Fire in the SkyS


Meteor

Louisiana: Loud boom heard in area last week likely a "meteor"


Jena Times
Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:14 UTC
A meteor hurtling through the atmosphere faster than the speed of sound likely caused the sonic like boom that startled many residents in LaSalle Parish and throughout north central Louisiana late last Monday afternoon.

The loud noise, first believed to be a sonic boom or gas pipeline explosion, happened just before 5 p.m. on Monday and was heard from the Arkansas-Louisiana line, to the Mississippi River, to Natchitoches and to below Alexandria.

Earlier, experts said a high-speed aircraft probably made the sound, but checks with air bases in the area found no planes were in the air at the time.

Law enforcement officers in several parishes, including LaSalle, searched for a possible pipeline explosion, but found nothing.

Later, residents of Memphis, Tennessee said they saw a fire ball traveling through the skies and a resident of Bunkie claims she saw a gray mass with no flames moving through the sky at the about the same time the loud boom was heard on Monday.

Louisiana Delta Community College meteorologist Don Wheeler said evidence indicates a meteor was the apparent cause of the sonic boom.
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Meteor

Mississippi, US: 'Boom' Baffles Region

Leann McCoy
Grenada Star
Wed, 17 Mar 2010 09:30 UTC
The source of an enormous boom heard by some across parts of Mississippi on Sunday afternoon remains a mystery.

James Hill, director of the Rainwater Observatory in French Camp, said the the loud, long noise Grenada Countians heard could be anything from a jet sonic boom to a meteorite exploding.

"We haven't had any reports at the observatory of a meteor," he said.

Grenada Countian Rina Chaney said she was sitting on the front porch with her daughter in the Hardy community Sunday at 2 p.m. when they heard what she described as "a long crack of thunder."
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Meteor

Fireball over Arizona

Carl Hergenrother
The Transient Sky
Mon, 15 Mar 2010 07:34 UTC
Talk about nights at different extremes. Two nights ago had to rank as one of the most boring nights of the past 2 years. Not only were a small number (6) meteors seen by my deep cameras, no meteors were seen by my wide-angle fireball camera. For a clear night you should see at least 3 or 4 bright ones.

Last night (Sunday, March 14) was better. What really set it apart was a bright fireball seen over Tucson at ~10:14 pm (5:14 UT). Both of my cameras picked it up. The first movie shows the very early stages of the fireball. Since my SALSA2 camera only has a FOV of about 50×70 degrees, this camera was lucky to see any of it. In the movie the fireball is moving nearly due north (north is to the bottom) and first becomes visible just to the north of Leo.



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Meteor

Mississippi, US: Fireball streaking across sky alarmed witnesses

Roslyn Anderson
WLBT
Sun, 14 Mar 2010 23:29 UTC
A bizarre daytime occurrence had the phones ringing in WLBT's newsroom Sunday.

Viewers calling with wide spread reports of mysterious fireballs in the sky and loud booms baffled state agencies and eye witnesses alike.

"It didn't last but maybe three or four seconds, and it was gone," said Phoronia Coring.

She was driving north from Tylertown Sunday afternoon when something strange in the sky caught her eye.

"I looked sort of to the east of 55 and it was just this fire ball that was falling out of the sky and it made you think of a falling star expect during the day, and it was just bright red," said Coring.
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Question

Flashback Gulf of Mexico, US: Big Boom


WKRG
Thu, 12 Mar 2009 22:36 UTC
8:48 p.m.
Fire Chief James Shelly told News 5 there was no explosion in Theodore. He heard the loud noise and says it shook things pretty good. Shelly said he thinks it was a sonic boom.

4:21 p.m.
News 5 has received reports from Spanish Fort to the Mississippi state line about a big boom around 2:00 p.m. that shook their homes. We've done some digging, but so far, no one has an answer for us.

The National Weather Serve had no reports and suggested we check with the US Geological Survey.
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Question

Gulf of Mexico, US: Mysterious booms thought to be caused by Eglin AFB jets


Citrus Daily
Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:32 UTC
Military jets performing training maneuvers over Gulf of Mexico waters are being credited with creating sonic booms heard along Florida's west coast earlier this week, to include Pasco, Hillsborough, Marion, Levy, Hernando and Citrus counties.

The sheriff's offices in Pasco and Citrus counties have said the most likely explanation is that jets based at Eglin AFB in Florida's Panhandle had created the booms that shook windows and rattled dishes.

That was confirmed by an Eglin AFB Public Affairs spokesman, who said the "atmospheric conditions" most likely caused the booms to be heard as the military was performing maneuvers over the Gulf.
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Meteor

Meteorite Lit Up The Sky, Fragments Found In Catamarca, Argentina


Eldiaro24.com
Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:19 UTC
A glittering stone caught a woman's attention Fiambalá, Argentina, the rock with now be analyzed by specialists.

Some inhabitants of the Catamarcan town Fiambalá (in the Northwest of Argentina) claim to have seen a meteorite and its fragments fall last Monday night. A woman found them, and they will now be analyzed by specialists from The National University of Catamarca.

The event took place in Juan Manuel Salas, one of Fiambalá's quarters, in the Tinogasta Department, situated at approximately 350km in the West of the province's capital where its inhabitants claim a fireball fell at about 10 p.m., followed by a trail of light.

The neigbors thought that this could be a meteorite, no bigger than a football.

Norma Olmedo, who lives in the area, declared today for the radio station FM Ancasti that she filmed the fall with her cell phone which was how she was able to locate the fragments.

Olmedo, who at that time was with her son, stated that "Monday, after 10 p.m., a source of light" lit up the sky behind her and caught her attention.

As she turned around, she "saw a reddish ball falling from the sky, leaving behind a very bright trail", she declared.

She claims that on arriving in the area where she and her son believed the fireball hit the ground, she discovered "a stone that was still glittering".
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Meteor

Update: Rare Fireball Puts on Spectacular Show

Randy Hanson
Hudson Star-Observer
Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:04 UTC
Family
© Randy Hanson Members of the Pierce and Jacobson families pose near the spot where some of them witnessed a meteor pass over the town of Hudson. Lisa Pierce, back left, contacted the Star-Observer about the sighting, resulting in comments on www.hudsonstarobserver.com from many other readers who saw the meteor. Pierce is with, front from left, her son Charlie, neighbor children Emma and Sam Jacobson, and son Michael, back right.
Hudson-area residents lucky enough to have been looking at the stars sometime before 8 p.m. Wednesday, March 3, were treated to what will no doubt be a once-in-a-lifetime sight.

Judging from reader comments on the Star-Observer's Web site, a rare meteor fireball passed over the community at a low altitude.

Michelle Judge, who lives about five miles east of Hudson on the south side of I-94, was returning to her house from doing chores in the barn when she saw the fireball.

"I could see the actual fire in a ball. It was very good-sized -- and it was totally quiet," Judge said when contacted by the Star-Observer, after reporting the sighting online.

Judge said the fireball traveled almost directly west at an altitude of what she thought wasn't more than a few hundred feet.

It disappeared over her field, Judge said, "and then the rumble came and the turkeys went crazy."
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Meteor

Mysterious boom confounds Pasco residents


Bay News9.com
Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:19 UTC
New Port Richey -- Many residents of Pasco County are still wondering: what was that boom they heard Wednesday night?

The Pasco County Sheriff's Office received about 20 calls from around the county reporting a loud boom around 5 p.m.

Sheila Perry lives in Millpond Estates in New Port Richey. She said the boom rattled the windows and shook her house.

"First, I thought do we have earthquakes here because there's been so many earthquakes," she said. "I just have never had anything shake the house like that before."

Officials think it might have been a sonic boom or sound waves, but no one is really sure.

The sheriff's office said it doesn't have any information about military operations or explosions in the area.

No damage was reported as a result of the boom.
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Meteor

Update: Amateur astronomer in Georgia snaps picture of what may be a meteor

Stephen Largen
The News Star.com
Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:49 UTC
A meteor hurtling through the atmosphere faster than the speed of sound likely caused the sonic boom that startled many north Louisiana residents late Monday afternoon.

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

Experts had suggested Tuesday the sonic boom could have been caused by high-speed aircraft or a meteor.

Lawrenceville, Ga. resident David Jones was driving on Interstate 85 in Atlanta early Monday night when he noticed a large, electric blue ring-shaped cloud in the western sky.

The amateur astronomer and lifelong weather watcher snapped a photo of the noctilucent cloud that likely formed when water molecules surrounded meteor dust particles stirred up when a meteor moved through the atmosphere.

Noctilucent clouds are rare and typically only form in polar regions.

Comment: This is an update to an earlier story.

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