Fireballs
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Fireball 3

Meteor fireball over southern Spain (Dec. 17)

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This bolide was spotted over Spain on December 17, at 23:50 local time (equivalent to 22:50 universal time). The event was generated by a rock (a meteoroid) from an asteroid that hit the atmosphere at about 54,000 km/h. The fireball overflew the region of Murcia (southern Spain). It began at an altitude of about 86 km over the locality of Mazarrón (province of Murcia), moved northeast, and ended at a height of around 30 km over the locality of Balsapintada (province of Murcia).

This bright meteor was recorded in the framework of the SMART project, operated by the Southwestern Europe Meteor Network (SWEMN) from the meteor-observing stations located at La Hita (Toledo), Calar Alto, Sierra Nevada, La Sagra (Granada), and Sevilla. The event has been analyzed by the principal investigator of the SMART project: Dr. Jose M. Madiedo, from the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC).


Fireball 3

Dazzling meteor fireball illuminates night sky and falls onto village in China

This video, which was filmed yesterday (December 15), shows a meteorite illuminating the night sky and falling on the ground like a "fireball" in Jinhua, Zhejiang province. No injury was reported.

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The fireball seen from a dash cam video crossed the sky for just a few seconds and fell far away while burning, with a brightness that was brighter than a full moon. Some unburned meteorite fragments were found in Chengtou Village, Pujiang County, Jinhua.

The crater, about 8 centimeters in diameter, was later found on the concrete floor at the gate of a farmer's house in the village.


Fireball

Best of the Web: Meteoroid hit suspected after major leak reported on Soyuz space capsule

soyuz leak
Screenshot: Russia aborts International Space Station spacewalk mission after Nasa footage shows particles spraying from MS-22 capsule.
A major leak from a Russian capsule docked on the International Space Station was most likely caused when a small meteoroid smashed into a radiator, leading to coolant being sprayed into space, a Roscosmos official has said.

Sergei Krikalev, a former cosmonaut who is now director of crewed space flight programs at Russia's space corporation, said Thursday's leak from the Soyuz MS-22 could affect the capsule's overall coolant system but that there was "no threat for the crew" of the space station.

The leak had prompted a pair of cosmonauts to abort a planned spacewalk earlier in the day. It also raises concerns as to whether the capsule will be able to safely return to Earth next spring as planned with two cosmonauts and a Nasa astronaut, or if an emergency replacement vehicle will have to be sent up.

Comment: Note that, if this is indeed what they suspect, this follows an incident in June whereby a micrometeoroid hit the recently launched James Webb Telescope: First micrometeoroid impact hits James Webb Space Telescope just months into flight

All the signs point to the activity in our skies increasing: 'Unprecedented': Shockwave & 'huge roar' reported in Gran Canaria following meteor fireball event

See also: Classified: Roscosmos knows "exactly what happened" to Soyuz spacecraft


Fireball 2

Bright meteor fireball over the Atlantic Ocean (Dec. 9)

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This gorgeous bolide was spotted over Spain on December 9, at 21:32 local time (equivalent to 20:32 universal time). It was almost as bright as the full Moon. The fireball was observed by a wide number of casual eyewitnesses, who reported it on social networks.

The event was generated by a rock (a meteoroid) from Asteroid 2004 TG10 that hit the atmosphere at about 107,000 km/h. The fireball overflew the Atlantic Ocean. It began at an altitude of about 99 km over the Atlantic Ocean, moved southwest, and ended at a height of around 64 km over the sea.

This bright meteor was recorded in the framework of the SMART project, operated by the Southwestern Europe Meteor Network (SWEMN) from the meteor-observing stations located at Sevilla, Huelva, and La Sagra (Granada). The event has been analyzed by the principal investigator of the SMART project: Dr. Jose M. Madiedo, from the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC).


Fireball 2

Long-duration meteor fireball seen from all over northeastern US - December 2

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© AMS.org
More than 1100 reports and 10 videos from 14 states

The AMS received 1102 reports so far and some videos displaying a fireball event that occurred over Ohio and West Virginia on Thursday December 1st 2022, 7:34 PM Eastern Standard Time (Dec 2nd, 2022 0:34 Universal Time).

The initial computer generated trajectory of the AMS #2022-9579 event show the fireball entering the atmosphere few miles north of Cumberland, OH and terminating few miles southeast of Pittsburgh, PA. More accurate results are now available through an analysis conducted by NASA that shows that the meteor was first sighted 52 miles (84 km) above the Ohio town of Morganville. Moving downward at a shallow angle and almost due east at 34,500 miles per hour (55,500 km/h), the fireball traveled 113 miles (182 km) through the atmosphere before disintegrating 19 miles (31 km) above the town of Ringgold in West Virginia, just south of Morgantown. The duration of this event is relatively long as the fireball was visible for almost 10 seconds. The fireball was produced by a meteoroid approximately 5 inches (12 cm) in diameter with a weight around 3 pounds (1.3kg). The event has been captured by 3 NASA meteor cameras in the area and has been reported by witnesses mainly from Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio. The AMS also received reports from Maryland, North Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and from Canada (Ontario).

It is doubtful that this fireball produced meteorites on the ground - the shallow entry angle, relatively high speed at last sighting and lack of doppler radar signatures showing falling meteoritic particles indicate that the fragment's disintegration produced no substantial pieces.

This was not a member of the Geminid meteor shower, which will reach its peak on the night of December 13/14.




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Best of the Web: 'Unprecedented': Shockwave & 'huge roar' reported in Gran Canaria following meteor fireball event

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First, it ripped the sky over La Palma, La Gomera and Tenerife at great speed, like lightning that emitted colours with shades of green and red, to then cause such a roar over Gran Canaria that it was heard from many areas of the island before, finally, crashing in the sea, causing astonishment among the islanders who, at first, didn't know what it was.

Scientists have confirmed that it was a meteorite which, although it is not the first to fall in the Archipelago, there are no precedents for what happened yesterday, as it was accompanied by tremors. Fortunately, the Emergency Services announced that there is no record that it caused injuries or material damage.

The incident occurred yesterday (Wednesday) just after 3pm, although the exact time of the impact recorded by the measurement systems installed by Involcan and the National Geographic Institute (IGN) recorded various readings between 3:16pm and 4:35pm.

Comment: It sounds like it was a particularly bodacious meteor fireball. And, while small meteorites may have fallen into the sea following the object's overhead explosion, it's more likely that eyewitnesses observed it 'disappear over the horizon', not literally make impact in the Atlantic Ocean.

Translation:
The Canary Seismic Network, which operates INVOLCAN, has registered at 16:35 hours (Canary time) a seismic signal on the island of Gran Canaria caused by the passage of a powerful acoustic wave across the island.The preliminary analysis of seismograms shows a form compatible with an N-wave, produced by the impact on the earth's surface of a shock wave caused by an object, natural or artificial, moving in the atmosphere at its speed personality.The following figure shows the seismogram recorded by the GART seismic station (Artenara).The N-wave is a signal that produces a crash wave that impacts the Earth's surface and most likely its source was a solid https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%B3lido



Comet 2

Meteor fireball reported over Belgium, France, Germany and UK on November 24

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A meteor fireball is caught on dashcam on Thursday November 24th in the Belgian village of Beersel in Antwerp province.
Belgian news site Nieuwsblad reports that a reader of their site noticed a short but remarkable light spectacle on Thursday morning above the Belgian village of Beerzel in Antwerp province. He captured the meteor fireball with his dashcam. The short clip can be viewed here.

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New research reveals space debris, invisible meteors and near-Earth asteroids

In a new thesis from the Swedish Institute of Space Physics and Umeå University, unique methods for the analysis of radar data and simulations of meteoroids in the solar system are presented. The methods have been applied to confirm the existence of rare high-altitude meteors as well as to measure space debris from the Kosmos-1408 satellite. On November 25, Daniel Kastinen defends his doctoral thesis.
Daniel Kastinen
© Martin Eriksson / Daniel Kastinen (illustrationDaniel Kastinen's thesis presents results that pave the way for future research and cross-disciplinary studies on meteors as well as on space debris and near-Earth asteroids.
"My primary goal has been to carefully analyze radar measurements of meteors and space debris and evaluate the precision of the measurements. This is to improve further analysis and use the results together with the new dynamical simulations. The work paves the way for future research and allows cross-disciplinary studies on meteors as well as on space debris and near-Earth asteroids", says Daniel Kastinen.

Every day, 10-200 tons of material from space, consisting of dust- sized particles and larger pieces of material - meteoroids, fall into the Earth's atmosphere. These particles come from parent bodies such as comets and asteroids and thus date back to the time when the solar system was formed. When a meteoroid hits the Earth's atmosphere and burns up in the form of a meteor, the material is dispersed in the atmosphere. Most of these meteors are invisible to the eye but can be detected by radar.

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Best of the Web: Impressive meteor fireball flares upon entry over Toronto, Canada - Object was observed in space several hours beforehand

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Astronomers spotted an asteroid just hours before it impacted with Earth this morning (November 19, 2022), near Lake Erie. This is not the first time this year astronomers have discovered a rock from space just hours before it hit Earth.


Comment: When it's that small, it's a meteor, not an 'asteroid'.


But this time, it impacted over a populated area, crossing the skies of Toronto, Canada. So we have video and witnesses who said they saw, heard and felt the impact.


Fireball 2

Meteor fireball over New Zealand on November 18

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We received 20 reports about a fireball seen over Auckland, Northland and Waikato on Friday, November 18th 2022 around 15:23 UT.

For this event, we received 3 videos.