August 05, 2013 - UNITED STATES - There were reports of a bright fireball late on Sunday night and Monday in Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi. A number of unconfirmed reports were posted on the American Meteor Society website.
File illustration.
"This was so very exciting for me. The colors were beautiful," wrote one user, Liz W., from Nashville, Tenn.
Another person from Oakland, Tenn., wrote that the fireball was "low moving, passed behind cloud bank and glow could be seen through clouds."
"The fire trail was a slender taper going from origin to point within the spacing of nine of the original diameter ... the [colors] were sharp:white core, moss green outside it, traces of blue.," wrote another.
"It almost looked like this fireball was going to make impact," another wrote.
The fireball sighting coincide with the Perseid meteor shower, which starts in mid-July to late August each year. It is unclear if the "fireballs" that people saw in the southeastern U.S. had to do with the Perseids.
"It was larger than any meteor I have ever seen," wrote one person.
On Twitter, at least one person said they heard a "loud boom."
"Widespread reports tonight of bright fireball in the sky over TN, AL some hearing loud boom," wrote NewsBreaker. - TET.
March 04, 2013 - SPACE - A newly found asteroid will pass just inside the orbit of the Moon, with its closest approach on March 4, 2013 at 07:35 UTC.
Newly Found Asteroid To Pass Within Moon’s Orbit On March 4, 2013.
Named 2013 EC, the asteroid is about the size of the space rock that exploded over Russia two and a half weeks ago, somewhere between 10-17 meters wide (the Russian meteorite is estimated to be about 15 meters wide when it entered Earth’s atmosphere). 2013 EC was discovered by the Mt. Lemmon Observatoryin Arizona on March 2. . There is no chance this asteroid will hit Earth.
2013 EC will come within 396,000 kilometers from Earth, (246,000 miles, or around 1.0 lunar distances, 0.0026 AU.
The Moon’s distance from the Earth varies between 363,104 km (225,622 miles) at perigee (closest) and 406,696 km (252,088 miles) at apogee (most distant point).
A newly found asteroid, 2013 EC can be seen in the lower left corner of the red box in this image. Screen capture from Virtual Telescope webcast on 3/3/2013.
Gianluca Masi from the Virtual Telescope Project had a live view of the asteroid when it was about twice the distance of the Moon, and a replay of that webcast is available below.
“That we are finding all these asteroids recently does not mean that we are being visited by more asteroids,” Masi said during the webcast, “just that our ability to detect them has gotten so much better. Our technology has improved a lot over the past decades.”
Newly Discovered Comet May Be On Explosive Collision Course With Mars In October 2014.
There is an outside chance that a newly discovered comet might be on a collision course with Mars. Astronomers are still determining the trajectory of the comet, named C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring), but at the very least, it is going to come fairly close to the Red Planet in October of 2014. "Even if it doesn't impact it will look pretty good from Earth, and spectacular from Mars," wrote Australian amateur astronomer Ian Musgrave, "probably a magnitude -4 comet as seen from Mars's surface."
Simulation of the close approach of C/2013 A1 to Mars in Celestia using the latest info from the Minor Planet Center. Credit: Ian Musgrave/Astroblog.
The comet was discovered in the beginning of 2013 by comet-hunter Robert McNaught at the Siding Spring Observatory in New South Wales, Australia. According to a discussion on the IceInSpace amateur astronomy forum when the discovery was initially made, astronomers at the Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona looked back over their observations to find "prerecovery" images of the comet dating back to Dec. 8, 2012.
These observations placed the orbital trajectory of comet C/2013 A1 right through Mars orbit on Oct. 19, 2014. However, now after 74 days of observations, comet specialist Leonid Elenin notes that current calculations put the closest approach of the comet at a distance of 109,200 km, or 0.00073 AU from Mars in October 2014. That close pass has many wondering if any of the Mars orbiters might be able to acquire high-resolution images of the comet as is passes by.
Fragments of Shoemaker-Levy 9 on approach to Jupiter. Credit: NASA/HST.
But as Ian O'Neill from Discovery Space points out, since the comet has only been observed for 74 days (so far), so it's difficult for astronomers to forecast the comet's precise location in 20 months time. "Comet C/2013 A1 may fly past at a very safe distance of 0.008 AU (650,000 miles)," Ian wrote, "but to the other extreme, its orbital pass could put Mars directly in its path. At time of Mars close approach (or impact), the comet will be barreling along at a breakneck speed of 35 miles per second (126,000 miles per hour)."
Elenin said that since C/2013 A1 is a hyperbolic comet and moves in a retrograde orbit, its velocity with respect to the planet will be very high, approximately 56 km/s. "With the current estimate of the absolute magnitude of the nucleus M2 = 10.3, which might indicate the diameter up to 50 km, the energy of impact might reach the equivalent of staggering 2×10¹º megatons!" An impact of this magnitude would leave a crater 500 km across and 2 km deep, Elenin said.
While the massive Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 (15 km in diameter) that crashed into Jupiter in 1994 was spectacular as seen from Earth orbit by the Hubble Space Telescope, an event like C/2013 A1 slamming into Mars would be off the charts. Astronomers are certainly keeping an eye on this comet, and they will refine their measurements as more data comes in. You can see the orbital parameters available so far at JPL's Solar System Dynamics website. - PHYSORG.
February 15, 2013 - SKY - Here are several of the latest reports of fireballs, meteorites, or cometary fragments seen in the skies across the globe over the last two days.
Strange "Fluorescent Greenish" Light Spotted Over Dashwood, Canada.
Dashwood residents are abuzz about the latest odd sighting in the area - but this time it wasn't a monkey. Brian Vike, a UFO researcher in Houston, B.C. said he received a report of a strange light from a resident on Feb. 6.
"I woke suddenly because my bedroom was lit up fluorescent greenish," the report said. "I went to the bathroom then to the window as the light faded away to nothing. I can't explain if it was coming from the ground or sky. It was very odd it was approximately over the highway in Dashwood right at Larkdown road."
Vike said the light could have come from a flare, but suggested it could have come from a meteor. If that's the case, it won't be unusual - at least, not this year. "I have received so many reports of meteors and fireballs this year it isn't funny," Vike said. "There has been just a stack of them from across Canada and the United States." Anyone who has information about this sighting or others can report it here. - Parksville Qualicum Beach News.
Celestial Body Explodes Over Cuba.
Residents of a locality ‘in the central region of Cuba said they had seen an object that fell from the sky and exploded with a great noise, which shook the houses of the place: it is learned from testimonies collected by local television. In service published this morning by Rodas, town in the province of Cienfuegos, witnesses described a very bright light that has come to have large size, comparable to that of a bus, before exploding in the sky. - RAI News 24.
Huge explosion in the sky in Cuba Meanwhile, also from Cuba has been reported in an explosion sky. In the central region of the island has seen an object that fell from the sky and exploded with a great noise, which shook the houses in the place, reports on local television. In a report released this morning by Rodas, town in the province of Cienfuegos, witnesses described a very bright light that has come to have large size, comparable to that of a bus, before exploding in the sky. Marcos Rodriguez, a resident in region, as defined by the issuer an expert, reported that “everything seems to indicate that it was a fireball, which is a fragment of stone and metal that enters the Earth’s atmosphere at high speed.” Experts are now examining the area for possible remains Rodas minerals falling from the sky, the TV station added. - Repubblica [Translated].
Screen capture from RSOE EDIS.
In Cuba, eyewitnesses living in a local area in the central region of the island have reported seeing an object that fell from the sky and exploded causing a roar that. - RSOE EDIS.
Huge Fireball over Japan.
Huge fireball was seen flying over Japan on February 14, one day before the passage of Asteroid 2012 DA14.
Enormous fireball Seen From Belgium, The Netherlands And Germany.
Initial Sighting Reports 13 February 2013 - O'Neill Keegan. Florennes, Namur, Belgium 22.20 CET
15 seconds duration (very very long!). Northwest direction, moving from left to right (fell straight down more than anything). Yellow/orange/red colour, very bright friction point. There were two separate fragmentations that shone brightly. The fireball was in an almost vertical drop +-75°. It was really impressive because of how long it took to get down. I confused it for a plane at first.
13 February 2013 - Melissa. Riethoven, The Netherlands 22:30 CET
20 seconds duration. Northwest to Southeast direction. Red colour with long white tail. I went outside the house to walk the dog. We immediately saw something bright and big in the sky. It was amazing!
13 February 2013 - Joe Lee. Friedrichsthal, Saarland, Germany 22:15 CET
5-10 seconds duration. Northwest to Southeast direction. First there was a short bright light that reminded me of lightning, than I saw it pass with an orange/yellow glow. I thought at first I was seeing a burning plane except for the object's speed. The center was as bright as the center of the sun... but smaller in size. I saw no parts falling off... just a fireball passing by. I was sitting in my living room, the lightning-like light got my attention and then I saw it passing by. As it was heading towards Ramstein AFB, I thought ther might be a fighter burning but that would have been smaller in size. I am still not sure what I actually saw but I thought maybe others saw it as well and wanted to report it.
13 February 2013 - Hylkema. Meppel, The Netherlands 22:30 CET
15 seconds duration. I was facing Southwest. Its direction: West to South. Fast moving white/red/orange light (fireball) with a long tail. It was as bright as the moon, but obviously much smaller.
13 February 2013 - Montie Davis. Siegen, Germany 22:40 CET
15-20 seconds duration. Southwest to Southeast. The fireball had orange flames. I would say it had candle-flame brightness. There was white explosive fragmentation. It traversed complete field of my view.
WATCH: Fireball over Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany.
Early in the day, emergency officials in neighboring Kazakhstan said they were searching for two unidentified objects that reportedly fell in the country's Aktobe region. But no meteorite fragments had been found by Friday evening, local time, leading to speculation that if meteors had entered the Earth's atmosphere over the Central Asian country they had been vaporized before making impact. - RIANOVOSTI. Orginal @ http://thecelestialconvergence.blogspot.hk/2013/02/fire-in-sky-solar-system-disturbances.html
January 22, 2013 - SPACE - This just in... it is too early to confirm, but some initial data suggests that Comet C/2012/S1 has at least one companion, and possibly up to seven.
When something like this happens, one has to be very cautious, but after examining the data that I have seen, I would say that it appears to be real. Furthermore one of the possible companions appears to be at about two lunar distances (half a million miles) and has not formed a coma for some odd reason. If the object is orbiting the nucleus of the comet at that distance it implies that the nucleus of this comet is possibly as big or bigger than Earth.
Also, with companions we will be able to directly calculate the mass, and therefore the size of the comet nucleus using standard astronomical methods. NASA tier two scientists have already put their foot in their mouths with an estimate based on some geeee whiz bad science. As I have said before one of the biggest open lies at NASA is concerning the size of comet nuclei, always minimizing them to almost nothing and [then] trying to promote their incorrect dirty snowball comet model. We know they can directly measure comet nuclei with radio telescopes so why all the bad science and opiniated estimates?
Latest image of Comet ISON.
Normally no one would be able to contradict them because they hold the reigns of the radio telescopes, and who is to contradict them? But with companions, we use a simple astronomical formula and wala we have the mass of the nucleus and there is nothing NASA can do about that. With the recent interaction of this comet with Earth, while the comet was at the range of Jupiter's orbit, this would be the second indication that this is a whopper of a comet.
NASA has been extremely active in damage control on this comet and just today issued a video clearly doing damage control. Why all the announcements, when the comet (according to NASA) will not even be visible until next November? Stay tuned folks this is getting reeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllllll interesting. -Jim Mccanney[Edited for clarity]. Orginal post @ http://thecelestialconvergence.blogspot.hk/2013/01/fire-in-sky-comet-of-century-physicist.html
