Fireballs
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Fireball 2

Bolide explodes over Kansas illuminating the night sky


Sott.net
Sun, 21 Jun 2020 06:59 UTC
Bolide over Kansas
© YouTube/Paul M Smith (screen capture)
The American Meteor Society (AMS) has received 22 reports (event 2967-2020) about a meteor fireball seen over AR, KS, MO, OK and TX on Friday, June 19th 2020 around 05:36 UT.

Paul M Smith was recording storms over Kansas when he captured the likely bolide (meteor brighter than the planet Venus) illuminating the night sky.

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Fireball 2

Another meteorite-like object falls from sky in Rajasthan, India

Naresh Khileri
India Today
Fri, 19 Jun 2020 13:37 UTC
The meteorite-like subject which fell from the sky in Rajasthan.
The meteorite-like subject which fell from the sky in Rajasthan.
A meteorite-like object fell from the sky in Rajasthan's Sanchore town on Friday morning. The object resulted in a one-foot-deep crater and created an explosive sound that was heard up to two kilometers away. The unidentified object is currently with the police and under investigation.

According to locals, an explosive sound was heard when the object fell from the sky. The fall and the sound resulted in panic in the area.

The object was emitting heat even three hours after it crashed leading many to believe it may explode. As a result, the administration advised locals to stay away. After it cooled down, it was put in a jar. According to the police, the object will be investigated by experts.

"There was a massive sound in the morning when the object fell from the sky -- it was as if an airplane had crashed. However, no one could spot what had fallen. It was only after sometime that the object was noticed in a one-foot-deep pit in the ground. It had fallen about 100 metres from my house. We immediately informed local authorities," says Ajmal Devasi, a local.

Mangal Singh, Information Bureau Inspector, Jalore district, said, "After we received information about the unidentified object, department officials reached the spot. The unidentified object was found to be three kilometers heavy and was very hot. Investigation is underway."

Comment: In February this year a meteorite hit a factory compound in Alwar, Rajasthan, India reportedly causing a 20-feet deep crater.

Other reported meteor impacts so far this year include:

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Fireball 5

Three bright meteor fireballs recorded within 90 minutes over Puerto Rico


Sott.net
Fri, 19 Jun 2020 06:35 UTC
Puerto Rico meteor fireballs
© YouTube/Frankie Lucena (screen capture)
Three bright meteor fireballs were recorded within 90 minutes over Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico on June 16th 2020, facing slightly NW between the hours of 04:40 UTC and 06:08 UTC (12:40 and 2:08 am).

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Comet 2

New Comet C/2020 K8 (CATALINA-ATLAS)

Ernesto Guido
Remanzacco Blogspot
Wed, 17 Jun 2020 17:12 UTC
CBET 4796 & MPEC 2020-L46, issued on 2020, June 12, announce the independent discovery of a comet (magnitude ~19) of an apparently asteroidal object made on CCD images taken with the 0.68-m Schmidt telescope of the Catalina Sky Survey (on May 25, 28, and 29) and the 0.5-m f/2 Schmidt reflector at Haleakala, Hawaii, in the course of the "Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System" (ATLAS) search program (on June 7). Then on June 8, R. Weryk reported the linkage of all of these tracklets, suggesting it might possibly be a comet based upon the astrometry. The object has been found to show cometary appearance subsequently by numerous CCD astrometrists at other observing sites after the object was posted on the Minor Planet Center's PCCP webpage. The new comet has been designated C/2020 K8 (CATALINA-ATLAS).
We performed follow-up measurements of this object while it was still on the PCCP webpage.

Stacking of 29 unfiltered exposures, 60 seconds each, obtained remotely on 2020, June 09.4 from X02 (Telescope Live, Chile) through a 0.6-m f/6.5 astrograph + CCD, shows that this object is a comet with a diffuse irregular coma about 10" in diameter (Observers E. Guido, M. Rocchetto, E. Bryssinck, M. Fulle, G. Milani, C. Nassef, G. Savini).

Stacking of 24 unfiltered exposures, 57 seconds each, obtained remotely on 2020, June 10.4 from U69 (iTelescope, Auberry California) through a 0.61-m f/6.5 astrograph + CCD, shows that this object is a comet with a diffuse coma about 15" in diameter slightly elongated toward PA 358 (Observers A. Valvasori, E. Guido).

Our confirmation images (click here for a bigger version)
Comet C/2020 K8 Catalina-Atlas
© Remanzacco Blogspot
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Question

India's Lake Lonar turns pink baffling scientists and locals


Outlook India
Mon, 15 Jun 2020 21:58 UTC
Maharashtra's Lonar Lake has turned pink overnight, leaving scientists and locals baffled about the reasons behind this change. Located in the Buldana district about 500 km from Mumbai, the Lonar crater had formed due to a meteorite, which hit the earth about 50,000 years ago.
Lonar Lake, India
© Outlook IndiaWater in the Lonar Lake, which has now turned Pink
This is the world's third-largest crater formed due to a meteorite strike. People in the area were considerably surprised when the lake's normal bluish-green water turned a pinkish red.
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Umbrella

Reports of 'explosion' like noise heard across Waterford, Ireland

Karen Tomkins
WLR FM
Thu, 11 Jun 2020 11:24 UTC
Waterford, Ireland
© WLR FM
Air Traffic Control at Waterford Airport say they haven't received reports of unusual activity in the skies of Waterford City.

They were responding to claims that a very loud noise, described as being like an explosion was heard at around half past ten last night.

Mystery surrounds the noise, heard by people in the city centre, Ferrybank and in the Dunmore Road and Tramore Road areas.

It has been described by some who heard it as a 'sonic boom'.

People took to social media to describe the incident, however Waterford Gardai say they didn't receive any reports from the public.

One Facebook user in Ursuline Court caught the sound on video.
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Fireball 4

Spectacular meteor fireball lights up the night sky over Pilbara, Western Australia

Peta Rasdien
PerthNow
Mon, 15 Jun 2020 06:29 UTC
Green meteor fireball over WA
© Shaz HussienResidents were left stunned after a mysterious green glow (pictured) lit up the night sky on Sunday evening
Pilbara residents have been treated to an astronomical spectacle overnight after a green fireball lit up the night sky.

The meteor was spotted at 12.46am on Monday morning and was caught on camera by shocked onlookers — including the Karratha Police — in Port Hedland and Cape Preston, near Karratha.

Matt Woods from the Perth Observatory said the green colour was the result of magnesium from the rock burning up as it entered the atmosphere.

It was likely no bigger than a pebble and was probably travelling between 16-50km per second.

"So that's like going from the Perth Hills to the CBD in a second," Mr Woods said.

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Fireball 4

Two meteor fireballs back to back over California

Vincent Perlerin
American Meteor Society
Wed, 10 Jun 2020 01:01 UTC
Fireball over CA
© Tanya C.
The AMS received over 110 reports so far about a fireball event that occurred over California (LA area) on June 10th, 2020 around 3:33 Universal Time (June 9th, 2020 08:33pm PDT). We also received nearly 90 reports about a similar event that occurred the next day North of San Francisco, CA. This second event occurred on June 11th 2020 around 03:51 Universal Time (June 10th, 2020 08:51pm PDT)

Estimated 3D Trajectories

The preliminary trajectories computed based on all the reports submitted to the AMS so far shows that the tow fireballs were mainly travelling from
East to West. The first one (AMS#2779-2020)

Trajectory1
© AMS
Trajectory2
© AMS


Fireball, Meteorite...?

Several thousand meteors of fireball magnitude occur in the Earth's atmosphere each day. The vast majority of these, however, occur over the oceans and uninhabited regions, and a good many are masked by daylight. Those that occur at night also stand little chance of being detected due to the relatively low numbers of persons out to notice them.

Comment: YouTube user 'Radium3D' captured the June 10th fireball from Carlsbad:



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Fireball 3

Bright fireball seen over Otaga Peninsula, New Zealand spurs rescue call

John Lewis
Otago Daily Times
Tue, 09 Jun 2020 21:28 UTC
Daytime meteor - stock image
© meteoriteclub.com (stock image)
A bright "orange and green" shining light over the Otago Peninsula has sent emergency services scrambling.

A police spokeswoman said a Highcliff Rd resident called about 7.15am when they thought they saw a flare in the Sandfly Bay area.

Police immediately alerted Dunedin Search and Rescue, Maritime New Zealand and the Coastguard of a possible rescue situation.

"Maritime put calls out, but there were no boats on the water and no calls [for help] had come in through their system.

"We put all the calls out, but obviously to no avail."
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Fireball 4

Meteor fireball lights up skies in eastern US, burns so bright it was seen from Canada


RT
Mon, 08 Jun 2020 15:54 UTC
Tennessee meteor
© Austin R./Amsmeteors.orgA brilliant fireball lights up the night sky over Knoxville, Tennessee, in this cell phone video captured from a moving vehicle by witness Austin R. at 9:42 p.m. EDT on June 7, 2020 (0142 GMT June 8).
Stunning video shows an incredibly bright fireball lighting up the skies above Tennessee, but the as-yet-unexplained phenomenon was so bright that it was visible from as far north as Canada.

The American Meteor Society received at least 120 reports from 12 states across the US -and several from Ontario in Canada- about an extremely bright object in the sky. Despite the number of observers, so far only one video of the fireball has appeared online.

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