Fireballs
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Fireball 4

Bright green meteor fireball lights up skies over Exeter, UK

Neil Shaw
Exeter Express and Echo
Tue, 24 Jan 2017 12:19 UTC
meteor fireball over Exeter
© John MacleanThe meteor fireball over Exeter
A bright green 'fireball' lit up the skies over Exeter as a meteor blasted through the atmosphere and gave a spectacular natural light show.

The 'bolide' meteor was a random ball of metals that exploded as it entered the atmosphere - and experts say it may have landed before it was able to burn up.

The flash was caught for more than seven seconds as it streaked over our skies, thanks to a meteor observation camera at Exeter Observatory.

The observatory's John Maclean, a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, said the flash was so bright it was easily visible to the naked eye.

He said: "Someone saw it and called me, so this was obviously a very bright one. The person who saw it was out walking their dog and described a bright green flash. This was a bolide, or fireball - not usual."

Mr Maclean, an astronomer and lecturer who works with NASA and has a 25-year military background, said the Exeter Observatory is part of a network that captures more than 20,000 meteors on camera every year - but very few this impressive.

He said the Exeter camera is part of the 48-camera UK Meteor Monitoring Network.

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Fireball 2

Meteor fireball seen in the skies above Huddersfield, UK?

Harriet Mallinson
Daily Mail
Thu, 12 Jan 2017 20:12 UTC
Fireball
What appears to be fireball has been spotted in the Yorkshire skies.

A short video clip, filmed by 22-year-old Abbey Shaw, seems to show a blaze of fire streaking through the sky above Huddersfield.

Shaw, who works at the University of Huddersfield's IT department, is baffled as to what it could be.

'I don't have a clue what it is,' she said, 'It looks like some sort of fireball. I do not think for one minute that it is a plane!

'Everyone at work agrees with me too. You can tell by the speed that it is travelling at.

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Fireball 2

Meteor fireball blazes across Siberian city of Omsk

Lizzie Stromme
Express UK
Mon, 23 Jan 2017 14:06 UTC
Meteor over Omsk
© CENMotorists were given an extraordinary experience as the meteor blazed across the sky.
Motorists in the city of Omsk in Siberia were treated to the rare phenomenon as the falling space rock crashed to earth. The meteor, which appeared in the Omsk Oblast, appeared to be a massive fireball and was visible for miles. However experts say the flaring object was actually probably small enough to fit in your pocket.

Vladimir Krupko, head of the local planetarium, said: "Most likely it was a small meteorite, the size of a walnut.

"Since it was flying up high in the air, it was visible from other cities as well.

"When it entered the atmosphere it caught fire at about 120 kilometres (74.5 miles) above the ground, and by the time it was 40-60 kilometres (25-37 miles) above the ground the fire had gone out."

Despite there being plenty of larger objects whizzing around our solar system, no large meteorites, which are debris from a comet, asteroid, or meteoroid, are expected for at least 100 years, Mr Krupko said.

Comment: A few weeks ago two large meteor fireballs were caught on camera in northwestern Russia.

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Fireball 5

Meteor fireball seen over Donegal, Ireland

Donegal Weather Channel
YouTube
Sat, 21 Jan 2017 14:46 UTC
Fireball over Donegal, Ireland
© Via YouTube/Donegal Weather Channel
Last night Saturday 21st of January I had clear sky for the fist part of the night here in Donegal, Ireland and had my camera out covering the night sky when a beautiful fireball fell too the north sky. I was lucky enough of to capture this as it was starting to cloud over.

I had a number of reports on my Facebook page of the same fireball which was seen in another few spot of The northwest and northern Ireland.

The Fireball occurred at 9.32pm 21st January 2017.

Note that the video is looped.

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Fireball

Meteor? New Orleans residents report flash of pinkish light, loud booms, home rattling

Jade Cunningham
WWLTV
Thu, 19 Jan 2017 22:32 UTC
Loud boom in New Orleans
© WWLTV
Residents have been reporting something strange happening in Uptown.

On multiple occasions, a loud 'boom' has been heard, some even reporting the sound follows a flash of pinkish light.

Many who've witnessed it said they haven't the slightest idea what it is or where it's coming from.

"This is more like a deeper boom," said resident Neal Royer.

Some even joke around with their own theories. "Leah thinks it's aliens," said Eric Rucker pointing to his wife as they both chuckled. "Maybe a zombie apocalypse happening across the street." However, all laughing aside, people all over Uptown are asking, what is it?

"I was walking my dogs and I saw behind me that there was some kind of flash and a boom," said Cindy Stein. "It was like a pinkish flash. There were people outside who saw it too saying what they heard or saw."

For weeks a loud 'boom' has rattled quiet neighborhoods at night or early in the morning.
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Fireball 2

Meteor fireball breaks up over Victoria, Australia

Tyrone Dalton
Sunrayasia Daily
Wed, 18 Jan 2017 06:39 UTC
meteorito
A meteorite burning across the ­Mallee sky last Friday night has spotters talking.

Wollongong-based amateur astronomer David Finlay said the "massive" fireball was seen about 11.05pm on January 13.

"From Melbourne and Shepparton, this meteor appeared low to the ground to the north-west, but I suspect it may have been very close to the Mildura area," Mr Finlay said.

"It split into several pieces in the end and a team from Monash University and I are trying to track it down."
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Fireball

Daytime meteor fireball explodes over Norway

TW
The Watchers
Tue, 17 Jan 2017 21:31 UTC
Daytime fireball over Norway
© norskmeteornettverk.no
An impressive bright flash appeared above central Norway on January 15, 2017, and was observed from both western and eastern Norway. Eyewitnesses are asked to submit their reports.

According to the Norwegian Meteor Network, the event occurred around 13:48 UTC and was accompanied by a sonic boom a few minutes later, suggesting that the event was a fireball coming a long way down in the atmosphere before it exploded.

The meteor network operates numerous cameras, but the event was apparently not recorded by any of them. If you saw the event, please submit your report.

Received reports so far mention very intense light that dissolved into small fragments before it disappeared. Two of them said the light was blue and well visible.

The reports came from the regional districts Sogn og Fjordane, Møre og Romsdal, Oppland, and Rogaland. The most distant observations are from the city Haugesund in western Norway and Lunner county.

Norway fireball map
© International Meteor OrganizationPreliminary location of the January 15, 2017 fireball over Norway according to the few comments and reports received so far.
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Fireball 2

Bright meteor fireball explodes over Puerto Rico

Frankie Lucena
YouTube
Thu, 12 Jan 2017 08:16 UTC
meteor fireball over Puerto Rico
© YouTube/Frankie Lucena (screen capture)
Very bright fireball explodes just south of Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico on Jan 12, 2017 at 5:11am local time.

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Fireball 2

American Meteor Society receives 145 reports of meteor fireball over US Midwest and Canada

Ken Palmer
Lansing State Journal
Wed, 11 Jan 2017 20:15 UTC
meteor fireball over US Midwest
© Google maps/AMS (screen capture)The American Meteor Society (AMS) received 145 reports about a fireball seen over OH, IL, WI, MI, IN, IA, PA and Ontario on Sunday, January 8th 2017 around 11:15 UT.
Dave Behnke wasn't prepared for what he saw in the sky before dawn on Sunday.

Neither was his dog, Harvey, who had insisted they go outside at such an early hour to begin with.

"He started barking, looking up and going crazy," said Behnke, who lives in Lansing Township. "I said, 'what the hell?' And then he started cowering. I looked up, and I was thinking, 'did I just see something or not?'"

The object was "about the size of a VW wagon," Behnke said. It was changing colors and moving from north to south. He thought it was only about 100 feet above the trees.

What they saw was a bright meteor known as a fireball. And lots of other people saw it, too.

The American Meteor Society received 145 reports of a fireball seen over seven states and Ontario, Canada around 6:15 a.m. Sunday. Observers from all over southern Michigan, including East Lansing, Laingsburg, Charlotte and Webberville, logged sightings on the AMS website.

"I was on my way to work when I saw what I initially thought was a low flying plane behind a tree," an East Lansing resident wrote. "However, when I moved past the tree I saw the object. It was very bright and seemed to be very close."

Comment: Of the 145 reports received by the American Meteorological Society of a fireball over OH, IL, WI, MI, IN, IA, PA and Ontario on Sunday, January 8th 2017 around 11:15 UT, dozens of reports were from Ohio, where unexplained explosions and fire damage affected several homes.

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Comet 2

New Comet: C/2017 A3 (Elenin)

Ernesto Guido
Remanzacco Blogspot
Wed, 11 Jan 2017 17:43 UTC
MPEC nr. 2017-A75, issued on 2017, January 11, announces the discovery of a comet (magnitude ~18.2) by L. Elenin on CCD images obtained with 0.4-m f/2.4 reflector + CCD at the ISON-SSO Observatory, Siding Spring on Jan. 5.4 UT. The new comet has been designated C/2017 A3 (Elenin).

I performed follow-up measurements of this object, while it was still on the neocp. Stacking of 20 unfiltered exposures, 120 seconds each, obtained remotely on 2017, Jan 06.5 from Q62 (iTelescope network) through a 0.50-m f/6.8 astrograph + CCD + f/4.5 focal reducer, shows that this object is a comet with a compact coma nearly 10 arcsec in diameter elongated toward PA 40.

My confirmation image (click on it for a bigger version)
Comet C/2017 Elenin
© Remanzacco Blogspot
M.P.E.C. 2017-A75 assigns the following preliminary parabolic orbital elements to comet C/2017 A3: T 2017 Jan. 20.6; e= 1.0; Peri. = 301.87; q = 3.91; Incl.= 99.12
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