Fire in the SkyS


Meteor

Meteor explodes above Devon, England, blast wave blows open police station doors, tremors felt across wide area

Police in Devon were inundated with calls after a loud bang shook the earth and left people frightened just after 4pm on Thursday.

Police say they initially thought there had been a mini-earthquake, but calls to the British Geological Survey proved that wasn't the case.

The BGS suggested it was more likely to have been the sonic boom caused by a meteor passing through the earth's atmosphere.

A police spokesman said: "We received a number of calls just after 4pm on Thursday from people reporting a loud bang and shaking.

"There were reports of crockery shaking and similar disturbance.

"According to the BGS it is likely to have been caused by a meteor sonic boom."

According to the BBC, doors were blown open at a police station in South Devon.

Fireball 4

Best of the Web: Fragmentation and Sonics! Northern California Fireball Meteor +19'42 PDT 17OCT2012 - Unrelated to the Orionids

MBIQ indicates that a meteor was seen minutes ago over California on 17OCT2012 at 07'42 pm. The meteor appears to be slow-moving sporatic fireball meteor and NOT related to the Orionids meteor shower. The meteor fragmented with sonics and is a very good candidate for a meteorite producing event.


CHP and local San Mateo County police radio traffic about a meteor in the San Francisco Bay Area meteor on October 17, 2012:


Comment: See our SOTT Focus: Meteorite Impacts Earth in Minden, Louisiana - Media and Government Cover It Up


Meteor

Fireball Seen in Northern California

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a picture of the fireball seen over California last night
Sightings of a fireball streaking through the sky have been reported this evening up and down the Central Valley and in the Bay Area.

"We've had a lot of calls about people who have seen a big fireball," said Stefanie Henry, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sacramento. "The speculation is that it's part of the Orionid meteor shower that peaks about Oct. 21."

People reported seeing the fireball between about 7:45 and 7:55 p.m. Henry said the reports were of a single fireball.

Comment: Fireballs are falling left right and center lately and they cannot all be attributed to "regularly scheduled" meteor showers. For example, another very recent event here.

Or check out Joe Quinn's comparison between a typical meteoroid from a meteor shower, and what was seen last night over California.


Fireball

SOTT Focus: Meteorite Impacts Earth in Minden, Louisiana - Media and Government Cover It Up

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© Sott.net
Many scientists are quite happy to talk openly about a 'sixth extinction' being underway for the past 10,000 years or so because they blame humans for it. Blaming humans carries with it the anthropocentric implication that we are in some way immune to sudden extinction and can do something about the extinction of other species, if only we would change our 'global warming' ways! The true facts of the history of life on earth, however, suggest that, from 'nature's' point of view, humans are just one more species whose days are also numbered. Indeed, the historical record shows that nature has, time and again, proven itself very adept and creative at resetting the clock on even the most 'advanced' civilizations.

For those who don't want to read any further (or be confronted with the evidence), the nitty gritty is that, over the past few years, the celestial signs, in the form of an increasing number of meteorites/comet fragments invading our not-so-rarefied atmosphere, point to humanity being on the verge of an 'extinction-level event'.

Louisiana Explosion - Just one more in a long list

Sott.net has been tracking the startling increase in reports of meteorite/comet fragment sightings and impacts for at least 8 years, and there have been many hundreds of such reports in that time period. This alone should give us cause for concern. Check out the above link to get an idea of just how frequent meteorite/comet fragment sightings have become. Of course, you might say that this apparent increase could just be the result of us paying more attention, but the numbers don't lie. For example, browsing the right bar links on the above Sott.net blog, you'll notice that in 2004, 2005 and 2006, reports were consolidated into two month periods, and there were, on average, less than 10 sightings over that 2-month period. By contrast, in 2008, reports were plentiful enough to begin collating them into monthly records and, since then, their number has increased steadily.

Coming back to the present; over the past few days, several reports of meteorite/comet fragment sightings and impacts across the globe have been registered. However, I want to look at one specific event that occurred two days ago on Monday 15th October.

Comet

Large bright fireball with orange-green tail breaks apart over Queensland, Australia, 29 August 2012

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© 2012 Stan "Ignite"Artist's rendition of Queensland meteor event on 20 August 2012
Eyewitness reports

29 Aug 2012 - Ann Tanner and Alfie Coghill, Brisbane, Queensland 8.15pm
Less than 5 seconds' visibility, facing North. North - East direction. Bright white ball of fire, brighter than the moon. Large, round, white ball of fire, dropped at speed from the sky. Biggest shooting star I've ever seen!
29 Aug 2012 - Jak Yeppoon, Capricorn Coast, Queensland, Australia 20.20pm/aest
4 seconds - Went behind mountain. North - West. I was facing West. Very bright green and an orange tail at the end. As bright as a weld flash solid... clean line, amazing.
29 Aug 2012 - Michael Klazema & Lisa Eroshkin Mackay, Queensland, Australia 20:15 EST
3/4 sec - NE-SW. White fireball with a short white tail with debris of green and orange bits falling off. Very large bright star. On its travel a short distance from the horizon there appeared to be a short break in the light but reappeared instantaneously before fading out on the horizon.

Fireball 2

Slow-moving blue-orange fireball reported over Lincolnshire, England

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© File photo
Amateur stargazer Nigel Booth spotted what he believes was a meteor burning up over Grantham last night.

Nigel and his wife Debbie, of East Street, saw the round orange and blue light moving across the sky for almost three minutes - before it disappeared.

Nigel told granthampeople: "The sky was really clear so we went for a walk along our street, which doesn't have lights, shortly after 9.30pm.

"We were facing north and saw a largish, slow-moving, orange and blue coloured light at about a 60 degree angle from the earth.

"We watched if for between two and three minutes moving across the sky from the west to east, and then it faded out.

"It was really easy to see with the naked eye.

"It wasn't a comet, as it didn't have a tail, and it's unlikely to have been a satellite falling to earth or it would be all over the national news.

"I reckon it was a meteor."

Comet 2

Orionid meteor shower to light up night skies this weekend

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© Jeff BerkesAstrophotographer Jeff Berkes snapped this amazing photo of an Orionid meteor streaking above a lake in Elverson, Pa., on Oct. 22, 2011, during the peak of the annual Orionid meteor shower.
If it's clear outside, expect a dazzling show from debris shed by Halley's Comet

A meteor shower spawned by history's most famous comet will peak this weekend, and the show could be dazzling for observers with clear skies, experts say.

The Orionid meteor shower will reach its zenith overnight from Saturday to Sunday as Earth plows through debris shed by Halley's Comet on its path around the sun. The most impressive display should come a few hours before dawn Sunday, when our planet hits the densest patch of Halley's detritus.

"Flakes of comet dust hitting the atmosphere should give us dozens of meteors per hour," Bill Cooke, head of the Meteoroid Environment Office at NASA's Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., said in a statement.

The moon will be just five days removed from its new phase on Saturday night, and it won't show up in the pre-dawn skies early Sunday. So bright moonlight shouldn't drown out many streaking meteors this weekend, researchers said.

Fireball 3

Meteor with a long gold tail blazes across Alberta, Canada, 15 October 2012

Initial Reports:

15 OCT 2012 Liz, Jen, Brian, EDMONTON NW, ALBERTA, CANADA 00:45:00 -7:00
1-3 sec, North - East, right to left. White-blue, very bright, fast, lit up minor cloud cover, passed beyond, disappeared behind houseline. High intensity, flare/spotlight. No noise, but very, very bright. Mistaken for a movie-status weapon of war by companions.
15 OCT 2012 - Helen Simchak, Fort Mcmurray, Alberta, Canada 00:40 MDT
5 seconds, left to right. Long gold tail, extremely bright, no sound, no noticeable fragments. I've never seen anything like it!

Fireball 4

Best of the Web: Update! Meteor impacts Louisiana, explosion causes damage to nearby buildings, cover-up swings into operation

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© Kristi Johnston/The TimesWebster Parish sheriff's deputies set up on scene on Elmo Burton Loop this morning in search of what caused the ground to shake across northwest Louisiana late Monday night.
Northwest Louisiana authorities are investigating the source of whatever shook people's residences and businesses about 11:40 p.m. Monday. The Webster sheriff's office now is entertaining the possibility that it may have been a meteorite, possibly in the Dixie Inn area. There have been a large number of reports stating that they saw something come down instead of something blow up, a spokesman said.

And a woman reported hearing what sounded like debris hit a shop on Bellevue Road in the Dixie Inn area. If it was a meteorite, that would fall to NASA and the Air Force to investigate. A spokeswoman for Barksdale Air Force Base public affairs said that the installation is investigating and that whatever the source, it didn't originate at the base.

Webster authorities still don't know what it was or where it hit, Sheriff Gary Sexton just said. Thermal-imaging cameras showed nothing off Elmo Burton Loop near Dixie Inn, but helicopters are expected to be in the air this morning to survey the area along U.S. 80 and Interstate 20 for the cause of what caused the ground to shake.

Comment: Damage control has swung into operation:

Webster S.O. confirms bunker explosion at Camp Minden
Webster Parish, Louisiana (KSLA) - Webster Parish Sheriff Gary Sexton says hazmat experts tell him the underground bunker containing explosives that blew up late Monday night at Camp Minden worked exactly as it was designed to do.

Sexton describes the bunker, in the "L-1 area," as an "igloo," constructed of concrete. He says they were built in the 50s. The underground bunkers are designed to send any blast up instead of out to lessen the shock wave impact. No one was injured.

The force of the explosion was felt across a wide area just before 11:40 p.m. Monday, with reports of people feeling the blast from Minden to Shreveport and well beyond. The explosion site was discovered right at sun-up.

The National Weather Service later issued a statement describing radar imagery showing a debris/smoke plume right around 11:30 p.m. approximately one and one half miles southwest of Dixie Inn, which is where the Camp Minden Louisiana Army Ammunition Plant is located. The NWS says the debris plume drifted northwest at about 10 miles per hour and dissipated after about 30 minutes.

Webster Chief Deputy Bobby Igo says the bunker belongs to a company called Explo Systems, Inc. A news conference was scheduled for 9 a.m. to be held by officials from Explo was pushed to 11 a.m., but that was canceled at the last minute with no explanation given.

When reached by phone, Explo Chief Operations Officer Terri Wright would only say he had no comment. Neither Explo nor authorities have said yet what kind of explosives were stored in the bunker.

State Police, the Webster Parish Sheriff's Office and the military will investigate exactly what caused the explosion.

Webster Sheriff Gary Sexton says there are numerous reports of collateral damage, mostly consisting of broken windows. But he says there has been some structural damage.

Earlier in the morning, Sexton said there was a "possibility that a meteor did hit the ground" in the area, but that theory was put to rest with the confirmation of the blast at the Camp Minden bunker.

The event resulted in a flood of phone calls to the Webster Parish Sheriff's Office, as well as to the KSLA News 12 newsroom.

KSLA News 12 viewer Shana Levick tells us she was driving on I-20 by Dixie Inn when she saw the sky light up a bright orange color. She said she could see what appeared to be small fire sparks above the tree lines.

Callers are also reporting seeing a bright light flash in the sky when they heard the boom.
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Well now, this is interesting. Initially reported as being a possible meteor strike, we're now hearing that this explosion in Louisiana was the result of a planned explosion at an old underground bunker at 11.30pm on a Monday night. If that was really so, why did buildings in nearby downtown Minden sustain blast damage? Once again, U.S. authorities are spinning as fast as they can to cover up for the cosmic threat.

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© Minden Press Herald
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The U.S. government isn't alone, however. Just last week a massive explosion caused a mushroom cloud in southern Russia. It was blamed on an accident, "probably caused by a lit cigarette" (yeah right!), as some 4,000 tonnes of soon-to-be decommissioned munitions were supposedly being unloaded from a train at a remote military base. Injuries were initially reported but then this was retracted, leaving no on-site injuries where surely there should have been at least a few, especially given that windows were shattered on buildings in towns located up to 40 km away.

We had been wondering whether or not this Russian "munitions accident" was covering up for an overhead airburst caused by an incoming meteor or cometary fragment ... and now something rather similar has happened in southern U.S. one week later!

Update 2:

Local news station is now reporting that a debris cloud was picked up on radar images. One eyewitness also reported 'meteor ash' falling to the ground ...


Camp Minden 'Debris Plume' photo:

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© NOAA



Fireball 2

Did multiple fireballs explode over Baraboo, Wisconsin on 5 April AND 4 August 2012?


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Comment: Unexplained lights, noises appear again in Baraboo - 4 August 2012

Can meteors strike the same area twice within such a short timespan?

Yes, apparently they can...

Radar Dopppler images confirm overhead 'turbulence' cause of 2011 mass bird death case in Beebe, Arkansas

Meteoric Deja-vu: Exactly one year later, dead blackbirds fall again in Beebe, Arkansas

...even six times!

'Alien' meteorites hit Bosnian man's house six times