Fireballs
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Fireball

Asteroid discovered March 25th came closer to the Earth than the moon last night

Daisy Dunne
Daily Mail, UK
Fri, 31 Mar 2017 16:38 UTC
asteroid and earth
An asteroid as big as a bus came closer to Earth than the moon last night. The object, dubbed 2017 FJ101, zoomed passed within 202,000 miles (325,087 km) of our planet
An asteroid as big as a bus came closer to Earth than the moon last night. The object, dubbed 2017 FJ101, zoomed passed within 202,000 miles (325,087 km) of our planet. But the near-Earth asteroid posed no threat to our planet or the moon, scientists said.

The asteroid, which is 26ft (eight metres) wide, was first spotted by the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope located on the summit of the Haleakalā volcano on Maui, Hawaii on March 25.

On average, the moon orbits around 238,855 miles (384,400km) away from our planet. But the bus-sized object came around 36,8555 miles closer to the Earth than the moon last night.
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Black Magic

Indian man charged with witchcraft in Canada


RT
Fri, 31 Mar 2017 14:46 UTC
Murali Muthyalu
© torontopolice.on.caMurali Muthyalu
A man has been charged with witchcraft, extortion and fraud in Toronto, Canada, after he charged $101,000 to remove an "evil spirit."

'Master Raghav', real name Murali Muthyalu, from India, was arrested on Wednesday and appeared in court Thursday after a man he scammed reported him to the police.

Muthyalu advertised his services as a psychic and astrologer at the Sri Gayatri Astrological Center in Toronto, promising that he "removes black magic evil spirit" and has a 100 percent guarantee of success.

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Comet 2

Another comet brightens and now visible in the Northern hemisphere

Bob King
Sky & Telescope
Thu, 30 Mar 2017 23:54 UTC

Terry Lovejoy's new comet has gone from faint to bright in just three weeks and is now a tempting binocular target at dawn.

Comet C/2017 E4 Lovejoy
© Terry LovejoyComet C/2017 E4 Lovejoy was discovered on March 9th by Australian amateur Terry Lovejoy. It's his 6th discovery and seen here on March 25th.
Who doesn't love a comet that exceeds expectations? That's exactly what's happening with Terry Lovejoy's latest discovery, C/2017 E4 Lovejoy.

Discovered on March 10th at magnitude +12, early observations suggested a peak magnitude of +9 in mid-April, assuming it didn't crumble apart en route to an April 23rd perihelion.

Forget that. This fuzzball's already at magnitude +7 - 7.5 and a snap to see in 50-mm binoculars.

I know because I got up Wednesday morning (March 29th) shortly before the start of dawn, pointed my 10×50 glass just below the figure of Equuleus, the Little Horse, and saw a small, dense ball of glowing fuzz without even trying.

Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak — now circumpolar in Ursa Major — shines at a similar brightness, but it's larger and less condensed and therefore not as easy to see as Lovejoy.
Comet Lovejoy
© Bob KingComet Lovejoy captured with a 135-mm telephoto lens (f/2.8, ISO 2500, 10-second exposure) on Wednesday morning March 29th, when it entered the small constellation Equuleus. Though small at this focal length, the comet's blue-green color is a dead giveaway.
A little more than a week ago, Comet Lovejoy glowed at magnitude +10 - 11; a few days ago it was at +9. Given its meteoric rise in brightness, observers are anticipating the comet to crest to magnitude +6 around perihelion as it describes a roller coaster arc across Pegasus and Andromeda. Twice it passes bright deep-sky objects: the bright globular cluster M15 on April 1st and the Andromeda Galaxy on April 20 - 22. Another easy time to spot it will be on April 8 - 9 alongside β Pegasi in the northwest corner of the Great Square.
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Comet 2

Green comet flyby on April 1st


Space Weather
Thu, 30 Mar 2017 18:31 UTC
Green comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak is flying over Earth's North Pole this week where sky watchers can find it all night long not far from the bowl of the Big Dipper. At closest approach on April 1st it will be just 21 million km from Earth--an easy target for backyard telescopes and almost visible to the naked eye. Amateur astronomer Yasushi Aoshima sends this picture of the approaching comet from Fukushima, Japan:
Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak
© Yasushi AoshimaTaken by Yasushi Aoshima on March 22, 2017 @ Fukushima, Japan.
"On March 22nd I caught 41P 'eating' M108, the Surfboard Galaxy," says Aoshima. "The comet's green atmosphere appeared to swallow the distant spiral galaxy as it exited Ursa Major."
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Fireball 5

Meteor fireball reported over Northeast U.S.

Jordan Fenster
The Journal News
Fri, 24 Mar 2017 15:38 UTC
Northeast US meteor map March 22 2017
© American Meteor Society (screen capture)
A fist-sized fireball flashed in front of Lori Connolly's car as she drove to work early Wednesday morning.

"Crazy, right? I'm driving and it was right in front of my car. It just came right across the road," the Haverstraw resident said. "It was just an amazing thing to see."

After some investigation, and a call to Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, Connolly learned that it was, in fact, a meteor.

The object Connolly perceived as a fireball traveling across Route 9W at about 6:20 a.m. was seen across the Northeast, according to an online event log maintained by the American Meteor Society. There were 34 sightings from as far away as Michigan and Ontario that were logged by the AMS.

Connolly said the meteor "dissipated" as it crossed the road but, in fact, that was a trick of the eye. What she perceived as directly in front of her car was quite a bit farther away.

"We looked into this, and discovered that a large meteor did light up in the atmosphere roughly between northern Lake Erie and Ottawa at this time," said Kevin Krajick, Lamont-Doherty's senior editor for science news. "It was seen from Michigan to Virginia."

Comment: Earlier on the day of this sighting (March 22nd) another meteor fireball was observed streaking across the U.S. East coast.

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Fireball 4

Eyewitnesses wanted: did you see bright green meteor fireball in Irkutsk, Siberia?


TASS
Thu, 23 Mar 2017 19:33 UTC
Fireball
© Yuri Smityuk/TASS
Scientists in the Russian city of Irkutsk (Siberia) are searching for people who could have witnessed the fall of a celestial body glowing bright green, Executive Director of the Irkutsk Planetarium Pavel Nikoforov told TASS.

"At 14:39 local time (11:39 GMT), while we were riding in a car along the bridge across the Irkut River towards the Leninsky district, we spotted an unusual glowing object in the daytime sky. It was speeding at a 45 degree angle, but its light went out in just a couple of seconds. We very much hope that Irkutsk's residents may have recorded this phenomenon using their car DVRs. We could collect these recordings and hand them over to scientists," he stated.

The fact that the celestial body was seen in the daytime, speaks volumes for its enormous weight, a source in the Astronomical Observatory of Irkutsk State University told TASS. "We assume that a celestial body weighing several kilograms could be glowing so brightly in the daytime. If we are provided with video recordings showing the bolide, then we could calculate its weight and trajectory," the source added.

In the autumn of 2016, residents of the Irkutsk region and the Republic of Buryatia witnessed a bright green meteor soaring above Lake Baikal. It was later dubbed the Baikal Bolide. Scientists believe that its weight was about 80 kilograms but because of its high speed it burnt up in the atmosphere.
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Fireball 5

Meteor fireball streaks across U.S. East coast skies


Fauquier Times
Wed, 22 Mar 2017 10:24 UTC
East coast meteor
© NASA
Did you see a fireball Tuesday night? You weren't alone.

A bright meteor was spotted from New York to Kentucky about 8:40 p.m., prompting more than 100 reports to the American Meteor Society. A high concentration of sightings came from the D.C. area.

"It was the brightest meteor I've ever seen," one Arlington resident wrote.

"I have seen fireballs before. This was the closest one I've ever seen," one Leesburg resident reported "This appeared to be very close and bright. Like you could see the ball of fire at the end of the trail almost."

According to the American Meteor Society, fireballs are very bright meteors, about as bright as Venus in the morning and evening skies.

About 10 to 15 meteorites fall to Earth each day, but sightings are rare since streaking fireballs often fall over the ocean, or during daylight hours when they can't be seen.
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Fireball

Lunar impact event sighted


ITV
Tue, 21 Mar 2017 06:45 UTC
Lunar Impact event
© Aberystwyth UniversityX marks the spot where the meteorite hit the moon.
Space scientists at Aberystwyth University have reported what they believe to be the first confirmed sighting in the British Isles of a meteorite hitting the Moon.

A Lunar Impact Flash - a flash of light when something hits the Moon's surface - was recorded on the southern hemisphere of the Moon and probably caused by a small meteorite the size of a golf ball.

Lasting less that one tenth of a second, the image was caught on New Year's Day 2017 on a remotely operated telescope at Aberystwyth University.
Lunar Impact Flashes are notoriously difficult to record. The meteorite would be travelling at anywhere between 10 to 70 km per second as it hit the surface of the Moon. That is the equivalent of travelling from Aberystwyth to Cardiff in just a few seconds, and the resulting impact would be over in a fraction of a second.

A similar meteorite hitting the Earth's atmosphere would produce a beautiful shooting star, but as the Moon has no atmosphere it slams into the surface, causing a crater the size of very large pot hole. Just under 1% of the meteorite's energy is converted into a flash of light, which we were able to record here in Aberystwyth.

- Dr Tony Cook, Aberystwyth University
Scientists estimate the Moon is hit by similar sized meteorites as often as once every 10 to 20 hours.
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Fireball 2

Large blue meteor fireball illuminates sky over Sweden


The Watchers
Tue, 21 Mar 2017 12:32 UTC
Bright blue fireball over Sweden on March 20, 2017
© Jessica DellsjöBright blue fireball over Sweden on March 20, 2017.
A very large blue fireball illuminated the sky over Sweden around 20:30 UTC (21:30 CET) on March 20, 2017. The event was so powerful that the whole sky lit up, Swedish All Sky Meteor Network astronomers said.

Images of the event immediately started appearing on social networks, with people from the cities of Stockholm, Uppsala and Örebro all reported seeing the event. Reports from eastern Uppland mention sonic boom associated with the event.

"This is something that happens a few times a year," Eric Stempels of the Swedish Allsky Meteor Network project told The Local.

"Because it can happen during the day, when it is cloudy or far from populated areas, these events usually don't get much attention," he said, adding that this one fell in the north-eastern Uppland region.

Experts believe that this particular bolide may have been unusually large and Stempels estimated that it is possible it was between the size of a fist and a football.

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Fireball 4

Dashcam captures meteor fireball over downtown Denver, Colorado


Lunar Meteorite Hunters
Fri, 17 Mar 2017 23:33 UTC
Meteor over downtown Denver
© YouTube/Coordman
Meteor Recorded on Dashcam Downtown Denver, CO:

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