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Fire in the SkyS
A space radar picked up the sounds of a meteor shower as it delighted skywatchers over the weekend.
What do meteors sounds like as they hit Earth's atmosphere? From this recording made by the U.S. Air Force Space Surveillance Radar in Texas, the "pings" from the Perseid Meteor Shower sound rather alien! The radar station in Lake Kickapoo, Texas is part of United States Strategic Command's (USSTRATCOM), which involves detecting, tracking, cataloging and identifying artificial objects orbiting Earth, such as both active and inactive satellites, spent rocket bodies, or fragments of debris from natural and man-made objects. Reportedly, the radar can detect objects as small as 10 cm (four inches) at heights up to 30,000 km.
Sometimes photographers just happen to be in the right place at the right time to capture that magic moment.
If you are a Nasa astronaut you find yourself in that position a little more often that amateur stargazers so Ron Garan makes good use of his camera on duty to help us earthbound folk share in some of his special experiences.
He took this stunning photograph of a Perseid meteor bursting into the earth's atmosphere through a window of the International Space Station on Sunday during the annual Perseid meteor shower.
The astronaut posted his snap to Twitter with the message: 'What a "Shooting Star" looks like #FromSpace Taken yesterday during Perseids Meteor Shower...'
If you are a Nasa astronaut you find yourself in that position a little more often that amateur stargazers so Ron Garan makes good use of his camera on duty to help us earthbound folk share in some of his special experiences.
He took this stunning photograph of a Perseid meteor bursting into the earth's atmosphere through a window of the International Space Station on Sunday during the annual Perseid meteor shower.
© NASA/Ron GaranSnap happy: Nasa astronaut Ron Garan took this photo of a Perseid meteor through a window in the International Space Station.
© Nahum Mendez Chazarra, Rojales, SpainA Perseid through the sky.
Below, see an image take from up above the world so high: astronaut Ron Garan on board the International Space Station captured his view looking down at a Perseid streaking through sky!
© Ron Garan'What a shooting star looks like from space," wrote ISS astronaut Ron Garan on Twitter.
© Unknown
Lauderdale County Emergency Management received a report of a plane possibly crashing Thursday night. But a search has not turned up anything.
There may or may not have been a plane crash in Lauderdale County Thursday night. It's looking increasingly like there was not.
Emergency officials got a call around 10:30 p.m. from someone who believed they saw a plane go down near the Newton- Lauderdale county line.
They spent much of the night searching for the plane, and went back out Friday morning, but did not find anything.
"Just from what he described, and the fact that we had a meteor shower last night during that time frame, I suspect we may be dealing with a meteorite that fell," said Sharp. "I don't know that, but there's no planes missing, anywhere around here. Nobody's reported anyone missing, so I have to believe that's probably what we're dealing with."
A plane from the Mississippi Civil Air Patrol was also called in to check the area, but was not able to come up with anything.
© Reuters/ISS Crew Earth Observations experiment and Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space Center/HandoutThis aurora australis image was taken during a geomagnetic storm that was most likely caused by a coronal mass ejection from the Sun on May 29, 2010 from The International Space Station located over the Southern Indian Ocean at an altitude of 350 kilometers (220 miles) and posted on NASA website June 21, 2010
Everyone is pointing fingers -- at blundering politicians, hooded thugs, disaffected youths, bumbling police and greedy bankers -- but could the cause for all the madness really be the star at the center of our solar system?
There isn't a lot of evidence pointing to little green men involving themselves in Earthly affairs, but the sun has been throwing bursts of highly charged particles into space in a phenomenon known as coronal mass ejections or CMEs.
© unknown
One of the most dazzling shows of the year is upon us, but don't worry - you won't need a ticket to see it live. A front-row view is as close as your own backyard.
The annual Perseid meteor shower takes centre stage this week, painting the night sky with glowing streaks of light. The spectacle begins every year in mid-July and lasts through August, but the best time to take in the show this year is when the meteor shower peaks on Friday night and early Saturday.
Unfortunately, the glare of the full moon will make it hard to see some of the more modest meteors this year. The best viewing time is expected to be just before dawn on Saturday, when the moon will be low in the sky.
The Perseids appear to originate from a point within the constellation Perseus. The number of meteors visible in the sky tends to increase as the night wears on.
According to NASA, more than a dozen meteors per hour were already visible by Tuesday.
© Evening News24, NorwichAn artist's impression of a meteor over Norwich.
Mystery surrounds what made the earth tremble across Norfolk in a bizarre late-night phenomenon.
Experts and amateurs alike believe a sonic boom - triggered by a meteorite or aircraft - caused strange tremors to shake homes and spook pets.
The rattling was reported by people across the county, including Norwich, North Walsham, Gayton, Belton, Cringleford and South Lopham at about 10.30pm on Tuesday.
Jonathan Larter, from Sprowston, said: "I was just going to bed and the house started shaking and doors rumbling as if the wind was blowing through the windows, but they weren't open. I thought it was a ghost outside knocking on my door because I live near a cemetery."
Alan Sharman, from City Road, Norwich, added: "My French doors rattled rather loudly at 10.30-ish. It actually sounded like someone was trying to get in. It woke me up a bit."
It wasn't but a week ago I was observing Comet Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova, which for simplicity we'll call Comet Honda-M-P. It was very low in the southern sky in the early morning hours and a tough catch in the constellation Pisces Austrinus the Southern Fish. Using the "lure" of time, I made two observations - one around midnight and the other at 2 a.m. This way I was able to track and positively identify a faint, round hazy glow that slowly inched across the starfield over the span of two hours. Terry's photo below captures its appearance well.
Sure wasn't much to look at, but finding an old friend is always a pleasure. I last saw the comet back in 2001 and before that in 1995. Honda-M-P is what astronomers call a returning or periodic comet, similar to Halley's Comet but with a much smaller orbit and hence a shorter times between returns. It was discovered by Japanese amateur astronomer Minoru Honda in 1948 and seen at nearly the same time by astronomers Antonin Mrkos and Ludmila Pajdusakova.
© Terry LovejoyComet Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova photographed by Australian amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy on August 5.
© NASAComet Elenin as seen by NASA's STEREO spacecraft on Aug. 6, 2011.
A NASA spacecraft aimed at the sun shifted its unblinking gaze to an approaching comet last week to snap a new photo of the icy object as it flew by.
The image shows the comet Elenin as it passed within 4.3 million miles (7 million kilometers) of one of NASA's twin Stereo sun-watching spacecraft during a series of deep space photo sessions that began on Aug. 1. NASA rolled the Stereo-B satellite to give its instruments a view of the comet flyby, officials said.
From Stereo's observations, the fuzzy comet Elenin can be seen streaking across a small portion of the sky. The comet was seen by Stereo's HI-2 telescope between Aug. 1 to 5, and by the higher resolution HI-1 telescope between Aug. 6 to 12, NASA officials said. Stereo mission scientists planned to take photos for one-hour every day through Aug. 12.
"From August 15 onward, the comet enters the HI-1 telescope's nominal field of view, at which time we should enjoy continuous viewing of the comet," NASA researchers explained in an update posted to the Stereo mission website.
Earth is entering a stream of debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle, source of the annual Perseid meteor shower. International observers are now reporting nearly 20 Perseids per hour, a number that will increase as the shower reaches its peak on August 12-13.
After midnight on August 10th, Marco Langbroek caught this early Perseid flying over his moonlit roof in Leiden, the Netherlands:
On the same night in Dayton, Ohio, photographer John Chumak recorded a flurry of Perseids. "More than 3 dozen bright meteors rained down over my observatory last night!" he says. "Many were brighter than I expected, so there is still a chance for folks to see some Perseids despite the glare of the bright Moon."
After midnight on August 10th, Marco Langbroek caught this early Perseid flying over his moonlit roof in Leiden, the Netherlands:
© Marco LangbroekConditions were very dynamic, with fast moving cloud fields. During a clearing, I captured this Perseid (10 Aug 2011 between 01:28:40 - 01:29:00 UTC) low in the west. Canon EOS 450D + EF 2.8/24mm lens, 800 ISO, 20s exposure, Leiden town center.
Comment: Something wicked this way comes...