Fire in the SkyS


Question

What's that sound? Mysterious Boom!


The Portland Tribune
Mon, 29 Mar 2010 03:03 UTC
That big boom heard Sunday night near the Sellwood Bridge that's got Facebook and Twitter all lit up could have been a pipe bomb.

Portland police said Monday afternoon that investigators from the police bureau's Explosives Disposal Unit discovered what appeared to be evidence of a large pipe bomb that had been detonated in Powers Marine Park.

Comment: The Google Map linked from above shows that the "Boom" could be heard in a very large area of 30km diameter. For this, it surely must have been a very large bomb, and it would have left traces somewhere. If the firefighters were "unable to find anything that could have caused the explosion", and "no property was damaged" maybe there was another cause?

No cover up to see here folks, just move along please! Oh look, a terrorist!

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Meteor

Cosmic fireworks over US, April 7: Fireball reports from Pennsylvania and Michigan


Latest Worldwide Meteor/Meteorite News
Tue, 06 Apr 2010 10:20 UTC
How to report a North American meteor observation?

Fireball Report Form. Have you seen an extremely bright meteor? Share your sighting with others across the globe by filling out our fireball report form.

View the meteor reports here!

RE: [Meteorite-List] Michigan Fireball 10:15pm reported
posted by Mike Bandli
I show two reports stating due north of Buffalo. If this is correct, then the ASGARD camera network may have captured it (a la Grimsby).
Re: [meteorite-list] Michigan Fireball 10:15pm, reported by LAWISFICTION
I was wondering if I am the only one who saw the blue ball streaking through the sky just after 10:00pm here in Western Connecticut.. it also had a red tail and looked like it was a northwest trajectory ... this had a glimmering red tail ... is this the same meteor as seen in Michigan ???

Anonymous ": I just saw a huge meteor falling in Michigan about 10:15 tonight. It had a giant blue ball with a red tail. It fell north of 30 mile road around I94 or west of 94. Anyone else see anything?
Another fireball reported in Pennsylvania

Wednesday, April 7, 2010 11:32 AM, by MIke Antonelli on Meteorite-List
Just got a call from an eye witness, saw a large fireball travelin from southeast to northwest @ 10:10 pm...No sonic boom reports yet...
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Question

Australia: Bureau of Meteorology images show mysterious patterns on radar system

Richard Noone
The Daily Telegraph
Fri, 02 Apr 2010 17:17 UTC
Image
One of the radar images that show mysterious patterns. Image: Bureau of Meteorology
They are the digital-age equivalent of crop circles - mysterious patterns appearing on the Bureau of Meteorology's national radar system without any explanation.

And the random images described as red stars, rings of fire and white doughnuts are sending online conspiracy websites into meltdown.

The anomalies first began on January 15 when an "iced doughnut" appeared over Kalgoorlie in WA.
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Meteor

US: Florida couple questions green fireball under 1,500 feet: Meteor or UFO?

Roger Marsh
UFO Examiner
Wed, 31 Mar 2010 18:41 UTC
Green fireball illustration
© FXhome.comGreen fireball illustration.
A Florida couple is debating what could have been a meteor in the sky at 9:32 p.m. on March 30, 2010, after observing the object as a "green fireball" and under 1,500 feet, according to testimony from the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) database.

"We are long time astronomy fans, and we have seen many meteors," the reporting witness stated. "At the same time, we've never seen a green meteor (made of copper?) We were also both were surprised about how slow the object seemed to move. I'd compare it to the speed of a single engine prop plane, at an altitude of 1000-1500 feet up."

The object was described as the size of a pencil eraser held at arm's length.

The following is the unedited and as yet uninvestigated report filed with MUFON. Please keep in mind that most UFO reports can be explained as something natural or manmade. If Florida MUFON State Director G. Bland Pugh investigates and reports back on this case, I will release an update.
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Meteor

US: Meteorite-like rock strikes near Rist Canyon home


Coloradoan.com
Tue, 30 Mar 2010 13:40 UTC
Roger Hebbert got more than a cake for his 75th birthday this morning; he awoke to find what he believes is a meteorite that struck just 10 feet from his rural Rist Canyon home.

Hebbert's wife, Bonnie, said she heard a loud swooshing sound late Monday night and felt a gust of wind through the house, but she didn't think too much of it because the log-sided home the couple shares is heated by three different sources, including a woodstove.

"I hollered to him and kidded him if he was burning up the house, but he didn't say anything and I went to bed," she said.

Roger awoke around 5:30 this morning, though, and went outside to split wood and found what appears to be about a 10-pound piece of rock that fell to the ground so quickly that it created a funnel in the ground. Several smaller pieces of rock and small holes were found nearby. The rock struck just 10 feet from the couple's home.

The couple has called Colorado State University to see if researchers are interested in looking at the rock, and they hope to find out more.

If this is found to be a meteorite, Bonnie said this will be her second such experience. Nearly 60 years ago, her father returned with a large rock from their property near Livermore, which was a meteorite.
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Meteor

US: Mysterious Loud Boom Rattles Highland Park


CBS Broadcasting Inc
Tue, 30 Mar 2010 21:33 UTC
Officials say a loud boom was heard -- and felt -- in and around Highland Park Tuesday evening but the cause of the noise remains a mystery.

More than an hour after the explosion was heard, firefighters were still unable to determine its cause.

Dozens of calls came in at 8:02 p.m. reporting a "loud sound described by some as an explosion" in the vicinity of North Avenue 52 and Monte Vista
Street, Brian Humphrey of the Los Angeles Fire Department said.

Those hearing the sound included members of a nearby fire station about a half-mile from where the sound seemed to emanate, Humphrey said.

20 firefighters have combed the area looking for anything out of the ordinary, but have come up empty.

Police theorized the sound could have been a backfire, and some people
even theorized a meteorite, Humphrey said.

"It was far louder than anything we have experienced," Humphrey said.
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Meteor

US: No Word On Cause Of Loud Boom In Portland


Fox12
Sun, 28 Mar 2010 22:23 UTC
Oregon - Emergency dispatchers in the Portland area received several reports of a loud boom Sunday evening.

The FOX 12 newsroom also received numerous calls from people reporting what sounded like an explosion. The reports came from as far east as Boring and as far north as Vancouver.

The source of the boom is unknown. Jim Todd, of the Oregon Museum of Science & Industry, said the explosion was likely not a fireball.

"Certainly a fireball can produce such an explosion and be heard for miles in cloudy conditions," Todd said in a news release. "What is missing is the positive visual sighting reports."

Todd said radar has yet to reveal a fireball.

The Portland International Airport did not report anything in the area that would have created a sonic boom.

Representatives with the United States Navy and the Oregon National Guard also said they had no information on what may have caused the noise.

Fort Lewis Army Base and the McChord Air Force base were also unaware of anything that could have created the boom.

Many local Twitter users have speculated on what may have caused it.
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Meteor

Unusually Low Flying Meteor


Space Weather
Sun, 28 Mar 2010 00:41 UTC
On March 19th at 11:19 Central Time, a meteoroid entered Earth's atmosphere over the southeastern United States and disintegrated in a flash as bright as the crescent Moon. To the human eye, it appeared to be a garden-variety fireball, the kind that appears almost every clear night, but NASA cameras had a different story to tell.

Image
© NASA
"This was an unusually low-flying meteor," says Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. Cooke and colleagues operate a pair of all-sky cameras, one in Huntsville, Alabama, and another in Chickamauga, Georgia. Both cameras caught the fireball, allowing rapid triangulation of its flight path. "It was first recorded at an altitude of 72.9 km (45.3 miles) and burned up at an altitude of 32.5 km (20.2 miles)."

That's low. Most meteoroids disintegrate around 70 to 80 km high. This one held together for a much deeper descent. "It had a lot of structural integrity. Maybe it was a metallic object," speculates Cooke. "Based on the brightness and velocity of the fireball, I estimate a mass of about 10 kilograms and a diameter of ~20 centimeters - a decent size!"
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Meteor

US: Huge bright green light falling over Southern New Jersey (fireball?)

Brian Vike
The Vike Factor (Into the Paranormal)
Wed, 24 Mar 2010 17:12 UTC
Posted: March 23, 2010

Date: March 23, 2010
Time: 3:05 a.m.
Location of Sighting: Southern New Jersey.
Number of witnesses: 2
Number of Objects: 1
Shape of Objects: Round.

Full Description of Event/Sighting: My boyfriend and I were driving home on Broadway St in Pitman NJ (towards Glassboro) and we saw a bright green light fall from the sky. We only saw it for a few seconds before it disappeared behind trees. It came down at a rough estimate of a 70 degree angle falling from right to left. At first we thought it was a plane crashing, it was huge, but nothing happened after it vanished behind the trees.
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Meteor

US: Fireball Streaks Through Night Sky of Western Alabama


Physorg.com
Tue, 23 Mar 2010 03:07 UTC
Fireball
© Physorg.comFireball Streaks Through Night Sky of Western Alabama.
Vigilant sky watchers were treated to a fiery surprise in western Alabama sky on Friday, March 19.

Allsky meteor cameras at the Marshall Center and near Chickamauga, Ga., recorded a fireball streaking across the sky around 11:19 p.m. CDT.

Moving at a speed of 42,500 mph -- or 12 miles per second -- the meteor burned up approximately 20 miles up in the atmosphere. Although very bright, the meteor was deemed not large enough to produce meteorites.

Mid-March is typically a lull period for meteor shower activity, but several bright fireballs have recently been spotted over California, Mississippi and now Alabama.

Watch a short video clip of the meteor.
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