Fireballs
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Fireball

Seasons Greetings: Three-mile-wide Asteroid 3200 Phaethon to skim Earth just before Christmas (VIDEO)

Jasper Hamil
Metro
Fri, 24 Nov 2017 13:26 UTC
An artist’s impression of a massive space rock zooming near Earth (Picture: Science Photo Library/Getty)
© Science Photo Library/GettyAn artist’s impression of a massive space rock zooming near Earth
Planet Earth will have a terrifyingly close encounter with a three-mile-wide asteroid just over a week before Christmas.

A gigantic space rock called 3200 Phaethon is due to brush 'quite close' to our planet on December 17, Russian astronomers have revealed.

This huge asteroid is thought to cause the beautiful Geminids meteor shower which will take place between December 13 and 14, causing hundreds of bright meteors to illuminate the night sky as they burn up in Earth's atmosphere.


Comment: Geminid meteor shower: how to watch as Phaethon asteroid debris lights up Earth's skies


But NASA has also described it as a 'potentially hazardous asteroid whose path misses Earth's orbit by only 2 million miles' - which is tiny in galactic terms.


Comment: In light of recent news this is concerning, and due to the cyclical nature of these events, if not now then in the coming years: BOOM! Mysterious blasts rattling the skies are on the increase around the world - UPDATE at least 64 documented events (VIDEO)


It's about half the size of Chicxulub, the rock which wiped out the dinosaurs, and has a very unusual orbit which causes it to pass closer to the sun than any other named asteroid.


Comment: Russian astronomers show big 'unusual orbit' asteroid 3200 phaeton approaching Earth

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Meteor fireball spotted over the Jersey Shore and nearby states

Justin Auciello
whyy.org
Sat, 25 Nov 2017 19:34 UTC
fireball
© NASA stock image
If you saw a vivid object race across the Jersey Shore sky early Friday evening, you're not alone.

More than 20 spotters reported seeing a fireball across portions of the Mid-Atlantic, according to a reporting log on the American Meteor Society website.

"Please tell me someone else saw the huge fireball streaking east to west across the sky south of Toms River a few minutes ago," Nick Cittadino posted on Jersey Shore Hurricane News at 6:30 p.m. Friday.

It was also spotted in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina.

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Green meteor fireball seen over New South Wales, Australia


Moree Champion
Thu, 23 Nov 2017 13:29 UTC
Fireball over NSW
© Lawana Hillhouse
Speculation ran rife online after Inverell Times reader Lawana Hillhouse reported seeing a strange light moving over the town on Thursday night, November 23, at approximately 9.45pm.

"It was sort of round and real red," Lawana said. She watched the object, which she initially believed was a fireball, move at a medium pace towards Moree.

"I thought it was some sort of weird weather event," she said.

Meteors, ball lightning, burning space junk and even aliens were among the many possible explanations given, as the Higgins Storm Chasing website reported similar sightings across NSW between 9.30-11pm.
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Blue-green meteor shoots across East Iceland skies


Iceland Monitor
Thu, 23 Nov 2017 13:30 UTC
Village of Breiðdalsvík
© Steinunn ÁsmundsdóttirThe tiny village of Breiðdalsvík in the East Fjords. The lights were seen just above the rocks at the back of the photograph.
Locals of Breiðdalsvík in East Iceland wondered if the aliens were actually coming on Tuesday when they were surprised by strange lights shooting across the sky.

According to local paper Austurfrétt the blue-green light shot across the sky at an incredible speed. One of the witnesses was Hrafnkell Hannesson who says he was at the supermarket when the lights appeared.
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Geminid meteor shower: how to watch as Phaethon asteroid debris lights up Earth's skies

Jon Sharman
Independent
Thu, 23 Nov 2017 11:14 UTC
A view of the Geminid meteor shower Asim Patel/Wikimedia
© Asim Patel/WikimediaA view of the Geminid meteor shower
Photographers and sky-watchers will be treated to an awe-inspiring celestial display in December as the Geminid meteor shower lights up Earth's atmosphere.

As our planet moves through the debris field left by the Phaethon asteroid next month, flashes and trails of light will be visible overhead - as long as the weather is clear.


Comment: Russian astronomers show big 'unusual orbit' asteroid 3200 phaeton approaching Earth


Phaethon, named for the son of Greek god Helios, is a rocky asteroid that orbits the Sun unusually closely.
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Flashing meteor fireball streaks through Japan's night sky (VIDEOS)


The Asahi Shimbun
Wed, 22 Nov 2017 14:25 UTC
fireball
A blazing object believed to be a large meteor whizzed through the night sky over Japan on Nov. 21.

It was visible for a few seconds around 9:30 p.m. and flashed with intense light a few times before vanishing, witnesses said.

The stunning display sparked an explosion of activity on social media.

"It's a fireball ... a big meteor," said Chisato Yamauchi, 43, a researcher at Misato astronomical observatory in Wakayama Prefecture, who watched video footage of the event online.

"Fragments of sand and stone moving through space lit up due to friction upon entering Earth's atmosphere," he explained.

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Bright green meteor fireball captured on camera over Oostkapelle, the Netherlands


Sott.net
Mon, 20 Nov 2017 18:30 UTC
green fireball
© Klaas Jobse
On the night of November 19th, amateur astronomer Klaas Jobse captured a green meteor/fireball over the Dutch village of Oostkapelle.

Estimating the size of the fragment as that of a large marble, Jobse told regional broadcaster Omroep Zeeland that "such a fragment of a comet enters the atmosphere with a gigantic speed and then a spectacular reaction occurs, with this fireball as a result."

While he suspects the meteor fragment originates from the Leonids, he remarked that a great fireball such as this one is extraordinary. "It was pretty clear, so you could see it beautifully. And it was very bright. I think you can compare it with the light of a full moon. Yes, for an amateur astronomer, this is the icing on the cake."

See the footage of the fireball in the video below (00:11-00:15):

Fireball 2017 1119 02:29 UT Oostkapelle from Astronomy! Project Oostkapelle on Vimeo.

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'Oumuamua' - Definitely not your average asteroid or comet


EurekAlert
Mon, 20 Nov 2017 19:09 UTC
Oumuamua
© SpaceRefOumuamua.
In October astronomers were surprised by a visitor that came racing into our Solar System from interstellar space. Now, researchers using the Gemini Observatory have determined that the first known object to graze our Solar System from beyond is similar to, but definitely not, your average asteroid or comet. "This thing is an oddball," said Karen Meech of the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy who leads an international team studying this interstellar interloper.

Originally denoted A2017 U1, the body now goes by the Hawaiian name 'Oumuamua, in part because of its discovery by Meech's team using the Pan-STARRS1 survey telescope on Haleakala in Hawai'i. When discovered in mid-October 'Oumuamua was only about 85 times the Earth-Moon distance away and its discovery was announced in early November.

Since its discovery 'Oumuamua has faded from view. The object's rapidly increasing distance from the Earth and Sun now makes it too faint to be studied by even the largest telescopes.

"Needless to say, we dropped everything so we could quickly point the Gemini telescopes at this object immediately after its discovery," said Gemini Director Laura Ferrarese who coordinated the Gemini South observations for Meech's group.
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Fireball seen flying over Heathrow Airport, London


RT
Mon, 20 Nov 2017 14:33 UTC
fireball Heathrow Airport
© IRLIVE net / YouTube
Incredible footage of a shooting star streaking across the sky and zooming past aircraft near London's Heathrow Airport has been shared on social media.

Video of the close cosmic encounter was captured by Airlive and posted Sunday. The mesmerizing meteor can be seen shooting across the sky before a low flying plane comes into view. Another aircraft can be seen coming from the opposite direction in the distance.

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Crater in Rajasthan proven to be caused by a meteorite

Aabshar H Quazi
Hindustan Times
Sun, 19 Nov 2017 16:08 UTC
Ramgarh Crater
© Hindustan TimesThe Ramgarh Crater in Rajasthan’s Baran district.
For long the origin of the Ramgarh crater has been a subject of debate among researchers. While some believe that it was caused by 'meteorite impact', others are of the view that it evolved from 'tectonic' or 'structural' activity or 'magmatism'.

For years the crater - located near Ramgarh village, about 12 km east of Mangrol - has been considered as a 'meteorite impact' site, but the theory lacked unambiguous evidence. However, a study by geologist Satyanarayan Rana has found diagnostic evidence of 'meteorite impact' at the crater.

Rana, a research scholar at the department of geology, Mohanlal Sukhadia University (MSU), Udaipur, has found evidence in the form of shatter cones in sandstones, planar deformation features (PDFs) and planar fractures (parallel sets of multiple planar cracks) in quartz grains.

Shatter cones are rare geological features and are only known to form in the bedrock beneath meteorite impact craters or underground nuclear explosions. PDFs are also formed by extreme shock compressions on the scale of meteor impacts.

"This regional geological structure has invited the interest of various geologists throughout the world since its discovery and the past five decades have witnessed a number of theories on the origin of this structure, but the issue of origin remained debatable," the 33-year-old PhD researcher, who started his research in 2013 and he completed it in April this year.
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