Fireballs
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Fireball 2

Giant meteor fireball seen over Calabria, Sicily and Malta


Malta Today
Fri, 22 Jul 2016 17:50 UTC
File photo of meteor
File photo of meteor
A meteor passing over Calabria, Sicily and Malta in the Mediterranean was witnessed by skygazers yesterday at 11pm, as the celestial object ploughed through the summer night sky towards the southeast.

A full moon illuminated the field through which the 'white ball of fire', as some witnesses described it, tore across: the sighting comes ahead of the Delta Aquarids shower which Science Alert says will be most visible in the southern hemisphere.

While the peak for the shower will be on July 28 and 29, the display will continue until around August 23, overlapping with the Perseid shower, which occurs in mid-August.

Catching a glimpse of the Delta Aquarids will very much depend on your location, though the best time to watch the sky for these shooting stars will be around midnight.

Because meteors can be quite faint, it is best to look out for them in a dark sky, free of moonlight and artificial lights.
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Fireball

Bright meteor fireball filmed over Odessa, Ukraine

asteroid457
You Tube
Wed, 20 Jul 2016 13:26 UTC
Odessa, Ukraine fireball
© Via YouTube/asteroid457
Bright fireball over Odessa, July 20, 2016 filmed by amateur astronomy club Odessa city, Ukraine.

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Fireball

Huge fireball seen across North Western Australia

Ben Collins
ABC Kimberley
Wed, 20 Jul 2016 17:50 UTC
Fireball
© Instagram/@rcadsgramA fireball is caused by a large object entering Earth's atmosphere.
People across the Kimberley have reported seeing a bright fireball streak across the sky, inspiring awe and some fear.

"It was scary, because it came from the airport direction, and then we realised that it was probably space junk or a meteor," talkback caller Monica from Broome told ABC Radio.

"We spend a lot of nights with the kids lying out on trampolines watching shooting stars, but I've never seen anything like that."

The fireball was seen across a wide area of north western Australia just before 7pm on Tuesday.

Camped by the Fitzroy River, Cybil called ABC Radio to describe the awe-inspiring sight.

"Huge, big; it was the brightest thing I've ever seen. It was huge, white, massive. I've never seen anything so big in the sky," she said

About 130km south of Broome, Randal was camped on a cliff overlooking the ocean.

"It just seemed to come right up out of the sea, and then shot right across the Barn Hill camping area where we are," he said.

"My wife was sitting opposite me and she spun around, and we watched it disappear over inland somewhere.

"It was just so, so bright. We were wondering whether one of those missiles had come down from North Korea.

"We've seen shooting stars before, but this just outdid anything."
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Fireball 2

Great ball of fire over New Zealand

Margot Taylor
Otago Times
Tue, 19 Jul 2016 18:23 UTC
The fireball.
© Otago Times
A fireball that lit up southern skies last night was not a meteor, but something much rarer, a leading astronomer says.

Minutes after the bright orange ball flashed across the sky about 6.30pm, hundreds of people from Dunedin to Nelson took to social media to report having seen it.

Former resident superintendent of Canterbury University's Mt John Observatory Alan Gilmore said the ball of fire had all of the characteristics of a re-entry of debris from a spacecraft, or piece of equipment which had been orbiting Earth.

"It is not a meteor, I'm certain of that. It took too long to go across the sky.''

Comment: Actually, electrically charged meteors CAN travel very slowly. AND, disintegration - shedding - is quite common.

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Fireball 2

Bright meteor fireball streaks over Brazilian skies

Bramon - Brazilian Meteor Observation Network
YouTube
Tue, 12 Jul 2016 06:03 UTC
Bolide over Brazil
© YouTube/Bramon - Brazilian Meteor Observation Network (screen capture)
Bolide - LCS1 stations Catalan / GO and MAD2 / DF - 07/12/2016 - 03:32:00 UTC

(translated by Google)


Comment: Other meteor fireballs observed over Brazil recently include:

14 June 2016: Meteor fireball filmed over the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil

12 June 2016: Bright meteor fireball streaks over Sao Paulo, Brazil

29 & 30 May 2016: Two meteor fireballs illuminate Brazilian skies on two subsequent nights

24 May 2016: Meteor fireball filmed over Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

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Fireball 3

Two meteorites fell at the exact same spot millions of years apart

Alexandra Krauska
Morocco World News
Tue, 12 Jul 2016 13:54 UTC
Atlas Mountains
© Morocco World News
Rabat - Evidence found in the High Atlas Mountains suggests that two meteors fell in the exact same place, potentially millions of years apart. Seven scientists from an international team lead by a researcher at the Hassan II University in Casablanca studied the impact site and found that the impact structure is much older than the meteorite fragments found at the site.

Large meteorites are not decelerated by the atmosphere, so may create impact structures or "shatter cones" when they land. Meteorites are not usually found at impact sites because they are molten or vaporized upon impact, and they are rapidly eroded or broken down by Earth's environment.

This particular site, outside the Village of Agoudal in the High Atlas Mountains, had meteorite fragments at the site, and it was assumed that the meteorite fragments created the impact structure. The new research, which was published by Professor Hasnaa Chennaoui Aoudjehane and the research team in the science journal Meteoritics and Planetary Science on June 2016, claims that the impact structure was already present when a second meteor hit the same spot, leaving behind the fragments.

The estimated diameter of the original impact structure is between 1 and 3 km. Scientists used the average rate of erosion in the High Atlas Mountains to estimate how old the structures are. Based on how much the structure wore down over time, the impact structure is probably 1.25 to 3.75 million years old. This makes the impact structure much older than the meteorite fragments found in the same site.

Discoveries like this can help scientists better understand the impact of a meteor falling to Earth. Research will continue to determine how life in the region was affected at the time of the impact.
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Fireball 2

Impressive meteor fireball filmed over Morocco on 8 July 2016

Meteors
You Tube
Sat, 09 Jul 2016 18:12 UTC
Fireball
Fireball recorded on 8 July 2016 over the North of Africa, at 21:05:47 UT (23:05:47 local time) by the meteor-observing stations operating in Spain in the framework of the SMART Project.

The event was brighter than the full Moon and was produced by an alpha-Capricornid meteoroid.

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Fireball 3

Evidence of huge asteroid impact event found in Australia


The Australian National University
Mon, 16 May 2016 02:40 UTC
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.
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Meteor

NASA reports 1.2kt bolide meteor over Mauritania


Lunar Meteorite Hunters Blogspot
Thu, 30 Jun 2016 21:34 UTC
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).
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Comet 2

Comets & Asteroids - Summary for June 2016

Ernesto Guido
Remanzacco Blogspot
Mon, 04 Jul 2016 20:16 UTC
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
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