Fireballs
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Question

Mysterious boom spurs fear, confusion in Mount Vernon, Ohio

Mystery boom Mt Vernon, OH
© Knox Pages/Grant Pepper
A dozen Mount Vernon residents called 911 on Sunday night saying they heard a loud bang, according to 911 calls obtained by Knox Pages. But 24 hours later, local authorities still have no idea where the noise came from.

Most of the calls came from the north end of town, near the five-point intersection off North Main Street. Some came from the neighborhood surrounding Pleasant Street Elementary, however, which is almost a mile away. Callers from all locations claimed the source of the noise must be nearby, given how loud it was.

Mount Vernon police officers were dispatched to the call areas at 8:15 p.m. Sunday, department spokesperson Matt Haver said. But they were unable to find the source of the bang, and the police department is not conducting an investigation into the matter.

Those who reported the loud boom on Sunday night seemed scared and confused. A woman calling from North Mulberry Street seemed to tremble as she described a "loud explosion." A man calling from West Curtis Street said it "shook the hell out of our house," and a woman calling from East Burgess Street said she had retreated indoors, in case it was a gunshot.

Comet 2

New evidence that an impact event triggered abrupt climate change 12,800 years ago

Younger Dryas  Event
© Christopher R. Moore, CC BY-NDThe muck that’s been accumulating at the bottom of this lake for 20,000 years is like a climate time capsule.
What kicked off the Earth's rapid cooling 12,800 years ago?

In the space of just a couple of years, average temperatures abruptly dropped, resulting in temperatures as much as 14 degrees Fahrenheit cooler in some regions of the Northern Hemisphere. If a drop like that happened today, it would mean the average temperature of Miami Beach would quickly change to that of current Montreal, Canada. Layers of ice in Greenland show that this cool period in the Northern Hemisphere lasted about 1,400 years.

This climate event, called the Younger Dryas by scientists, marked the beginning of a decline in ice-age megafauna, such as mammoth and mastodon, eventually leading to extinction of more than 35 genera of animals across North America. Although disputed, some research suggests that Younger Dryas environmental changes led to a population decline among the Native Americans known for their distinctive Clovis spear points.

Conventional geologic wisdom blames the Younger Dryas on the failure of glacial ice dams holding back huge lakes in central North America and the sudden, massive blast of freshwater they released into the north Atlantic. This freshwater influx shut down ocean circulation and ended up cooling the climate.

Some geologists, however, subscribe to what is called the impact hypothesis: the idea that a fragmented comet or asteroid collided with the Earth 12,800 years ago and caused this abrupt climate event. Along with disrupting the glacial ice-sheet and shutting down ocean currents, this hypothesis holds that the extraterrestrial impact also triggered an "impact winter" by setting off massive wildfires that blocked sunlight with their smoke.

The evidence is mounting that the cause of the Younger Dryas' cooling climate came from outer space. My own recent fieldwork at a South Carolina lake that has been around for at least 20,000 years adds to the growing pile of evidence.

Fireball 3

Meteor fireball in Missouri seen hundreds of miles away in Northwest Arkansas

Fireball over MO
© Daniel B.
A fireball streaking across the night sky near Kansas City, Missouri spotted hundreds of miles away in Northwest Arkansas.

Residents of Northwest Arkansas self-reported seeing a fireball in the northern evening sky Thursday evening.

According to AMSMeteors.org, 20 reports about a fireball seen over Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri, and Oklahoma on Thursday, October 17th, 2019 around 8:21 p.m. CT.

Steve Arnold of Eureka Springs is a professional meteorite hunter who hosted 'Meteorite Men' a TV series for 3 seasons on Science and Discovery channel. Arnold has been fireball chasing for 27 years. He travels, often on very short notice, to chase fireballs all over the country.

Fireball 4

Meteor fireball soars over Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland

Fireball
© Roger Spinner - www.ogvt.org
The American Meteor Society (AMS) received 238 reports of a fireball over Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland on October 13, 2019. Several AMS members captured photos and videos of the event.

Video footage from AMS members 'Marco H' and 'Christophe F':


Comment: Just a few days before, a fireball was widely reported over France.


Fireball 5

Meteor fireball seen flying over Washington state, southern British Columbia

Fireball over WA, BC
© Greg K.
On October 6, 2019, the American Meteor Society (AMS) received 35 reports of a meteor over Washington state and southern British Columbia, Canada. AMS member 'Erik K.' from Seattle captured footage of the fireball on his doorbell camera:


Fireball

NASA footage shows huge explosion of meteor fireball in skies above Arizona

Meteor shock: NASA footage shows huge explosion in skies above Arizona
Meteor shock: NASA footage shows huge explosion in skies above Arizona
The video showed a fireball travelling at more than 200,000 kilometres per hour light up the night sky over Arizona yesterday. The space rock was part of the relatively newly-discovered meteor shower, the October Ursae Majorids, which was only deemed separate from the usual October Orionid and Taurid meteors in 2007. NASA said the small object was travelling at a staggering 57.2 kilometres per second - or 205,920 km per hour - when it crashed into and exploded in Earth's upper atmosphere.

The NASA video showed the object streaking across the night's sky before producing a flash which outshone the Moon.

NASA has traced the meteor back to the Big Dipper constellation, which allowed the space agency to confidently state it is part of the October Ursae Majorids shower.

The meteor shower peaks during mid-October, and on clear nights one fireball can be seen per hour on average.

No debris from the meteor has yet been discovered on the ground.


Fireball 5

Slow-moving bright meteor fireball over Trinidad and Tobago

Meteor fireball over Trinidad
SOME lucky citizens were on Tuesday night treated to what appeared to be a meteor blazing its way into Earth's atmosphere, looking much like a comet as it streaked across the sky.

The fireball appeared to have been visible mostly to those living in Central and Northern Trinidad and a number of people yesterday posted video clips of the celestial activity, accompanied by exclamations of wonder.

According to the Trinidad and Tobago Weather Centre, most people said the event took place between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m.

One video, recorded from a vehicle, also showed two smaller, round lights that at first appeared to be following the meteor, but many surmised that these were generated by the lens of the camera.

While "shooting stars" are commonly spotted, they are usually much smaller and burn up quickly.

The much larger object making its way across the local sky elicited a variety of comments.

Some were extremely pleased at the opportunity, while others joked that the object may have been the reviled "soucouyant" of local lore, an alleged vampire fabled to be an older woman who sheds her skin at night to stalk her victims.


Fireball

Watch: Meteor fireball over the Mediterranean

The fireball originated from a rock from a comet entering the earth’s atmosphere
© Meterorides.netThe fireball originated from a rock from a comet entering the earth’s atmosphere
A Spectacular fireball passed over the Mediterranean just off the coast of Almeria in the early hours of Sunday morning.

SMART project detectors at the Calar Alto observatory in the Filabres mountains and at observatories in the Sierra Nevada and Seville captured stunning images of the fireball as it made its way across the night sky at 3.44 am on October 13 at an altitude of some 95 kilometres.

Meteoroides.net explained on social media that the "beautiful and slow" fireball originated from a rock from a comet entering the earth's atmosphere at a speed of around 58,000 kilometres per hour.


Fireball

Brilliant midnight meteor fireball lights up sky over northeast China

A meteor lights up the midnight sky over the northeastern China provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang in this dashcam and surveillance camera video views taken on Oct. 11, 2019.
© CCTVA meteor lights up the midnight sky over the northeastern China provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang in this dashcam and surveillance camera video views taken on Oct. 11, 2019.
It turned night into day.

What appears to be a dazzling meteor lit up the sky over northeast China on Friday (Oct. 11), appearing as a brilliant fireball in surveillance videos of the event.

The meteor occurred at about 12:16 a.m. Beijing Time, turning night into day and casting dark shadows as it streaked through the sky, according to the state-run CCTV. Videos of the fireball were captured by surveillance cameras in the city of Songyuan in the province of Jilin, as well as by many residents across northeast China, CCTV reported.


Fireball

Over 100 report seeing large meteor fireball over Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia

Fireball (stock)
© TravelLife/ShutterstockStock image
If you saw a fireball streak across the sky on Saturday evening you're not alone.10TV received several reports from people in central Ohio who saw a bright meteor with a long trail across the sky.

The American Meteor Society says it received more than 130 reports about the fireball, seen over Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

It was likely a product of the South Taurid meteor shower.

The shower is caused by leftover debris from Comet Encke. It's not very active, you're lucky to see five to seven meteors an hour at its peak, but it is known to produce fireballs.

Comment: On October 5th, the American Meteor Society received 119 reports of a meteor over the southeastern US.
We received 119 reports about a fireball seen over AL, FL, GA, NC, SC and TN on Saturday, October 5th 2019 around 10:26 UT.
AMS member Salvatore T. caught the fireball on his doorbell camera: