Fire in the SkyS


Telescope

House-sized asteroid whizzes past earth

Hanneke Weitering
Space
Thu, 18 Apr 2019 17:21 UTC
House-sized asteroid whizzes past Earth
© ESA/P. CarrilAn artist's depiction of a potentially hazardous near-Earth asteroid.
An asteroid the size of a house gave Earth a close shave today (April 18), passing nearer to our planet than any other space rock will for the rest of this year - that is, as far as we know.

Named 2019 GC6, the asteroid was discovered by NASA's Catalina Sky Survey near Tucson, Arizona, just last Tuesday (April 9), nine days before it flew by Earth. The giant rock made its closest approach this morning at 2:41 a.m. EDT (0641 GMT), when it whizzed by our plant at a safe distance of about 136,000 miles (219,000 kilometers), or slightly more than half the average distance between Earth and the moon.

At the time, the asteroid was traveling at a relative speed of about 12,600 mph (20,300 km/h), according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. NASA estimated that the speeding space rock's diameter is "within a factor of two" of 49 feet (15 meters), which means it may be up to 98 feet (30 meters) wide.
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Fireball 4

Bright green meteor fireball streaks over northern Germany


Sott.net
Thu, 18 Apr 2019 07:10 UTC
Very bright meteor fireball over Germany on April 16, 2019.
© AMSVery bright meteor fireball over Germany on April 16, 2019.
A bright green fireball was seen and recorded streaking through the night sky above northern Germany on April 16, 2019 around 21:51 UT.

The American Meteor Society (AMS) received more than 60 reports of event 1774-2019 from Germany, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands.

A video was uploaded to AMS showing the event together with 1775-2019, which shows another bright meteor fireball blaze over the US east coast. AMS has received 417 reports of this event on Wednesday, April 17th 2019 around 02:57 UT.

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Fireball

Dazzling meteor fireball spotted soaring over Washington DC area

Sophia Barnes
nbcwashington.com
Wed, 17 Apr 2019 15:06 UTC
A meteor was seen along the U.S. East Coast on late Tuesday night
© Steve ChazinA meteor was seen along the U.S. East Coast on late Tuesday night
Hundreds of people in the Mid-Atlantic and New England reported they looked up on Tuesday night and saw a meteor hurtling through the skies.

The meteor soared over the D.C. area about 11 p.m., and the brilliant shine caught a lot of eyes.

Steve Chazin was driving from Virginia's Dulles Airport on Route 50 when his dashcam caught the sight: an illuminated orb flying through the skies, surrounded by a glow and backed by a tail.

The American Meteor Society had 325 reports of the celestial event pour in from Washington, D.C., and 11 states, including Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia.


Comment: Additional footage of the event:







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Fireball

A meteor fireball flies over the Mediterranean, falling off the Moroccan coast

Latifa Babas
en.yabiladi.com
Wed, 17 Apr 2019 14:54 UTC
Fireball - stock image
Stock image
On Sunday, a fireball was recorded by a Spanish platform that detects meteoroids. The rock was produced by a rock detached from an asteroid, a Spanish astrophysicist told Yabiladi.

On Sunday, April the 14th, a fireball was spotted near the Moroccan coast. The phenomenon was recorded in the framework of the SMART project (University of Huelva), created to detect meteoroids interacting with the Earth's atmosphere, Meteor News reported.

It was produced by a meteoroid from the Virginids that hit the atmosphere at about 65,000 km/h, the scientific platform added.

Speaking to Yabiladi on Tuesday, Spanish astrophysicist José María Madiedo who is part of the SMART project said that the fireball that flew over the Mediterranean «was produced by a rock detached from an asteroid.


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Fireball 5

Meteor fireball lights up the sky in the upper Midwest

John Wheeler
Inforum
Mon, 15 Apr 2019 18:34 UTC
Fireball - stock image
Stock image
People in the Dakotas, Minnesota and Western Wisconsin witnessed something rare Sunday night, April 14, when a bright meteor lit up the night sky.

Jason Doty of south Fargo caught this video the fireball on his doorbell camera at 11:20 p.m.

A fireball is a larger than average meteor, a rock in space that hits the atmosphere at high speed causing it to burn up.

Thousands of fireballs occur every day around the globe, but most are not seen because they are usually over the ocean.

(See video here)

Comment: Two nights later another: Meteor fireball streaks through Minnesota's night sky

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Fireball

Meteor fireball streaks through Minnesota's night sky

Joe Nelson
Bringmethenews
Tue, 16 Apr 2019 18:11 UTC
Fireball - stock image
Stock image
There were witness reports from Grand Forks all the way to the Twin Cities.

A vibrant meteor lit up the sky from North Dakota to Wisconsin overnight, and Michael Stanga captured it on video around 2:30 a.m. as he looked to the northwest from Otsego, Minnesota.



Comment: Two nights earlier in the same region: Meteor fireball lights up the sky in the upper Midwest

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Fireball 2

Very bright meteor fireball illuminates night sky over Brazil


Sott.net
Mon, 15 Apr 2019 07:33 UTC
Brazil meteor
© YouTube/AMS/L. KLITZKE (screen capture)
A very bright meteor fireball illuminated the night sky over Rio Grande do Sul and State of Santa Catarina, Brazil on April 12, 2019 according to the American Meteor Society (AMS).

The impressive event (1702-2019) was recorded and a video uploaded to the AMS website.

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Fireball 5

Meteor fireball recorded over San Antonio, Texas


Sott.net
Sat, 13 Apr 2019 07:03 UTC
Texas meteor
© AMS/J. BoydMeteor fireball over Texas (Event #2019-1671)
A bright meteor fireball was recorded blazing through the night sky over San Antonio, Texas on April 11, 2019.

The American Meteor Society (AMS) received 45 reports of the event.

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Meteor

Meteor fireball cause of sonic boom heard in northeast Oklahoma

Garrett Lewis
5 News
Thu, 04 Apr 2019 22:09 UTC
The GOES-16 Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) capture a meteor in NE Oklahoma around 5:20pm. The meteor was visible across much of the area and a large green fireball.

The meteor created a smoke trail as it burned across the sky; Tisha Rowley shot this picture of the smoke.
Meteor smoke trail over NE OK
The meteor generated a sonic boom as it burned entering Earth's atmosphere; the boom was heard across much of our area.

If you heard a low rumble or something that sounded like "thunder" in the distance between 5:20-5:25pm: you heard the meteor.

Comment: A daytime meteor was also seen earlier that day over Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia

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Meteor

'Loud boom' heard in central North Carolina

Danielle Jackson
Fox 8
Tue, 09 Apr 2019 22:47 UTC
Mystery boom in central NC
© WGHP
Residents living along a rural road in Trinity were alarmed by a mysterious noise and movement they say happened late Monday night.

"It was a very loud boom," Dianne Williams said.

Williams was alarmed to hear such a loud noise, followed by shaking. She said it was scary for her dogs too.

"I heard bang, bang, in the laundry room, so I opened the door where we keep our pots and pans and they were on the floor!" Williams said.

But she wasn't the only person along the road to hear the noise and feel the movement in the ground.

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