Fireballs
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Best of the Web: Meteor fireball lights up sky in an epic spectacle over north Queensland, Australia on May 20 - largest in 35 years with diameter of 3.5 meters (UPDATE)

The sight lit turned the sky shades of green, orange and white.
The sight lit turned the sky shades of green, orange and white.
Queenslanders in the state's far north region witnessed an out-of-this world experience on Saturday night when a bright fireball-like object plummeted from the night sky.

In a blink-or-you'll-miss-it event, a suspected meteorite was captured descending from space emitting a white and orange glow, before appearing to crash.

The epic scene occurred at about 9.22pm and was observed across multiple suburbs spanning from Barcaldine in the state's far west to Cooktown in the far north.


Comment: Update May 30

abc.net.au reports:
Queensland meteor confirmed by satellite data as largest over Australia in 30 years

The meteor that captivated Queensland earlier this month was the largest space rock recorded over Australia in at least 30 years, NASA data has confirmed.

The fireball lit up the sky between Mackay and the Gulf of Carpentaria on May 20.

The event was picked up by US government Sensors with data published to the NASA website on Monday.

When it exploded, the meteor had an altitude of 29 kilometres over Blackbull, a small rural locality between the Gulf communities of Normanton and Croydon, in north-west Queensland.

The data revealed the meteor was travelling at a velocity of almost 28 kilometres per second.

The force of the blast was equivalent to exploding 7.2 kilotons of TNT.

From this, scientists have calculated the incoming space rock would have had a diameter of 3.5 metres — roughly the size of a caravan — and weighed about 80,000 kilograms.

Curtin University School of Earth and Planetary Sciences researcher Dr Ellie Sansom said it was the largest fireball reported by US Government Sensors over Australia since record-keeping began in 1988.

"I was checking every day and then the data finally came through - it's the biggest event that it has ever recorded over Australia," she said.

The observations have filled gaps in the Desert Fireball Network of cameras, a project led by Curtin University, which observes meteor activity in Australia.

Dr Sansom said the new data confirmed meteor fragments "definitely" would have landed in the wider Croydon area.

"Anything that's below 35 kilometres we're usually confident there's stuff on the ground, and for it to get as low as 29 kilometres, there's probably going to be quite a lot of that leftover in little pieces," she said.

Experts are now planning a search expedition to recover meteorites within weeks.

"We are going to get scientists together from here at Curtin University, probably Monash and from University of Southern Queensland, along with some keen amateurs as well," Dr Sansom said.

The search team would liaise with local authorities, property owners and traditional landowners.

"We'll try and organise a time where we can get as many people on the ground as possible," she said.

Dr Sansom said the opportunity to study meteorites was fantastic for science and future planetary defence.

"These big ones that come in are actually quite rare, something that size probably hits the [entire] Earth once a year," she said.



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Meteor fireball over France on May 19

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© Patrick R.
We received 5 reports about a fireball seen over Île-de-France, Centre-Val de Loire, Normandie and Pays de la Loire on Friday, May 19th 2023 around 00:22 UT.

For this event, we received 2 videos and 2 photos.


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Meteor fireball over France on May 18

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© Patrick R.
We received 5 reports about a fireball seen over Île-de-France, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté and Hauts-de-France on Thursday, May 18th 2023 around 01:41 UT.

For this event, we received one video and one photo.


Cloud Lightning

Meteor fireball over Spain (May 9)

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This video shows a bolide recorded on May 9, at 5:37 local time (equivalent to 3:37 universal time). The event was generated by a rock (a meteoroid) from an asteroid that hit the atmosphere at about 78,000 km/h. The fireball overflew Valencia and Castellón (Spain). It began at an altitude of about 88 km over Caudete de las Fuentes (province of Valencia), moved northeast, and ended at a height of around 60 km over Ayódar (province of Castellón).

This bright meteor was recorded in the framework of the SMART project, operated by the Southwestern Europe Meteor Network (SWEMN) from the meteor-observing stations located at La Hita (Toledo), Calar Alto, Sierra Nevada, La Sagra (Granada), Sevilla, and Olocau (Valencia). The event has been analyzed by the principal investigator of the SMART project: Dr. Jose M. Madiedo, from the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC).


Cloud Lightning

Meteor fireball over Ontario on May 16

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We received 6 reports about a fireball seen over MI, Ontario and PA on Tuesday, May 16th 2023 around 06:56 UT.

For this event, we received one video and one photo.


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Mysterious 'fireballs' spotted over Japan's Okinawa Prefecture

fireball japan May 10, 2023
© Nippon TV News 24 JapanA fireball-like object is seen crossing the sky over Okinawa Prefecture on the evening of May 10, leaving a long trail of bright light in the night sky.
Residents captured footage of bright lights streaking across the night sky in southern Japan

Strange fireball-like objects were seen flying over Japan's Okinawa Prefecture on Wednesday night, according to local news reports, with several eyewitnesses taking to social media to share clips of the spectacle.

A video captured by an NHK reporter around 8:30pm local time shows the objects blazing through the sky near Naha City in Japan's southernmost region. The journalist said they were "surprised" by the sighting, noting "At first, I thought they were fireworks, but I didn't hear any sound and they moved in a straight line."

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Large bolide over Algeria on May 7

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Meteorite strikes through roof of German family's house on April 25

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A German family in Schleswig-Holstein has been unlucky enough to have their house hit by a falling meteor. Thankfully, the falling rock was only the size of a tennis ball.

German family house hit by a meteor

A truly unexpected guest has paid a visit to a family's home in Schleswig-Holstein. On Tuesday, an oblong rock about the size of a tennis ball penetrated the roof of the family house in Elmshorn.

According to a report in the local newspaper, the Elmshorner Nachrichten, the meteor weighed about 225 grams and was part of a pair which fell on the town, with the other forming a small crater in a nearby residential area.


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A meteorite may have crashed through the roof of a New Jersey home on May 8, police say

A metallic object believed to be a meteorite crashed through the roof a home on Old Washington Crossing Pennington Road in Hopewell Township on Monday, May 8, 2023.
© Hopewell Township PoliceA metallic object believed to be a meteorite crashed through the roof a home on Old Washington Crossing Pennington Road in Hopewell Township on Monday, May 8, 2023.
Officials were trying to determine if a metallic object that smashed through the roof of a Hopewell Township house Monday was a meteorite.

The oblong, 4-inch-by-6-inch object penetrated the the roof of Old Washington Crossing Pennington Road ranch-style home, then crashed through the ceiling and stopped after it hit the hardwood floor, according to a statement from the Hopewell Township Police Department.

The house was occupied at the time but no injuries were reported, police said.

The department said it has contacted several other agencies to aid in identifying the object and safeguarding the residents.

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Meteor fireball over England, Ireland and Belgium on May 6

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We received 9 reports about a fireball seen over County Dublin, England and Vlaams Gewest on Saturday, May 6th 2023 around 04:00 UT.

For this event, we received one video.