they had seen a flash of light before hearing the sudden bang.


Fireball 5

Meteor fireball lights up the skies over western Washington State

Fireball over Washington
© YouTube/Newsflare
Happen to catch that strange fireball ranging across the sky shortly before 10 p.m. on Saturday night? You weren't the only one.

According to the American Meteor Society, there have been 751 reports of the event so far, primarily from Western Washington, but spreading as far south as Eugene, Oregon, as far north as Enderby, British Columbia and as far east as western Idaho. Newsflare.com posted video of the fireball, which occurred at at 9:54 p.m.


Just one person from Whatcom County reported seeing the event to the AMS - a source identified as "CoryA" from northeast of Bellingham near East Axton Road. According to the report, CoryA said, "I wish I hadn't blinked! Saw it, blinked, gone."


Fireball 4

Meteor fireball fragments over southern France

southern France meteor fireball map August 2017
© American Meteor Society (screen capture)AMS Observers map
The American Meteor Society (AMS) has received over 175 reports about a meteor fireball seen over southern France (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Occitanie, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Grand Est and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté) on Friday, August 4th 2017 around 21:11 UT.

The phenomenon was visible from Bordeaux to Marseille, reports South West. On Twitter, several Internet users have expressed their awe at observing the green fireball. An accompanying boom sound was also reported by some according to the AMS.


A webcam also captured the meteor fireball over the Massif Central.


Comment: This video has been uploaded on the American Meteor Society Website. AMS Event: 2563-2017, Report 117061. Location is Marssac-sur-Tarn.




Fireball 3

Orange meteor fireball shocks skywatchers in New South Wales

Orange fireball over Australia
© David Sunter
A Tweed resident was dazzled as he captured on film the moment a meteorite flashed across the skies last week in Northern NSW.

David Sunter was working on a rooftop at Serene Retirement Living, Tweed Heads, on Wednesday when he saw a bright meteor burn through the sky just after sunrise, at about 6am.

Mr Sunter filmed the passage of the fiery tail as it cut through the empty sky beyond Point Danger, NSW.

"I looked out above the awning and I seen this strange light in the sky and I thought it was a flare," Mr Sunter said.

Comment: You can watch video of the event here.


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Meteorite crashes into field in Rajasthan, India

It is the 14th meteorite incident reported in Rajasthan. The meteorite weighed around 2.23 kg had fallen on June 6 in a field near Bhankrota had created a 43 cm round and 15 cm deep pit.
Meteorite
© News Nation BureauScientist confirms rock that fell in Rajasthan is meteorite. (Representative Photo)
The scientist has confirmed a rock like an object which had fallen in Mukundpura village was a meteorite. Meteorites are solid extra terrestrial material that survived passage through the Earth's atmosphere and landed on Earth.

It is the 14th meteorite incident reported in Rajasthan. The meteorite weighed around 2.23 kg had fallen on June 6 in a field near Bhankrota had created a 43 cm round and 15 cm deep pit.