Fire in the SkyS


Meteor

Asteroid's Record-Breaking Brush with Earth Changed It Forever

Tariq Malik
SPACE.com
Wed, 23 Feb 2011 12:22 UTC
asteroid 2011 CQ1
© CREDIT: NASA/JPLThis NASA graphic depicts the new flight path and trajectory of asteroid 2011 CQ1 after its Feb. 4, 2011 encounter with Earth. The tiny asteroid flew within 3,400 miles (5,471 kilometers) of Earth – a new record.

A tiny asteroid that zipped by Earth this month made the closest-ever approach to our planet without hitting it, an encounter that changed its place in our solar system forever, NASA scientists say.

The asteroid, called 2011 CQ1, came within 3,400 miles (5,471 kilometers) of Earth on Feb. 4. Astronomers with NASA's Near-Earth Object office now say the flyby set a record for a space rock.

"This object, only about 1 meter in diameter, is the closest non-impacting object in our asteroid catalog to date," wrote astronomers Don Yeomans and Paul Chodas in a post-flyby analysis. Both scientists work in the NEO office, at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
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Meteor

US: Astronomers Investigating Meteor-Like Object Over Colorado

Mark Yoder
9News
Tue, 22 Feb 2011 22:09 UTC
Denver - No one is exactly sure what it was, but many people saw it on Tuesday.

9NEWS started receiving reports of a bright light in the sky over Colorado around 6 p.m. Tuesday. The description of what people saw and the location in the sky varies, but it was seen be numerous people along the Front Range.

Jenny Murphy described it on the 9NEWS Facebook page as "a meteor just north of Lafayette! Reddish with a purple hue from my angle."

Kelly O'Hara Buccino said, "I saw it driving home, it looked like a fire cracker... blue light with green sparkles... it was crazy!"
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Bizarro Earth

U.S. Must Take Space Storm Threat Seriously, Experts Warn

Clara Moskowitz
Space.com
Sat, 19 Feb 2011 13:33 UTC
solar flare
© NASA/SDO/GFSCAn X2.2 flare erupted from the sun's active region 1158 (at lower right) at about 0150 UT or 8:50 pm ET on Feb. 14, 2011.
Washington - Space weather could pose serious problems here on Earth in the coming years, the chief of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said Saturday (Feb. 19).

A severe solar storm has the potential to take down telecommunications and power grids, and the country needs to work on being better prepared, said NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenco here at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Lubchenco is also the U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere.

"This is not a matter of if, it's simply a matter of when and how big," Lubchenco said of the potential for a dangerous solar flare. "We have every reason to expect we're going to be seeing more space weather in the coming years, and it behooves us to be smart and be prepared."
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Meteor

Second Bright Fireball In Ten Days Observed Over Italy


lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com
Sat, 19 Feb 2011 08:21 UTC
Image
© Ferruccio Zanotti/Italian Meteor and TLE Network 2011 Fireball 2011.02.18_18.23.42 ± 1 U.T.
Just ten days previously another bright fireball was recorded on the night of February 8th:

Bright Fireball Seen Over Italy

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Sun

Earth Dodges Geomagnetic Storm: Scientist


Raw Story
Thu, 17 Feb 2011 19:19 UTC
solar flare
© unknown
A wave of charged plasma particles from a huge solar eruption has glanced off the Earth's northern pole, lighting up auroras and disrupting some radio communications, a NASA scientist said.

But the Earth appears to have escaped a widespread geomagnetic storm, with the effects confined to the northern latitudes, possibly reaching down into Norway and Canada.

"There can be sporadic outages based on particular small-scale events," said Dean Persnell, project scientist at NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory at Goddard Space Flight Center.

He told AFP the official forecast is "for generally quiet conditions today, perhaps some minor storming tomorrow, but nothing extraordinary."

The event began Tuesday at 0156 GMT with a spectacular solar eruption in a sunspot the size of Jupiter that produced a Class X flash -- the most powerful of all solar events.

The eruption blasted a torrent of charged plasma particles called a coronal mass ejection (CME) toward Earth at about 560 miles per second (900 kilometers per second), the Solar Dynamics Observatory reported.

A direct hit from a CME could trigger a huge geomagnetic storm as incoming particles bounce off the Earth's geomagnetic field, blacking out radio communications, interfering with GPS navigational systems, in theory even causing power outages.
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Meteor

Closest Ever View of a Comet: NASA Spacecraft Flies Just 112 Miles From Tempel 1

Graham Smith and Daniel Bates
Daily Mail, UK
Tue, 15 Feb 2011 20:13 UTC
Image
© NASA/JPLThis photo shows an image from NASA's Stardust mission of comet Tempel 1 taken on February 14
Nasa today used one of its craft to revisit a comet at close range for the first time in the history of space exploration.

The vessel Stardust flew within 112 miles of the Tempel 1 comet as it hurtled past at 24,000 miles an hour at 4.37am this morning.

Scientists confirmed the encounter, which took place 210million miles from Earth, had been a success 25 minutes later and that Stardust had taken 72 high-resolution pictures as planned.

It has now begun beaming back pictures taken during its fly-by. Nasa's Chris Jones said all the images are stored on the craft and it will take another six hours for everything to be downloaded.

The photos will let researchers compare how Tempel 1 looks now with its appearance in 2005 when a probe from the Deep Impact craft was deliberated slammed into it.
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Meteor

Canada: Streaking Asteroid Fireball Sets Morning Skyline Alight Over Calgary

Lea Storry
Calagary Herald
Wed, 16 Feb 2011 13:11 UTC
Canadian Fireball
© University of Calgary, Calgary HeraldA frame of video of a streaking asteroid captured by the University of Calgary's all sky camera. The fireball as recorded lasted for approximately three seconds occurring from 6:55:20 to 6:55:23 AM MST on Monday February 14th.

Space gave Canada a Valentine's Day rock on Monday when a piece of asteroid lit up the Calgary morning skyline.

Niel Beckie was travelling westbound on Glenmore Trail just under Crowchild Trail around 6: 55 a.m. when he saw a flash.

Beckie said he witnessed a very large blue-green fireball that broke into pieces before fading out.

"It lasted about five or six seconds," noted Beckie.

"It was unique and doesn't look like a fireworks. I was curious if anyone else had seen it."
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Meteor

Rare daytime fireball lights up East Coast skies

Mike Wall
space.com
Tue, 15 Feb 2011 10:13 UTC
A rare daytime fireball lit up the sky over much of the eastern United States on Monday, causing necks to crane and jaws to drop from Maryland to Massachusetts.

The fireball burned bright at around 12:35 p.m. ET or so, according to news reports. The wide region of visibility and its unmistakeable brightness make the fireball a unique event for lucky skywatchers, experts say.

"Not very common," said Joe Rao, Space.com's skywatching columnist. "Indeed, this was a very rare event."

Rao said he could only remember one other event like Monday's, when a daytime meteor was widely seen across a broad swath of land - and that happened in 1972, over the central U.S. and Canada.
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Sun

Sun erupts with mightiest solar flare in 4 years

Clara Moskowitz
space.com
Tue, 15 Feb 2011 14:37 UTC
Image
© NASAAn ultraviolet image from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows Monday's X-class flare erupting from the sun. It was the largest flare since Dec. 6, 2006, NASA said.
Explosion hurls massive wave of charged particles into space, toward Earth

The sun unleashed its strongest solar flare in four years Monday night, hurling a massive wave of charged particles from electrified gas into space and toward Earth.

The solar storm sent a flash of radiation that hit Earth in a matter of minutes. Now a huge cloud of charged particles is headed our way. These coronal mass ejections, as they are called, typically take about 24 hours or more to arrive. They can spark spectacular displays of the aurora borealis, or northern lights, at high latitudes and sometimes even into the northern United States.

The mega flare, which registered as a Class X2.2 flare on the scale of solar flares, was the first class X flare to occur in the new solar cycle of activity, which began last year. The sun is now ramping up toward a solar maximum around 2013.
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Meteor

Blast from the Past: Did mystery object cause Morpeth, UK rumble?

John Dawson
Morpeth Journal Live
Fri, 11 Feb 2011 12:59 UTC
Image
© UnknownMorpeth Station
It was just after 7pm on Tuesday, January 18, 1977, when houses were shaken over a wide area of Northumberland by a mystery object. The effect was felt as far apart as Stakeford, North Seaton, Morpeth, Ulgham and Whalton.

People described how their homes were shaken violently, with doors banging and windows rattling. The noise was compared to thunder by some, while others said it sounded like snow falling off the roof, but there was no snow on the roof.

Others said the noise sounded like bricks being dumped outside the house. A policeman who lived near Morpeth Railway Station thought there had been a train crash when he heard the noise.

However, a group of youngsters playing in the street at the police houses at the Kylins, Morpeth, saw a mystery flying object glowing in the sky. It was said to be a bright yellow ball and when it went bang, it went over the area quite quickly.
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