Fireballs
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Meteor

Meteorite may have fallen in Wyoming last week

Meteor fireball (stock image)
© Ikonacolor, Getty Images (stock image)
A meteorite may have fallen near the Wind River Reservation last weekend. Around 5:30 a.m. on December 1st, several Riverton residents saw a fireball streak across the sky, then heard a loud, window-rattling crash two to three minutes later.

One eyewitness reported his observations to the American Meteor Society, describing a bright white object on the horizon, descending from right to left at 5:33 a.m, followed by the sound of "large thundering" around 5:36 a.m. County 10 documented a series of sightings from shocked citizens on social media. Similar sightings were also reported in the towns of Ethete and Ft. Washakie and the boom was heard 80 miles north in Dubois, according to Buckrail.

It's not the first time a suspected meteorite has been seen in the area. In 2015, several witnesses reported a "green" fireball flying over Riverton. Cody astronomer Dewey Vanderhoff also documented a bolide meteor later that year.

Attention

Loud boom rattles windows, causes plaster to fall from ceilings in Coventry, UK

Mystery boom in Coventry
© Coventry Telegraph
The cause of an enormous bang that shook houses across Coventry remains a mystery.

It comes as defence chiefs denied the incident was caused by fighter jets flying at supersonic speed.

The incident on Sunday night sparked a major 999 operation as police and fire crews searched for the source of the 'explosion' which appeared to be centred in Longford.

It was so loud it was heard as far away as Willenhall, Walsgrave and Bedworth, and caused windows to rattle and plaster to fall from ceilings.

There were fears a gas substation in Grindle Road, near the Ricoh Arena, had exploded but this was ruled out.

There were also no major crashes in the area that night and the British Geological Survey said no earthquakes had been recorded at that time.

Fireball 2

Three bright meteor fireballs recorded over Spain in five hours

Spain meteor
© YouTube/Meteors (screen capture)
Three bright meteor events were spotted over Spain on the night of 4-5 December 2018, at 23:51, 2:33 and 4:41 local time, respectively. These were generated by three rocks from three different comets that hit the atmosphere at velocities ranging between 150,000 km/h and 200,000 km/h.

The meteors overflew the provinces of Valladolid, Granada, Jaén and Albacete. They were recorded in the framework of the SMART project (University of Huelva) from the meteor-observing stations located at La Hita (Toledo), Calar Alto (Almeria), La Sagra (Granada), Sierra Nevada (Granada) and Sevilla.


Fireball 5

Video simulations show what would happen if asteroids crashed into Earth's oceans

Asteroid Impact Simulation
© YouTube/NCAR VisLab
In films like Armageddon, Hollywood has tried (and failed) to take on the question of what would happen if a comet or asteroid plunged into the oceans on Earth, but what has scientific research actually determined it may look like?

America's National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) has posted a new video illustrating what could happen if an asteroid crashed into one of our oceans, and it's fascinating.

Based on data collected by Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists Galen R. Gisler and John M. Patchett, referred to as the Deep Water Impact Ensemble Data Set, these simulations show asteroids of various sizes entering the water from different angles. It's the scale and size of the aftermath that's the truly stunning part.


Fireball 5

Bright and slow meteor fireball filmed over Spain on Dec. 2

Fireball - stock image
Stock image
This bright and slow meteor event was recorded over Spain on 2018 December 2, at 4:46 local time (3:46 universal time).

It was produced by a fragment from an asteroid that hit the atmosphere at about 50.000 km/h.

The fireball began at an altitude of around 81 km, and ended at a height of about 36 km.

It was recorded by the meteor observing stations operating in the framework of the SMART Project from the astronomical observatories of Sevilla, La Hita (Toledo), and La Sagra (Granada).


Meteor

Meteorite that fell in Madagascar came from early solar system

Meteorite found in Benenitra, Madagascar
© Wits UniversityA fragment of the Benenitra meteorite showing the black fusion crust and thumbprint-like depressions (called regmaglypts) that offered early evidence that this rock came from space. These features formed by melting during its entry into the atmosphere.
Four months ago, people in a small Madagascar town caught sight of a fireball shooting across the early-evening sky. Its boom was so loud, the ground shook.

A search for pieces of this celestial visitor soon followed. Researchers stitched together eyewitness accounts to help them understand what came down from the heavens on July 27.

What people saw crashing down, according to this detective work, was an ancient, 4.5 billion-year-old meteor from the early solar system.

This space rock is now called Benenitra, named after the small town in southwestern Madagascar where it landed. Fortunately, Benenitra rock fragments appear to have missed any people or buildings, according to a Nov. 26 statement about the findings.

Fireball 2

Meteor fireball streaks over Toronto

Toronto meteor
© CNTower/Earthcam (screen capture)Meteor can be seen at the top of the photo, as captured by the CN Tower
If you looked up and saw what appeared to be a fireball in Toronto's skies last night wasn't Santa making his way to the city, it was a meteor.

Many Torontonians saw the meteor in above Toronto around 9:15 pm on Thursday night, and there are up to 33 reports so far listed through the American Meteor Society.

Scott Sutherland of the Weather Network also tweeted about the meteor, sharing a video captured from the CN Tower's camera, encouraging those who saw it to report it to the AMS. And Sutherland wasn't the only one who tweeted about the fireball in the sky.


Meteor

Cameras installed across Alberta, Canada to find meteorites

Alberta, Canada meteor cameras
© CTV
Four high-tech cameras were installed in Alberta as part of a world-wide network to find meteorites quicker.

The cameras are part of the Australia-based Desert Fireball Network (DFN), which now has 50 cameras across the world to track meteorites.

"If you have a bunch of cameras and you see something coming through the atmosphere, a fireball, but you see it from different angles, you can work out exactly its orientation," DFN's Phil Bland said.

The cameras give researchers a three-kilometre ratio of where the meteor landed.

Before this technology, people would see a fireball soar across the sky, but have no idea where it landed.


Fireball

Meteor fireball seen in sky from San Diego to Los Angeles

Flash of light in California sky
© Robb Webb
A mysterious flash of light, described by some as an explosion, was spotted in the skies over Southern California Tuesday morning, KTLA reported.

There was no immediate word from officials on what may have caused the flash, but it was seen by many people who took to social media to search for answers.

"Did anyone else see an explosion in the sky?? The best way I can describe it," Mallory Guillen from Victor Valley posted on Facebook about 4:20 a.m.

Robb Webb posted a photo of what he saw over the Los Angeles area on Twitter.

"Definitely saw 2 streaks of light in the sky this morning on Vern's dog walk. Managed to snap a pic of the 2nd one, right next to a plane," @ROBBWEBB3 posted.


Comment: YouTuber 'nannigoog' captured video footage of the fireball:




Meteor

Bronze Age civilization collapse: Massive overhead meteor explosion wiped out Near East 3,700 years ago

Jordan meteor calamity
© FIGHTBEGIN/ISTOCK.COMANCIENT WIPEOUT Preliminary evidence indicates that a low-altitude meteor explosion around 3,700 years ago destroyed cities, villages and farmland north of the Dead Sea (shown in the background above) rendering the region uninhabitable for 600 to 700 years.

Archaeologists at a site in what's now Jordan have found evidence of a cosmic calamity


A superheated blast from the skies obliterated cities and farming settlements north of the Dead Sea around 3,700 years ago, preliminary findings suggest.

Radiocarbon dating and unearthed minerals that instantly crystallized at high temperatures indicate that a massive airburst caused by a meteor that exploded in the atmosphere instantaneously destroyed civilization in a 25-kilometer-wide circular plain called Middle Ghor, said archaeologist Phillip Silvia. The event also pushed a bubbling brine of Dead Sea salts over once-fertile farm land, Silvia and his colleagues suspect.

People did not return to the region for 600 to 700 years, said Silvia, of Trinity Southwest University in Albuquerque. He reported these findings at the annual meeting of the American Schools of Oriental Research on November 17.

via GIPHY

Comment: See also: Comets and the Bronze Age Collapse

For more information on the role of cometary bombardment in the cycles of civilization, read The Apocalypse: Comets, Asteroids and Cyclical Catastrophes by Laura Knight-Jadczyk.