Fireballs
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Bolide? Mysterious loud boom shakes Oklahoma, locals report green and orange flashes

RT
Wed, 14 Mar 2018 03:08 UTC

Residents across Oklahoma and Texas were jostled from their daily routines after hearing a loud boom Tuesday afternoon. Many were left scratching their heads and watching the skies for the source of the explosive phenomenon.

While the US Geological Survey has not reported any earthquakes in the region, the National Weather Services in Norman, Oklahoma has said it is possible that the deafening boom was the result of "a 'bolide' or the breaking up of a meteor."

A flurry of baffled residents shared their comments online, trying to make sense of the afternoon shocker. One nearby resident offered his account of the mysterious heavenly "green light" he spotted that afternoon.

"Meteor flew over Oklahoma City today at about 16:20, with a sonic boom and some shaking in nearby Norman! Was beautiful green and orange streak in the daylight," he tweeted.

Spectacular meteor fireball spotted over New Zealand

Megan Sutherland
News Hub
Sat, 10 Mar 2018 18:57 UTC

A Manawatu farmer has discovered the importance of carrying a cellphone after he saw a spectacular fiery meteor display but couldn't get a photo.

Dairy farmer Brent White saw the "spectacular" meteorite fly right in front of him at around 4:30am on Saturday when he was bringing cows into the dairy shed.

"I'm hoping someone else saw it... I didn't have my phone on me unfortunately."

Mr White says he ran back to the shed to see if the milk tankers at the shed had seen the meteor, but they were busy working and missed it.

"It was spectacular. It was surreal. It was such a clear morning... and all of a sudden at about 4:35, out of my left eye I saw a bright light.

"It was definitely a meteor; it was a ball-like formation with a vortex."

Dazzling meteor fireball turns night into day over Russian Urals (VIDEOS)

RT
Wed, 07 Mar 2018 07:37 UTC

Residents of the Russian Urals have reported a colorful fireball lighting up the night sky before hearing loud booms. The meteor is said to have emitted red, yellow and orange light as it was falling.

The glowing object was clearly visible from the city of Ekaterinburg in the Sverdlovsk region, as well as near-by towns and communities on Tuesday night, local media reported.

Several videos now being shared online show a bright flash, followed by a brief moment of daylight. "I thought it was a star, but it wasn't! As it fell it glowed red and yellow, and behind it there was a small trail that glittered from lilac to red, yellow and orange," eyewitness Aleksandr Bortstev said in describing the dazzling phenomenon to local news website E1. He said the flash lasted for about 6 or 7 seconds. Some witnesses claimed that they heard what sounded like explosions.

Comment: The other meteor fireball within the past week over the Russian Urals is reported here: Fast moving meteor fireball captured on dashcam over Russian city A few weeks ago another meteor fireball was filmed over Ekaterinburg, Russia.

It was recently the fifth anniversary of the Chelyabinsk meteor which NASA Planetary Defense Officer Lindley Johnson referred to as "a cosmic wake-up call." See: Five Years after the Chelyabinsk Meteor: NASA's efforts in planetary defense.

Recently NASA created a 'Planetary Defense Coordination Office' with a view to track meteors headed toward Earth, and "redirect" potentially dangerous asteroids as part of a long-term planetary defense goal.

However, asteroid 'redirection' or 'deflection' remains just theoretical. A more accurate way of looking at it is that NASA is funding deflection and redirection of the topic of space threats by 'getting the message out' that 'everything is just fine'.

As Fireball Numbers Increased Again in 2017 it is well worth remembering what can come out of the sky, without any warning at all:

Meteor fireball flashes across the sky of Newcastle, Australia (VIDEO)

Damon Cronshaw
Newcastle Herald
Mon, 05 Mar 2018 13:49 UTC

Meteor fireball above Newcastle

This is a rare type of meteor flashing across the sky above Newcastle.

Graeme Challen's dashcam captured the moment, as he was driving east along the New England Highway towards Hexham Bridge.

"It had this incredible electric blue-green colour," he said, adding that the colours were lost in the picture because of the headlights and streetlights.

Meteor video: The date is incorrect because it hadn't been set.

Comment: Below is a chart of the number of meteor fireballs reported on Sott from 2010 to the present time - notice the initial low numbers for the first few years then the sudden huge increase that started in 2013:

For a far more deeper historical review concerning space rocks read: Meteorites, Asteroids, and Comets: Damages, Disasters, Injuries, Deaths, and Very Close Calls

Fast moving meteor fireball captured on dashcam over Russian city

Sputnik News
Sun, 04 Mar 2018 17:05 UTC

A driver in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains has managed to capture the fall of what researchers claimed was an extremely fast meteor, according to local media reports.

Vladilen Sanakoyev of the Ural Federal University's educational observatory in Yekaterinburg has given his thoughts on the video with what looked like a massive falling ball of fire, local media outlets have reported.

According to him, a blue flash in the footage indicates that the celestial body was flying at a high speed when a car's dashboard camera captured the moment of the alleged meteor falling from the skies in the Russian Urals city.

Meteor fireball reported over Wisconsin, US

Justin Thompson-Gee
WDJT
Thu, 01 Mar 2018 11:07 UTC

Location map of meteor fireball over Wisconsin

Citizens all across southeast Wisconsin reported seeing a meteor streak across the sky Wednesday night. Viewers reported seeing a green streak across the sky moving from northeast to southwest.

There were 67 reports of the fireball according to the American Meteor Society reports page from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois. Most of the reports were centered in southeast Wisconsin. Most of the reports were centered between 8:45 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Trevor Wright caught the meteor over Greenfield on his dash cam.

Bus-sized asteroid to pass Earth on 2nd March

Jonathan Kesh
Outer Places
Wed, 28 Feb 2018 20:42 UTC

This coming Friday, March 2, an near-Earth asteroid will be sweeping within 70,000 miles (113,000 kilometers) of our planet's surface.

While there's no danger of any collision, asteroid 2018 DV1 will be coming closer to Earth than the Moon, which is nearly always enough to grab the attention of asteroid-hunters. And on top of that, 2018 DV1 is about 23 feet (7 meters) wide, which NASA's official Asteroid Watch declared was about the size of a bus.

And it should make for an impressive sight if you have the necessary tools to see it. Assuming that you don't have access to powerful telescopes, you can watch a live stream of the asteroid passing through the night sky from the Virtual Telescope Project and Tenegra Observatories in Arizona, who will be showing the video on their website.

Fireball amazes onlookers as it streaks across the skies of Chile (VIDEO)

Sott.net
Sun, 25 Feb 2018 20:50 UTC

At around 20:50 on 25th February 2018, a fireball was seen streaking through the Chilean night skies amazing onlookers. The event was documented on film by a drivers dash cam, a concert goer, and the American Meteor Society (AMS) has received 13 reports so far.

received 13 reports about a fireball seen over Región de Antofagasta, Arica e Parinacota and Antofagasta on Sunday, February 25th 2018 around 23:49 UT.

Comment: Other dazzling sightings in just the past few weeks include:

Bolide streaks over Côte-d'Or, France

Sott.net
Sat, 24 Feb 2018 08:18 UTC

A bolide (meteor brighter than the planet Venus) was observed over eastern France on Wednesday, February 21, at around 9pm local time. It was seen over the Côte-d'Or region in particular, although many of the 110+ reports (event 693-2018) submitted to the American Meteor Society (AMS) are from neighbouring European countries of Luxembourg, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.

In Paris, netizens said they saw a "bolide with persistent trails", a "shooting green star" or a meteorite "disintegrate" reports Ouest-France.

The phenomenon was recorded by cameras of the FRIPON network (Fireball Recovery and Interplanetary Observation Network), according to L'Est Eclair, one of which is located in Côte-d'Or, in Châtillon-sur-Seine.

Just over a week ago, on Tuesday, February 12, another bolide was captured over western France.