© Via YouTube/ca-news ca-news
Fireballs
© Tuki Sweeney
Last night's meteor, captured on a camera phone by Pirates rugby club members.
Last night's meteor, captured on a camera phone by Pirates rugby club members.
"It was like a shooting star then it sort of exploded and fireballed itself a bit further, then it was gone. It was as moving so fast, but so so pretty," one witness reported to The Gisborne Herald.
Other witnesses said it resembled a "green fireball", and one said it was the size of "six houses".
Scores of others also reported the sighting to weatherwatch.co.nz.
"Biggest brightest comet we've ever seen in all our 56 years. Quick and flashy. Seen in awe from Otoko near Matawai," one report said.
Sightings of the meteor were recorded from 7.15pm onwards, and were noted across New Zealand.
Met Service meteorologist Lisa Murray confirmed there were no unusual atmospheric conditions at the time.
"There was plenty of clear sky, so it would have been perfect viewing, with a temperature of 12 degrees and very light winds."
© YouTube/Exoss Citizen Science (screen capture)
© Malaga Bay
It's also a wet job that exposes the squishy grey matter of the mainstream mindset.
So don your rubber gloves.
And lock the door because this posting contains some very strong images that shouldn't be shared in polite company nor displayed within the confines of a complacent academic ivory tower.
Ready?
© Chris Schur
Comet Johnson (C/2015 V2) glowed pale green and displayed a short tail on April 2nd.
Comet Johnson (C/2015 V2) glowed pale green and displayed a short tail on April 2nd.
Nothing against Giacobini, Kresak, Mrkos, and Pajdusakova, but this is one comet name I can pronounce with confidence. Even better, it's been humming along very well, thank you, while waiting for its turn at center stage.
At magnitude +8.5, Comet Johnson (C/2015 V2) is already bright enough to join the ranks of this year's band of binocular comets: NEOWISE (C/2016 U1), 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova, 2P/Encke, 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak, Lovejoy (C/2017 E4), and PanSTARRS (C/2015 ER61). Comet watchers appreciate the bonanza; we've been happily toting out scopes and binoculars to follow the progress of each in its turn.
As the Moon toddles east and wanes, dark skies return as soon as May 12th. The timing couldn't be better, with Comet Johnson making a steep dive through the constellation of Boötes high in the southeastern sky at nightfall while also reaching peak brightness.
I last caught sight of the comet shortly just before dawn on May 6th. In 10×50 binoculars, Johnson was a faint, patchy glow in Canes Venatici. The view in my 15-inch reflector was more satisfying. At 76×, Johnson displayed a moderately condensed coma about 8′ across with a ¾° long broad, diffuse tail pointing northwest. Upping the magnification to 286×, I could see a tiny, almost stellar nucleus of magnitude +13.5 at coma center.
© Rolando Ligustri
What a little sunshine won't do. By May 1st, Comet Johnson had developed a long, faint ion tail pointing straight away from the Sun as well as a stubby dust tail.
What a little sunshine won't do. By May 1st, Comet Johnson had developed a long, faint ion tail pointing straight away from the Sun as well as a stubby dust tail.
After Peru was inundated in March, Columbia was next in line for massive rainfall and flooding which provoked deadly landslides in the city of Mocoa. Major flooding and landslides also hit India, Indonesia, the USA and China, while
Wildfires once again struck the US state of Florida while very late snow saw many European nations blanketed, with many crops destroyed.
Meteor/fireballs were also spotted from one end of the planet to the other and a comet made a special appearance.
Or watch on Sott.net's Vimeo Channel
© NASA/Don Davis
Artist impression of an asteroid impacting Earth.
Artist impression of an asteroid impacting Earth.
The presence of a massive crater in the Falklands was first proposed by Michael Rampino, a professor in New York University, in 1992 after he noticed similarities with the Chicxulub crater in Mexico—the asteroid that created this crater is thought to have played a major role in the extinction of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.
But after a brief report at the Falklands site, very little research was carried out. Now, a team of scientists—including Rampino—have returned to the area to perform an "exhaustive search for additional new geophysical information" that would indicate the presence of an impact crater.
Their findings, published in the journal Terra Nova, suggest the huge circular depression just northwest of the islands is indeed the result of the massive impact of an asteroid or meteorite. The basin, which is now buried under sediments, measures over 150 miles in diameter.
French investigators have found no traces of explosives on the bodies of French victims of Egyptair flight MS804 that crashed into the Mediterranean last year en route from Paris to Cairo, a newspaper has reported.
Le Figaro's report, which a source with knowledge of the matter confirmed to Reuters, contradicts Egyptian investigators who said in December that traces of explosives were found in the remains of victims of the flight.
© Paul Guyett/Trinity College Dublin
An example of a shard formed by the impact of a meteorite near Sudbury, Ontario. A new study connects meteorites to the rise of volcanic eruptions.
An example of a shard formed by the impact of a meteorite near Sudbury, Ontario. A new study connects meteorites to the rise of volcanic eruptions.
The team studied rocks in a massive crater in Sudbury, Ontario, where a deep basin was formed 1.85 billion years ago by a bolide, a meteor which exploded in the atmosphere.
Small volcanic fragments of the crash remain, each shaped like a crab claw. Their shape indicates they were formed when gas bubbles expanded in molten rock and then suddenly exploded.
The researchers findings indicate that the composition of the volcanic fragments changed over time. Immediately after the impact, volcanism, or the phenomenon of eruption of molten rock, is directly related to melting of the earth's crust. Over time, though, it was fed by magma, underground molten rock, coming from deeper levels within the earth.
"This is an important finding, because it means that the magma sourcing the volcanoes was changing with time," Balz Kamber, a professor of geology and mineralogy at Trinity, said in a press release. "The reason for the excitement is that the effect of large impacts on the early earth could be more serious than previously considered. The intense bombardment of the early earth had destructive effects on the planet's surface but it may also have brought up material from the planet's interior, which shaped the overall structure of the planet."
© Waterford Whispers News
Growing more world weary with each passing day, Earth, home to over 7 billion people has become more listless as its chief tenants continue to treat it with disrespect.
"Aw man, that one was really close, and it looked big enough to put me out of my misery too," Earth confirmed as it stared at a meteor the size of Gilbraltar as it whizzed past.
Becoming unhappy as the level of pollution humans create which is causing irreparable damage to it, the Earth has confessed in recent times it would love nothing more than to alter its orbit for the worse and admitted to being jealous of lifeless planets.
"And hey, I'd given self-harming some consideration, but why bother when North Korea are running missile nuclear tests".
"You know, when that last big one hit I was relieved to still be standing after it all. But the more time passes, the more I think the dinosaurs were the lucky ones, not me," Earth added, unable to rouse itself from its melancholic mood.
Comment: Chances are this was yet another commercial plane 'taken out' by the increasingly extreme weather on our planet, or, as a result of one of the many exploding space rocks that have been seen in our skies.