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Fireball 3

Evidence of huge asteroid impact event found in Australia

Asteroid impact spherules
© A GliksonImpact spherules.
Scientists have found evidence of a huge asteroid that struck the Earth early in its life with an impact larger than anything humans have experienced.

Tiny glass beads called spherules, found in north-western Australia were formed from vaporised material from the asteroid impact, said Dr Andrew Glikson from The Australian National University (ANU).

"The impact would have triggered earthquakes orders of magnitude greater than terrestrial earthquakes, it would have caused huge tsunamis and would have made cliffs crumble," said Dr Glikson, from the ANU Planetary Institute.

"Material from the impact would have spread worldwide. These spherules were found in sea floor sediments that date from 3.46 billion years ago."

The asteroid is the second oldest known to have hit the Earth and one of the largest.

Dr Glikson said the asteroid would have been 20 to 30 kilometres across and would have created a crater hundreds of kilometres wide.

About 3.8 to 3.9 billion years ago the moon was struck by numerous asteroids, which formed the craters, called mare, that are still visible from Earth

"Exactly where this asteroid struck the earth remains a mystery," Dr Glikson said.

Meteor

NASA reports 1.2kt bolide meteor over Mauritania

Mauritania night sky
© Michael HuniewiczMauritania night sky
NASA fireballs page has been updated with a bolide meteor with 1.2kt of Calculated Total Impact Energy. The bolide's position was given as 15.8N,11.9W.

The bolide was detected on Monday 27 June at 10:02UTC, possessed a velocity(x) of -29.1 km/s or 18.2 miles/sec (65,475 mph) and was reported at an altitude of 33km (20 miles).

Background Situation

New asteroid discoveries are currently in somewhat of a lull, with only 10 new discoveries in the <0.5AU range within the last 2 weeks (Period "M"). The numbers of new <0.5AU discoveries have been in decline since period "G" (Apr1-Apr15), with a similar trend for <5LD asteroids since period "E" (Mar1-Mar15).

2016 MA was the only <5LD asteroid discovered during period "M" and made its close-approach on June 19 at a distance of 2.6LD. New period "N" begins tomorrow (July 1).
So far, in 2016, there have been 29,849 new <0.5AU discoveries and 211 <10LD discoveries.

(Source for all stats: eissco.co.uk).

Comet 2

Comets & Asteroids - Summary for June 2016

During the month of June 2016, 2 new comets were discovered and there was 1 comet recovery. A small asteroid, 2016 HO3, has been discovered in an orbit around the sun that keeps it as a constant companion of Earth, and it will remain so for centuries to come. On June 2nd a small asteroid (1-3 meters wide) hit Earth's atmosphere and exploded over Arizona. Amateur astronomer and comet discoverer Rolf G. Meier died on June 26th, 2016 after a short battle with cancer. "Current comet magnitudes" & "Daily updated asteroid flybys" pages are available at the top of this blog (or just click on the underline text here).
The dates below refer to the date of issuance of CBET (Central Bureau Electronic Telegram) which reported the official news & designations.

Comet Discoveries

June 05 Discovery of C/2016 K1 (LINEAR)
June 24 Discovery of C/2016 M1 (PANSTARRS)
Comet C/2016 K1 Linear
© Remanzacco Blogspot
Comet Recoveries

June 06 Recovery of P/2010 N1 (WISE) as P/2016 GE_216

Fireball 5

Comets and the early Christian mosaics of Ravenna

Justinian's Raging Bulls
© Wikimedia CommonsJustinian's Raging Bulls.
The Plague of Justinian has been associated with the extreme weather events of 535 - 536 AD which [in its turn] has been associated with "debris from space impacting the Earth".
The extreme weather events of 535 - 536 were the most severe and protracted short-term episodes of cooling in the Northern Hemisphere in the last 2,000 years.

The event is thought to have been caused by an extensive atmospheric dust veil, possibly resulting from a large volcanic eruption in the tropics, and/or debris from space impacting the Earth.

Its effects were widespread, causing unseasonal weather, crop failures, and famines worldwide.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_weather_events_of_535%E2%80%93536
The Plague of Justinian (541 - 542) was a pandemic that afflicted the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, especially its capital Constantinople, the Sassanid Empire, and port cities around the entire Mediterranean Sea.

One of the greatest plagues in history, this devastating pandemic resulted in the deaths of an estimated 25 million (initial outbreak) to 50 million (two centuries of recurrence) people.

Recent investigations relate this severe plague epidemic to extreme weather events of 535 - 536 considered as an example of volcanic winter.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plague_of_Justinian
In a wonderful YouTube video Dr. Ruth Dwyer examines the Ravenna Mosaics and discovers the mosaics clearly depict "debris from space impacting the Earth".

Fireball 2

Meteorites from fireball seen over Arizona located

Pieces of a small asteroid that left a fiery trail in the sky over a big chunk of Arizona earlier this month have been found by researchers
© Arizona Department of TransportationPieces of a small asteroid that left a fiery trail in the sky over a big chunk of Arizona earlier this month have been found by researchers
Pieces of a small asteroid that left a fiery trail in the sky over a big chunk of Arizona earlier this month have been found by researchers, Arizona State University says.

A team of meteorite hunters recently located 15 meteorites on tribal lands after getting permission to search, ASU spokeswoman Beth Giudicessi said Wednesday.

Working in partnership with the White Mountain Apache Tribe, scholars spent more than 130 hours searching the White Mountains.

The findings offer a "piece of that giant puzzle about where did we come from," said ASU Center for Meteorite Studies curator Laurence Garvie.

Comment: See also: Huge fireball lights up night sky over Phoenix, Arizona - Residents stunned as meteor explodes, shaking homes


Fireball 2

Meteor streaks across Guam night skies

Guam Meteor
© YouTube Screen Capture
If you were looking at Tuesday's night sky and saw a flashing light, you caught a glimpse of a meteor. This is viewer submitted video taken from Hagatna. According to National Weather Service meteorologist Landon Aydlett, it's a rare sighting.

Meteors are chunks of rock floating through space. As they come through the atmosphere, they become incandescent and appear as a streak of light.


Fireball 3

'Meteorite' crashes through roof in Thailand

Thai Meteorite
© Chinnawat SinghaA suspected meteorite is pictured after it went through the roof of a house in the central province of Phitsanulok on Tuesday morning.
Phitsanulok - A mysterious rock, believed to be a meteorite, crashed through the roof of a house in Phitsanulok's Muang district on Tuesday.

The suspected meteorite fell through the roof of a home in Plai Chumphon sub-district at 7.26am, hit a wall and then bounced to the floor, breaking into five pieces.

"I was having breakfast when there was a loud bang, like a gunshot sound. I looked around and found a rock about the size of an egg and some fragments nearby. I picked up the largest chunk and let go quickly as it was very hot," 65-year-old home-owner Bualom Chalomprai said.

Mrs Bualom believes the rock is from outer space and will bring her good luck.

Mrs Bualom's husband, Kittisak, 75, said he heard a sound of explosion in the sky at about 7am before the 300g rock fell through his roof.

Media reports said residents in adjacent districts of Nakhon Thai and Chat Trakan also heard the "explosion".

Fireball 3

Fireball lights up Nova Scotia skies

Fireball Over Nova Scotia
© Fred Thornhill/ReutersA bright light over Nova Scotia Thursday night was likely a meteor.
A meteor was likely behind numerous reports of a bright light in the skies over Nova Scotia Thursday night.

Numerous people reported on social media seeing it just before 10 p.m.

It was probably a very bright meteor hundreds of kilometres away, said Dave Lane, director of the Saint Mary's University observatory.

"I've only seen one of these things in my lifetime that was bright enough to be spectacular," Lane said, adding he didn't witness the meteor last night.

Fireball 2

Bright meteor fireball observed over southern Spain

meteor fireball over spain
© SMART Project (screen capture)
Fireball recorded over Spain just one minute after the start of summer (June 20, at 22:35 UT).


Fireball

Meteor fireball filmed over the state of São Paulo, Brazil

Brazil
This earthgrazer meteor was filmed by cameras of the Brazilian Meteor Observation Network (Bramon) over the state of São Paulo, Brazil on June 14, 2016.

They managed to catch the beginning (VLW station), middle (CSP station) and the end of the flight (HAL station) and thus to calculate the trajectory of the space rock.


Comment: See also this report of another fireball two days earlier from the same region: Bright meteor fireball streaks over Sao Paulo, Brazil