Fire in the SkyS


Fireball

Scientists identify rock that crashed through shed roof in a Dutch village as meteorite


Dutch News
Mon, 26 Jun 2017 22:20 UTC
meteorite
© Naturalis
A rock that crashed through the roof of a shed has been confirmed as only the sixth meteorite to be recovered in the Netherlands.

The 4.5 billion-year-old lump of stone, which weighs around 500g, landed in the village of Broek in Waterland, Noord-Holland province, in January.

The owners discovered it the next morning and contacted Naturalis museum in Leiden after looking up meteorites on the internet. Two experts confirmed that it was a L6 chrondite type, which dates from the birth of the solar system.
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Meteor

Meteorite 'size of a small car' hits Sudan, fragments found


Al-Arabiya
Mon, 26 Jun 2017 08:08 UTC
Sudan meteorite
© AlrakobaFragments of a meteorite, which had struck earth on Wednesday in the southern White Nile state.
The Sudanese Ministry of Minerals announced on Sunday that they found fragments of a meteorite, which had struck earth on Wednesday in the southern White Nile state.

Head of the geological team Othman Abu Aqla said that the team received the fragments of the stone and tests found radioactive elements in the field in which the meteorite fragments fell.

He added that when they measured the radioactivity of the collected samples of the meteorites they turned out to be at normal levels.

Last Wednesday, the General Authority for Geological Research announced that "the unrecognized object fell in the White Nile and caused panic among the residents is most likely a meteorite."

Eyewitnesses told local media that an object the size of a small car fell from the sky on Wednesday morning.

The witnesses said that the fall of the meteorite was accompanied by a loud sound and a bright light in the skies of several regions in the state.
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Fireball

Stargazers left baffled after 'red fireball' seen over Perth, Western Australia

June Ramli
Daily Mail
Sun, 25 Jun 2017 16:52 UTC
This is how the 'red fireball' looked like when it was sighted by several Perth residents
This is how the 'red fireball' looked like when it was sighted by several Perth residents
A 'red fireball' that lit up Australian skies has left locals baffled and debating the mystery object.

Several Perth residents reported the sighting on Saturday saying the fireball was seen streaking across the sky for five minutes.

One motorist driving on Karrinyup Road told 7 News Perth it was the craziest thing he had seen in a long time and believed the strange object was heading towards the ocean.

'Must have been a meteor... it went for approximately five minutes,' the unnamed witness said.

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Moon

Two-month countdown to total solar eclipse that will darken U.S. skies from Oregon to South Carolina

Irene Klotz
Reuters
Wed, 21 Jun 2017 10:00 UTC
Solar eclipse
© Reuters/Stringer/FilesThe moon passes between the sun and the earth during a solar eclipse in Coyhaique, Chile February 26, 2017.
Two months before the first total solar eclipse to cross the continental United States in a century, NASA on Wednesday is expected to detail its plans to study and promote a celestial show that will darken skies from Oregon to South Carolina.

During the Aug. 21 eclipse, the moon will pass between the sun and Earth, blocking the face of the sun and leaving only its outer atmosphere, or corona, visible in the sky.

It is the first coast-to-coast total eclipse since 1918.

Weather permitting, astronomy enthusiasts can watch as the moon's 70-mile (113-km) wide shadow crosses the country, starting at 10:15 a.m. PDT (1715 GMT) around Lincoln Beach, Oregon, and ending at 2:49 p.m. EDT (1849 GMT) in McClellanville, South Carolina.

The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration will discuss several solar physics and Earth science experiments to be conducted during the eclipse in a news conference on Wednesday afternoon. The agency also plans live broadcasts during the eclipse from dozens of locations along the path.

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Fireball 2

Potential new meteor shower from Comet Borisov


SETI Institute
Tue, 20 Jun 2017 23:51 UTC
Meteor Shower
© Scott MacNeill
Peter Jenniskens and Esko Lyytinen report that the dust trail of 700-year comet Borisov, who just passed perihelion in 2014, will be in the Earth's path on 2017 July 29 at 00:22 UT. Earth will pass only 0.0006 AU inside the comet's orbit at a time when the comet has just passed perihelion, both favorable circumstances for detecting meteors. Observers in South Africa will have a chance to see a glimpse of this new 1-2 hour duration meteor shower.
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Fireball 2

Meteor seen in Roodepoort, South Africa

Sonwabile Antonie
Roodepoort Record
Thu, 15 Jun 2017 17:09 UTC
Photo for illustrative purposes.
Photo for illustrative purposes.
A massive meteorite was spotted entering the earth's atmosphere at about 6am today.

Resident Matthew Hope recorded the incident while he was driving on Constantia Drive in Constantia Kloof. Matthew said it was the biggest meteorite he has ever seen.
"It happened this morning when I turned from Golf Club Terrace into Constantia Drive, on the hill next to the Hyperama. It's the biggest and clearest meteorite I have ever seen, it was amazing."
A meteorite is a solid piece of debris from an object, such as a comet, asteroid, or meteoroid, that originates in outer space and survives its passage through the Earth's atmosphere and impacts with the Earth's surface or that of another planet.

When the object enters the atmosphere, various factors like friction, pressure, and chemical interactions with atmospheric gases cause it to heat up and radiate energy. It then becomes a meteor and forms a fireball, also known as a shooting or falling star.

Look closely to the right hand side of this video to see the meteor

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Meteor

Las Vegas Allsky camera captures slow moving meteor

AMS American Meteor Society
YouTube
Mon, 12 Jun 2017 19:06 UTC
Las Vegas meteor
© Via YouTube/AMS American Meteor Society
Slow moving meteor with small frag.

Credit: Dolan Dave Las Vegas Allsky Cam.

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Fireball 2

Bright meteor fireball explodes over Espírito Santo, Brazil


Sott.net
Mon, 12 Jun 2017 18:44 UTC
meteor fireball over Brazil
© YouTube/Exoss Citizen Science (screen capture)
According to globo.com a meteor fireball exploded in the sky above Vitória, Espírito Santo, Brazil on Sunday 11th June. It is estimated that the fireball struck the Capixaba sky at a speed of 48.5 km / h.

It was recorded by an Exoss Citizen Science station (Luciana Fontes) located in Vitória. Preliminary data from Exoss indicates the magnitude recorded was -5, meaning that the glow of the fireball was similar to that of the planet Venus as seen from Earth.

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Fireball 2

Meteor fireball streaks over Florida

AMS American Meteor Society
YouTube
Sun, 11 Jun 2017 15:10 UTC
Florida meteor fireball
© YouTube/American Meteor Society (screen capture)
This is in reference to event 1891-2017 meteor seen in Florida on 6/09/2017 at 11:30 pm local time I checked my skycam video
And have video of the event.
Credit:Joseph Gresham


Comment: The American Meteor Society (AMS) have received 31 reports (Event 1891-2017) of a meteor fireball over Florida on Saturday, June 10th 2017 around 03:25 UT.



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Fireball 2

Flaming meteor fireball seen exploding in South Africa

Retha Nel
Corridor Gazette
Thu, 08 Jun 2017 15:46 UTC
The Southern Cross, near where the meteor fragment passed.
© Wikimedia. The Southern Cross, near where the meteor fragment passed.
A resident was astounded when he spotted a large fireball while stargazing at Kaapmuiden last week. He approached an astronomical expert to find out what it was.

A resident spotted a massive fireball in the sky, the result of a falling meteor fragment, while stargazing last Tuesday at 19:35.

Bertus van der Merwe said he was standing outside his house, looking south, when a large fireball came from the east, moved west over the treetops and exploded. He was stunned and mesmerised, as it wasn't just a light, he could make out flames.

He said when he went back into his house, he joked that he now knew where the expression "great balls of fire" comes from.

Van der Merwe found a fireball report form on the Internet and sent it to Tim Cooper of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa for answers.

Given the size and brightness of the fireball, Cooper stated that it might have been a large meteor fragment. After determining Van der Merwe's location, Cooper plotted the path the meteor may have followed.
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