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Strange light seen in parts of Sri Lanka possibly a meteorite explosion


Emirates 24/7
Tue, 19 Aug 2014 13:34 UTC
Meteor Explosion
© Daily Mirror
Colombo - The strange light that were spotted by residents in several areas of the North-Central Province could possibly have been from an exploding meteorite, the Arthur C Clarke Centre said.

The Centre's Space Division Spokesman told Daily Mirror that the lights could possibly be from a meteorite explosion though it has not been confirmed yet.

He said meteorite could wither away under its high surface temperature but no investigation was possible because no object had hit the earth's surface as it happens in a meteorite explosion.

Eye witnesses said strange lights had travelled from the south and had come towards the earth but had withered away some ten feet from the earth's surface.

No signs of burnt patches have been spotted to suggest that any object had hit the ground.

The strange light had been witnessed by residents in several areas in the North-Central Province including Anurdhapura, Padaviya, Habarana and Hingurakgoda.
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Fireball 3

Huge meteor spotted across southern B.C.


CTV Vancouver
Tue, 19 Aug 2014 13:28 UTC
Chelyabinsk Meteor
© Associated PressIn this frame grab made from a dashboard video camera, a meteor streaks through the sky over Chelyabinsk, Russia, Friday, Feb. 15, 2013.

A massive fireball seen streaking across the sky Monday night may have been part of the Perseid meteor shower.

People across B.C.'s Lower Mainland took to social media describing what they thought may have been a meteor around 10:15 p.m.

Witnesses described seeing a white or yellow light trailing through the sky, so bright that it lit up backyards and streets.

Although the meteor showers officially peaked last week, the event does run through Aug. 24th, so it's possible it was part of the annual astronomical event.

Almost a dozen people between Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, all the way to Bellingham, Washington to the south reported the sighting on the American Meteor Shower website.

"I have seen shooting stars, but this was huge," a Washington State user named Shanni reported.

"I told my husband it was like seeing something half the size of the moon fall. And it was slow enough for me to catch sight of it and then cognitively register so that I could get a better look. I kept waiting for a huge explosion as if a plane had gone down."
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Fireball 3

Loud boom over New Zealand district most likely a meteor

Anna Wallis
New Zealand Herald
Mon, 18 Aug 2014 15:16 UTC
Meteor
© Wikimedia Commons
A lightning-like flash in the sky and then a loud bang experienced in Wanganui yesterday morning was likely a bolide.

Arthur Harris of St John's Hill said it was 6.20am when he saw the flash.

"An orange light was in the sky, and then the bomb went off. It was like an explosion."

A similar light was also seen in Christchurch and Dunedin according to reports on weatherwatch.co.nz.

Mark Lee of the Wanganui Astronomical Society said the light was a bolide, the name for a large, brilliant meteor, especially one that explodes.

Mr Lee said they were more common than people thought and could be a meteor, or space junk that had become too hot. "It doesn't explode, it is just disintegrating."

He said material only has to be the size of a refrigerator to be seen and heard.

Source: Wanganui Chronicle
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Fireball

Residents in Sri Lanka see shiny object in skies, hear loud noise


Daily Mirror, Sri Lanka
Mon, 11 Aug 2014 23:01 UTC
Fireball
© newsfirst.lkPhoto used for representational purposes.
Authorities are investigating into reports that a bright light had been seen over the skies in the Anuradhapura district around 8 p.m. today accompanied by a loud sound, sources said.

However, it was not yet clear whether it was a meteorite or any other object.

Meanwhile, the Disaster Management Centre said they received a large number of inquiries from residents from the Dambulla to Seruwila stretch about a mysterious light in the sky.

The DMC said that they had alerted the Security Forces and Police about the complaints they received.
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Fireball 5

Meteor fireball photographed above Cheltenham, England


Gloucestershire Echo
Mon, 04 Aug 2014 00:06 UTC
Fireball over Cheltenham
© Gloucestershire Echo
Can you help solve the mystery of this phenomenon seen in the skies above Cheltenham on Sunday. We were contacted by Jess on twitter who posted the picture of the 'fireball'.

She said: "Was a big flash then looked like something falling on fire, happened last night.

"The picture was taken from Benhall lookin towards glos/tewks. I zoomed in on it on my camera for a few shots."

Did you see it? What could it be?
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Fireball explodes over Alabama


SpaceWeather
Mon, 04 Aug 2014 23:12 UTC
On Saturday night, August 2nd, NASA meteor cameras detected a fireball that exploded in a flash of light many times brighter than the Moon. It came not from the Perseid debris stream, but rather from the vicinity of the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Watch the movie, then read on for more information:


"The meteoroid was about 15 inches in diameter and weighed close to 100 lbs," says Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. "Travelling 47,000 miles per hour, it broke apart in a brilliant flash of light above the Alabama town of Henagar. Our cameras continued to track a large fragment until it disappeared 18 miles above Gaylesville, located near Lake Weiss close to the Georgia state line.

Comment: Possibly the same fireball in following video capture also from Saturday 2. August in Alabama:



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Sky gazers spot meteor in sky over Perth, Western Australia on Monday morning

Aleisha Orr
WA Today
Mon, 04 Aug 2014 01:06 UTC
Perth Fireball
© The Desert Fireball Network (Curtin University), and Badgingarra Primary SchoolThe 'fireball' seen across the Perth sky about 6am on Monday. Taken with a fish-eye lens.
A expert says the size and brightness of a meteor seen flashing across the Perth sky on Monday morning indicates it could have made it to earth.

There were a number of similar reports from across the metropolitan area of a blue/green light flashing across the morning sky shortly before sunrise.

The flash was caught on one of a number of cameras set up as part of the Desert Fireball Network, set up to photograph such astronomical events.

Curtin Faculty of Science Engineering Professor Phil Bland said the light captured on the camera was "really bright", indicating that it could have been a "decent-sized rock".

He said about 20 per cent of meteors made it to land without burning up.

Professor Bland said researchers would look at the images in more detail to find out more information.
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Fireballs over Texas - two meteor events July 26 & 27

nemesis maturity
youtube
Sun, 27 Jul 2014 09:58 UTC
Image

Two interesting events last night and this morning on my allsky cams on the Sandia Sentinel TX station allsky cams.

First at 07:27:18 UT was a very bright fireball just to my north that lit up the sky. It appears to have come in at a Very steep angle.

Second was a double meteor, also to my north, at 11:08:56 UT.

I'm also including data from the Very low Light integrating cam of the fireball for trajectory reference.

Check your security cameras!

Please file your meteor sightings please HERE-

Please help get the word about this event so that we might recover security camera video or cell phone captures; spread the word about this website via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Reddit, GLP, SOTT and your favorite forums; contact your local news outlets and tell them about this website; thank you!

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Fireball 4

Green fireball spotted over England


EDP24
Mon, 28 Jul 2014 11:14 UTC
Meteor
A Leonid meteor during the peak of Leonids in 2009.
A bright green light "travelling faster than any plane" was seen in the sky above Norfolk at 11pm on Sunday night.

A reader from Upper Stoke, near Poringland, "saw a really bright green light - which seemed to be torpedo-shaped, travelling across the sky towards Norwich, at great speed but absolutely silently.

"I could see it travelling through and above the clouds as I could see cloud beneath the light. It vanished completely after about three seconds."

"It was travelling faster than any plane I have seen and was so bright I initially thought firework but it was a) too high; b) there were no other fireworks and c) it made no noise or explosion.
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Neil deGrasse Tyson: Things have to get worse before Congress will take action on climate change

Tom Boggioni
Rawstory.com
Wed, 23 Jul 2014 11:12 UTC
Image
© Chicagonow.com
In an exclusive interview with Salon, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson talked about his role as a scientist, how the media presents scientific breakthroughs, and about how climate change will have to get worse before citizens force their elected representatives to do anything about it.

Tyson explained that he doesn't see himself as an advocate, but as an educator whose job it is to present "emergent scientific consensus," in the hope that the public and policy makers will use it to make informed decisions.

"I'm just trying to get people as fully informed as they can be so that they can make the most informed decisions they can based on their own principles or philosophies or mission statement," Tyson explained. "What concerns me is that I see people making decisions, particularly decisions that might affect policy or governance, that are partly informed, or misinformed, or under-informed."

Tyson notes that during the Cold War, physicists actively advocated for specific policies because those policies were directly related to their work in developing nuclear weapons. When it comes to climate change, he would like to see more climate scientists take the lead instead of an astrophysicist like himself just because he's famous.

Comment:
ABC: Man may need to live in space to survive cometary impacts, global disasters
We live in a cosmic shooting gallery

See also:
Celestial Intentions: Comets and the Horns of Moses

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