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Comet 2

Large comets more common than previously thought

NEOWISE
© NASAAn artist’s rendering of the NASA’s WISE mission, renamed NEOWISE in 2013, observing comets and other deep space objects.
Data from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission has shown that large, distant comets are more common than previously thought. This is according to research published in the Astronomical Journal. These "long-period comets" originate from the distant Oort Cloud, and the information provided by the NASA's spacecraft is contributing to a better understanding of how common these icy worldlets might be.

While most people are likely familiar with icy objects such famous comets as Halley and Shoemaker-Levy 9, the latter of which broke up and impacted the gas giant Jupiter in July 1994. These, along with nearly all of those most of us have heard about (or seen) are from the family of "short-period comets". Short-period refers to the length and distance of the period, or the time it takes to make one full orbit, of the object.

Short-period comets take less than 200 years to make a full orbit around the Sun. These are generally separated into two families: Jupiter-family comets and highly inclined long-period comets. Jupiter-family comets, of which Shoemaker-Levy 9 was one, have orbital periods of less than 20 years. Long-period comets, like Halley's Comet, have orbital periods between 20 and 200 years in length.

Fireball

Asteroid Florence to sweep past Earth on September 1st

Named for Florence Nightingale, asteroid 3122 Florence is the biggest near-Earth object to pass this close since this category of objects was discovered over a century ago! It might be visible in binoculars.
Asteroid 3122 Florence
© StellariumAsteroid 3122 Florence – named for the founder of modern nursing – on August 27 at 11:50 pm CDT as seen from central U.S. Illustration by Eddie Irizarry using Stellarium.
The next attraction coming up in our skies after the spectacular total solar eclipse of August 21 might be an asteroid big enough to be seen in small telescopes, and maybe even in binoculars, as a small, very slow-moving "star." Asteroid 1981 ET3 - also known as 3122 Florence - is a huge space rock at least 2.7 miles (4.35 km) in diameter. According to Paul Chodas at the Center for Near Earth Object Studies:
Florence is the largest asteroid to pass this close to our planet since the first near-Earth asteroid was discovered over a century ago.
Asteroid 3122 Florence will safely pass by our planet on September 1, 2017 at over 18 times the Earth-moon distance. The asteroid will not be visible to the unaided eye. It will, however, become visible in small amateur telescopes by late August, in the course of what will become the closest encounter to Earth by this asteroid since 1890.

Fireball

Homeowner who heard a loud bang discovers a 15-inch wide blazing crater in his garden in Appling, Georgia

Meteor hole
A stunned homeowner in Georgia has spoken about the moment a glowing red meteor crashed outside his house, leaving a huge crater.

Jay Sullivent heard a loud bang while he was at home in Appling, and initially thought it was a car crash.

Unable to find a wreckage he took a walk around his lawn before stumbling on a burned circle of grass with smoke rising from it.

The drama happened on July 21.

When he approached, Mr Sullivent discovered the middle was alight, with a pink rock in the middle.


Fireball 5

Meteor fireball lights up the skies over western Washington State

Fireball over Washington
© YouTube/Newsflare
Happen to catch that strange fireball ranging across the sky shortly before 10 p.m. on Saturday night? You weren't the only one.

According to the American Meteor Society, there have been 751 reports of the event so far, primarily from Western Washington, but spreading as far south as Eugene, Oregon, as far north as Enderby, British Columbia and as far east as western Idaho. Newsflare.com posted video of the fireball, which occurred at at 9:54 p.m.


Just one person from Whatcom County reported seeing the event to the AMS - a source identified as "CoryA" from northeast of Bellingham near East Axton Road. According to the report, CoryA said, "I wish I hadn't blinked! Saw it, blinked, gone."


Fireball 4

Meteor fireball fragments over southern France

southern France meteor fireball map August 2017
© American Meteor Society (screen capture)AMS Observers map
The American Meteor Society (AMS) has received over 175 reports about a meteor fireball seen over southern France (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Occitanie, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Grand Est and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté) on Friday, August 4th 2017 around 21:11 UT.

The phenomenon was visible from Bordeaux to Marseille, reports South West. On Twitter, several Internet users have expressed their awe at observing the green fireball. An accompanying boom sound was also reported by some according to the AMS.


A webcam also captured the meteor fireball over the Massif Central.


Comment: This video has been uploaded on the American Meteor Society Website. AMS Event: 2563-2017, Report 117061. Location is Marssac-sur-Tarn.




Fireball 3

Orange meteor fireball shocks skywatchers in New South Wales

Orange fireball over Australia
© David Sunter
A Tweed resident was dazzled as he captured on film the moment a meteorite flashed across the skies last week in Northern NSW.

David Sunter was working on a rooftop at Serene Retirement Living, Tweed Heads, on Wednesday when he saw a bright meteor burn through the sky just after sunrise, at about 6am.

Mr Sunter filmed the passage of the fiery tail as it cut through the empty sky beyond Point Danger, NSW.

"I looked out above the awning and I seen this strange light in the sky and I thought it was a flare," Mr Sunter said.

Comment: You can watch video of the event here.


Fireball 2

Meteor fireball explodes over Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico meteor fireball
© YouTube/Frankie Lucena (screen capture)
The timestamp is from a GPS time inserter set to give the time in UTC. The object was traveling from the southeast to northwest over Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico on July 26, 2017 at 02:49:17 UTC or 10:17:43 AST (Local Time).


Fireball

Meteor lights up night sky over Canadian province of British Columbia

Meteor
© Castanet
A bright object in the heavens above the North Okanagan got the attention of many people over night.

Social media has lit up with speculation as to what the object was.

Some jokingly speculated it was an alien invasion, but the most common theory - and the most likely - is it was a meteor.

"Just something very large fell towards Vernon...bright light maybe really large meteor? Started high in the east sky and rapidly lowered behind the hills in the west," Liana Battye told Castanet.

Posted one witness on Facebook, "It lasted maybe three-and-a-half seconds. It looked huge. Over by the Swan Lake area, we saw it from Middleton."

The light was so bright it was seen in Enderby and Kamloops.

Comment: The American Meteor Society (AMS) received 834 reports about a fireball seen over WA, OR, British Columbia, ID, Washington and Oregon on Sunday, July 30th 2017 around 04:53 UT.

The meteor was captured and posted on Twitter by Parker Sayers.






Fireball

Dashcam captures meteor fireball flying over Ekaterinburg, Russia

Fireball over Ekaterinburg, Russia
© YouTube/Green House Apartment Ekaterinburg
A meteorite was falling on Ekaterinburg. And he did not reach the ground a little.


Fireball 2

And another: 'Amazing' meteor fireball recorded over Cordoba, Spain

Fireball over Spain
© YouTube/Meteors
This amazing fireball was recorded on the night of 28 July 2017 at 3:29 local time ( 1:29 universal time). It was associated with the alpha-Capricornid meteor shower. The event was produced by a fragment from comet 169P / NEAT that impacted the atmosphere at about 90,000 km / h.

The fireball began at a height of about 104 km and ended at an altitude of around 75 km. It was recorded in the framework of the SMART Project from the astronomical observatories of Calar Alto (Almeria, Spain), La Hita (Toledo, Spain), Seville and Huelva.

This spectacular fireball flew over southern Cordoba in the early hours of July 28, at 3:29 local time (1:29 universal time). It occurred as a result of the entry into the Earth's atmosphere of a fragment from comet 169P / NEAT at about 90 thousand kilometers per hour. The luminous phenomenon began at an altitude of about 104 km and advanced in a northeasterly direction, extinguishing to about 75 km of altitude when it was almost on the vertical of the locality of Baena.


Comment: This is the third fireball recorded over Spain in the past 11 days: