Fireballs
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Fireball 5

Bright, multi-colored fireball streaks slowly across Colorado night sky

Viewers called and emailed 9NEWS to report seeing a bright and colorful light in the sky Wednesday night.

Many said they saw the streak of light around 9pm and described it as moving slower than most shooting stars.

They also described colors of green, orange and yellow associated with the light. 9NEWS received reports from Denver, Aurora, Greeley and other locations in the state.

An astronomy and physics professor with Metropolitan State University, Dr. Kamran Sahami, said the green color suggests a meteorite made up of rock, possibly a metal such as nickel.

9NEWS has not confirmed the exact source of the light.

Fireball 5

'Massive explosion' in North San Diego county still a mystery

Carlsbad - Did your house shake on Sunday afternoon? You weren't alone. The cause of the loud boom and ground tremors felt and heard citywide on Sunday remains a mystery.

Theories about everything from oil rig explosions to shotgun blasts have been proposed, but city and county officials say they have no explanation as to what rattled windows and frightened animals just before 5 p.m. Sunday.

Many assumed the noise was the result of a sonic boom by military aircraft flying out of Holloman Air Force Base, but the base wasn't conducting any flights that day, said Holloman's Elah Murray.

"We stopped night flying on the 22nd of November," Murray said.

Tacy Farmer said that she was sitting in the living room of her home on North Lake Street Sunday when she and her daughter felt the boom resonate through the house.

"We all kind of paused and looked at each other, wondering 'did you feel that'," Farmer said.

"The whole house trembled and the windows shook," she said.

Residents across the city felt a similar phenomenon.

Comment: For the probable answer, look no further than the Fire in the Sky section of SOTT.net.


Fireball 4

Big explosion in Jackson, Indiana, 'a mystery'

The cause of a boom--a pretty darn loud BOOM--heard Saturday night at least as far west as Sand Creek, and at least as far east as Westville, remains unknown.

One Chesterton Tribune reader reported that the boom, sounding like a "loud explosion," occurred around 10 p.m. and "rumbled houses for five seconds." A Duneland firefighter, meanwhile, reported that it also activated car alarms.

Tom Shapen, assistant chief of the Liberty Township Volunteer Fire Department, met Westville Fire Chief Sean Jacks at the scene--to the extent that there was any scene at all. Together, Shapen told the Tribune, he and Jacks conducted a search of their two jurisdictions but were unable to find any sign of an explosion or any indication of what the boom might have been or what might have caused it.

"It remains undetermined," Shapen said.

Porter County Sheriff's Police officers also responded, Sheriff Dave Lain said, and similarly turned up nothing. "No damage, no isolation even of where exactly it occurred."

Lain's best guess: "Some sort of a firework." If so, a very loud one.

Comment: SOTT.net's best guess: yet another overhead meteor explosion.


Fireball 3

UK resident thinks meteorite may have hit house

Lawrence Parkin from Jacksdale, Nottinghamshire said he was woken in the night by a tile falling from his roof.

In the morning he found large chunks of rock scattered around his front garden.

Experts at Nottingham University said he had possibly been hit by the remains of an iron rich meteorite. The pieces are now being sent to a London museum for further verification.

Fireball 5

Loud explosions rock houses in Connecticut, authorities haven't a clue what caused them

Local officials, police and fire are investigating reports of percussion, tremors and booms in Old Mystic.

According to First Selectman Ed Haberek, there is no evidence or cause as of yet, he said. Homeland Security has been notified, he said. Haberek said He hopes to have more information within the next hour.

Facebook reports and messages to Stonington Patch indicate people on the Stonington side of Old Mystic had their houses rocked, heard large boom sounds and felt as if perhaps there was an explosion nearby. Police and fire have not determined any cause as of yet. Check back with Patch later for details.

Fireball 3

Eyewitnesses describe Wednesday's Queensland meteor as 'comet-like with many tails', just one spectacular lightshow of many in recent weeks

The stars aligned for some lucky Fraser Coast sky watchers on Wednesday evening.

Dozens of people reported seeing what was believed to be a meteorite crossing the sky about 8pm.

Cassandra Perry was among those who caught a glimpse and shared her experience on the Fraser Coast Chronicle's Facebook page.

"Yes, I saw a light moving fast through the sky, so I ran outside and saw it was a meteor," she said.

"I could see it burning up, looked like it had a tail similar to what fireworks looks like, an awesome sight."

Commenter Sally Mackay said she saw it with her daughter as they were leaving a school awards night.

Comment: See also:

September 19, 2013: Meteor lights up south-east Queensland night skies

November 26, 2012: Daytime fireball explodes over Queensland, Australia, leaves visible trail

Large red-green fireball fragments low over Queensland, Australia, momentarily turning night into day, 21 November 2012

Large bright fireball with orange-green tail breaks apart over Queensland, Australia, 29 August 2012


Comet 2

News and testimonials about the meteor that exploded over Greek island of Kephalonia

meteorite
Many residents of Western Greece experienced a unique and incredible phenomenon at 9 pm yesterday [Wednesday] evening. Meteorologists spoke of a meteorite that was to fall in the Ionian sea.

The phenomenon was particularly noticed from the residents of Zante in the regions of Maheradou and Alikon. The residents said that they saw bright streaks across the sky from West to East, followed by an intense noise. However, there were no damages or problems reported even though the testimonies supported that the glow illuminated the homes of areas in Kefalonia.

Comment: Hellas Now offers testimonials from eyewitnesses of the surrounding areas (translation from Greek by our SOTT editors):
From Pirgy:
Regarding the meteorite, it was very noticeable around the Pyrgos area where I live, and also at Poros, where my father was, there was a noise and they were shaken a bit. It was however very noticeable even in my village which is far from the sea and high up.
From Kapandriti:
I was outside on my veranda at that time. The night from black became blue. It was coming from Kapandriti. It looked like fireworks but in the end it got on fire, and after 1-2 minutes there was a loud sound.
From Vlahata:
We also heard the sound, it was very loud... the frames of the house shuttered... as if dynamite exploded nearby... a friend wrote that Vlahata brightened as if it was daytime.
From Zakynthos:
There was a horrible Boom! and we all looked around to see what happened, we thought that it was very loud thunder.



Fireball 2

Meteor explodes over Greece, panicked locals report fragments falling into sea

Meteor
File photo of a meteor entering the atmosphere, taken from the ISS last year.
A meteor hit Zakynthos, the third largest Greek island, in the Ionian Sea on Wednesday night.

Eyewitnesses said the sky lit up like day after an explosion and objects which looked like fire balls fell into the sea, according to state-run ANA-MPA news agency.

"Meteor strikes are common in Greece, it is not threatening," geology Professor Efthimyos Lekkas told an AA correspondent.

The meteor didn't cause any damage but people panicked around the region.

Comment: "Meteor strikes are common in Greece, it is not threatening."

What the hell kind of statement is that?!

Sure, fireballs exploding overhead is a daily occurrence NOW because they have increasing exponentially in recent years!


Cloud Lightning

Best of the Web: Signs of Change in November, 2013

Image
The Philippines looked like it had been hit by a tsunami once Super-typhoon Haiyan roared through
Major flooding and landslides in India, a massive earthquake off Japan, a ferocious storm thrashing northern Europe, more mass animal die-offs, flash-flooding in Texas taking rivers to their highest levels in 100 years, canals turning red in The Netherlands, meteor fireballs seen the world over, a devastating super-typhoon wiping out parts of the Philippines, a deadly cyclone in Somalia, sinkholes swallowing more homes in Florida, a "second-season outbreak" of deadly tornadoes in the U.S. Midwest... just another month of strange and extreme weather and celestial events on a planet that's rockin' and rollin'.


Fireball 3

Huge meteor fireball fragments over Queensland, Australia, 27 November 2013

Initial Meteor Sighting Reports

27 November 2013 Mark D Brisbane, Qld, AUSTRALIA 20:15 AEST (UTC+10)
9 seconds N-S Facing West Red main body with yellowish tail Venus Started as one moving light, fragmented into 2 clusters, larger cluster at the top, maybe 20-30 fragments, smaller cluster at the bottom, maybe 5-10 fragments awesome. scared the kids a little bit!
27 November 2013 Tiff Logan City, Qld, AUSTRALIA 1955
About 10 seconds. North-SouthWest Viewed facing west. Yellow/white. No sound. At least as big and bright as the moon. Started out big and solid then as it travelled it broke up into numerous smaller pieces that fizzled out. It was very, very low and fairly slow. I've never seen anything like it. Amazing!
27 November 2013 Delgray Mountain creek, Sunshine Coast, QLD Australia Between 7.30-8pm
10-15 seconds N/NE - S/SW White/yellow/gold, no sound Possibly the moon but a bit more yellow co,luring Yes, definitely fragmentation, 1 major part and the numerous trailing afterwards I am not sure what this was, defiantly had numerous fragments and wasn't moving too fast across the sky, but disappeared down to the SW of maybe Brisbane city, AUSTRALIA