Fireballs

Several reports of meteor fireball in sky over California, seen from Lake Tahoe

South Tahoe Now.com
Mon, 06 Nov 2017 17:50 UTC

File image

People from Fresno to Santa Rosa, California reported seeing a fireball across the sky Sunday evening around 5:24 p.m.

The American Meteor Society (AMS) received 19 reports from observers who said "the light got bigger before it burst, leaving a trail of smaller balls before disappearing," "it was a white streak followed by a few tiny fragments. Ended in the main fireball turning to a green color," and "it was flickering and sparkly, like a roman candle being shot across the sky."

South Shore resident Greg Felton said he was headed west on Highway 50 when he saw the bright ball across the sky towards Pyramid Peak.

South Tahoe Now contacted the University of California, Berkeley Astronomy Department, Beale AFB in Marysville and the National Weather Service in Reno before tracking down information on AMS.

Comment: View our dedicated topic pages concerning meteor fireball reports here.

Meteor fireball caught on CCTV footage over South African city

Nic Andersen
The South African
Mon, 06 Nov 2017 17:33 UTC

A meteor in full flight is a spectacular sight that most of us don't get to see in person up close. Where real life fails, technology and social media have stepped in to make sure we don't miss a thing.

The Roodepoort Record reports that a local resident and his wife made an interesting discovery while reviewing their CCTV footage. The man wanted to assist his neighbour in Vuurlelie Street after their dog was poisoned, so he thought he would take a look at the footage.

While they might not have found information about the dog, they did discover a meteor shooting through the sky around 9PM on Sunday.

While it only lasted a few seconds, the sheer brightness and apparent proximity of the object should be enough to satisfy your curiosity.

You can see the video of the event below.

4 ways NASA plans to save us from Earth-bound asteroids

RT
Sat, 04 Nov 2017 18:44 UTC

© NASA
An Earth-bound asteroid would need to be spotted decades in advance if scientists are to have a chance of stopping a disaster.

Hollywood movies have long dramatised the threat of Earth being wiped out in by an asteroid discovered at the 11th hour, only for disaster to be averted by all-American heroes such as Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck or a gristly Robert Duvall.

As NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office uses the asteroid "2012 TC4" to test its ability to respond to the existential threat posed by Near Earth Objects (NEOs), we look at four methods the international community hopes could one day help us avoid going the way of the dinosaurs.

Bright flash, mysterious boom caught on home surveillance camera in New Jersey

Alexis Tarrazi
Patch
Thu, 02 Nov 2017 18:56 UTC

A home video captured a bright flash followed by a loud boom heard across the township Wednesday night. What do you think it was?

A Bridgewater resident's home video surveillance captured a bright flash followed by a loud boom heard across the township Wednesday night.

The video was taken from a home on Poplar Street in the Bradley Gardens section of the township by Philip Vicari.

"Take notice to the flash of light," Vicari told Patch. "That wasn't my camera and my flood light was off."

Comment: According to Meteorites Australia, sounds associated with meteorite falls (as reported by observers) can include crackling sounds like gunshots and cannon-like explosions.

Newly discovered Comet Heinze (C/2017 T1) to zip past Earth in January

Bob King
Sky and Telescope
Wed, 01 Nov 2017 17:32 UTC

Just discovered, Comet Heinze (C/2017 T) will zoom by Earth in January and may just show up in your binoculars.

© Mike Olason
Comet Heinze (C/2017 T1) was only a tiny, 17th-magnitude patch of fuzz with a short, fan-shaped tail on October 22nd.

Ah, 2017. A year busy with binocular-bright comets has been on the quiet side lately. But the recent discovery of Comet Heinze (C/2017 T1) by the University of Hawaiʻi's Ari Heinze gives comet watchers hope for a bright and fuzzy start to the new year.

Heinze searches for near-Earth asteroids with the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) project, and came across the comet in images taken on October 2nd. The survey uses two telescopes, one at Mauna Loa Observatory on Hawaiʻi Island, and a second on the summit of Haleakala on Maui, about 100 miles to the northwest. Among other benefits, two widely-spaced "eyes" allow for distance determination using parallax, which also helps in calculating a new object's orbit.

Earth-grazing meteor fireball with radio reflections caught over New Mexico

Vincent Perlerin
American Meteor Society
Mon, 30 Oct 2017 16:17 UTC

© AMS
Earthgrazer Fireball with Radio Reflections – Oct 25 2017 – New Mexico Thomas Ashcraft (Radio – Channel A 76.309 MHz CW – Channel B 54.309 MHz CW).

On October 25th 3:42am MDT (09:42 UT), amateur radio astronomer Thomas Ashcraft caught an Earth-grazer Fireball over his personal observatory "Heliotown" in Lamy, New Mexico. Earth-grazing fireballs are bright meteors that enter Earth's atmosphere at a very shallow angle and skim along the top of the atmosphere. Some actually re-enter space.

Ashcraft combines all-sky video camera observations with a forward-scatter radar array that is tuned to the plasma and ionization produced by meteors (Channel A 76.309 MHz CW - Channel B 54.309 MHz CW).

Two photographers,100 miles apart, capture same bright meteor fireball as it flies over Arizona

Deborah Byrd
EarthSky
Mon, 23 Oct 2017 17:56 UTC

As the Orionids were peaking this past weekend, at least two members of the EarthSky community caught bright meteors in the long-lasting Taurid shower. The two meteor photos on this page appear to show the same bright meteor, although these photographers were separated by about 100 miles. Joanne West, whose image is above, said she caught her fireball at 10:27 p.m. on October 21 and wrote:

Had camera aimed at eastern sky in dark desert area near Superstition Mountains in Gold Canyon. I had been making 20-second exposures continually for about 30 minutes. Grace was with me as my camera shutter happened to be open when this fireball came out of the sky from the Taurus constellation.

Nikon D750, 20mm Nikon lens. Processed the raw file to adjust the foreground brightness and darken the highlights of the meteor.

Thanks, Joanne! Meanwhile, some 100 miles (about 150 km) to the south, Eliot Herman in Tucson, Arizona also caught a bright Taurid fireball at 10:27 p.m. on the evening of October 21 ...

Burning meteor fireball passes over Brecon Beacons, South Wales

Laura Dale
Story Trender
Mon, 23 Oct 2017 15:37 UTC

This dramatic fireball appears to tear the night sky apart and bring daylight shining through.

The extremely bright meteor was captured racing past Earth during the Orionids Meteor shower.

In the foreground a quiet country lane winds over the Brecon Beacons National Park.

The photograph was taken by RAF personnel Chris Pomeroy, from Pontypridd in South Wales, just after midnight on October 21.

Chris, 34, said: "I was photographing the Orionids Meteor shower. The camera was set up and I was taking random exposures hoping to capture a meteor.

"During one exposure I captured what seemed at the time, to the naked eye, to be an extremely bright shooting star that lasted only for about a second.

Meteor fireball seen over Bellingham Bay, Washington

Robert Mittendorf
The Bellingham Herald
Thu, 26 Oct 2017 14:31 UTC

File image

Firefighters searched Bellingham Bay and the surrounding shoreline Tuesday night after least two Whatcom County residents called 911, reporting they had seen an aircraft engulfed in flames crash into Bellingham Bay.

What people likely saw was a fireball, officials said — but one more properly called a meteor. Several Whatcom County residents saw it, too, but they recognized the blazing streak as a shooting star at 7:38 p.m. Tuesday.

"It was green, very bright, and super fast heading north," said Bridgett Bullard of Blaine. "I saw it while I was getting onto I-5 northbound at Bakerview. My sister saw it and she was on Grandview in Birch Bay."

Others were convinced they had seen an aircraft hit the water. Fire crews and other units were sent to investigate, including the fireboat Salish Star.

"Report of a plane seen going down in the area, Kwina Road and Haxton, in the water," a dispatcher said, according to emergency radio traffic archived online.

Meteor fireball lights up the sky in Port Lincoln, South Australia; massive bangs heard

Elizabeth Henson
news.com.au
Fri, 27 Oct 2017 14:18 UTC

The fireball that travelled across the Eyre Peninsula on Thursday night.

A meteor research centre has captured an image of a fireball that lit up the sky over the Eyre Peninsula and reportedly caused the ground and buildings to shake at Port Lincoln.

The bright blue meteor shot across the sky just after 11pm and was spotted by people as far away as Adelaide.

Port Lincoln resident Lila Watson was driving home when she saw what she initially thought was a shooting star.

"It just got bigger and bigger and it was just this big flash across the sky and there were sparks coming off it," she told The Advertiser.

"It just lit the sky up and I saw it go southeast.

"I pulled up home and I heard two massive bangs, maybe a second apart, and then the sky lit up again."

"It definitely shook the ground - I just felt the whole earth shake twice."

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Fireballs

Several reports of meteor fireball in sky over California, seen from Lake Tahoe

Meteor fireball caught on CCTV footage over South African city

4 ways NASA plans to save us from Earth-bound asteroids

Bright flash, mysterious boom caught on home surveillance camera in New Jersey

Newly discovered Comet Heinze (C/2017 T1) to zip past Earth in January

Earth-grazing meteor fireball with radio reflections caught over New Mexico

Two photographers,100 miles apart, capture same bright meteor fireball as it flies over Arizona

Burning meteor fireball passes over Brecon Beacons, South Wales

Meteor fireball seen over Bellingham Bay, Washington

Meteor fireball lights up the sky in Port Lincoln, South Australia; massive bangs heard

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