Fireballs

New Comet C/2021 D2 (ZTF)

Ernesto Guido
Remanzacco Blogspot
Tue, 23 Mar 2021 18:12 UTC

CBET 4948 & MPEC 2021-F67, issued on 2021, March 22, announce the discovery of an apparently asteroidal object (magnitude ~19.5) on CCD images taken on Feb. 19.5 UT & Mar. 09-5 with the 1.2-m Schmidt telescope at Palomar in the course of the "Zwicky Transient Facility" (ZTF) search program (the object was reported twice by the ZTF survey team as two different objects) . This object has been found to show cometary appearance by CCD astrometrists elsewhere. The new comet has been designated C/2021 D2 (ZTF).

Stacking of 20 unfiltered exposures, 60 seconds each, obtained remotely on 2021, March 15.2 from I89 (iTelescope, Nerpio, Spain) through a 0.32-m f/8.0 reflector + CCD, shows that this object is a comet with a diffuse coma about 8" arcsec in diameter (Observers A. Valvasori, E. Guido).

Stacking of 12 unfiltered exposures, 90 seconds each, obtained remotely on 2021, March 18.2 from Z08 (Telescope Live, Oria) through a 0.7 m f/8 Ritchey Chretien + CCD, shows that this object is a comet with a diffuse coma about 10" in diameter (possibly elongated toward PA 140). (Observers E. Guido, M. Rocchetto, E. Bryssinck, M. Fulle, G. Milani, C. Nassef, G. Savini).

Our confirmation image (click on it for a bigger version; made with TYCHO software by D. Parrott)

Bright meteor fireball lights up sky from New Hampshire to North Carolina

Kari Pugh
OBX Today
Sun, 21 Mar 2021 13:05 UTC

Did you see it? NASA Meteor Watch says a very bright fireball was spotted across the East Coast around 12:26 a.m. Sunday morning.

The meteor was also detected by three meteor cameras belonging to the NASA Fireball Network and two cameras of the Southern Ontario Meteor Network, NASA said.

"A quick analysis of the best set of video data from these systems shows that the object first became visible 55 miles (88 kilometers) above the town of Greenstone, near the Pennsylvania/Maryland border," NASA noted. "Moving northwest at 51,000 miles per hour (23 kilometers per second), the fireball traversed 38 miles (61 kilometers) through the atmosphere before fragmenting 28 miles (45 kilometers) above the Pennsylvania town of Newburg."

The American Meteor Society recorded more than 75 sightings of the meteor early Sunday. Observers described the fireball as white or light blue with a bright tail.

Comment: For another video of this event, see: Bright meteor fireball captured over Pittsburgh

Daytime meteor streaks over Jersey, Channel Islands - Update: Sonic boom reported

ITV News
Sat, 20 Mar 2021 17:42 UTC

A meteor has been spotted over Jersey.

At around 3pm, a report was made from the island's north coast of a streak of white light moving downward through the skies above the island.

Police and the coastguard were called but the island's harbourmaster said following inspection, and judging by images on social media, he was satisfied that it was in fact a meteor.

This dashcam footage sent in by Ian Dryhurst shows the white streak visible moving through the sky while he was driving along Victoria Avenue. The flash of light can be seen clearly in the centre of the screen.

Meteors are pieces of rock which burn up on entry to the Earth's atmosphere. According to NASA, an estimated 48.5 tons of meteoritic material falls on the Earth each day.

Comment: The American Meteor Society (AMS) received 68 reports (event 1767-2021) about a meteor fireball seen over Île-de-France, Bretagne, Centre-Val de Loire, England, Hauts-de-France, Normandie, Pays de la Loire, St. Ouen, Vlaanderen and Wales on Saturday, March 20th 2021 around 14:53 UT.

Across the English Channel a loud bang and 'earthquake-like' tremors were reported by residents in Dorset according to the Bournemouth Echo. The Ministry of Defence quashed rumours that RAF planes caused the boom reports the Dorset Echo.

Update: On 21 March Yahoo News UK reports:

A loud boom that was heard across four counties was likely caused by a meteor, it has emerged.

Residents in parts of Devon, Dorset, Cornwall and Somerset heard the sonic boom at around 3pm on Saturday afternoon.

Experts have confirmed that the loud bang was likely to have been related to the fireball meteor seen in Jersey.

The British Geological Survey tweeted on Saturday afternoon of a "probable sonic event" over Somerset, Devon and Dorset.

Richard Kacerek, co-founder of the UK Meteor Observation Network, told Yahoo News: "This is a meteor we see on the pictures and videos.

"The reports we got seem to support this was a fireball meteor. The loud bang heard after this event seems likely to be related."

Seeing a fireball in the daytime is "extremely rare", he said, and would have to be "a very large bolide class to be visible during the day".

Another meteor fireball was widely observed blazing across UK earlier this month, with a sonic boom reported.

Meanwhile a record number of asteroids were observed flying past Earth last year - despite lockdowns interrupting surveys!

Spectacular meteor fireball in Belem, Brazil

Project Earth
YouTube
Fri, 19 Mar 2021 10:56 UTC

Spectacular Meteor in Belem, Brazil. 19 March 2021. In the Brazilian state of Pará, local residents filmed a rare phenomenon: a meteorite probably lit up the night sky, leaving behind a bright trail and flash. To explain the reason for this phenomenon, scientists continue to investigate video recordings of the fireball.

Bright meteor fireball captured over Pittsburgh

Sott.net
Sun, 21 Mar 2021 09:34 UTC

The American Meteor Society (AMS) received 143 reports (event 1786-2021) about a meteor fireball seen over CT, DC, DE, IN, MA, MD, MI, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, Ontario, PA, Québec, TN, VA and WV on Sunday, March 21st 2021 around 04:25 UT.

Space rock reportedly hits Cuba, lights up night sky, causes explosions

Sputnik
Sat, 20 Mar 2021 18:15 UTC

The Caribbean island was previously hit by a meteorite in February 2019, with space rock fragments causing a sonic boom powerful enough to shatter windows in the city of Pinar del Rio in country's west.

Seismologists in Cuba have tentatively attributed mysterious lights illuminating the night sky above the Moa seismological station in the country's east to a meteorite.

At 10:06 pm, the station registered 'several luminous phenomena', with residents in multiple communities reporting spotting a red and white light followed by one or more explosions.

National Seismological Service Chief Enrique Arango Arias confirmed to CubaDebate that the agency believes the event was caused by a space rock.

Bright meteor fireball over Spain (March 17)

Meteoroides.net
Wed, 17 Mar 2021 13:25 UTC

Our cameras recorded this fireball over Spain on 17 March 2021, at about 6:07 local time (equivalent to 5:07universal time). The bolide was generated by a rock from an asteroid that hit the atmosphere at about 100,000 km / h.

The fireball began at an altitude of about 100 km over the province of Jaén (Andalusia), and ended at a height of around 52 km over the province of Ciudad Real (Castilla-La Mancha). This 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, La Hita (Toledo), Sierra Nevada, La Sagra (Granada), Calar Alto ( Almería), and Madrid (UCM, Jaime Izquierdo).

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).6:07(Spanish peninsular local time) of March 17.

Large meteor fireball turns night into day over Indonesia

Save Earth
YouTube
Fri, 19 Mar 2021 11:17 UTC

A bright meteor has lit up the sky in Sulawesi, Indonesia on 16 March 2021 at 9:20 PM. Videos from the event show a bright fireball streaking across Pagimana District, Banggai Regency, Central Sulawesi lighting the dark sky.

Residents of Gorontalo Province who saw the meteor said that they heard a loud boom sound when the meteor lights up the night sky. Some experts believe that the flying object was a bolide, a very bright meteor.

Very bright bolide over Minas Gerais, Brazil on March 11

Bramon Brazilian Meteor Observation Network
Thu, 18 Mar 2021 13:07 UTC

A very luminous bolide was recorded at dawn on March 11th in BRAMON and Clima ao Vivo cameras in Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

Did you see that meteor?

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