Fire in the SkyS


Meteor

Meteors put on cosmic show over Derry

New Hampshire - A suspected meteor shower lit up the night skies over Derry at the weekend.

The celestial objects were spotted shooting across the sky in the early hours of Sunday morning by Derry man Niall Smith who says he saw the meteors as he drove up Brookhill at around 1230am.

"There were six of them in total," he told the Journal yesterday.

"They were bright orange almost red, like balls of flames burning with a tail behind them."

"It was an exhilarating experience to see them," he said.

He said the lights passed over the hills of Donegal before disappearing from view.

Meteor

Loud sound that rattled windows possibly a sonic boom or meteor

Louisiana - A loud sound similar to an explosion that rattled windows in the region late Monday afternoon was most likely a sonic boom caused by high-speed aircraft or a meteor coming through the atmosphere, a pair of local experts said.

The apparent sonic boom happened just before 5 p.m. and affected the area southwest of Shreveport to around Vidalia.

"Looking at the path of the reports, there's a definite linear path," said Don Wheeler, a meteorologist at Louisiana Delta Community College.

Wheeler said there was no irregular seismic activity in the area during the period immediately before and after the apparent sonic boom.

"If indeed there was a meteor, they can come in at supersonic speeds," Wheeler said.

Question

Australia: Possible meteorite hit a house

WA Museum curators will investigate claims a meteorite crashed into a home of a north-eastern suburb in Perth.

A museum spokesman said a woman had claimed a meteorite hit her Beechboro home last night.

"All we know is a house has been hit by a suspected meteorite but we have not had a chance to verify this," a museum spokesman said.

"We are trying to get it over to the museum for one of our scientists to have a look at but at this stage we do not know if it's a rock or a meteorite."

Meteor

Possible Meteor Sighting Near Hudson, Wisconsin

There are two meteor showers happening in the sky this week and one of the fiery rocks may have landed just across the river near Hudson.

People living east of the city saw bright flashes and a burning object fall from the sky.

Reports to the local newspaper describe the odd flash, even explosion with a multi-colored tail from Hudson to New Richmond.

According to the American Meteorological Society, February, March and April bring the highest occurrence of fireballs and unusually bright meteors.

Meteor

Fireball Over Norway

A bluish green fireball flew over the bright sky in the East - and the Southern sky on Tuesday, at almost quarter past eight in the evening. The entire event lasted 4-5 seconds.

Knut Jørgen Røed Ødegaard would like to get a hold of this object.

This was a super powerful meteorite, and it could have fallen in Norway. Most of them explode in the atmosphere, but the large ones can reach the ground, says Ødegaard.

It would have been fun to get know whether people had seen or heard something.

Meteor

Best of the Web: Enormous fireball explodes over the sky of Hungary, Slovakia and Czech Republic


Meteor

UK: Mystery surrounds Whitby and district's sonic boom

AN explosion heard by villagers in Goathland and Robin Hood's Bay on Thursday afternoon is thought to have been a sonic boom.

Whitby Gazette readers contacted the paper to say they heard the deafening noise at around 2.30pm.

Comment: Another overhead meteorite explosion?


Meteor

Eastern Slovakia lit up by loud meteor explosion and shockwave


Inhabitants from the Slovak town of Košice were frightened Sunday night by a bizzare light in the sky and a loud explosion followed by a shock wave. According to astronomers apparently an object from space collided with the Earth and shortly before impact most likely exploded in the atmosphere.

Comment: Notice that the camera is still shaking slightly after the light passes.


Meteor

Meteor seen from Hungary and Czech Republic probably exploded over Slovakia


This morning people from many parts of Slovakia are asking the question: What caused the mysterious glow registered on Sunday night just before midnight?

"Just before midnight I noticed a loud noise which words cannot describe. I saw the glow in the window. The whole event lasted about 5-6 seconds, but it was something extraordinary," we were informed by a reader from Tornale. The so far unexplained event had been noticed in Rožňava near Košice and even in Hungary. Some thought it looked like fireworks, others were afraid that an explosion in some factory happened.

"I saw a bright light. I thought it was just lightning, but I didn't hear the thunder. Even more so it was snowing at the time, that is why I thought it was odd," was the reaction of a female student from Východna.

Meteor

In Italy Fireballs Flame Through February Skies

February 1

Image
Fireball 2010.02.01 time 18:09

This beautiful fireball trail and several flashes were taken a few minutes ago from the Ferrara station. It is likely that they were also observed from the SOSO camp and from Diego's new station which faces North from Rieti.

Fireball 2010.02.01_18.09.34 ± 1 U.T.
Beginning RA =66.253
Dec = -2.747
Ending RA = 70.641
Dec = -16.753
Time of transit: 2.16
Persistent train duration: 0.08
Flashes: 4
Apparent max magnitude: -5.10 ± 0.39
Zenithal magnitude : -6.43 ± 0.49
Note: Magnitude estimate, a check by experts is required please