Fireballs
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'Spectacular' fireball spotted in Whanganui, New Zealand

This fireball was photographed over the sky of Portland, in the United States, in May 2016.
This fireball was photographed over the sky of Portland, in the United States, in May 2016.
Watchers of the Whanganui sky saw a "quite spectacular" fireball split into pieces overhead on Sunday night.

One who saw it was Mark Lee, the secretary of the Wanganui Astronomical Society. He had stepped out to clear his letterbox just before 8pm when he saw the fireball, between clouds.

"It was quite spectacular," he said.

The object was heading across the sky in a north-south direction, so Mr Lee thinks it was probably a piece of space junk falling into the earth's atmosphere, rather than a meteorite.

Comment: Residents in Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia also reported seeing this event.




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Meteor fireball caught on CCTV over Singapore

screen
Antihelion fireball meteor capture with cctv over southern hemisphere night sky date:27.06.2017 at 02.24 am local time Singapore..approx peak date Jun 2 2017 ending Sep 10 2017.

Average velocity 30km/s

Approx magnitude 3.0.Zenith hourly rate 4/hr.


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Meteor fireball seen across Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana skies

fireball
© Flickr Creative Commons
If you saw a bright flash of light moving through the Monday morning sky, you're not alone!

On Monday morning, the American Meteor Society received dozens of reports of a fireball meteor sighted across Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana skies.

View the map of sightings here.

The reports come from a variety of locations across the three states - including Harrison and Middletown Ohio.

What is a fireball meteor? According to the American Meteor Society, a fireball is defined as a very bright meteor, generally brighter than magnitude -4, which is about the same magnitude of the planet Venus in the morning or evening sky.

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

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.

Meteor

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

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

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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Potential new meteor shower from Comet Borisov

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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Meteor seen in Roodepoort, South Africa

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


Meteor

Las Vegas Allsky camera captures slow moving meteor

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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Bright meteor fireball explodes over Espírito Santo, Brazil

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.