Fire in the SkyS


Meteor

Lorton Meteorite, The Fourth Observed To Fall In Virginia

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© WUSA9
Lorton -- A meteorite, the size of a mango, punched through the ceiling of the Williamsburg Square Family Practice Office in Lorton.

Dr. Marc Gullani says, "Literally an explosion went off."

Dr. Frank Ciampi tells 9NEWS NOW he thought the book shelves fell down.

He says, "It came from the roof, through the fire wall through the ceiling and hit the ground right here."

The meteorite came down with such force, it pushed ceiling tile underneath the carpet and cut into the concrete of the exam room.

9NEWS NOW went to the experts at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, with the extraterrestrial particles inside a box. For Meteorite Scientists Linda Welzenbach and Dr. Cory Corrigan, it was a special moment.

Dr. Welzenbach says, "As I recall, this will be the fourth fall in Virginia."

He adds, "It's got a fusion crust. This is what's happened when it's passed the atmosphere, passing very quickly through the atmosphere."

Meteor

US: Several witness fireball falling over Pennsylvania and Delaware

Date: January 18, 2010
Time: Approx: 5:40 p.m.

Location of Sighting: New Hope, PA.
Number of witnesses: two
Number of Objects: 1
Shape of Objects: Large Ball of fire falling from the sky.

Full Description of Event/Sighting: Hi Brian, My friend and I were driving South on Route 202 in New Hope on 1/18/10, around 5:40 p.m., when all of a sudden I noticed a large ball of fire falling from the sky directly in front of us. It was moving quickly and seemed to burn out before hitting the ground. At first I thought it was a plane and then I realized it was too small, but definitely too large to be a falling star.

Meteor

Twilight meteor reported Monday in Maryland

The Tuesday morning mail contained the following report from a reader in Reisterstown, Md. He and his wife spotted a bright meteor to their south after sunset on Monday evening. The crescent moon and planet Jupiter were visible in the southwest.

Here's his report, including a meteor photo he says resembles what he saw. If anyone else spotted the same object, please leave us a comment and describe what you saw. Please include the time, your location, the direction you were looking, the direction of flight, the object's approximate height above the horizon (in degrees, if possible; zero degrees is on the horizon, 90 degrees is straight up) and anything else you can remember.

Thanks.

Meteor

Flashback Meteor Flashing Through Utah Skies On November 18, 2009 (Another video)


Blackbox

'Ice Comet' To Blame For Crashing Through Roof Of Home?

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.

Meteor

Flashback Collection of curious green fireball sightings

(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

Meteor

Alaska: Meteor lights up Muldoon

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© Courtesy FAAA meteor was captured on this weather webcam falling past Muldoon into the Chugach Mountains Sunday morning.
Anchorage -- People watching the skies over Muldoon saw something unusual 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.

Meteor

California teacher reports fireball sighting

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.

Meteor

Fireball seen over Montreal

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.

Radar

Green meteor lights up night sky

Green meteor Mojave
© Barcroft
A green meteor was seen over the Mojave Desert in California as part of the annual Geminid meteor shower.

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.