It Wasn't A Bird. Was It A Plane? A Massive Piece Of Hail? An Ice Comet?
Brush, Colorado -- The mystery continues in Brush after something fell from the sky and crashed through Danelle Hagan's kitchen.
Initially, most involved thought it came from a plane, likely that so-called "blue ice" that sometimes falls from commercial airliners.
There are now several new theories, including the possibility it may have been an "ice comet."
The Discovery Channel is investigating that possibility for an upcoming show set to air this spring.
Construction crews are working to restore Hagan's kitchen. It's an older home, so restoration crews had to clean up some asbestos before crews could start rebuilding.
It happened two months ago, on Nov. 14. Hagan and her 8-year-old daughter were at home in the living room when they heard what they thought was an explosion in the kitchen. It turns out a basketball-sized chunk of ice crashed through her kitchen ceiling -- destroying everything in its path.
Fire in the Sky
(meteorobs) Nov 6, 2008 Starksboro, Vermont T
About 4:30 am in Starksboro Vermont on Thursday Nov 6, 2008 I was driving
north to work and my attention was drawn away from the road to the west
where I saw the longest ,brightest tail and a bright green ball that
exploded! It is dark on this highway and our airport in Burlington has very
little traffic. I walk out of my door in Lincoln Vermont at about 4:15 am
and have seen several bright shooting stars lately so I was not surprised at
what I saw but this was huge in the sky. When I entered the nearest town
there was a traffic light that was green at the time and I thought that it
was close to the size of the exploding ball I saw. I have no doubt of what I
saw but I am glad to hear others describing similar sightings. I was just
screaming with excitement - what a sight to see!
The above message is what I sent to Carl Hergenrother. The tail was going
across the sky not 'falling down'. It reminded me of a comet that I saw in
the Pasadena area back in the 1980's during the time when we were taking
trips to the desert to see Haley's comet. I saw the Perseid showers for the
first time then and have been looking up ever since! The explosion was a
real surprise that I did not expect to see.
Anne Parfitt
Lincon, Vermont
About 4:30 am in Starksboro Vermont on Thursday Nov 6, 2008 I was driving
north to work and my attention was drawn away from the road to the west
where I saw the longest ,brightest tail and a bright green ball that
exploded! It is dark on this highway and our airport in Burlington has very
little traffic. I walk out of my door in Lincoln Vermont at about 4:15 am
and have seen several bright shooting stars lately so I was not surprised at
what I saw but this was huge in the sky. When I entered the nearest town
there was a traffic light that was green at the time and I thought that it
was close to the size of the exploding ball I saw. I have no doubt of what I
saw but I am glad to hear others describing similar sightings. I was just
screaming with excitement - what a sight to see!
The above message is what I sent to Carl Hergenrother. The tail was going
across the sky not 'falling down'. It reminded me of a comet that I saw in
the Pasadena area back in the 1980's during the time when we were taking
trips to the desert to see Haley's comet. I saw the Perseid showers for the
first time then and have been looking up ever since! The explosion was a
real surprise that I did not expect to see.
Anne Parfitt
Lincon, Vermont
© Courtesy FAA
A meteor was captured on this weather webcam falling past Muldoon into the Chugach Mountains Sunday morning.
A meteor was captured on this weather webcam falling past Muldoon into the Chugach Mountains Sunday morning.
Tower officials at Merrill Field say a bright object, caught on a Federal Aviation Administration weather webcam, fell from the sky east of Muldoon.
Elmendorf Air Force Base and NORAD confirm it was a meteor, streaking through the sky and crashing into the Chugach Mountains. They say we're in the midst of a meteor shower -- the third one this week.
Doug Peltz, a science teacher at LePort Upper Elementary & Jr. High, says he saw a bright fireball (meteor) Sunday night from Irvine and is wondering whether others saw the same thing. He's reported the sighting to Orange County Astronomers, one of the country's largest amateur astronomy groups. (Numerous other readers say they saw something. Check Comments below.)
Peltz said in an email that, "At 9:39 p.m. (Sunday, Jan. 10), from East Irvine (Portola Springs), I just witnessed the brightest fireball I've ever seen! It lit up the whole sky, such that my wife at first thought it was lightning.
"Definitely bright blue in color, and it streaked from between Castor & Pollux (Gemini) and Mars. Tracing the path backwards, it seemed to me that its radiant point was perhaps the constellation Auriga. I even heard a crackling sound as it streaked.
Peltz said in an email that, "At 9:39 p.m. (Sunday, Jan. 10), from East Irvine (Portola Springs), I just witnessed the brightest fireball I've ever seen! It lit up the whole sky, such that my wife at first thought it was lightning.
"Definitely bright blue in color, and it streaked from between Castor & Pollux (Gemini) and Mars. Tracing the path backwards, it seemed to me that its radiant point was perhaps the constellation Auriga. I even heard a crackling sound as it streaked.
A meteor crashing through the Earth's atmosphere could be responsible for sightings of a fireball over Montreal Thursday night, astronomers said.
Montrealer Humberto Dramasino witnessed the sight as he was driving home in the city's St-Laurent district around 7:30 p.m.
"I saw a fireball just below the clouds," Dramasino said. "It was losing pieces in the air while it was flying and it was very, very fast."
The spectacle lasted no more than a few seconds, Dramasino said.
Montreal-based astronomer Andrew Fazekas, who runs the website thenightskyguy.com, confirmed the description of the object matched that of a meteor.
Fazekas said he received reports of the fireball from at least five others, including from as far away as Saint-Eustache, about 30 kilometres north of Montreal.
Montrealer Humberto Dramasino witnessed the sight as he was driving home in the city's St-Laurent district around 7:30 p.m.
"I saw a fireball just below the clouds," Dramasino said. "It was losing pieces in the air while it was flying and it was very, very fast."
The spectacle lasted no more than a few seconds, Dramasino said.
Montreal-based astronomer Andrew Fazekas, who runs the website thenightskyguy.com, confirmed the description of the object matched that of a meteor.
Fazekas said he received reports of the fireball from at least five others, including from as far away as Saint-Eustache, about 30 kilometres north of Montreal.
© Barcroft
Astro-photogrpaher Wally Pacholka captured the annual cosmic fireworks show under dark and clear skies on Monday.
The meteor shower has been growing in intensity in recent decades and was enhanced this year by it falling in a nearly moonless week.
Sightings of a rare daylight "fireball" - thought to be a meteor - was seen flashing over the Wisbech skies.
A meteor which has passed through Earth's atmosphere is known as a meteorite, and experts say pieces of the space rock could now be scattered across a Fenland field.
It was spotted by Jimmy Greenwood, who was driving along the A47 just outside Wisbech at about 1.15pm on Saturday. The 45-year-old, from Upwell, said: "I've never seen anything like it. It was about four houses high and burning white. It went straight across quickly, into a field and disappeared. It had a vapour trail. It was unbelievable."
A meteor which has passed through Earth's atmosphere is known as a meteorite, and experts say pieces of the space rock could now be scattered across a Fenland field.
It was spotted by Jimmy Greenwood, who was driving along the A47 just outside Wisbech at about 1.15pm on Saturday. The 45-year-old, from Upwell, said: "I've never seen anything like it. It was about four houses high and burning white. It went straight across quickly, into a field and disappeared. It had a vapour trail. It was unbelievable."
A motorist travelling towards Lynn was amazed when he saw a flame-spewing UFO shoot across the sky and then disappear before his eyes.
Jimmy Greenwood (45) is convinced the flying object, about the size of a football, was a meteorite, but is appealing to Lynn News readers to help him find out for sure.
Mr Greenwood was driving along the A47, just outside of Wisbech, at around 12:45pm on Saturday when he saw a bright white light travel across the sky with flames coming out behind it.
He said: "I was on my way to see my daughter. It was snowing and I was driving around 35 to 40mph. I saw this really bright light over the fields to my right for about two to three seconds and then it just burned away. It looked like a firework rocket and was moving really quickly.
Jimmy Greenwood (45) is convinced the flying object, about the size of a football, was a meteorite, but is appealing to Lynn News readers to help him find out for sure.
Mr Greenwood was driving along the A47, just outside of Wisbech, at around 12:45pm on Saturday when he saw a bright white light travel across the sky with flames coming out behind it.
He said: "I was on my way to see my daughter. It was snowing and I was driving around 35 to 40mph. I saw this really bright light over the fields to my right for about two to three seconds and then it just burned away. It looked like a firework rocket and was moving really quickly.
Witnesses in Beijing and nearby Tianjin recorded a clearly visible fireball-like meteorite descending near the west horizon of Beijing at 10:23 pm on Dec 16.
The surveillance camera from the planetarium taped a 2-second footage of the fall phenomena, in which a bright shooting star, carrying a visible tail, flew towards the east and exploded into greater brightness before disappearing on the horizon.
"We were at Jianxiangqiao Bridge when driving west-bound on the North Fourth Ring Road when we caught sight of the brightness moving to the southeast," Li Xin, a researcher with the Beijing Planetarium, wrote on the organization's online forum before posting the surveillance video right after the witness.
"The brightness of the meteor was close to a full moon," he wrote. "If this meteorite can be recovered, it can become one of the biggest discoveries in Beijing."
© Unknown
Location of Sighting: Rudheath, Cheshire
Date of Sighting: 16th December 2009
Time: 6:15
I was driving through Rudheath, Cheshire on Wednesday 16th December at approx 6.15 and was in traffic when I saw what I can only describe as a huge fireball. At first I thought it was an aeroplane on fire. It was hovering in the sky to my right very low, about the height of 2 or 3 houses then it moved right in front of me. It hovered there for perhaps 30 seconds then shot off southbound traveling higher and higher until it went totally out of sight.
