tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83851150918088257392024-03-20T15:10:38.060+00:00Fireballs and Meteorites - SOTT.NETWatching the skies...Laura Knight Jadczykhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17426976468591487213noreply@blogger.comBlogger119125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385115091808825739.post-59214244968599314652013-02-03T19:36:00.000+00:002013-03-06T17:59:10.181+00:00February 2013<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com/2013/02/02/year-of-the-comet-third-comet-set-to-make-appearance-in-april-2013/">Year of the Comet: Third comet set to make appearance in April 2013</a> </h2>
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The Extinction Protocol<br />
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Sat, 02 Feb 2013 12:45 CST</div>
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2013 could be the Year of the Comet. Comet Pan-STARRS is set to become a naked eye object in March, followed by possibly-Great Comet ISON in November. Now we must add to that list green Comet Lemmon (C/2012 F6). "Comet Lemmon is putting on a great show for us down in the southern hemisphere," reports John Drummond, who sent us a picture from Gisborne, New Zealand: "I took the picture on Jan. 23rd using a 41 cm (16 in) Meade reflector," says Drummond. "It is a stack of twenty 1 minute exposures." <br />
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s6/130127/full/pp.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" height="259" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s6/130127/large/pp.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
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<span class="tiny">© John Drummond</span></div>
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That much time was required for a good view of the comet's approximately 7th-magnitude coma ("<i>coma</i>"=cloud of gas surrounding the comet's nucleus). Lemmon's green color comes from the gases that make up its coma. Jets spewing from the comet's nucleus contain cyanogen (CN: a poisonous gas found in many comets) and diatomic carbon (C2). Both substances glow green when illuminated by sunlight in the near-vacuum of space. Discovered on March 23rd 2012 by the Mount Lemmon survey in Arizona, Comet Lemmon is on an elliptical orbit with a period of almost 11,000 years. This is its first visit to the inner solar system in a very long time. <br />
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The comet is brightening as it approaches the sun; light curves suggest that it will reach 2nd or 3rd magnitude, similar to the stars in the Big Dipper, in late March when it approaches the sun at about the same distance as Venus (0.7 AU). Northern hemisphere observers will get their first good look at the comet in early April; until then it is a target exclusively for astronomers in the southern hemisphere. - <a href="http://spaceweather.com/" target="_blank" title="http://spaceweather.com/"><b>Space Weather</b></a> <br />
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<a href="http://www.kspr.com/news/kspr-unexplainable-loud-boom-heard-around-ozarks-20130202,0,6924984.story">'Loud boom' alarms residents in Springfield, Missouri</a> </h2>
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Melody Pettit<br />
kspr.com<br />
Sun, 03 Feb 2013 03:39 CST</div>
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People in several counties in our viewing area wondering "what was that sound?" <br />
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Dozens of you have let us know about a "loud boom" or explosion between 6:30 and 8:30 Saturday night. <br />
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KSPR has received reports about it from Mount Vernon, Nixa, Ozark, Aurora, and Reeds Spring but so far authorities say they've been unable to determine the source of the blast. <br />
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We can rule out an earthquake, the last one recorded anywhere near the Ozarks was more than 12 hours ago near Oklahoma City. <br />
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<b>Comment: </b>This was probably another overhead airburst from a meteor or cometary atmospheric explosion. As readers can see, these are happening all over the world on a daily basis now, and in ever-increasing numbers...
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<a href="http://earthsky.org/space/whoosh-can-you-hear-a-meteor-streak-past">Can you hear meteors?</a> </h2>
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EarthSky Org
Thu, 07 Feb 2013 01:45 CST</div>
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<span class="tiny">© EarthSky Org</span></div>
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Is it possible to hear a meteor as it streaks past? Some report hearing meteors with a sizzling sound - like bacon frying. There might be a scientific explanation ...
Sometimes, after a meteor shower, people report hearing the meteors. Some exceptionally bright meteors have been reported as being accompanied by a low hissing sound - like bacon sizzling.
For years, professional astronomers dismissed the notion of sounds from meteors as fiction. Typically, a meteor burns up about 100 kilometers - or 60 miles - above the Earth's surface.
Because sound travels so much more slowly than light does, the rumblings of a particularly large meteor shouldn't be heard for several minutes after the meteor's sighting. A meteor 100 kilometers high would boom about five minutes after it appears. Such an object is called a "sonic" meteor. The noise it makes is related to the sonic boom caused by a faster-than-sound aircraft.<br />
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s6/130842/full/quadrantid_1_3_2012_Susan_Jens.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="Meteor Shower_1" height="216" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s6/130842/large/quadrantid_1_3_2012_Susan_Jens.jpg" style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px;" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a>
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<span class="tiny">© Susan Jensen</span>
<span class="caption">2013 Quadrantid meteor by EarthSky Facebook friend Susan Jensen in Odessa, Washington.</span></div>
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But what about meteors that seem to make a sound at the same time you are seeing them? These meteors would be seen and heard simultaneously. Is this possible? Astronomers now say it is possible. They speak of "electrophonic meteors."
The explanation is that meteors give off very low frequency radio waves, which travel at the speed of light. Even though you can't directly hear radio waves, these waves can cause physical objects on the Earth's surface to vibrate. The radio waves cause a sound - which our ears might interpret as the sizzle of a meteor shooting by.<br />
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<a href="http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.fr/2013/02/mbiq-detects-canada-fireball-meteor.html">Bright fireball streaks across Nova Scotia sky, 8 February 2013</a> </h2>
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lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com
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Sat, 09 Feb 2013 05:28 CST</div>
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08 February 2013 - Mike, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada 2:15 Atlantic Time
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2-3 seconds duration. South-West direction. Bright green color, as bright as the moon. </blockquote>
08 February 2013 - Justin Gale, New Germany, Nova Scotia, Canada 2:15 Atlantic Time
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<blockquote class="typ2">
1-2 seconds duration. South-East direction. Bright blue like an arc welder with a red tail. Near the brightness of the sun. No fragments. It streaked across the entire view of the sky and burned out just before hitting the horizon. </blockquote>
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<a href="http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=72212">Meteorite fragments found near Sri Lanka's parliament?</a>
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Maheesha Mudugamuwa<br />The Island, Sri Lanka<br />Fri, 08 Feb 2013 21:39 CST</div>
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<span class="tiny">© The Island</span></div>
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Investigations
were underway to check the authenticity of claims that several
fragments suspected to be from a meteorite had fallen into a home garden
near Parliament at Battaramulla yesterday morning, Colombo University,
Prof. Chandana Jayaratne said.
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The unusual fragments were first seen by the domestic worker, who
removed them. Subsequently, the house owner called the Moratuwa
University and contacted Prof. Chandana Jayaratne.
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Prof. Jayaratne, who visited the place, said that it was a meteorite
type rock and it would be possible to confirm whether it was from a
meteorite within one or two days.
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Prof. Jayaratne warned people not to destroy evidence which was vital to
carry out the required tests. Meanwhile, he asked the public not to
disturb such objects.
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He stressed that it was a great loss when people destroyed the evidence of meteorites due to ignorance.
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"If you happen to see such objects, you should cover them with a basin or a piece of oil cloth," Dr. Jayaratne said.
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<a href="http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.fr/2013/02/colorado-wyoming-meteor-09feb2013.html">Emerald green fireball lights up mountains in Colorado and Wyoming, 09 February 2013</a>
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lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com<br />Mon, 11 Feb 2013 00:47 CST</div>
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09 February 2013 - Jeremy Greeley, CO, USA 2:30 MST
<blockquote class="typ1">
5 seconds duration. Emerald green color. Between moon and Sun in
brightness. A little bit emerald green, it was a meteor/ fireball that
seemed to go beneath the clouds and light up the sky.
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09 February 2013 - Brian & Michelle, FALCON, COLORADO, USA 01:55 MST
<blockquote class="typ2">
3-5 seconds duration. W-E diirection. I was facing north. Bright green
with bright green tail. Not as bright as the sun, but brighter than the
moon. It was huge and it looked like it hit the ground because as it
disappeared from our sight. There seemed to be an explosion of light. It
did not shoot across the sky but appeared have fallen down out of the
sky
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09 February 2013 - Daniel, San Luis Valley, Colorado, USA 01:55 MST
<blockquote class="typ1">
2-3 seconds duration. Before it fell behind the mountains, it traveled
NNW as I was driving due north. Bright, but not as bright as the moon.
After the meteorite fell out of sight behind mountains, there was a
flash that illuminated the mountains from behind. The flash behind the
mountains was very surprising.
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09 February 2013 - Shawn Wright, Wyoming, US 01:54 MST
<blockquote class="typ2">
3 seconds duration. E-W direction, I was facing south. It was overcast
out and I seen a big blue greenish flash in the sky. It was very cloudy
out yet the fireball was bright enough to light up the whole sky and you
could see it move from east to west! Very bright at first, it then
faded away.
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<a href="http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.fr/2013/02/ontario-michigan-meteor-08feb2013.html">Blue fireball creates spectacular show over Ontario and Michigan, 9 February 2013</a>
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lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com<br /><div class="m-bar">
Sat, 09 Feb 2013 00:56 CST</div>
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09 February 2012 - Donald Blubaugh, Coleman, MI, USA 1:30 a.m. Eastern Time Zone
<blockquote class="typ1">
2-3 seconds duration. N-S direction, I was facing North. It was a blue
fireball with a tail of blue and red. Pretty bright. Too quick to tell
if it was a meteor?
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09 February 2013 - Zoobie, Hamilton, Ontario 1:20 a.m.
<blockquote class="typ2">
2 seconds duration. West/north direction. Green/blue color. Very Bright. Amazing!
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09 February 2013 - David & Joanne Mank, Orangeville, Ontario, Canada 1:20 a.m.
<blockquote class="typ1">
2 seconds duration. N-E, from my left to right. Green-blue-white color.
1/4 brightness of the moon. It burned out very close to the ground - a
spectacular show!
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09 February 2012 - Yves Grandguillot, Toronto, Ontario, Canada 1:20 a.m.
<blockquote class="typ2">
2 seconds duration. S-W direction. Green color. As bright as the Sun. It
was a large and very bright green light - quite fascinating to see.
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09 February 2012 - Heather Howell, Burlington, Ontario, Canada 1:20 a.m.
<blockquote class="typ1">
2 seconds duration. North facing. Green & white color, it was bright like a flare.
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<a href="http://www.dailynews.lk/2013/02/13/news15.asp">Fallen meteorite draws thousands in Sri Lanka</a>
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Asela Kuruluwansa<br />Daily News, Sri Lanka<br />Tue, 12 Feb 2013 21:51 CST</div>
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<span class="tiny">© Daily News, Sri Lanka<br /></span></div>
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A
stone particle resembling a meteorite which had fallen into a quarry at
Aladeniya, Kandy, near the seventh mile-post last morning drew a
curious crowd.
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Several thousands gathered by noon yesterday to see the particle which was about 20 inches in diameter and weighed nearly 5 Kg.
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A team led by CEA Assistant Director Senarath Bandara removed the particle for further investigations.
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">A Service of <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">Signs of the Times</a>: The most comprehensive, objective and reliable Alternative News Source on the Web. If you aren't reading <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">SOTT</a>, you don't know what's REALLY happening!</div>Keithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06011086310017706847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385115091808825739.post-63981164734608033402012-12-03T00:46:00.002+00:002012-12-03T00:46:52.049+00:00December 2012<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/284619/scitech/science/space-telescope-spies-vast-cometary-debris-in-distant-star-systems" style="color: #0a4284; font-size: 1.7em; line-height: 32px; text-decoration: initial; text-shadow: rgb(227, 227, 227) 1px 1px 1px;">Space telescope spies vast, cometary debris in distant star systems</a></div>
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Shaira F. Panela<br />GMA Network<br />Sat, 01 Dec 2012 12:41 CST</div>
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Peeping into the vastness of our galaxy, NASA reported that the Herschel space telescope of the European Space Agency (ESA) took images of vast comet belts <a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2012-371" style="color: #2b4bb5;" target="_blank" title="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2012-371">surrounding two planetary systems. </a>"Herschel continues to reveal surprising information about the strange configuration of solar systems in the Milky Way," said NASA Herschel Project Scientist Paul Goldsmith.<br /><br />The Herschel space telescope, officially named the Herschel Space Observatory, is known to have the largest single mirror for a space telescope at 3.5 meters in diameter. It can "collect long wavelength radiation from some of the the coldest and most distant objects in the Universe," according to the ESA. It was launched in 2009 and <a href="http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/area/index.cfm?fareaid=16" style="color: #2b4bb5;" target="_blank" title="http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/area/index.cfm?fareaid=16">its mission is expected to end by 2013</a>.<br /><br />NASA also contributed to study for this mission. The Herschel Project Office is located at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, USA.<br /><br />The solar systems found, namely GJ 581 and 61 Vir, could host Earth-to-Neptune-mass planets, but they're filled with vast amounts of cometary debris, according to the NASA report.<br /><br />"Herschel detected the signatures of cold dust at minus 200 degrees Celsius (minus 330 degrees Fahrenheit), in quantities that mean these systems must have at least 10 times more comets than in our own solar system's Kuiper Belt," NASA reported.<br /><br />Kuiper Belt is Pluto's official address, located billions of kilometers from our sun. It is a disc-shaped region composed of icy objects, such as ice dwarfs and debris. Located beyond Neptune's orbit, this is believed to be the home of comets in our solar system.<br /><br />GJ 581 also known as Gliese 581 is a red dwarf star, 22 light years away from Earth. It can be located in the constellation we know as Libra. According to previous observation, GJ 581 may be host to at least three or four planets, including one that resides within the "goldilocks zone" or habitable zone.<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center" style="clear: both; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 1em; position: relative; text-align: center; width: 550px;">
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s6/122848/full/2012_12_01_17_28_10.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" style="color: #2b4bb5; line-height: 1.4em;" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" height="244" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s6/122848/large/2012_12_01_17_28_10.jpg" style="max-width: 520px;" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: grey; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 1.4em;">© NASA</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1b3651; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.4em;">This artist's impression shows the orbits of planets </span></div>
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<span style="color: #1b3651; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.4em;">and comets around the star 61 Vir, superimposed </span></div>
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<span style="color: #1b3651; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.4em;">on a view from the Herschel Space Telescope.</span></div>
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Meanwhile, 61 Vir (61 Virginis), is a star 27.8 light years away in the constellation of Virgo. 61 Vir's composition is nearly identical to our Sun, but its mass is slightly less. Two "super-Earths"--planets with a range of mass between two and 18 times that of Earth--were confirmed to be orbiting around this star.<br /><br />But, according to NASA, these planets were not reported to be as huge of either Saturn or Jupiter, the considered culprits "for disrupting a once highly-populated Kuiper Belt, sending a deluge of comets toward the inner planets in a cataclysmic event that lasted several million years."<br /><br />"The new observations are giving us a clue: they're saying that in the solar system we have giant planets and a relatively sparse Kuiper Belt, but systems with only low-mass planets often have much denser Kuiper belts," said University of Cambridge's Mark Wyatt.<br />Wyatt is the lead author of a research focusing on the debris disk around 61 Vir.</div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">A Service of <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">Signs of the Times</a>: The most comprehensive, objective and reliable Alternative News Source on the Web. If you aren't reading <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">SOTT</a>, you don't know what's REALLY happening!</div>Keithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06011086310017706847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385115091808825739.post-5838026323747704682012-07-10T14:29:00.000+01:002012-07-10T15:03:01.733+01:00Fireballs, Meteors and Booms: April, May and June 2012<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/247581-Fireballs-Meteors-and-Booms-April-May-and-June-2012#">Fireballs, Meteors and Booms: April, May and June 2012</a>
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Sott.net<br />
Thu, 05 Jul 2012 10:57 CDT</div>
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<span class="BoldGrey">April 2012</span>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/243670-Suspected-meteor-s-fate-fascinates-astronomers" target="_blank">Suspected meteor's fate fascinates astronomers</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/243680-Unbelievable-meteor-seen-in-the-skies-over-New-Zealand-residents-report-loud-boom-from-large-fiery-meteor" target="_blank">'Unbelievable' meteor seen in the skies over New Zealand - residents report 'loud boom' from large fiery meteor</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/243696-San-Antonio-Fireball-leaves-area-residents-wondering" target="_blank">San Antonio Fireball leaves area residents wondering</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/243816-First-February-Fireballs-now-April-Fireballs-Daytime-Meteor-Streaks-over-Texas" target="_blank">First 'February Fireballs', now 'April Fireballs': Daytime Meteor Streaks over Texas</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/243817-Fireball-spotted-over-Lake-Michigan" target="_blank">Fireball spotted over Lake Michigan</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/243979-Trooper-motorist-Mysterious-object-fell-from-sky" target="_blank">Trooper, motorist: Mysterious object fell from sky</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/244003-Hundreds-Report-Seeing-Fireball-in-the-Sky-Over-Chicago" target="_blank">Hundreds Report Seeing Fireball in the Sky Over Chicago</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/244032-Really-UK-Ministry-of-Defence-Claims-RAF-Jets-Rushing-To-Intercept-Private-Helicopter-Caused-Massive-Boom-That-Shook-Homes-Across-England" target="_blank">Really?
UK Ministry of Defence Claims RAF Jets Rushing To Intercept Private
Helicopter Caused Massive Boom That Shook Homes Across England</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/244035-Meteor-explodes-over-Pennsylvania-Big-boom-still-has-Poconos-buzzing" target="_blank">Meteor explodes over Pennsylvania? Big boom still has Poconos buzzing</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/244055-Meteorite-hits-in-Siberia-Strange-Sounds-and-Powerful-explosion-could-be-heard" target="_blank">Meteorite hits in Siberia? Strange Sounds and Powerful explosion could be heard</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/244096-It-s-raining-fireballs-April-2-Texas-daytime-fireball-confirmed-another-Meteor-seen-in-Chicago-Wednesday" target="_blank">It's raining fireballs! April 2 Texas daytime fireball confirmed, another Meteor seen in Chicago Wednesday</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/244417-Witness-claims-to-see-impact-of-meteor-in-Brazil-VIDEO-" target="_blank">Witness claims to see impact of meteor in Brazil [VIDEO]</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/244442-Loud-boom-over-Northern-California-and-Nevada-thought-to-be-from-meteor" target="_blank">Loud boom over Northern California and Nevada thought to be from meteor</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/244485-Sierra-Fireball-Decoded-Not-a-Lyrid" target="_blank">Sierra Fireball Decoded - Not a Lyrid</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/244631-Meteorite-Hunters-Find-Fragments-from-the-Recent-Daytime-Fireball-in-California" target="_blank">Meteorite Hunters Find Fragments from the Recent 'Daytime Fireball' in California</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/244543-Second-Rare-Daytime-Fireball-Explodes-Over-US-This-Month-Van-sized-Meteor-NOT-part-of-Lyrid-Shower" target="_blank">Second 'Rare' Daytime Fireball Explodes Over US This Month, Van-sized Meteor NOT part of Lyrid Shower</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/244578-NASA-shares-photo-of-meteor-in-Nevada-skies" target="_blank">NASA shares photo of meteor in Nevada skies</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245272-April-2012-Fireball-Roundup-New-Footage-from-Brazil" target="_blank">April 2012 Fireball Roundup + New Footage from Brazil</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/243965-Mysterious-object-fell-from-sky-in-Litchfield-Connecticut" target="_blank">Mysterious object fell from sky in Litchfield, Connecticut</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/244605-The-Mystery-of-the-UFO-or-Meteorite-That-Fell-Into-Bantam-Lake-May-Never-Be-Solved" target="_blank">The Mystery of the "UFO," or Meteorite That Fell Into Bantam Lake May Never Be Solved</a>
<br />
<br />
<span class="BoldGrey">May 2012</span>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245409-Fireball-Streaks-Low-and-Slow-Over-Fargo-Seen-From-Several-Northern-States" target="_blank">Fireball Streaks Low and Slow Over Fargo, Seen From Several Northern States</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245425-Astrophoto-Meteor-Fireball-Passing-through-the-Milky-Way" target="_blank">Astrophoto: Meteor Fireball Passing through the Milky Way</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245735-Fireball-appears-north-west-of-Perth-Australia" target="_blank">Fireball appears north west of Perth, Australia</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245736-Fireball-filmed-over-Peru" target="_blank">Fireball filmed over Peru</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/246258-Fireball-Blazes-Over-Paris" target="_blank">Fireball Blazes Over Paris</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/244940-Unexplained-sounds-flashes-spark-rumors-in-Roslindale" target="_blank">Unexplained sounds, flashes spark rumors in Roslindale</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245579-Mystery-earthquake-boom-near-McCall-puzzles-scientists" target="_blank">Mystery 'earthquake' boom near McCall puzzles scientists</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245696-Channel-Islands-mystery-boom-shakes-buildings" target="_blank">Channel Islands mystery boom shakes buildings</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245800-Mysterious-rattling-and-tremors-in-north-Scotland-blamed-on-aircraft-" target="_blank">Mysterious rattling and tremors in north Scotland blamed on aircraft?</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245837-Fireball-UFO-flare-US-Airways-Express-flight-crew-sees-mysterious-object" target="_blank">Fireball, UFO, flare? US Airways Express flight crew sees mysterious object</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/246388-Unexplained-Boom-Sounds-South-West-Michigan-5-27-2012-WWMT" target="_blank">Unexplained "Boom" Sounds, South West Michigan 5-27-2012 </a>
<br />
<br />
<span class="BoldGrey">June 2012</span>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/246349-Bright-fireball-seen-from-Queensland-Australia" target="_blank">Bright fireball seen from Queensland, Australia</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/246428-Large-Fireball-Over-West-Oklahoma-and-North-Texas" target="_blank">Large Fireball Over West Oklahoma and North Texas</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/246762-Large-fireball-seen-in-over-Ohio-Pennsylvania-West-Virginia-and-Southern-Ontario" target="_blank">Large fireball seen in over Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Southern Ontario</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/246777-Meteor-Sighted-Over-Michigan-Ohio" target="_blank">Meteor Sighted Over Michigan/Ohio</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/246853-International-Space-Station-damaged-by-meteor" target="_blank">International Space Station damaged by meteor</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/246916-Green-fireball-streaks-across-sky-in-southern-England" target="_blank">Green fireball streaks across sky in southern England</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/246936-Unusual-Sight-Captured-on-Camera" target="_blank">Unusual Sight Captured on Camera</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/246986-Third-daytime-fireball-seen-in-US-this-year-Meteor-grounds-air-tankers-fighting-Colorado-forest-fire" target="_blank">Third daytime fireball seen in US this year, Meteor grounds air tankers fighting Colorado forest fire</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/246987-Possible-Meteor-Streaks-Across-Colorado-Sky-Wednesday" target="_blank">Possible Meteor Streaks Across Colorado Sky Wednesday</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/247022-Daylight-Fireball-Dazzles-Colorado-Grounds-Fire-Tankers" target="_blank">Daylight Fireball Dazzles Colorado, Grounds Fire Tankers</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/247440-Colorado-firefighters-hampered-by-winds-heat-and-meteors" target="_blank">Colorado firefighters hampered by winds, heat -- and meteors</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/247112-Fireball-sighted-over-Gloucestershire" target="_blank">Fireball sighted over Gloucestershire</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/247335-On-Anniversary-of-Tunguska-Meteor-Plunges-into-Indian-Ocean-Lighting-up-Perth-sky" target="_blank">On Anniversary of Tunguska, Meteor Plunges into Indian Ocean, Lighting up Perth sky</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/247351-Alleged-fireball-streaks-across-Louisiana-sky" target="_blank">Alleged 'fireball' streaks across Louisiana sky</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/247429-Perth-Sunset-Mystery-Was-the-Fiery-Trail-a-Meteor-" target="_blank">Perth Sunset Mystery: Was the Fiery Trail a Meteor?</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/247442-Burning-meteorite-trail-lights-up-Australian-sky-for-20-minutes-after-rock-plunges-into-the-sea" target="_blank">Burning meteorite trail lights up Australian sky for 20 minutes after rock plunges into the sea</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/247337-Fireball-orb-appears-near-Port-Columbus-Ohio" target="_blank">Fireball orb appears near Port Columbus, Ohio</a>
<br />
<br />
<span class="BoldGrey">Of Related Interest:</span>
<br />
<br />
<span class="BoldGrey">April 2012</span>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/243896-NASA-reinvents-history-to-make-increasing-numbers-of-fireballs-seem-normal" target="_blank">NASA reinvents history to make increasing numbers of fireballs seem normal</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/243858-Propaganda-Alert-Defunct-Russian-satellite-to-ram-into-Earth-again" target="_blank">Propaganda Alert! Defunct Russian satellite to ram into Earth again</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/244220-New-Comet-P-2012-G1-PanSTARRS-" target="_blank">New Comet - P/2012 G1 (PanSTARRS)</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/244221-New-Comet-C-2012-F6-Lemmon-" target="_blank">New Comet - C/2012 F6 (Lemmon)</a>
<br />
<br />
<span class="BoldGrey">May 2012</span>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245654-Meteor-Shower-Timelapse-Seen-from-the-Space-Station" target="_blank">Meteor Shower Timelapse Seen from the Space Station</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245941-Meteorites-Add-to-Explosion-like-Sound-Mystery" target="_blank">Meteorites Add to Explosion-like Sound Mystery</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245555-Mystery-Object-in-Denver-Skies-Prompts-FAA-Investigation" target="_blank">Mystery Object in Denver Skies Prompts FAA Investigation</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245148-Strange-New-UFO-Found-on-Google-Sky" target="_blank">Strange New UFO Found on Google Sky</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245560-Mysterious-Rocks-Burn-California-Woman" target="_blank">Mysterious Rocks Burn California Woman</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245961-Mysterious-sounds-More-videos-of-unexplained-apocalypse-sounds-roaring-out-of-nowhere" target="_blank">Mysterious sounds: More videos of unexplained "apocalypse sounds" roaring out of nowhere</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245037-Strange-sound-and-strange-object-in-skies-over-Sabinillas-Spain" target="_blank">Strange sound and strange object in skies over Sabinillas, Spain</a>
<br />
<br />
<span class="BoldGrey">June 2012</span>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/246215-Best-Of-the-French-Meteor-Fireball-Database-recorded-between-2009-2012" target="_blank">Best Of the French Meteor/Fireball Database recorded between 2009-2012</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/246304-Solar-Tsunami" target="_blank">Solar Tsunami</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/246751-Solar-storms-on-the-way" target="_blank">Solar storms on the way</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/247345-June-30-1908-The-Tunguska-Event" target="_blank">June 30, 1908: The Tunguska Event</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/246494-Missile-UFO-or-cometary-fragment-Thousands-of-people-in-Jordan-and-Israel-witness-spinning-Catherine-Wheel-in-the-sky" target="_blank">Missile, UFO or cometary fragment? Thousands of people in Jordan and Israel witness spinning 'Catherine Wheel' in the sky</a>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/247050-China-X-files-UFOs-Spotted-at-Space-Rocket-Launch" target="_blank">China X-files: UFOs Spotted at Space Rocket Launch</a>
</div>
</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">A Service of <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">Signs of the Times</a>: The most comprehensive, objective and reliable Alternative News Source on the Web. If you aren't reading <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">SOTT</a>, you don't know what's REALLY happening!</div>Keithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06011086310017706847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385115091808825739.post-27652053621376376802012-06-02T22:20:00.003+01:002012-07-10T15:03:27.012+01:00June 2012<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h2>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XHMQcSjJqg">Best Of the French Meteor/Fireball Database recorded between 2009-2012</a> </h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
You Tube<br />
Fri, 01 Jun 2012 00:00 CDT<br />
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="article-body">
<div align="center">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/3XHMQcSjJqg?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0" height="309" width="400"></iframe></div>
<br />
These are some of the clips with the longest duration and/or highest magnitude (brightness) recorded objects from the <a href="http://www.boam.fr/" target="_blank" title="http://www.boam.fr">French Meteor Observer Database</a>: Most or all of the clips were recorded between 2009-2012, from cameras stationed in and around France.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h2>
<a href="http://remanzacco.blogspot.co.nz/2012/06/recovery-of-comet-p1994-x1.html">Recovery of Comet P/1994 X1</a> </h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
Giovanni Sostero, Nick Howes, Erik Bryssinck & Ernesto Guido<br />
Remanzacco Observatory<br />
Fri, 01 Jun 2012 14:15 CDT</div>
</div>
<div class="article-body">
Cbet Circular No. <a href="http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iau/cbet/003100/CBET003132.txt" target="_blank" title="http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iau/cbet/003100/CBET003132.txt">3132</a>, issued on 2012, May 31, announces the recovery of comet <b>P/1994 X1 = 2012 K7 (McNaught-Russell)</b> by our team; this comet was discovered on 1994, December 12 with the UK Schmidt Telescope at Siding Spring observatory and it was last observed on 1995, April 17. <br />
<br />
On 2012, May 29 we started an observing session to recover the periodic comet P/1994 X1. We found an object of magnitude ~19.5 located ~35 arcsec south-west of the nominal position, along the line of variations (LOV). Stacking of 7 R-filtered exposures, 60-sec each, obtained remotely, from the <a href="http://www.faulkes-telescope.com/" target="_blank" title="http://www.faulkes-telescope.com/">Haleakala-Faulkes Telescope North</a> on 2012, May 29.6, through a 2.0-m f/10.0 Ritchey-Chretien + CCD, under good seeing conditions, shows that comet P/1994 X1 appears slightly diffuse, with a tiny coma about 3" in diameter, having a total m1 magnitude measured through a Bessel-R filter of about 19.5. <br />
<br />
Second night follow-up observations, has been obtained on 2012, May 30.4, under the code H06. Stacking of 8 unfiltered exposures, 180-sec each, obtained on 2012, May 30.4 remotely from the <a href="http://www.itelescope.net/" target="_blank" title="http://www.itelescope.net/">ITelescope</a> network near Mayhill, NM, through a 0.43-m f/6.8 astrograph + CCD + f/4.5 focal reducer, shows that this comet has a nearly stellar appearance. <br />
<br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/103931/full/res.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Remanzacco Observatory"><img alt="Comet P/1994 X1" border="0" height="114" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/103931/large/res.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© Remanzacco Observatory</span></div>
</div>
<br />
Below you can find our recovery image of 2012, May 29.6 (click on the image for a bigger version): <br />
<br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/103932/full/P1994X1_2012May29_F65_annotate.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Remanzacco Observatory"><img alt="Comet P/1994 X1_1" border="0" height="305" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/103932/large/P1994X1_2012May29_F65_annotate.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© Remanzacco Observatory</span></div>
<div class="image-caption">
</div>
</div>
Below you can find the recovery image of 2012, May 30.4 (click on the image for a bigger version): <br />
<br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/103933/full/P1994X1_20120530_none_BRY01_H0.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Remanzacco Observatory"><img alt="Comet P/1994 X1_2" border="0" height="320" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/103933/large/P1994X1_20120530_none_BRY01_H0.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© Remanzacco Observatory</span></div>
<div class="image-caption">
</div>
</div>
And here <a href="http://s176.photobucket.com/albums/w189/walcom77/?action=view&current=P1994X1_2012May30_H061.mp4" target="_blank" title="http://s176.photobucket.com/albums/w189/walcom77/?action=view&current=P1994X1_2012May30_H061.mp4">you can see a small animation</a> showing the movement of this faint comet on May 30.4. The indicated correction to the prediction on MPC 79019 is Delta(T) = +0.024 day. The linked orbital elements and an ephemeris by G. V. Williams appear on MPEC <a href="http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K12/K12K75.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K12/K12K75.html">2012-K75</a>.<br />
<br /></div>
</div>
<div align="center">
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2154771/Asteroid-glitch-Google-Sky-user-spots-strange-undiscovered-glowing-rock-solar-system.html">Spooky glowing asteroid spotted in our solar system</a> </h2>
<div class="article-info" style="text-align: left;">
<div class="m-bar">
Eddie Wrenn<br />
The Daily Mail, UK<br />
Tue, 05 Jun 2012 14:35 CDT</div>
<div class="m-bar">
</div>
<div class="article-print">
</div>
</div>
<div class="article-body">
<div class="article-image-large to-center" style="text-align: left;">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/104250/full/article_0_1374C68C000005DC_248.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" height="258" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/104250/large/article_0_1374C68C000005DC_248.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<br />
<span class="caption">The asteroid - the co-ordinates of which are available below - was spotted by user planetkrejci in a video posted three days ago</span></div>
<div class="image-caption">
</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
A user has found a 'huge asteroid' while scanning the virtual heavens using Googly Sky. <br />
<br />
Youtube user planetkrejci, who has investigated other anomalies on NASA pictures, claims the object - found using the Google website which transports the heavens to desktop computers and smartphones - is an asteroid which is heading towards Earth. <br />
<br />
He says the asteroid - which, if real, has not been spotted by other scientists or astronomers - has only appeared recently on Google Sky, which receives updated images every few months.</div>
<div class="article-image-large to-center" style="text-align: left;">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/104251/full/article_0_1374C694000005DC_770.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" height="247" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/104251/large/article_0_1374C694000005DC_770.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<br />
<span class="caption">Close-up: The object certainly looks like an asteroid - which seems to be spotted with green flecks</span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Announcing his find on YouTube, he says the black object, mottled with green spots, is so clear that it must be within the solar system. <br />
<br />
The user had been exploring the region a few months earlier, and had 'bookmarked' a spot just to the left of the asteroid - so he is certain the object was not there previously. <br />
<br />
There are other explanations - this could be a simple technical glitch, either on Google Sky's end or within the original photograph. <br />
<br />
The earthbound Google Maps regularly has glitches where pictures have been incorrectly sewn together. </div>
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<span class="caption">In context: The apparent clarity of the 'asteroid' implies it is close, certainly within our solar system</span></div>
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One thing that planekrejci does not substantiate is his claim that the object is moving towards the Earth, as it is not apparent how this calculation could be obtained without more information than the image provides. <br />
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However, if planetkrejci has found a new object, it will be quite an achievement for an earth-bound Internet user to discover a new object in our solar system before NASA or other observatories. <br />
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The object is easy to find on Google Sky, by typing in the co-ordinates 5h 11m 33.74s -12 50' 30.09" - <b>although conspiracy theorists might read something into the fact that the search function on Google Sky is currently down...</b></div>
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<a href="http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1112548671/team-setting-up-strategy-for-hazardous-neos/">Team Setting Up Strategy For Hazardous NEOs</a> </h2>
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Lee Rannals<br />
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<span class="caption">To deal with potentially hazardous Near Earth Objects (NEOs) that could strike the Earth, there is need to establish an effective international communications strategy. The Near Earth Object Media/Risk Communications Working Group Report has been issued by Secure World Foundation. </span></div>
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Scientists have gathered with other experts to create a strategy for potentially hazardous Near earth Objects (NEOs). <br />
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Nearly 40 scientists, reporters, risk communications specialists, and <a href="http://swfound.org/" target="_blank" title="http://swfound.org/">Secure World Foundation</a> staff participated in a meeting in November last year to come up with a strategy for dealing with hazardous NEOs. <br />
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The <a href="http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/589977/?sc=dwtr&xy=5028369" target="_blank" title="http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/589977/?sc=dwtr&xy=5028369">report created by the team</a> will be presented at the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (<a href="http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/oosa/COPUOS/copuos.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/oosa/COPUOS/copuos.html">COPUOS</a>) and its Action Team-14 on NEOs during the 55th session of the UN COPUOS being held in Vienna, Austria. <br />
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During the meeting, the group explored in detail the views of risk communication experts and experienced science journalists on the development of a successful communications strategy. <br />
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"A lot of attention is focused on the catastrophic damage a large asteroid could do if it collided with Earth," Dr. Michael Simpson, Executive Director of Secure World Foundation, said in a press release. "This report focuses on how to prevent the even greater damage we could cause ourselves by mis-communicating or failing to work together on a common response to the threat." <br />
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He said the threat of an impact of a large asteroid could be what shows us that our future depends on working together. <br />
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"In technical organizations, communications with the public are often treated more as an afterthought than a critical mission element," Dr. Ray Williamson, SWF Senior Advisor, said in a press release. "This report emphasizes how important clear, effective, and accurate assessments to the public of the danger posed by a threatening Near Earth Object are to the ultimate goal of protecting human life and property." <br />
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The group determined that there is a need to establish an effective international communications strategy for potentially hazardous NEOs by using anything from the television to the Internet. <br />
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They said that general education should include information about NEOs and their place in our solar system, the nature of the potential threat, and specific information related to warnings of potentially hazardous NEO. <br />
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The experts determined that a support group should be created for hazardous NEOs, complete with analysts, planners, scientists, psychologists, emergency management experts and other functional experts.<br />
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<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-05/stargazer-calls-for-meteorite-witnesses/4053400?section=qld">Bright fireball seen from Queensland, Australia</a> </h2>
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Jo Skinner<br />
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Tue, 05 Jun 2012 11:31 CDT</div>
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Sunshine Coast astronomer Owen Bennedick is urging anyone who saw a meteorite near Caloundra last night to contact him. <br />
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Mr Bennedick runs the Wappa Falls Observatory at Yandina. <br />
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He says he was with a group of people who saw a bright fireball in the eastern sky about 11:00pm (AEST). <br />
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"We were coming back from doing the lunar eclipse in Brisbane and on the way back ... about 11 o'clock on the southern end of the coast, a very, very large what we call a fireball or a bolloid entered the atmosphere," he said. <br />
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"It was so bright that we could see the smoke trail in behind it - very, very blue, white colour." <br />
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Mr Bennedick says it looked like the meteorite was heading towards the Caloundra area or it might have entered the water.<br />
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<a href="http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/2012K6/2012K6.html">New Comet - C/2012 K6 (McNaught)</a> </h2>
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Mon, 04 Jun 2012 23:23 CDT</div>
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<span class="BoldGrey">Discovery Date:</span> May 27, 2012 <br />
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<span class="BoldGrey">Magnitude:</span> 18.4 mag <br />
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<span class="BoldGrey">Discoverer:</span> Robert H. McNaught (Siding Spring) <br />
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The orbital elements are published on <a href="http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/mpec/K12/K12L04.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/mpec/K12/K12L04.html">M.P.E.C. 2012-L04</a>. </div>
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<a href="http://centexallsky.blogspot.co.nz/2012/06/large-fireball-over-west-oklahoma-and.html">Large Fireball Over West Oklahoma and North Texas</a> </h2>
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Wed, 06 Jun 2012 18:16 CDT</div>
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This evening in the midst of Developing thunderst</div>
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orms One of the flashes across the sky wasn't lightning! 1 large Bolide or Fireball came roaring to earth. Reports are coming in from Oklahoma Of sonic booms caused as the fireball streaked towards Earth. </div>
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<a href="http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/2012L2/2012L2.html">New Comet - C/2012 L2 (LINEAR)</a> </h2>
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Seiichi Yoshida Aerith Net Thu, 07 Jun 2012 13:28 CDT </div>
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<span class="BoldGrey">Discovery Date</span>: June 1, 2012 <span class="BoldGrey">Magnitude:</span> 19.4 mag <span class="BoldGrey">Discoverer:</span> Lincoln Laboratory Near-Earth Asteroid Research project </div>
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The orbital elements are published on <a href="http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/mpec/K12/K12L13.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/mpec/K12/K12L13.html">M.P.E.C. 2012-L13</a>. </div>
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<a href="http://remanzacco.blogspot.co.nz/2012/06/bright-near-earth-asteroid-2012-lz1.html">Bright Near-Earth Asteroid 2012 LZ1</a> </h2>
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Nick Howes, Ernesto Guid Giovanni Sostero Remanzacco Observatory Wed, 13 Jun 2012 17:42 CDT </div>
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M.P.E.C. <a href="http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K12/K12L30.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K12/K12L30.html">2012-L30</a> issued on 2012, June 12 announces the discovery of a new Near-Earth object (discovery magnitude 15.1) by <i>R. H. McNaught</i> in the course of the Siding Spring Survey on CCD images taken with the 0.5-m Uppsala Schmidt. This new asteroid has been designated <b>2012 LZ1</b>. 2012 LZ1 is a large Near-Earth Object (NEO) approximately 300-700 metres in size (H=19.7) and it has been classified as a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potentially_hazardous_object" target="_blank" title="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potentially_hazardous_object">PHA</a> (Potentially Hazardous Asteroid). PHA are asteroids larger than approximately 100m that can come closer to Earth than 0.05 AU. None of the known PHAs is on a collision course with our planet, although astronomers are finding new ones all the time. 2012 LZ1 will be at its closest approach with Earth at ~14 lunar-distances (0.036 AU) on June 14, 23:10 UT. We have been able to follow-up this object from the <a href="http://www.faulkes-telescope.com/" target="_blank" title="http://www.faulkes-telescope.com/">Haleakala-Faulkes Telescope North</a> on 2012, June 13.5, through a 2.0-m f/10.0 Ritchey-Chretien + CCD. At the moment of our images from FTN, "2012 LZ1" was moving at about ~33.64 "/min and its magnitude was ~14.2. At the moment of its close approach it will be bright as magnitude ~13.9 and moving at ~38.80 "/min. Anyway, for the following days, it will be bright enough to be imaged by most amateur telescopes. In fact it will drop below magnitude 17 on June 23. Below you can see a 10-second exposure of 2012 LZ1 obtained with the FTN. The asteroid is slighlty trailed in the image due to its fast speed. Click on it for a bigger version.
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Here you can <a href="http://s176.photobucket.com/albums/w189/walcom77/?action=view&current=2012LZ1_animation_june_13_2012.gif" target="_blank" title="http://s176.photobucket.com/albums/w189/walcom77/?action=view&current=2012LZ1_animation_june_13_2012.gif">see an animation</a> showing the motion of 2012 LZ1. Each frame is a 10-second exposure through the FTN 2.0-m telescope. </div>
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<a href="http://www.space.com/16131-huge-asteroid-flyby-2012-lz1-webcast.html">Huge Asteroid to Fly by Earth Thursday</a> </h2>
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Mike Wall Space.com Wed, 13 Jun 2012 14:01 CDT </div>
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<span class="caption">A look at where near-Earth asteroid 2012 LZ1 will appear in the sky on the evening of June 14, 2012. </span></div>
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An asteroid the size of a city block is set to fly by Earth Thursday (June 14), and you may be able to watch it happen live. The <a href="http://www.space.com/13129-killer-asteroids-wise.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.space.com/13129-killer-asteroids-wise.html">near-Earth asteroid</a> 2012 LZ1, which astronomers think is about 1,650 feet (500 meters) wide, will come within 14 lunar distances of Earth Thursday evening. While there's no danger of an impact on this pass, the huge space rock may come close enough to be caught on camera. That's what the team running the Slooh Space Camera thinks, anyway. The online skywatching service will train a telescope on the Canary Islands on 2012 LZ1 and stream the footage live, beginning at 8:00 p.m. EDT Thursday (0000 GMT Friday). You can watch the <a href="http://www.space.com/51-asteroids-formation-discovery-and-exploration.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.space.com/51-asteroids-formation-discovery-and-exploration.html">asteroid</a> flyby on Slooh's website, <a href="http://events.slooh.com/" target="_blank" title="http://events.slooh.com/">found here.</a> 2012 LZ1 just popped onto astronomers' radar this week. It was discovered on the night of June 10-11 by Rob McNaught and his colleagues, who were peering through the Uppsala Schmidt telescope at Siding Spring Observatory in Australia. Researchers estimate that the space rock is between 1,000 and 2,300 feet wide (300-700 m). On Thursday evening, it will come within about 3.35 million miles (5.4 million kilometers) of our planet, or roughly 14 times the distance between Earth and the moon. Because of its size and proximity to Earth, 2012 LZ1 qualifies as a potentially hazardous asteroid. Near-Earth asteroids generally have to be at least 500 feet (150 m) wide and come within 4.65 million miles (7.5 million km) of our planet to be classified as potentially hazardous. 2012 LZ1 is roughly the same size as <a href="http://www.space.com/13507-photos-asteroid-2005-yu55-earth-flyby.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.space.com/13507-photos-asteroid-2005-yu55-earth-flyby.html">asteroid 2005 YU55</a>, which made a much-anticipated flyby of Earth last November. But 2005 YU55 gave our planet a much closer shave, coming within 202,000 miles (325,000 km) of us on the evening of Nov. 8. A space rock as big as 2005 YU55 hadn't come so close to Earth since 1976, researchers said. Astronomers have identified nearly 9,000 near-Earth asteroids, but they think many more are out there, waiting to be discovered. </div>
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/246762-Large-fireball-seen-in-over-Ohio-Pennsylvania-West-Virginia-and-Southern-Ontario#http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/science_tech/ufo-large-meteor-shoots-across-northern-ohio-skies-seen-from-wooster-perry-and-circleville">Large fireball seen in over Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Southern Ontario</a> </h2>
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Mark Johnson wptv.com Fri, 15 Jun 2012 08:10 CDT </div>
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<span class="tiny">© Getty Images</span> <span class="caption">A meteor streaking across the Ohio skies put on quite a show for a few brief seconds Thursday evening.</span> </div>
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Did you see it? Lots of folks across northern Ohio did. A meteor streaking across the Ohio skies put on quite a show for a few brief seconds Thursday evening. Reports began coming in just after 10 p.m. on Thursday of a bright object streaking across the sky at about 9:55 p.m. "It was an incredible sight. It came from the south, streaked over head quickly and then within a second disappeared over Lake Erie," Kathy from Willoughby Hills, Ohio said. She described the sight as a bright white ball with a long, green tail. Steven from Wooster, Ohio saw it too. He said he also saw "2 or 3 pieces that came off bottom and were traveling at a slower velocity." The shooting star was observed across portions of Ohio, Southern Ontario, Western Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. Steven in Toronto, comments, "Never seen anything like it before. There was a main body of white streaking across the sky, (and) smaller objects near it." "Just saw a glow over the lake, green blue in color. (It) looked like a firework at first but we realized it wasn't." said K.J. from Sarnia, Ontario. Margaret from Perry, Ohio exclaims, "I have seen a few fireballs in my life. Never one that was green. So cool. looked like green sparks coming off initial fireball. Fireball faded with no flash. Glowing green and white that faded to white." The sight was also seen in Circleville, near Columbus, Ohio. "It was going horizontal all white, then it exploded in a red- orange It was white glowing trail," said Lloyd Poling. Shooting stars are common around the world as very small pieces of space rock burn up in the Earth's atmosphere. Most of the shooting stars are as small and create a quick, white streak across the night sky. Occasional, larger pieces of space rock, hit our atmosphere and create a show like many saw this night. "Most shooting stars are smaller than a grain of sand," said astronomer Jay Reynolds from Cleveland State University. "This one could have been nickel size, penny size." As for the color of the streak, that depends on the chemical make-up of the rock itself. "The green color of the tail tells you that the space rock was full of iron," said Reynolds. Shooting stars are mainly associated with the Earth's periodic encounters with dust from comet's tails. These meteor showers happen regularly several times per year. The next round is not expected until July 28 and 29, 2012 as part of the Delta Aquarids Meteor Shower. But, occasionally, experts say, a random rock finds its way to Earth. Adds Reynolds, "This was a little chunk of iron hanging out there in space and the earth got in the way." </div>
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<a href="http://sheilaaliens.net/?p=833">Meteor Sighted Over Michigan/Ohio</a> </h2>
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Sheilaaliens Sheilaaliens.net Fri, 15 Jun 2012 14:26 CDT </div>
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"<a href="http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.jp/2012/06/breaking-news-mbiq-detects-ontario.html" target="_blank" title="http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.jp/2012/06/breaking-news-mbiq-detects-ontario.html">Reports</a> began coming in just after 10 p.m. on Thursday of a bright object streaking across the sky at about 9:55 p.m. "It was an incredible sight. It came from the south, streaked over head quickly and then within a second disappeared over Lake Erie," Kathy from Willoughby Hills, Ohio said. She described the sight as a bright white ball with a long, green tail.
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Steven from Wooster, Ohio saw it too. He said he also saw "2 or 3 pieces that came off bottom and were traveling at a slower velocity." The shooting star was observed across portions of Ohio, Southern Ontario, Western Pennsylvania, Ohio & West Virginia. (and Michigan)" <a href="http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/weather/weather_news/Large-meteor-shoots-across-northern-Ohio-skies" target="_blank" title="http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/weather/weather_news/Large-meteor-shoots-across-northern-Ohio-skies"> Read more</a> As it were, I first saw the reports on Twitter when the sighting was all of 3 minutes fresh as I happened to be doing a random search for the term "just saw a UFO". Nice fireball!!
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<a href="http://www.sen.com/news/meteor-strike-on-iss-is-reminder-of-cosmic-hazard.html">International Space Station damaged by meteor</a> </h2>
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Paul Sutherland SEN.com Mon, 18 Jun 2012 15:29 CDT </div>
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<span class="caption">A meteor photographed burning up in the atmosphere in August 2011 by an astronaut aboard the ISS</span></div>
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Everyone knows what a pain it is when you get a chip on your car's windshield from a bit of flying grit. But on Earth it is usually fairly easy to call someone in to repair it. NASA are currently evaluating a similar spot of damage to one of the viewing windows on the International Space Station to see if that needs to be replaced. The chip that left a visible scar on the outer pane was caused by a tiny meteoroid or scrap of space debris travelling many times faster than a bullet. It hit one of seven panes in the orbiting outpost's European-built Cupola - the space equivalent to a conservatory. This particular impact is not thought to put the six astronauts on board in any danger. But it is a reminder that space is a dangerous place. Astronauts aboard the ISS use the zone as a place to relax and watch the views of Earth and sky. It has provided some stunning images and videos recently of aurora displays and other spectacles including the recent Transit of Venus. A protective shutter was quickly closed over the damaged window, which has four layers of glass. The outer pane on the Cupola, which was carried into orbit by space shuttle Endeavour in February 2010, can only be replaced with a spacewalk. The astronauts currently on the ISS - Commander Oleg Kononenko and Flight Engineers Sergei Revin, Gennady Padalka, Joe Acaba, Don Pettit, and Andre Kuipers - took photos of the impact scar on Window Two of the Cupola and beamed them to mission control for analysis by experts. NASA are monitoring the orbits of the thousands of larger pieces of space junk left by satellite collisions and "star wars" tests in space. But smaller fragments plus natural meteoroid fragments flying through space are a constant hazard. Space debris expert Dr Lucy Rogers told Sen: "Space is full of tiny pieces of debris - both man-made and natural. It is estimated that there are hundreds of thousands of pieces of space debris, smaller than a cherry, travelling at speeds of up to 17,500 km/hr. "The space station is protected in many ways from damage by these pieces of debris. The windows of the ISS cupola are made from fused silica and borosilicate glass and are therefore much more resiliant than normal windows on Earth. However, a small piece of space debris can still cause it to chip, in the same way a car windshield will chip if hit by a small stone on the motorway. "Any chips that are seen on the cupola are reported directly to NASA, and the shutters of the orbital Debris Protection System (MDPS) on the Cupola will close. These shutters are made from aluminium and Kevlar/Nextel sheets, and will protect the astronauts should the pane of glass fail. NASA will carry out extensive investigations to ensure the integrity of the glass, before allowing the shutter to be opened again." Dr Rogers added: "There are equations used to predict penetration depth of projectiles - these can be used to calculate the size and speed of the debris that hit the window. The scientists will also be interested to see if they can work out what it was that hit the window - was it a broken part of another satellite, or was it small natural meteoroid? "This type of data helps the scientists and engineers calculate the probability of future micro-meteoroids and orbital debris (MMOD) strikes, and so precautions and safety measures can be taken to protect both astronauts and spacecraft. If a similar sized piece of debris had hit an astronaut on a spacewalk, the consequences may have been fatal." </div>
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<a href="http://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/9768073._Green_fireball__streaks_across_sky/">Green fireball streaks across sky in southern England</a> </h2>
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Lawrence Dunhill Bucks Free Press Mon, 18 Jun 2012 15:50 CDT </div>
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'A green fireball' streaked across the sky above Beaconsfield on Friday night, according to motorist Graham Lee. The freelance photographer thinks he might have seen a meteor while driving home on the M40 and discovered several others had reported the sighting online. Graham, from Whiteleaf near Princes Risborough, told the BFP: "I was on the M40 coming to the Beaconsfield junction at about 11.30pm and it came from left to right.... "It only lasted a few seconds and I thought it was a firework, but thought crickey that's far too large and far too fast. "<b>It was as bright as the sun and looked like a green fireball</b>. I felt quite privileged to have seen it." A website called The Latest Worldwide Meteor Reports lists several sightings of 'fireballs', 'flashes' and 'green lights' at about the same time, in various locations around Oxfordshire. Ralph Campbell, Chairman of Aylesbury Astronomical Society, said Graham had probably seen a meteor, which is also known as a shooting star. He said: "They are not very frequent but occasionally you do see them. It's basically a lump of material from outer space coming into the earth's atmosphere. Because it's going so fast it heats up and melts away. "Very occasionally they will reach the earth and make a big hole in the ground, but fortunately we've avoided any really big ones up till now." </div>
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<a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/7137715/Unusual-sight-captured-on-camera">Unusual Sight Captured on Camera</a> </h2>
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Alexia Johnston The Timaru Herald Tue, 19 Jun 2012 22:15 CDT </div>
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<span class="tiny">© Gary Brooker</span> <span class="caption">Rare Sight: Oamaru man Gary Brooker, near Moeraki at the time, captured this image of a bright object in the sky on June 3.</span> </div>
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A bright blaze shooting across the night sky has been caught on camera by Oamaru man Gary Brooker. Mr Brooker was driving north along State Highway 1, near Moeraki, when he spotted the bright trail at 6pm on June 3. ''I was coming home along the main road and I spotted it going down so I stopped and took a photo. ''I didn't think it was a plane because the vapour trail would have been white, but this was burning.'' He said there was an obvious object leading the trail, which he believed was a piece of ''junk''. ''I wouldn't have a clue (how fast it was going). I was doing 100km on the main highway, but I had enough time to put my foot on the brake, stop and take a photo and then it was gone. ''Somebody said it could have been out near Australia. It could have been miles and miles away, but it was so bright.'' It was the first time Mr Brooker had witnessed such an event. He has since shared his discovery with other people, including a friend who has researched the sighting online. And it turns out Mr Brooker was not the only one who witnessed the rare event over New Zealand. Another sighting, believed to be the same object, was recorded on the internet, along with another photo, Mr Brooker said. </div>
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<a href="http://www.gazette.com/articles/fire-140577-shower-fireball.html">Third daytime fireball seen in US this year, Meteor grounds air tankers fighting Colorado forest fire</a> </h2>
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Jakob Rodgers The Gazette Wed, 20 Jun 2012 16:00 CDT </div>
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An apparent meteor grounded heavy air tankers fighting the Springer fire near Lake George for nearly two hours Wednesday afternoon, leaving firefighters without air support. But the fiery phenomenon left people from as far away as New Mexico in awe. The planes were near Lake George when a pilot noticed debris falling from the sky, said Ron Roth, spokesman for the Rocky Mountain Area Coordination Center. The pilots were not sure whether it was "space junk" or a meteor, Roth said. "We're just glad it quit," Roth said. "A rather odd phenomenon." Several other reports pointed to a rare, once-in-a-lifetime sighting. Six reports of a meteor - seen from Winter Park, Colorado Springs and Raton, N.M. - were received by Chris Peterson, a research assistant with the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. The American Meteor Society received seven separate reports, mostly from Colorado Springs. "These things happen all the time, but usually they just aren't seen during the day," Peterson said. It likely wasn't one of the more than 22,000 pieces of "space junk" floating around the earth. Officials at the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which tracks man-made objects that threaten North America, did not report any scheduled entries or objects over North America, said Lt. Col. Mike Humphreys, a spokesman. The Joint Space Operations Center with U.S. Strategic Command did not track any man-made objects over Colorado, said Rodney Ellison, a spokesman for the agency. Relying only on witness reports - Peterson turns off his skyward cameras during the day - Peterson estimated the meteor likely screamed across the atmosphere somewhere above Limon. It could be seen for about three seconds, Peterson said, as it likely hurled anywhere from seven to 44 miles per second as it fell toward earth. Since it was visible during the day, the meteor likely was at least the size of a softball. Where it landed - or if it even reached the ground - remained anyone's guess Wednesday afternoon as the fire-fighting air tankers returned to the sky. Greg Heule, a spokesman for crews fighting the Springer fire near Lake George, said the tankers were struck by debris in the air. Peterson, though, said he couldn't recall a plane ever being hit by a meteor. "I would say it's really, really unlikely," Peterson said. "It's more likely that the plane was hit by flying pine cone ashes than a meteor." "Realistically, there's an awful lot of earth and not a lot of rocks falling from the sky." A good indication that a meteor fell nearby is the sonic boom that usually happens when a meteor falls to within 30 miles of the ground. At that point, the atmosphere is dense enough to cause the sound, as well as to make the meteor fall vertically. Though the fireball may have seemed close, don't bet on finding any pieces of space rock anytime soon, Peterson said. "It easily could have burned up," he said. </div>
<b>Comment: </b>It's possible that a passenger jet was downed by an overhead meteor or cometary explosion in late May 2009: <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/186672-What-are-they-hiding-Flight-447-and-Tunguska-Type-Events" target="_blank">What are they hiding? Flight 447 and Tunguska Type Events</a> This is the third (at least) such event in the US alone this year. 2 April 2012 <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/244096-It-s-raining-fireballs-April-2-Texas-daytime-fireball-confirmed-another-Meteor-seen-in-Chicago-Wednesday" target="_blank">April 2 Texas daytime fireball confirmed, another Meteor seen in Chicago Wednesday</a> 23 April 2012 <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/244543-Second-Rare-Daytime-Fireball-Explodes-Over-US-This-Month-Van-sized-Meteor-NOT-part-of-Lyrid-Shower" target="_blank">Second 'Rare' Daytime Fireball Explodes Over US This Month, Van-sized Meteor NOT part of Lyrid Shower</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20120620/NEWS/120629990/1078&ParentProfile=1055">Possible Meteor Streaks Across Colorado Sky Wednesday</a> </h2>
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Kathryn Turner Summit Daily News Wed, 20 Jun 2012 21:06 CDT </div>
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Reports of a bright and fiery object falling from the sky in Summit County Wednesday afternoon spurred speculations ranging from a UFO or a meteor to plane debris, according to the Summit County Sheriff's Office. At 1 p.m., the Summit County Communications Center received multiple calls about the object, with the majority coming from the Breckenridge Golf Course, according to Sheriff's office spokeswoman Tracy LeClair. Clear Creek County also had similar reports, she said. "It was quite interesting," said resident Mary Grace McAlister, who witnessed it along with a friend at the Breckenridge Golf Course. "It looked like a bright light falling to the earth ... it looked like something was on fire, and we couldn't tell if it was an airplane." The sheriff's office sent out special operations technician Mark Watson to investigate, who interviewed several witnesses. Because they didn't have a point of reference, it was hard to determine where it might have landed, but Watson is suspecting it ended up somewhere near Guanella Pass. There have been no reports of missing or crashed airplanes, so it is currently believed to have been a meteor, LeClair said. "It was like nothing I've ever seen before," McAlister said. "We were real lucky that both of us saw it, because no one would have ever believed us." The two called 911 because of heightened anxiety about fires, McAlister said. A possible meteor shower also grounded heavy air tankers fighting the Springer Fire near Lake George in the Pike National Forest Wednesday, the <i>Denver Post</i> reported. </div>
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<a href="http://www.hutchpost.com/2012/06/20/meteor-sighting-in-salina-sighting-in-colorado-grounds-firefighting-plane/">Raining fireballs! Two separate daytime meteors reported over US on same day, including Colorado wildfire meteor witnessed by two separate airline crews over Kansas and New Mexico</a> </h2>
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Hutch Post Wed, 20 Jun 2012 18:31 CDT </div>
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Authorities say there were increased reports of a possible meteorite or meteor shower today, one of which briefly grounded firefighting aircraft battling a central Colorado wildfire. One of the unconfirmed meteorite sightings came in from Salina around <b>6:31 PM</b>, Wednesday. Meteorologist Scott Entrekin of the National Weather Service says emergency officials in Chaffee County, Colorado reported a possible meteor in the skies near the Springer Fire. They briefly grounded four single-engine aircraft fighting the 1,100-acre blaze west of Colorado Springs. Entrekin said Wednesday that <b>the crews of 2 commercial aircraft flying over Liberal, Kan., reported what appeared to be a meteorite at 1:47 p.m</b>. Central Daylight Time, or 12:47 p.m. Mountain time. He said the Colorado sighting occurred at about the same time. The Federal Aviation Administration has yet to confirm reports of a meteorite. It says there were no reported disruptions to commercial airlines. <i>Source: Associated Press</i> <i> </i> </div>
<b>Comment: </b>For more on what appears to have been a remarkable explosion of atmospheric activity over the US Midwest on 20th June, read <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/247582-Reign-of-Fire-Meteorites-Wildfires-Planetary-Chaos-and-the-Sixth-Extinction" target="_blank">Reign of Fire: Meteorites, Wildfires, Planetary Chaos and the Sixth Extinction</a> </div>
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<a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-meteors-colorado-firefighters-20120621,0,7588199.story">Colorado firefighters hampered by winds, heat -- and meteors</a> </h2>
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LA Times Thu, 21 Jun 2012 13:58 CDT </div>
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Firefighters in Colorado have battled the odds in trying to contain a blaze that has burned uncontrolled across 100 square miles of forest -- encountering precarious winds, heat and fatigue. On Wednesday, they contended with a new force: meteors. Authorities grounded firefighting aircraft as a precautionary measure after several reported meteor sightings near the High Park fire area they were trying to contain. <b>Chaffee County Sheriff W. Peter Palmer told the </b><i><b>Los Angeles Times</b></i><b> that his office received four reports of meteors striking the ground.</b> <b>"People heard a boom; they saw things flying through the air, things like that,"</b> he said. "The local fire chief went looking for smoke to see if the impacts started another fire. That's the last thing we need." Steve Segin, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service, told the Associated Press that the crew of a heavy air tanker spotted something while making a slurry run on the blaze. "They weren't sure what it was," he said. "They landed as they normally do to reload, and for safety reasons they grounded themselves until they could figure out what it was they saw." The Colorado sightings corresponded with reports of a possible meteor filed by the crews of two commercial aircraft over Liberal, Kan., meteorologist Scott Entrekin of the National Weather Service in Boulder, told the AP. Other sky sightings were reported in Raton, N.M., he said. Fire officials ordered four single-engine aircraft to stay on the ground as a precaution. Two heavy air tankers were also affected. The planes soon resumed their attack on the fire, Entrekin said. The groundings came as firefighters were taking advantage of a break in the heat to ramp up their attack against the High Park fire burning on more than 100 square miles in the northern part of the state. In Chaffee County, Palmer said he doesn't doubt that residents saw something, but he's not sure what. "I don't know. I've been feeling kind of weak," he mused. "Maybe it was kryptonite." </div>
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<a href="http://craterhunter.wordpress.com/a-different-kind-of-climate-catastrophe/">A Different Kind of Climate Catastrophe</a> </h2>
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Crater Hunter craterhunter.wordpress.com Thu, 21 Jun 2012 10:27 CDT </div>
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A few years ago, as a hobby, and pass-time, I set out to see if I could work out a better way of identifying potential sites to go meteorite hunting. I had learned to do battle damage assessment from aerial reconnaissance photos a long time ago in the Army. And the blast damage, and ground effects from an explosive event, are pretty much the same, no matter what the source of the explosion might be. It's only a question of scale, and explosive force. Visually, there is very little difference in the appearance of a bomb crater, and an impact crater of the same size. So a forensic technique of reading the patterns of movement in the emplacement of blast effected materials on the ground applies well in the search for potential impact related geology. The quality of the image data now commonly available to anyone with a good PC, an internet connection, and a copy of Google Earth, is excellent. In the past five years, the publically available image data has really come into its own. And today's 21st century satellite imagery allows us to study the surface of the Earth at a level of detail our fathers could never have imagined. Back in the 1920's, using aerial photography, a geologist named J. Harlan Bretz noticed evidence for the mega-floods that sculpted the Grande Coulee, and the 'Channeled Scablands' of eastern Washington. Bretz was the first to use Aerial photographs to detect, and map, catastrophic mass movement of the Earth's surface materials when he described the scarring of a catastrophic glacial flood event at the end of the last ice age, in an event he called <a href="http://hugefloods.com/" target="_blank" title="http://hugefloods.com/">The Spokane Flood</a>. Aerial photography allowed him a perspective from which patterns of fluid flow, and catastrophic mass movement of terrain materials, could be perceived on a scale that had been unimaginable until he described them. What he had found, were the patterns of fluid flow, like the ripples you see in the sedimentary deposits of a stream bed, but these 'ripples' are hundreds of feet high. Bretz saw them as empirical evidence of a major catastrophic flood event, on a scale that the standard theorists of his day thought was inconceivable. Today we know that all of the water came from a glacial lake now referred to as Lake Missoula. The huge lake formed in western Montana during the ice age, when a part of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet called the Purcell Trench lobe extended far enough south that it blocked the Clark Fork River in Northern Idaho. In a repeating cycle during the last ice age, when the lake level would get high enough, the ice damn would fail releasing a catastrophic flood downstream. Then the glacier would continue to advance, blocking the river again, and the cycle would repeat. More 600 cubic miles of water was released each time that ice dam on the Clark Fork River would fail. And the volume of the resulting flood torrents has been calculated at 8 to 10 cubic miles per hour. Or flow a rate that amounts to 10 times the combined flows of all the rivers on the planet Earth. It turned out J.Harlan Bretz was exactly right. Although most of the academic community of his time thought he had a screw loose, or two. Almost a hundred years before him, most geologists had already decided to agree without question that sudden, catastrophic, geologic changes just didn't happen anymore. And that all geomorphology on the surface of the Earth is the result of slow processes we see going on around us today, and requiring millions of years. They were naively mistaken. One of the biggest mysteries I've ever confronted lies in the question of how theoretical geology could be so far removed from the empirical reality now clearly visible, and legible, in modern 21st century satellite images. It didn't take much digging in the history books to figure out where the Earth sciences went wrong. The root problem with the thinking in the Earth sciences goes all the way back to Gottfried Leibniz, in the early 18th century, and his slogan of 'Natura Non Facit Saltus', <i>(Nature does not jump). </i> Leibniz may have been a mathematical genius. But he wouldn't even pass a 5th grade geology test of today. Yet he had the full backing of governments, big business, and the big churches. Because he believed, and taught, that the Great God of the Universe had created planet Earth, with all its flora, and fauna, just for us, and to do with as we pleased. The old clichés like 'buying a pig in poke', 'don't let the cat out of the bag', and 'empty sack of lies' all have their roots in the same old con. It went something like this: At an old country fair, a con artist would approach a likely looking mark to sell him a piglet in a 'poke' bag. But it's not really a pig in the bag; it's a cat. The cat wiggles, and squirms, just like a little pig when you poke him through the bag. And as long as the bag stays closed, the con works just fine. But as soon as the bag is opened, the cat escapes. And the victim is left holding nothing but an empty sack of lies. Carl Linnaeus, and Charles Darwin, loved Leibniz. And they both quoted him verbatim. He managed to almost completely eliminate any academic consideration of episodic worldwide catastrophes from western thinking. And by the time James Hutton, and Charles Lyell, came along, most geologists were well-conditioned followers of his way of thinking. Hutten gets the credit for the origin of Uniformitarianism. Charles Lyell just popularized his ideas in 1830, when he published his book 'Principles of Geology'. But Hutten, and Lyell, just picked up on Leibniz's thinking, and ran with it. They weren't brilliant geological thinkers either. But their unquestioned uniformitarian/gradualist assumptions, based on the idea that the earth was shaped only by slow-moving forces still going on around us today, and expressed in the slogan of "The present is the key to understanding the past", has become the foundation postulate of the Earth Sciences ever since. Governments, and big institutions, loved it. And they bought it like a pig in a poke with generous funding packages that came with rules that shut the door to any consideration, or publication, of theories of sudden catastrophic events, as a possible driving force in the geo-morphology of this world for more than 150 years. That's a cruelly long time time to leave the poor kitty in a bag. But the questions of just what the hell happened around 13,000 years ago that caused the extinctions of the mega fauna in North America, the disappearance of the Clovis culture, and a return to Ice age conditions that lasted more than a thousand years, has caused us to take a closer look, and I'm afraid we've let the cat out of the bag. The trouble we face today, Just as Mr. Bretz did back in the 1920s, is that through the same 19th century process of mutual-inter-assumptive reasoning, and confabulation, instead of sound, experiment-driven, science, the Earth sciences are still founded on that unquestioned 'Gradualist' assumption. But gradualism only works until something sudden happens. And Harlan Bretz showed us that if you want to understand, or predict, the nature of the planetary scarring of a geologically recent catastrophic event, especially one that's different from anything that's ever been studied before, Sir Charles Lyell's 19th century, gradualist-assumptive, reasoning just won't get you there. Apparently, being able to see the truth is no guarantee that anyone's going to bother to look where you're pointing anytime soon. It wasn't until 1965 that a report from an independent geologist's tour concluded that Harlan Bretz was right. And finally, in 1976, at the age of 96, hewas awarded the Penrose Medal of the Geological Society of America. Which is just about the most prestigious award a person can get in the field of geology. Upon receiving the award, Mr. Bretz is said to have complained to his son that he couldn't gloat properly, because all of his enemies were dead. The satellites of today have raised the ante. Using aerial photography from blimps, and airplanes, Bretz could see evidence of catastrophic material movement on a statewide scale. With the imagery now available through Google Earth, we can detect, and read, patterns of catastrophic mass movement of terrains on a continental scale. The event Bretz perceived was only implausible from a standard theory viewpoint because of its size. And yet, by comparison, and in the final analysis, someday it may be seen that his glacial mega flood in the Pacific Northwest was only a minor little footnote in the events of the early Holocene. And some of those events were far more terrible then a glacial flood. In June 1908, an explosion rocked a remote, swampy area in central Siberia, in Russia; it came to be known as the "Tunguska event." And a later expedition to the site found that 20 miles of trees had been knocked down and set alight by the blast. Today, it's understood that Tunguska's devastation was caused by a 100-foot asteroid that had entered Earth's atmosphere, causing an airburst. Some 13,000 years earlier, just after the end of the last ice age, the Earth's climate had begun to warm up to temperatures much like what we enjoy today, when an occurrence thought by many researchers to be some kind extraterrestrial impact set off an "impact winter", and a return to ice age conditions that lasted another 1,300 years, or so. And the event coincided with the end of the prehistoric Clovis culture. And the mass extinction of almost all of the giant animals that lived on North America at the time. Perhaps the single most important paper on the subject of the Younger Dryas Cooling, is the 2007 paper by R.B. Firestone et al, and titled: <a href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2268163/Firestone%2B25_2007.pdf" target="_blank" title="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2268163/Firestone%2B25_2007.pdf">Evidence for an extraterrestrial impact 12,900 years ago that contributed to the megafaunal extinctions and the Younger Dryas cooling</a> The 2007 Firestone paper caused a pretty good stir in the academic community. And it has become the 'Flagship', so to speak, of the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis. In it, a team of twenty six scientists studying sedimentary deposits from sites all over North America presented a whole suite of compelling evidence for a massive impact event of a comet that appears to have broken up, and scattered, fragments all across North America. The multiple, air bursts are thought to have triggered wide-spread bio mass burning on a continental scale. As well as causing a return to ice age conditions, and the extinction of many species. Including the mega fauna, like mastodons, wooly mammoths, and giant sloths. In all, I think something like 35 genera went extinct. Its exact cause is by no means, a settled science though. And the biggest weakness in the YD impact hypothesis, <i>as written, </i>is that it's impossible to construct a model with a four mile wide bolide that has enough time in the atmosphere to break up completely, and scatter fragments, and devastation over a continent sized area, without making a good sized crater somewhere. And "where's the crater?" became a rallying cry of opponents to the hypothesis. The debate continues to go around, and around. Firestone, and friends, had found compelling evidence in the stratigraphic record that implied some kind of very large impact related catastrophe had occurred to trigger the Younger Dryas Cooling, and the megafaunal extinctions. But it was clear that the event was vastly different from anything that had been studied before. So they could only speculate on just exactly what the nature of the event was, or what had hit us, or where the actual impact zones were. Without an astronomical model that could confidently describe the the nature of the impactor/s, they were were at an impasse. Meanwhile, astronomers Victor Clube, and William Napier, in their book <a href="http://www.pibburns.com/catastro/clubenap.htm" target="_blank" title="http://www.pibburns.com/catastro/clubenap.htm"><i>The Cosmic Serpent</i></a>, had been talking about the giant comet they described as the progenitor of the <a href="http://star.arm.ac.uk/%7Eaac/zetataur.html" target="_blank" title="http://star.arm.ac.uk/%7Eaac/zetataur.html">Taurid Complex</a> since 1982. Their data is as solid as anything you can dig up with a trowel. But except for them, and a few others like <a href="http://abob.libs.uga.edu/bobk/default.htm" target="_blank" title="http://abob.libs.uga.edu/bobk/default.htm">Bob Kobres</a>, no one had connected the the dots, and put the Younger Dryas comet, and the Taurid Progenitor together. Except in private, speculative, emails, and letters. And to the best of my knowledge there was nothing in refereed literature. Then, In early 2010, Professor Napier published a paper in the <i>Journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society</i> titled, <a href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2268163/Paleolithic%20extinctions.pdf" target="_blank" title="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2268163/Paleolithic%20extinctions.pdf">Paleolithic extinctions and the Taurid Complex</a> in it we read: <i>"The proposition that an exceptionally large comet has been undergoing disintegration in the inner planetary system goes back over 40 years (Whipple 1967), and the evidence for the hypothesis has accumulated to the point where it seems compelling. Radio and visual meteor data show that the zodiacal cloud is dominated by a broad stream of largely cometary material which incorporates an ancient, dispersed system of related meteor streams. Embedded within this system are significant numbers of large NEOs, including Comet Encke. Replenishment of the zodiacal cloud is sporadic, with the current cloud being substantially overmassive in relation to current sources. The system is most easily understood as due to the injection and continuing disintegration of a comet 50-100 km in diameter. </i> <i>The fragmentation of comets is now recognized as a major route of their disintegration, and this is consistent with the numerous sub-streams and co-moving observed in the Taurid complex. The probable epoch of injection of this large comet, ~20-30 kyr ago, comfortably straddles the 12.9 kyr date of the Younger Dryas Boundary.</i> <i> The hypothesis that terrestrial catastrophes may happen on timescales ~0.1 Myr, due to the Earth running through swarms of debris from disintegrating large comets, is likewise not new (Clube & Napier, 1984). However the accumulation of observations has allowed us to build an astronomical model, closely based on the contemporary environment, which can plausibly yield the postulated YDB catastrophe. </i> <i> The interception of ~10<sup>15</sup> gm of material during the course of disintegration is shown here to have been a reasonably probable event, capable of yielding destruction on a continental scale.</i> <i> The object of this</i> <i>paper is not to claim that such an encounter took place at 12,900 BP - that is a matter for Earth scientists - but to show that a convincing astronomical scenario can be constructed which seems to give a satisfactory match to the major geophysical features of the Younger Dryas Boundary data.</i> <i>If indeed the YDB event was an astronomical catastrophe, its occurrence bears little relation to current impact hazard assessments derived from NEO surveys."</i> With Professor Napier's work specifically proposing in refereed literature that the Taurid Progenitor was the Younger Dryas comet, he changed the game completely. Because he didn't just give us a convincing astronomical model of the event. We also have a pretty good picture of the physical properties of the thing that did the disastrous deed. And if you can describe a beast, you can predict it's footprints. </div>
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<a href="http://www.universetoday.com/95924/recent-earth-passing-asteroid-is-much-bigger-than-originally-estimated/">Recent Earth-Passing Asteroid is Much Bigger Than Originally Estimated</a> </h2>
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Nancy Atkinson Universe Today Thu, 21 Jun 2012 22:26 CDT </div>
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<span class="tiny">© Nick Howes, Ernesto Guido & Giovanni Sostero</span> <span class="caption">Asteroid 2012 LZ1 as seen by the Haleakala-Faulkes Telescope North on June 13, 2012. </span> </div>
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An asteroid that <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/95842/astronomers-view-asteroid-2012-lz1s-bright-flyby/" target="_blank" title="http://www.universetoday.com/95842/astronomers-view-asteroid-2012-lz1s-bright-flyby/">recently passed by Earth</a> is about twice as large as originally estimated, and it would have had serious global consequences if it had impacted Earth. Asteroid 2012 LZ1 was only discovered on June 10, 2012 by Rob McNaught at the Siding Spring Observatory in Australia. This Near Earth Object was thought to be fairly large, 502 meters (1,650 feet) wide, and quite bright. But astronomers using the planetary radar system at Arecibo Observatory were able to better determine the asteroid's size, rotation rate and shape and found it to be about 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) wide and actually quite dark. Scientists consider a kilometer-wide asteroid is at the size threshold that could set off an extinction-level event if it were to hit Earth. "This object turned out to be quite a bit bigger than we expected, said Dr. Ellen Howell from Arecibo, "which shows how important radar observations can be, because we're still learning a lot about the population of asteroids." 2012 LZ1 sneaked by our planet at about 5.3 million km (3.35 million) miles away, or about 14 times the distance between Earth and the Moon on June 14, and it won't be back in Earth's vicinity again until June 12th, 2053, and then will be about 3 times as distant. The Arecibo astronomers have determined it won't be a threat to Earth for at least 750 years. "The sensitivity of our radar has permitted us to measure this asteroid's properties and determine that it will not impact the Earth at least in the next 750 years," said Dr. Mike Nolan, Director of Planetary Radar Sciences at the Arecibo Observatory. Several amateur astronomers were able to image 2012 LZ1, and the original thinking was that it was very bright. Instead, the new size determination suggests that 2012 LZ1 must be quite dark, reflecting only 2-4% of the light that hits it. This is another reminder that we don't know everything about all the potential asteroid threats that are out there, and more searches need to be done to find and track as many of the near Earth asteroid population as possible. Asteroid 2012 LZ1 has been classified as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid, which are asteroids larger than approximately 100 meters that can come closer to our planet than 0.05 AU (7.4 million km, 4.65 million miles). As of now, none of the known PHAs is on a collision course with our planet, but both amateur and professional astronomers are finding new ones all the time, sometimes with just a few hours' notice of a close approach. </div>
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<a href="http://www.ksby.com/news/meteor-may-have-started-latest-blaze-in-colorado/">Meteor may have started Lake George blaze in Colorado</a> </h2>
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KSBY.com Thu, 21 Jun 2012 18:44 CDT </div>
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Bellvue, Colorado - More people evacuated by the most destructive fire in Colorado history are set to return home today. It's the second wave of evacuees allowed back in two days as firefighters ramp up their attack on the wildfire that's burned over 100 square miles and destroyed at least 189 homes. Fire managers say the blaze is 55 percent contained. Meanwhile, firefighters are making progress against another blaze in central Colorado, <b>which may have been caused by a meteor.</b> The 2-square-mile wildfire near Lake George is 39 percent contained. The county sheriff says his office received multiple reports, including one from a person who thought a meteorite might have landed in a wooded area north of Buena Vista. He says officials could not confirm that report. <b>The National Weather Service says the Colorado sightings correspond with a report of a possible meteor filed by the crews of two commercial aircraft over Kansas and another over New Mexico, near the Colorado State line.</b> <i>Source: Associated Press </i> <i> </i> <i></i> </div>
<b>Comment: </b><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/247582-Reign-of-Fire-Meteorites-Wildfires-Planetary-Chaos-and-the-Sixth-Extinction" target="_blank">Reign of Fire: Meteorites, Wildfires, Planetary Chaos and the Sixth Extinction</a> </div>
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<a href="http://www.universetoday.com/95915/daylight-fireball-dazzles-colorado-grounds-fire-tankers/">Daylight Fireball Dazzles Colorado, Grounds Fire Tankers</a> </h2>
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John Williams Universe Today Thu, 21 Jun 2012 12:49 CDT </div>
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<span class="tiny">© Pierre Martin of Arnprior, Ontario, Canada.</span> <span class="caption">A Perseid fireball meteor. </span> </div>
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A dazzling daytime fireball zipped across New Mexico and Colorado yesterday creating a stir among law enforcement agencies, news organizations, radio stations and briefly grounded air tankers fighting wildfires west of Colorado Springs. According to the <i>Denver Post</i>, Pueblo air-dispatch received reports of "<b>balls of fire</b> or something in the air." As a precaution, officials grounded flights to ensure no aircraft were hit. Flights resumed 90 minutes later. The event occurred between 12:35 and 12:40 MDT Wednesday afternoon. Witnesses say the fireball lasted about 3 seconds about 45 degrees above the ground, heading from the north to the south and ending near the horizon, with a tail color ranging from bright white to yellow and red. Some of the nearly 20 reports received by the <a href="http://www.amsmeteors.org/2012/06/daylight-fireball-over-colorado-new-mexico/" target="_blank" title="http://www.amsmeteors.org/2012/06/daylight-fireball-over-colorado-new-mexico/">American Meteor Society</a> report that the brightness of the fireball was brighter than a full moon; some reporting it brighter than the Sun. A fireball is a meteor that is larger and brighter than normal. Although typically visible after sunset, dramatic fireballs have been recorded during the daytime, such as the <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/94795/fireball-over-california-exploded-with-force-of-5-kilotons/" target="_blank" title="http://www.universetoday.com/94795/fireball-over-california-exploded-with-force-of-5-kilotons/">April 22, 2012 bright daytime meteor</a> that was seen over California in the US. Usually meteors are smaller than a pebble and move very fast. As the object encounters increased friction from the air in the upper atmosphere, it begins to get hot and glow. Most meteors burn up before hitting the ground. But some survive to be picked up and put in museums. Scientists estimate that nearly 100 tons of space dust lands on Earth every day. Most of it lands in the ocean. The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) based at Peterson Air Force Base near Colorado Springs told the Denver Post they were not tracking any man-made objects in the area. The Denver Museum of Nature and Science has meteor cameras stationed around the state. Unfortunately, they are turned off during the day and no video or pictures have surfaced. Astronomers and meteor/meteorite enthusiasts will certainly be interested in seeing any pictures or videos of the event, and so are we! If saw the event, or happened to capture it on a camera or surveillance video, you can <a href="mailto:nancy@universetoday.com" target="_blank" title="mailto:nancy@universetoday.com">send it to us</a> or post it on our <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/universetoday" target="_blank" title="http://www.flickr.com/groups/universetoday">Flickr page.</a> </div>
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<a href="http://www.themountainmail.com/free_content/article_c33bae72-bc7c-11e1-abbb-001a4bcf6878.html">Local Fire Chief Fears "Humongous" Fireball Could Have Started Wildfire In Colorado</a> </h2>
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Cailey McDermott The Mountain Mail Fri, 22 Jun 2012 17:22 CDT </div>
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<span class="caption">The worst wildfires in Colorado's history</span> </div>
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Several residents reported seeing an unidentified flying object - later identified as a meteor - fly or fall over Salida at about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday. One Chaffee County resident, Sharon King, said she saw a glowing bright white light in the sky while sitting on her porch. King told <i>The Mountain Mail</i> Thursday that she at first thought it was the glimmer of an airplane, until she saw the bright red tip. "I watched it arch and fall to the ground," she said. The whole viewing took about 5 seconds, King said. She said she believed it fell somewhere in Piñon Hills and searched with binoculars - without success - for signs of smoke. <b>"It was pretty awesome. I've never seen anything like that in my life. It was an exceptional sight," she said.</b> <b>Chaffee County Fire Protection District Chief Jim Wingert said two people reported they thought the meteor landed in the Fourmile Recreation Area. Other reports thought it landed in the Turret area.</b> Wingert said he and other firefighters checked the recreation area but found no signs of smoke. <span class="BoldRed">His concern was that a piece of the meteor could potentially start a wildfire.</span> One of his firefighters saw the meteor "clearly go past the horizon," Wingert said. He said people reported the size of the meteor to be smaller than a house and larger than a vehicle. <b>One claimed the tail was about 2 miles long</b>, Wingert said. As a precaution, fire officials temporarily grounded firefighting aircraft at the Springer Fire for about 1½ hours, Dawn Sanchez, U.S. Forest Service public affairs officer, said. Wingert said the Federal Aviation Administration received reports of a meteor over Kansas. "<b>It must have been humongously large</b>. I think this thing went down on the East Coast or in another country," he said, "but wherever it landed, you can be sure it made a ker-thunk." </div>
<b>Comment: </b><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/247582-Reign-of-Fire-Meteorites-Wildfires-Planetary-Chaos-and-the-Sixth-Extinction" target="_blank">Reign of Fire: Meteorites, Wildfires, Planetary Chaos and the Sixth Extinction</a> </div>
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/247112-Fireball-sighted-over-Gloucestershire#http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/Police-called-flaming-meteorite-spotted/story-16438484-detail/story.html">Fireball sighted over Gloucestershire</a> </h2>
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This is Gloucestershire Sat, 23 Jun 2012 07:32 CDT </div>
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Unidentified flying objects have been reported over Gloucester, re-igniting fresh theories on alien life. Several reports have been made to police and astronomy websites flagging up the unusual sightings over Gloucester and Cheltenham on Friday, June 15, at around 11.30pm. Carl Sumners, 23, who spent six years in the Royal Navy and had three tours in Afghanistan with the Commando Helicopter Force, told us what he saw over his house in Roman Road, Gloucester. He feared the turquoise object was a meteorite heading for a populated area, so called the police. "It was the size of a wheelbarrow, 2,000ft in the sky and travelling faster than a fighter jet," he said. "It seemed to be on fire as it had an orange tail behind it. There must be some kind of logical explanation, maybe it was a meteor. It definitely wasn't a Chinese lantern or weather balloon." Rob Burgess, of Cheltenham, reported a sighting at 11.47pm on the same night. It has been logged on international astrology website, Meteorite News. He saw a bright white object moving from left to right, followed by a trail of light before moving behind a low dark cloud. Police said they received a report from a resident in Middleton Lawn in Innsworth at the same time. A police spokesman said: "We had a report of an object falling from the sky that was followed by a bright blue flame, the piece that fell from it was bright yellow in colour." The sightings follow strange bright lights circling over Podsmead last month. Experienced astronomer John Fletcher, who star-gazes from his Tuffley observatory, said: "There is a million-to-one chance this was anything other than a man-made object," he said. "It was a UFO, but that doesn't mean it was some kind of alien life-form or meteorite. It is very difficult to get any kind of perspective or idea of distance at night. "I have seen embers from a fire in the sky at night and they can look absolutely stunning. It is easy to see why people would think it could be something else. "The only advice I can offer is for someone to look through binoculars or a telescope first be reporting anything." </div>
<b>Comment: </b>With more and more sightings of meteors and meteorites all over the world, there are still those who would like the rest of us to close our eyes to what is really happening. </div>
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<a href="http://phys.org/news/2012-06-earth-oldest-impact-crater-greenland.html">Earth's oldest known impact crater found in Greenland</a> </h2>
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PhysOrg Thu, 28 Jun 2012 15:37 CDT </div>
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<i><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span> <span class="caption">Black circle on map shows the location of the meteorite impact structure near the town Maniitsoq in Greenland.</span></i> </div>
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<i>A 100 kilometre-wide crater has been found in Greenland, the result of a massive asteroid or comet impact a billion years before any other known collision on Earth</i> The spectacular craters on the Moon formed from impacts with asteroids and comets between 3 and 4 billion years ago. The <a href="http://phys.org/tags/early+earth/" target="_blank" title="http://phys.org/tags/early+earth/">early Earth</a>, with its far greater gravitational mass, must have experienced even more collisions at this time - but the evidence has been eroded away or covered by younger rocks. The previously oldest known crater on <a href="http://phys.org/tags/earth/" target="_blank" title="http://phys.org/tags/earth/">Earth</a> formed 2 billion years ago and the chances of finding an even older impact were thought to be, literally, astronomically low. Now, a team of scientists from the Geological Survey of Denmark and <a href="http://phys.org/tags/greenland/" target="_blank" title="http://phys.org/tags/greenland/">Greenland</a> (GEUS) in Copenhagen, Cardiff University in Wales, Lund University in Sweden and the Institute of Planetary Science in Moscow has upset these odds. Following a detailed programme of fieldwork, funded by GEUS and the Danish 'Carlsbergfondet' (Carlsberg Foundation), the team have discovered the remains of a giant 3 billion year old impact near the Maniitsoq region of West Greenland. "This single discovery means that we can study the effects of cratering on the Earth nearly a billion years further back in time than was possible before," according to Dr Iain McDonald of Cardiff University's School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, who was part of the team. Finding the evidence was made all the harder because there is no obvious bowl-shaped crater left to find. Over the 3 billion years since the impact, the land has been eroded down to expose deeper crust 25 km below the original surface. All external parts of the impact structure have been removed, but the effects of the intense impact shock wave penetrated deep into the crust - far deeper than at any other known crater - and these remain visible. However, because the effects of impact at these depths have never been observed before it has taken nearly three years of painstaking work to assemble all the key evidence. "The process was rather like a Sherlock Holmes story," said Dr McDonald. "We eliminated the impossible in terms of any conventional terrestrial processes, and were left with a giant impact as the only explanation for all of the facts." Only around 180 impact craters have ever been discovered on Earth and around 30% of them contain important natural resources of minerals or oil and gas. The largest and oldest known crater prior to this study, the 300 kilometre wide Vredefort <a href="http://phys.org/tags/crater/" target="_blank" title="http://phys.org/tags/crater/">crater</a> in South Africa, is 2 billion years in age and heavily eroded. Dr McDonald added that "It has taken us nearly three years to convince our peers in the scientific community of this but the mining industry was far more receptive. A Canadian exploration company has been using the <a href="http://phys.org/tags/impact/" target="_blank" title="http://phys.org/tags/impact/">impact</a> model to explore for deposits of nickel and platinum metals at Maniitsoq since the autumn of 2011." The international team was led by Adam A. Garde, senior research scientist at GEUS. The first scientific paper documenting the discovery has just been published in the journal <i>Earth and Planetary Science Letters</i>. <b>More information:</b> <a href="http://www.geus.dk%20%e2%80%a6%20unction=form/" target="_blank" title="http://www.geus.dk ... unction=form">Further information</a> about the Maniitsoq structure <a href="http://dx.doi.org/%20%E2%80%A6%20.2012.04.026" target="_blank" title="http://dx.doi.org/ ... .2012.04.026">Link</a> to the paper in <i>Earth & Planetary Science Letters</i></div>
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<a href="http://www.thenewsstar.com/article/20120630/NEWS01/206300322">Alleged 'fireball' streaks across Louisiana sky</a> </h2>
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Barbara Leader The News Star Fri, 29 Jun 2012 17:09 CDT </div>
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West Monroe resident Obie Sims said he was enjoying a relaxing evening outdoors Thursday when he saw what appeared to be a huge bottle rocket streak across the sky about 10:45 p.m. About a minute later, Sims said he heard a loud boom and his windows shook. "I thought it was someone shooting fireworks," he said. "I must have just seen the tail of it and then it fizzled away." Don Wheeler, an associate professor of natural science at Louisiana Delta Community College, said the occurrence was likely what is referred to as a "fireball", a small meteor that enters the atmosphere. Wheeler said it is not unusual for meteors to enter the atmosphere, but the size makes fireballs more noticeable. "It was likely the size of anywhere from a grapefruit to a basketball," he said. "Most often they are about the size of a key or even a grain of sand." According to Wheeler, the larger size carries it deeper into the atmosphere and the speed of its journey often triggers a sonic boom. "It was likely traveling in excess of 768 miles per hour, which is roughly the speed of sound," he said. The National Weather Service in Shreveport said they heard reports of an occurrence Thursday, which they assume was a meteor. Wheeler said there was a similar event in March 2010 when a fireball streaked across the sky and could be seen from Shreveport to Jackson. Another similar meteor was sighted five days later. Those two meteors occurred during a minor meteor storm. Wheeler said there is no prediction of a meteor shower this week. </div>
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<a href="http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/meteor-plunges-into-ocean-lighting-up-perth-sky/story-e6frg13u-1226413309565">On Anniversary of Tunguska, Meteor Plunges into Indian Ocean, Lighting up Perth sky</a> </h2>
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David Gear Perth Now Sat, 30 Jun 2012 09:50 CDT </div>
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<span class="caption">AMAZING VIEWS: This picture was posted to Twitter by Pip Moir. She wrote " Very bizarre. View from cott. Looks like fire. What is that?!?'' </span> </div>
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This fiery streak in the sky amazed Perth beachgoers at sunset as a suspected meteor plunged into the ocean off the WA coast. Pip Moir posted this photo she took at Cottesloe Beach to Twitter shortly after 6pm as puzzled onlookers debated what caused the colourful phenomena. A spokesman for the Bureau of Meteorology said the weather bureau's radar would not pick up a fast moving object like a meteor. Daniel Jongue, manager at The Naked Fig Cafe, said he noticed ''something on the horizon'' just before sunset. He said the fiery trail took about 20 minutes to dissipate. ''It looked like vapour. It was red, orange and yellow and quite beautiful,'' he said. Perth Observatory and Astronomy WA could not be reached for comment last night. </div>
<b>Comment: </b><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/160925-Tunguska-Psychopathy-and-the-Sixth-Extinction" target="_blank">Tunguska, Psychopathy and the Sixth Extinction</a> <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/148819-Tunguska-the-Horns-of-the-Moon-and-Evolution" target="_blank">Tunguska, the Horns of the Moon and Evolution</a> </div>
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<a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/history-of-geology/2012/06/30/june-30-1908-the-tunguska-event/">June 30, 1908: The Tunguska Event</a> </h2>
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David Bressan Scientific American Sat, 30 Jun 2012 16:26 CDT </div>
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"<i>It was nothing of this earth, but a piece of the great outside; and as such dowered with outside properties and obedient to outside laws.</i>" <i>The Colour Out of Space</i>, by <i>H.P. Lovecraft </i>(1927) </div>
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<span class="tiny">© Evgeny Krinov</span> <span class="caption">Fig.1. The forest of Tunguska, photography taken by Evgeny Krinov in 1929.</span> </div>
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In the morning of June, 30 1908 eyewitnesses reported a large fireball crossing the sky above the taiga of the <a href="http://maps.google.at/?ll=60.914505,101.921162&spn=0.118828,0.363579&t=f&z=12&ecpose=60.91450523,101.92116202,25612.6,-14.436,0,0" target="_blank" title="http://maps.google.at/?ll=60.914505,101.921162&spn=0.118828,0.363579&t=f&z=12&ecpose=60.91450523,101.92116202,25612.6,-14.436,0,0"><i>Stony Tunguska</i> (<i>PodkamennayaTunguska</i>) in Siberia</a>. A series of explosions was heard even in the 1.200km distant village of <i>Achajewskoje</i>. Various meteorological stations in Europe recorded seismic and pressure waves and in the following days strange atmospheric phenomena were observed, silvery glowing clouds, colourful sunsets and strange luminescence in the night. Russian newspapers reported about a meteorite impact based on the eyewitness accounts and the hypothesis of <i>Dr. Arkady Voznesensky</i> (1864-1936), director of the Meteorological Observatory at <i>Irkutsk</i> from 1895 to 1917. International newspapers speculated about a possible volcanic explosion, remembering the <a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/history-of-geology/2011/08/27/august-27-1883-krakatoa/" target="_blank" title="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/history-of-geology/2011/08/27/august-27-1883-krakatoa/">eruption of <i>Krakatoa</i> in 1883</a>. However the inaccessibility of the region and the instable political situation in Russia prevented further research. Thirteen years later the <a href="http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Datei:Kulik_Leonid_Alekseevich.jpg&filetimestamp=20071107090042" target="_blank" title="http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Datei:Kulik_Leonid_Alekseevich.jpg&filetimestamp=20071107090042">Russian mineralogist <i>Leonid Alexejewitsch Kulik</i> (1883-1942)</a>, reading some of the eyewitnesses' accounts about an explosion and a large glowing object, became interested in the phenomena - there was also the hope to recover precious extraterrestrial metals from the supposed meteorite. Kulik travelled to the city of <i>Kansk</i>, where he discovered further reports in the local archives. Most stories refer to large fireballs, flames and a sequence of 14 thunders. March 1927 he arrived at the outpost of <i>Wanawara</i> -then, April 13, Kulik discovered a large area of 2.150 square km covered with rotting logs and almost no tree still standing - the strange "Forest of Tunguska". Despite an intensive survey, Kulik and his team didn't locate a single great impact crater as expected, but found some circular pits that were interpreted as impact craters of fragments; however no meteoritic material was discovered in the entire studied area. In autumn 1927 a preliminary report by Kulik was published in various national and international newspapers, the destroyed forest and the event became known as the "<i>Tunguska Event</i>". Kulik formulated one of the first hypotheses to explain the phenomena and the lack of evidence on the ground, as he proposed that a bolid exploded already in the atmosphere, causing the observed explosion and devastation. Fragments became buried in the swampy ground, to soft to preserve the typical morphology of an impact crater. Also later expeditions in 1929 failed to find extraterrestrial material. In 1934 Sowjet scientists proposed a variation of the meteorite-hypothesis. A comet is composed mostly of ice, and would be completely vaporized in an explosion in the atmosphere. The lack of direct evidence generated many more or less serious speculations and hypothesis: The engineer <i>Aleksander Kasantsews</i> formulated between 1945 and 1959, based on the impression left by the first atomic bombs, an unusual explanation involving a nuclear explosion of possible extraterrestrial origin. American physicists published in 1973 in the journal <i>Nature</i> the idea that a small black hole collided with earth, causing some sort of matter-antimatter explosion. The German astrophysician <i>Wolfgang Kundt </i>and later <i>Jason Phipps Morgan</i> of the <i>Cornell University </i>in <i>Ithaca </i>and <i>Paola Vannucchi </i>from the <i>University of Florence</i> proposed in the last years an ulterior hypothesis: "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verneshot" target="_blank" title="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verneshot"><i>Verneshots</i></a>", in reference to the author of the novel "<i>A Journey to the Center of the Earth</i>", are supercritical magma/gas mixtures erupting violently from the underground. According to the proposed model in areas with a thick earth crust or composed of resistant rocks (the region of Tunguska is covered by the basalts of the Siberian Trapps) magmatic intrusions and gases tend to build up pressure until the cover is shattered to pieces. Hot gases escape into the atmosphere, causing a huge explosion. However the most compelling hypothesis remains the impact of a natural extraterrestrial object. This hypothesis is supported by the reports describing a fireball descending on the tundra, <a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/history-of-geology/2011/07/27/the-younger-dryas-impact-hypothesis/" target="_blank" title="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/history-of-geology/2011/07/27/the-younger-dryas-impact-hypothesis/">sedimentary features</a> (the presence of <a href="http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2009AGUFMPP31D1392W" target="_blank" title="http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2009AGUFMPP31D1392W">nanodiamonds</a>,<a href="http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1984LPSC...14..605Z" target="_blank" title="http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1984LPSC...14..605Z"> magnetic-</a> and <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17792337" target="_blank" title="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17792337">silicate spherules</a> in sediments) and the mapped distribution of the logs. But there are some inconsistencies - accounts of a series of thunders are hard to reconcile with a single impact and the recovered sediments are not unambiguous, explainable also by the common background sedimentation of extraterrestrial material on earth. In <a href="http://www-th.bo.infn.it/tunguska/" target="_blank" title="http://www-th.bo.infn.it/tunguska/">2007 <i>Luca Gasperini </i>and his research team of the University of Bologna</a> proposed a small lake as possible impact crater of a fragment of the meteorite that caused the explosion. Lake Cheko is unusually deep for a region characterized by shallow ponds, formed by melting permafrost. The lake was apparently not reported previously of 1908, however the region was poorly mapped and explored at the time. Also here the proposed evidence is not undisputed as seen in the published <a href="http://www.univie.ac.at/geochemistry/koeberl/publikation_list/312-Lake-Cheko-not-impact-crater-Terra-Nova-2008.pdf" target="_blank" title="http://www.univie.ac.at/geochemistry/koeberl/publikation_list/312-Lake-Cheko-not-impact-crater-Terra-Nova-2008.pdf">paper by COLLINS et al. in 2008.</a> Only the <a href="http://phys.org/news/2012-05-team-evidence-lake-cheko-impact.html" target="_blank" title="http://phys.org/news/2012-05-team-evidence-lake-cheko-impact.html">discovery of extraterrestrial material on the bottom of a lake would (may)be</a> the decisive argument to settle the discussion of the mystery of Tunguska. <i>Even Carl Sagans seems to be puzzled by the Tunguska Mystery...</i> </div>
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<a href="http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/top-stories/meteor-plunges-into-ocean-lighting-up-perth-sky/story-e6frg12l-1226413309565">Burning meteorite trail lights up Australian sky for 20 minutes after rock plunges into the sea</a> </h2>
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Perth Now Mon, 02 Jul 2012 14:22 CDT </div>
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A burning trail lit up the sky over Western Australia for 20 minutes after an object suspected to be a meteorite plunged into the sea, leaving a burning orange trail that mesmerised local residents. Beachgoers in Perth debated what could have caused the strange burning line in the sky, which persisted for 20 minutes. Most meteorite trails are only seen briefly - and seeing an object plunge into the sea is rare. Local resident Gavin Trought captured a picture of the 'burning streak', saying, ' The weird streak in the sky seen from Cottesloe last night. I noticed it just before sunset.' Meteorites are fragments of rock that land on Earth's surface. Those that burn up - 'ablate' - in Earth's atmosphere are referred to as meteors. Seeing such clear, fiery trails is rare. Perth journalist Pip Moir posted a photo she took at Cottesloe Beach to Twitter shortly after 6pm as puzzled onlookers debated what caused the colourful phenomena. Daniel Jongue, manager at Perth's The Naked Fig Cafe, said he saw 'something on the horizon'' just before sunset. Jonque said that the fiery trail lasted for around 20 minutes. 'It looked like vapour. It was red, orange and yellow and quite beautiful,' he said. Meteorites are fragments of rock and sometimes metal that survive the fall to Earth from space. Most are fragments left over from the collision of two asteroids. Captured by Earth's gravitational force, they are accelerated to speeds of over 11.2 kilometres per second. They can vary in size from a fraction of a millimetre to larger than a football pitch. It is believed a meteorite six miles across wiped out the dinosaurs 65million years ago. Hundreds of meteorites fall to Earth each year but only a handful are recovered.
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<a href="http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/358407/20120702/perth-meteor-sunset-photo.htm">Perth Sunset Mystery: Was the Fiery Trail a Meteor?</a> </h2>
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Arlene Paredes
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The sunset off the WA coast looked extra spectacular Friday as an object believed to be a meteor made a stunning view. A long yellow orange fiery trail is seen over the horizon over Cottlesloe, and photos of the sight immediately spread on Twitter.
However, it has not been confirmed whether the blazing display of colourful light was indeed a meteor plunge. PertNow reported it tried to reach Perth Observatory and Astronomy WA, but it "could not be reached for comment."
"The weird streak in the sky as seen from Cottesloe last night. I noticed it just before sunset," media reader <a href="http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/top-stories/meteor-plunges-into-ocean-lighting-up-perth-sky/story-e6frg12l-1226413309565" target="_blank" title="http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/top-stories/meteor-plunges-into-ocean-lighting-up-perth-sky/story-e6frg12l-1226413309565">Gavin Trought told PertNow</a> in a photo caption.
"It looked like vapour. It was red, orange and yellow and quite beautiful,'' said Daniel Jongue, a manager at The Naked Fig Cafe.
Some readers who also saw the still mysterious phenomenon have commented on the PerthNow report.
"I live in the hills and was coming down about 5.45pm. I looked to the horizon and was amazed at what I saw. Not the same as this but pink in colour and going down in a straighter line than this picture. But still not something you would see normally," said reader blond61.
"I was at the beach 2 hours over the entire sunset. it was definately not a meteor. it was a plane's vapour trail, (a)nd was ordinary about 20 minutes before that photo was taken. (I)t was just the sunset that made it look so "fiery," said reader Troy.
"I work on the beach and saw that... got quite a few photos... it started before sunset as just a "smoke" or vapour trail... it was quite clean and straight so I honestly just thought it was a jetstream... hung around for a while and as the sun set it became the beautiful scene you see above. I'll be surprised to hear if it actually was a meteor," said reader Steve.
On Twitter, those who have seen the photos also weighed in on the scene.
@davidlmorris: Wondering if this was a jet contrail instead of what <a href="http://t.co/N1jYmoZg" target="_blank" title="http://t.co/N1jYmoZg">this paper</a> claims
@dannews: Pretty sure <a href="http://t.co/7FDfqv7Y" target="_blank" title="http://t.co/7FDfqv7Y">it's just a contrail</a>?
@ShiningStarKW: Wow <a href="http://t.co/Uhq57V2n" target="_blank" title="http://t.co/Uhq57V2n">what a sight</a>! Poor fishes tho.
If you are an expert in the field or have seen the stunning sunset sky display, send in your comments and help in setting the <b>"Perth meteor"</b> record straight.<br />
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<a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21528724.800-vital-eye-for-killer-asteroids-could-shut-imminently.html">Vital eye for killer asteroids could shut imminently</a>
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Ker Than<br />New Scientist<br />Fri, 06 Jul 2012 14:02 CDT</div>
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A lack of cash could end the only survey dedicated to searching the southern skies for Earth-grazing comets and <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/topic/comets-asteroids" target="_blank" title="http://www.newscientist.com/topic/comets-asteroids">asteroids</a>. That would create a blind spot in our global view of objects that could cause significant devastation should they hit Earth.
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The <a href="http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/%7Ermn/" target="_blank" title="http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/%7Ermn/">Siding Spring Survey</a> uses images from the Siding Spring observatory in Australia as part of the global <a href="http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/css/" target="_blank" title="http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/css/">Catalina Sky Survey</a>,
an effort to discover and track potentially dangerous near-Earth
objects. Astronomers sift through virtually identical images of the sky,
looking for moving objects.
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Catalina uses a range of <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn9403-new-telescope-will-hunt-dangerous-asteroids.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn9403-new-telescope-will-hunt-dangerous-asteroids.html">northern hemisphere telescopes</a>
- and the Sliding Spring Survey. But in October, Catalina cut off cash
to the survey due to growing costs, caused partly by changes in the
exchange rate between the Australian and US dollars. That decision was
"very difficult", says Steve Larson, who heads Catalina.
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Since then, the southern survey has been limping along with temporary
funding from the Australian National University in Canberra, but the
extension is set to expire at the end of July, says survey operator Rob
McNaught.
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The leftover building blocks of planets, near-Earth objects orbit the sun in highly elliptical orbits, and sometimes <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2011/06/incoming-asteroid.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2011/06/incoming-asteroid.html">graze</a> or <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126945.200-asteroid-bound-for-earth-warn-your-grandchildren.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126945.200-asteroid-bound-for-earth-warn-your-grandchildren.html">hit Earth</a>.
Seeing an asteroid before it hits could save lives by providing time to
evacuate a region. "Given the very best circumstances, you can predict
an impact to 1 second and 1 kilometre," says McNaught. "There's no other
natural disaster that you can do that for."
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But without a southern lookout, any object
approaching Earth from below 30 degrees latitude would be invisible,
says Tim Spahr of the International Astronomical Union's <a href="http://www.minorplanetcenter.org/iau/mpc.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.minorplanetcenter.org/iau/mpc.html">Minor Planet Center</a> in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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That won't be much of a problem for massive objects like the <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19526204.800-discovered-the-asteroid-that-killed-off-the-dinosaurs.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19526204.800-discovered-the-asteroid-that-killed-off-the-dinosaurs.html">asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs</a>.
These are rare and astronomers estimate they have already found and are
tracking 94 per cent of them via software models. The worry is
asteroids about 30 metres wide, which could flatten a city. Such a hit
is blamed for the <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16697-tunguskasized-space-rock-buzzes-earth.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16697-tunguskasized-space-rock-buzzes-earth.html">Tunguska event</a> in 1908, which levelled a 2000-square-kilometre swathe of forest in Siberia.
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There are around a million of these smaller objects, making them the most likely to hit Earth, yet locations for <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn12900-nasa-blasted-for-ignoring-smaller-asteroids.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn12900-nasa-blasted-for-ignoring-smaller-asteroids.html">less than 1 per cent of them are known</a>. <span class="BoldRed">Without a southern telescope, "you could easily get blindsided by one of these</span>", says <a href="http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/people/profile.cfm?Code=YeomansD" target="_blank" title="http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/people/profile.cfm?Code=YeomansD">Don Yeomans</a>,
of NASA's Near-Earth Object Program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in
Pasadena, California. "Whether that's a 1 per cent, 10 per cent or 20
per cent increased risk, I don't know. But it is an increased risk."
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What's more, as most asteroids and comets are tracked across both
hemispheres, those discovered in the north could get lost without
follow-up from the south. There will also be objects seen in the north
that could have been spotted sooner in the south, giving more time to
prepare.
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McNaught estimates that the survey needs about US$180,000 per year, plus
a one-off $30,000 to fix the observatory dome. "I really wish I could
tell you that the chances are very good that we'll be able to find some
money, but I can't," says <a href="https://researchers.anu.edu.au/researchers/butcher-hr" target="_blank" title="https://researchers.anu.edu.au/researchers/butcher-hr">Harvey Butcher</a>, who heads the team at Australian National University that is providing temporary funding.
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If the survey shuts down, there won't be another ground telescope capable of fulfilling its duties until the 2020s, when the <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13606-giant-telescope-project-begins-with-a-spin.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13606-giant-telescope-project-begins-with-a-spin.html">Large Synoptic Survey Telescope</a> is due to go online in Chile.
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The non-profit B612 Foundation plans to <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21991-first-private-space-telescope-may-hunt-asteroids.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21991-first-private-space-telescope-may-hunt-asteroids.html">build a space telescope</a>
to scan for small asteroids but it won't launch until at least 2017.
"In the interim, having one eye closed when the cost of having it open
is so little seems to be penny wise and pound foolish," says B612
co-founder Russell Schweickart, a former NASA astronaut.
<br /><br />
<strong> The people's asteroid defence</strong>
<br /><strong>Lisa Grossman</strong>
<br /><br />
Citizens, defend thyselves. As governments prove slow at funding
telescopes to monitor asteroids, a non-profit organisation plans to pick
up the slack - though its telescope won't launch till 2017 at the
earliest.
<br /><br />
The B612 Foundation - named for the asteroid that was home to the prince in <em>The Little Prince</em>
- has announced a plan to build, fly and operate the first private
space telescope. Called Sentinel, it will cost several hundred million
dollars, which the foundation hopes to raise through donations.
<br /><br />
"We think this is eminently doable," says B612's Ed Lu, a former NASA
astronaut, who compares the project to funding museums or concert halls.
"This telescope will be owned by the people of the world."
<br /><br />
Unlike ground-based surveys, Sentinel will orbit the sun, so its view
will not be confined to one hemisphere. It will look in infrared
wavelengths, so small asteroids that don't reflect much visible light
can be seen via their heat. Planned for launch in 2017 or 2018, Lu
predicts that Sentinel will find more asteroids in its first month than
all previous telescopes combined.
</div>
</div>
<h2>
<a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/expanding-ufo-with-spiral-trail-recorded-spain">Expanding UFO with spiral trail recorded in Spain or Iraq</a> </h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
Tracey Parece
Examiner
Sun, 08 Jul 2012 17:10 CDT</div>
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/ToniAmazing7" target="_blank" title="http://www.youtube.com/user/ToniAmazing7">
</a><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/ToniAmazing7" target="_blank" title="http://www.youtube.com/user/ToniAmazing7">
</a><br />
<div align="center">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/XegJQl_-fhc?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0" height="309" width="400"></iframe></div>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/ToniAmazing7" target="_blank" title="http://www.youtube.com/user/ToniAmazing7">
A 30-year-old YouTube user from Spain, ToniAmazing7</a>, posted a <a href="http://www.examiner.com/topic/ufo-video" target="_blank" title="http://www.examiner.com/topic/ufo-video">UFO video</a> online with a title that indicated that the video was recorded somewhere over Spain on July 8, 2012. Unfortunately, those claims have turned out to be untrue. The video was actually recorded at least one month ago, allegedly in Iraq, making this another case of recycled <a href="http://www.examiner.com/topic/ufo" target="_blank" title="http://www.examiner.com/topic/ufo">UFO</a> video footage. If you haven't seen it yet, it is still worth a look regardless of where and when it was actually recorded.
The video shows an extraordinarily bright line in the sky that gradually opened into a sphere with a cone-shaped tip. The cone and sphere both eventually dissipated as if they were made of smoke, but they left behind a bright, spiral-shaped <a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/pyramid-ufo-glides-along-the-path-of-a-chemtrail-amazing-new-video-from-spain" target="_blank" title="http://www.examiner.com/article/pyramid-ufo-glides-along-the-path-of-a-chemtrail-amazing-new-video-from-spain">trail </a>in the dark sky that lingered indefinitely. In the past, some spiral-shaped <a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/swift-white-ufo-sphere-or-orb-chases-boat-off-coast-of-sweden-video" target="_blank" title="http://www.examiner.com/article/swift-white-ufo-sphere-or-orb-chases-boat-off-coast-of-sweden-video">unidentified flying objects</a> have been attributed to failed missile launches.
The video actually appears to be turned 180 degrees so the horizon is shown vertically along the right side of the image. That means the <a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/amazing-footage-from-japan-shows-falling-ufo-or-possibly-uars-satellite" target="_blank" title="http://www.examiner.com/article/amazing-footage-from-japan-shows-falling-ufo-or-possibly-uars-satellite">UFO </a>in the <a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/new-boomerang-ufo-sighting-over-philippines-mountainside-video" target="_blank" title="http://www.examiner.com/article/new-boomerang-ufo-sighting-over-philippines-mountainside-video">video </a>was actually moving straight up from the ground, not horizontally across the sky as it seems at first glance. </div>
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<h2>
<a href="http://www.space.com/16493-meteor-shower-bootid-picture.html">Meteor Lights Up Beach Night Sky in Photo</a>
</h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
Tariq Malik<br />SPACE.com<br />Mon, 09 Jul 2012 11:50 CDT</div>
<div class="m-bar">
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/107178/full/bootid_meteor_shower_jack_fusc.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Jack Fusco"><img alt="Meteor" border="0" height="217" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/107178/large/bootid_meteor_shower_jack_fusc.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© Jack Fusco</span></div>
<div class="image-caption">
<br /><span class="caption">Photographer
Jack Fusco captured this serene view of a Bootid meteor over Cape May,
N.J., at 2 a.m. ET on June 28, 2012. The Bootid meteor shower is an
annual, but faint, display in late June.</span></div>
</div>
A fleeting meteor streaks across the night sky over a New Jersey beach in serene view captured by a local photographer.
<br /><br />
Night sky photographer Jack Fusco captured the meteor as it flared up
over Cape May, N.J., beach in the wee hours of June 28, just after the
peak of the annual <a href="http://www.space.com/14068-2012-meteor-shower-skywatching-schedule.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.space.com/14068-2012-meteor-shower-skywatching-schedule.html">Bootid meteor shower</a>.
<br /><br />
"The shower peaked about an hour after the moon had set, at about 2 a.m.
EDT," Fusco told SPACE.com in an email. "Overall, it was a beautiful
night for stargazing."
<br /><br />
June's Bootid meteor shower is created by the remains of the Comet
7P/Pons Winnecke, according to the International Meteor Organisation.
<br /><br />
The Bootid shower is classified as a variable meteor shower by the
American Meteor Society because its annual displays are often dim, but
can sometimes be impressive to lucky stargazers. Variable meteor showers
typically only "produce strong activity on rare occasions," the society
explains in an overview. "Most of the time, only a few scattered
remnants of these showers are observered with rates of one shower member
per night."
<br /><br />
The Bootid meteor shower is one of several <a href="http://www.space.com/15353-meteor-showers-facts-shooting-stars-skywatching-sdcmp.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.space.com/15353-meteor-showers-facts-shooting-stars-skywatching-sdcmp.html">meteor showers</a> to light up the night skies in the next few months.
<br /><br />
The annual Delta Aquarid meteor shower is expected to hit its peak on
July 29, but will likely be washed out by the nearly full moon,
according to a NASA alert.
<br /><br />
Next up is the annual Perseid meteor shower, which will peak on Aug. 12
and is typically one of the year's dependable shooting star displays. At
its peak, the 2012 Perseid meteor shower could produce up to 100
meteors per hour for stargazers observing the <a href="http://www.space.com/16149-night-sky.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.space.com/16149-night-sky.html">night sky</a> from a dark location, well away from city lights, between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. local time, NASA officials said.
</div>
<br />
<br />
<h2>
<a href="http://www.rt.com/news/paint-asteroid-earth-nasa-767/">NASA: We might blast or paint asteroid threatening to impact Earth in 2013</a>
</h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
<br />Russia Today<br />Sat, 03 Mar 2012 12:16 CST</div>
<div class="article-print">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/247655-NASA-We-might-blast-or-paint-asteroid-threatening-to-impact-Earth-in-2013#"><img alt="Print" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/images/print_article.png?1289256289" title="Print this article" /></a></div>
</div>
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/106855/full/armageddon_deepimpact.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/106855/medium/armageddon_deepimpact.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><div class="image-caption">
<br /><span class="caption">If
it sounds like it's something out of a movie, that's because it is.
They have no intention of diverting asteroids or any other Meteors or
CFometary Fragments (MoCF). By now they will have run crunched the
numbers and worked out that there is no man-made technology that can
stop what's coming.</span></div>
</div>
To avert a possible catastrophe -
this time set for February 2013 - scientists suggest confronting
asteroid 2012 DA14 with either paint or big guns. The stickler is that
time has long run out to build a spaceship to carry out the operation.
<br /><br />
NASA's data shows the 60-meter asteroid, spotted by Spanish stargazers
in February, will whistle by Earth in 11 months. Its trajectory will
bring it within a hair's breadth of our planet, raising fears of a
possible collision.
<br /><br />
The asteroid, known as DA14, will pass by our planet in February 2013 at
a distance of under 27,000 km (16,700 miles). This is closer than the
geosynchronous orbit of some satellites.
<br /><br />
There is a possibility the asteroid will collide with Earth, but further
calculation is required to estimate the potential threat and work out
how to avert possible disaster, NASA expert Dr. David Dunham told
students at Moscow's University of Electronics and Mathematics (MIEM).
<br /><br />
<em>"The Earth's gravitational field will alter the
asteroid's path significantly. Further scrupulous calculation is
required to estimate the threat of collision,"</em> said Dr. Dunham, as transcribed by Russia's <em>Izvestia</em>. <em>"The
asteroid may break into dozens of small pieces, or several large lumps
may split from it and burn up in the atmosphere. The type of the
asteroid and its mineral structure can be determined by spectral
analysis. This will help predict its behavior in the atmosphere and what
should be done to prevent the potential threat," </em>said Dr. Dunham.
<br /><br />
In the event of a collision, scientists have calculated that the energy
released would equate to the destructive power of a thermo-nuclear bomb.
<br /><br />
In response to the threat, scientists have come up with some ingenious methods to avert a potential disaster.
<br /><br />
Fireworks and watercolorsWith the asteroid zooming that low, it will be
too late to do anything with it besides trying to predict its final
destination and the consequences of impact.
<br /><br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/106853/full/ia439a404ac807a398e7e038280ea6.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/106853/large/ia439a404ac807a398e7e038280ea6.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a></div>
A
spaceship is needed, experts agree. It could shoot the rock down or
just crash into it, either breaking the asteroid into debris or throwing
it off course.
<br /><br />
"<em>We could paint it</em>," says NASA expert David Dunham.
<br /><br />
Paint would affect the asteroid's ability to reflect sunlight, changing
its temperature and altering its spin. The asteroid would stalk off its
current course, but this could also make the boulder even more dangerous
when it comes back in 2056, Aleksandr Devaytkin, the head of the
observatory in Russia's Pulkovo, told <em>Izvestia.</em>
<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/106854/full/2012_da14_orbit_diagram.gif" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/106854/large/2012_da14_orbit_diagram.gif" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><div class="image-caption">
<br /><span class="caption">2012 DA14 orbit diagram</span></div>
</div>
<span class="BoldGrey">Spaceship impossible?</span>
<br /><br />
Whatever the mission, building a spaceship to deal with <a href="http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/risk/2012da14.html" target="_blank" title="http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/risk/2012da14.html">2012 DA14</a> will take two years - at least.
<br /><br />
The asteroid has proven a bitter discovery. It has been circling in
orbit for three years already, crossing Earth's path several times, says
space analyst Sergey Naroenkov from the Russian Academy of Sciences. It
seems that spotting danger from outer space is still the area where
mere chance reigns, while asteroid defense systems exist only in drafts.
<br /><br />
Still, prospects of meeting 2012 DA14 are not all doom and gloom.
<br /><br />
"<em>The asteroid may split into pieces entering the atmosphere. In this case, most part of it will never reach the planet's surface,</em>" remarks Dunham.
<br /><br />
But if the entire asteroid is to crash into the planet, the impact will
be as hard as in the Tunguska blast, which in 1908 knocked down trees
over a total area of 2,150 sq km (830 sq miles) in Siberia. This is
almost the size of Luxembourg. In today's case, the destination of the
asteroid is yet to be determined.
</div>
<br /><strong>Comment: </strong>This is just a ruse to make you think
the government can actually do anything about what's coming. It can't.
There's no hope to be found in their system.
<br /><br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/247582-Reign-of-Fire-Meteorites-Wildfires-Planetary-Chaos-and-the-Sixth-Extinction#" target="_blank" title="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/247582-Reign-of-Fire-Meteorites-Wildfires-Planetary-Chaos-and-the-Sixth-Extinction#">Reign of Fire: Meteorites, Wildfires, Planetary Chaos and the Sixth Extinction</a></div>
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<br />
<h2>
<a href="http://www.space.com/16493-meteor-shower-bootid-picture.html">Meteor Lights Up Beach Night Sky in Photo</a>
</h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
Tariq Malik<br />SPACE.com<br />Mon, 09 Jul 2012 11:50 CDT</div>
<div class="article-print">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/247837-Meteor-Lights-Up-Beach-Night-Sky-in-Photo#"><img alt="Print" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/images/print_article.png?1289256289" title="Print this article" /></a></div>
</div>
<div class="article-body">
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/107178/full/bootid_meteor_shower_jack_fusc.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Jack Fusco"><img alt="Meteor" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/107178/large/bootid_meteor_shower_jack_fusc.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© Jack Fusco</span><br /><span class="caption">Photographer
Jack Fusco captured this serene view of a Bootid meteor over Cape May,
N.J., at 2 a.m. ET on June 28, 2012. The Bootid meteor shower is an
annual, but faint, display in late June.</span></div>
</div>
A fleeting meteor streaks across the night sky over a New Jersey beach in serene view captured by a local photographer.
<br /><br />
Night sky photographer Jack Fusco captured the meteor as it flared up
over Cape May, N.J., beach in the wee hours of June 28, just after the
peak of the annual <a href="http://www.space.com/14068-2012-meteor-shower-skywatching-schedule.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.space.com/14068-2012-meteor-shower-skywatching-schedule.html">Bootid meteor shower</a>.
<br /><br />
"The shower peaked about an hour after the moon had set, at about 2 a.m.
EDT," Fusco told SPACE.com in an email. "Overall, it was a beautiful
night for stargazing."
<br /><br />
June's Bootid meteor shower is created by the remains of the Comet
7P/Pons Winnecke, according to the International Meteor Organisation.
<br /><br />
The Bootid shower is classified as a variable meteor shower by the
American Meteor Society because its annual displays are often dim, but
can sometimes be impressive to lucky stargazers. Variable meteor showers
typically only "produce strong activity on rare occasions," the society
explains in an overview. "Most of the time, only a few scattered
remnants of these showers are observered with rates of one shower member
per night."
<br /><br />
The Bootid meteor shower is one of several <a href="http://www.space.com/15353-meteor-showers-facts-shooting-stars-skywatching-sdcmp.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.space.com/15353-meteor-showers-facts-shooting-stars-skywatching-sdcmp.html">meteor showers</a> to light up the night skies in the next few months.
<br /><br />
The annual Delta Aquarid meteor shower is expected to hit its peak on
July 29, but will likely be washed out by the nearly full moon,
according to a NASA alert.
<br /><br />
Next up is the annual Perseid meteor shower, which will peak on Aug. 12
and is typically one of the year's dependable shooting star displays. At
its peak, the 2012 Perseid meteor shower could produce up to 100
meteors per hour for stargazers observing the <a href="http://www.space.com/16149-night-sky.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.space.com/16149-night-sky.html">night sky</a> from a dark location, well away from city lights, between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. local time, NASA officials said.
</div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">A Service of <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">Signs of the Times</a>: The most comprehensive, objective and reliable Alternative News Source on the Web. If you aren't reading <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">SOTT</a>, you don't know what's REALLY happening!</div>Keithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06011086310017706847noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385115091808825739.post-985289598090284832012-05-09T17:38:00.003+01:002012-06-02T22:17:21.633+01:00May 2012<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h2>
<a href="http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=02&month=05&year=2012">Aquarid meteor shower to coincide with super moon</a> </h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
Spaceweather.com<br />
Wed, 02 May 2012 11:58 CDT</div>
</div>
<div class="article-body">
Earth is entering a stream of debris from Halley's Comet, source of the annual eta Aquarid meteor shower. Because the shower's radiant is located below the celestial equator, southern hemisphere observers are favored, but even northerners will be able to see at least a few flecks of Halley-dust disintegrating in the atmosphere when the shower peaks this weekend. The best time to look is during the hours before sunrise on Sunday, May 6th. Bright moonlight will cap the meteor rate at about 30 per hour. <br />
<br />
In recent nights, NASA's all-sky meteor network has picked up a number of early eta Aquarid fireballs. <a href="http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=02&month=05&year=2012" target="_blank" title="http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=02&month=05&year=2012">This one</a> was bright enough to shine through the glow of sunrise and clouds over Tullahoma, Tennessee, on April 29th. </div>
<div class="article-body">
<br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/101374/full/ff.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA"><img alt="" border="0" height="222" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/101374/large/ff.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© NASA</span></div>
</div>
<br />
According to analysts at NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office, this particular speck of comet dust hit the atmosphere traveling 62 km/s (139,000 mph) and disintegrated about 84 km (52 mi) above Earth's surface. <br />
<br />
The full Moon of May 5-6, 2012, with interfere with the visibility of the eta Aquarid peak. Radar signals, however, penetrate moonlight with ease. Tune into <a href="http://spaceweatherradio.com/" target="_blank" title="http://spaceweatherradio.com/">Space Weather Radio</a> for live echoes from eta Aquarids passing over the US Air Force Space Surveillance Radar in Texas.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h2>
<a href="http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/2012H2/2012H2.html">New Comet C/2012 H2 (McNaught)</a> </h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
Seiichi Yoshida<br />
Aerith Net<br />
Thu, 03 May 2012 14:17 EDT</div>
</div>
<span class="BoldGrey">Discovery Date:</span> April 29, 2012 <br />
<br />
<span class="BoldGrey">Magnitude:</span> 18.6 mag <br />
<br />
<span class="BoldGrey">Discoverer:</span> Robert H. McNaught (Siding Spring) <br />
<br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/101457/full/mag.gif" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Aerith Net"><img alt="C/2012 H2 (McNaught)" border="0" height="243" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/101457/large/mag.gif" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© Aerith Net</span><br />
<span class="caption">Magnitude Graph</span><br />
</div>
</div>
The orbital elements are published on <a href="http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/mpec/K12/K12J11.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/mpec/K12/K12J11.html">M.P.E.C. 2012-J11</a>. <br />
<h2>
</h2>
<h2>
<a href="http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=04&month=05&year=2012">Eta Aquarid Meteor Update</a> </h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
SpaceWeather<br />
Fri, 04 May 2012 13:49 CDT</div>
</div>
The <a href="http://www.spaceweather.com/meteors/etaaquarids/etaaquarids.html?PHPSESSID=aa4uh2l7f6bi1npdk4jpnbbkh7" target="_blank" title="http://www.spaceweather.com/meteors/etaaquarids/etaaquarids.html?PHPSESSID=aa4uh2l7f6bi1npdk4jpnbbkh7">eta Aquarid meteor shower</a>, due to peak on May 5-6, is already underway. Cameras in NASA's <a href="http://fireballs.ndc.nasa.gov/" target="_blank" title="http://fireballs.ndc.nasa.gov/">All-Sky Fireball Network</a> have picked up more than a dozen eta-fireballs this week, including seven last night alone. NASA astronomer Bill Cooke prepared this diagram showing the orbits of the fireballs detected so far: <br />
<br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/101515/full/etaorbits.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA"><img alt="Eta Orbits" border="0" height="185" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/101515/large/etaorbits.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© NASA</span></div>
<div class="image-caption">
</div>
</div>
"The purple line traces the orbit of Halley's Comet, source of the eta Aquarids," says Cooke. "Blue lines are orbits of the individual fireballs determined from simultaneous observations by multiple cameras." A <a href="http://www.spaceweather.com/images2012/04may12/distrib1.png?PHPSESSID=aa4uh2l7f6bi1npdk4jpnbbkh7" target="_blank" title="http://www.spaceweather.com/images2012/04may12/distrib1.png?PHPSESSID=aa4uh2l7f6bi1npdk4jpnbbkh7">statistical analysis of the data</a> shows that the fireballs hit Earth's atmosphere traveling about 66 km/s (139,000 mph) and disintegrated about 90 km (52 mi) above Earth's surface. <br />
<br />
Forecasters expect the shower to peak this weekend; the best time to look is during the hours before sunrise on Sunday, May 6th. Because the shower's radiant is located below the celestial equator, southern hemisphere observers are favored, but even northerners should be able to see a few eta Aquarids. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOplwuMTyS4" target="_blank" title="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOplwuMTyS4">Super-bright</a> moonlight will cap the meteor rate at about 30 per hour.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h2>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfQSB5NaAw4">Daylight fireball filmed from Boise Idaho in February</a> </h2>
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YouTube<br />
Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:33 EST<br />
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/102124/full/Boise_fireball.png" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" height="174" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/102124/large/Boise_fireball.png" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
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<span class="caption">If that's a contrail, where's the plane?</span></div>
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Meteorite filmed over Boise Idaho on 3 February 2012. <br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/MfQSB5NaAw4?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0" height="309" width="400"></iframe><br />
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<h2>
<a href="http://sheilaaliens.net/?p=599">April 2012 Fireball Roundup + New Footage from Brazil</a> </h2>
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Sheilaaliens.net<br />
Wed, 25 Apr 2012 14:26 EDT</div>
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I'm betting with my luck that another fireball or two will happen before April is over and my roundup will be incomplete :P We ShaLL seEeE. <br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="309" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/eQxaUYhrKu8" width="400"></iframe><br />
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Sources seen in this video: <br />
<br />
<a href="http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2012/04/25/pieces-of-flaming-meteor-found-in-sierra-foothills/" target="_blank">Pieces Of Flaming Meteor Found In Sierra Foothills « CBS San Francisco</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.universetoday.com/94795/fireball-over-california-exploded-with-force-of-5-kilotons/" target="_blank">Fireball Over California Exploded with Force of 5 Kilotons</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.universetoday.com/94517/is-this-a-video-of-a-huge-fireball-over-texas/" target="_blank">Is This a Video of a Huge Fireball Over Texas?</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.universetoday.com/94831/recent-fireball-seen-in-brazil-was-actually-re-entering-centaur-rocket/" target="_blank">Recent Fireball Seen in Brazil Was Actually Re-Entering Centaur Rocket</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.rgj.com/article/20120423/NEWS/304230032/Scientist-says-sound-signal-from-exploding-meteor-lasted-18-minutes" target="_blank">Scientist says sound signal from exploding meteor lasted 18 minutes</a><br />
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<h2>
<a href="http://www.valleynewslive.com/story/18365065/fireball-streaks-across-the-valley">Fireball Streaks Low and Slow Over Fargo, Seen From Several Northern States</a> </h2>
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valleynewslive.com<br />
Sat, 12 May 2012 04:01 EDT<br />
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Valley sky watchers and anyone who happened to be outside at about 10 o'clock Friday night were treated to a special sight. This is what viewers have reported on the Valley News Live Facebook page: <br />
<br />
Kyle Wayne Erickson, "We seen it in Hope, it was at 10:02, we were all sitting on the deck and seen it, it was moving slow, looked like it was literally no more then a couple hundred feet over the trees. Had a HUGE bright colorful tail behind it, that was a once in a lifetime sighting, was the coolest thing I'd ever seen!!" <br />
<br />
Jeremy Southwick, "Just saw a fantastic meteorite falling westward over West Fargo! Somebody go find it!" <br />
<br />
Alex Wilkowski, <b>"It came and went very slow for a shooting star, I didn't think many would see it. It was so low."</b> <br />
<br />
Some have also reporting hearing a crackling noise and seeing it break up into pieces. <br />
<br />
What you saw Friday night was a fireball, which is a brighter than normal meteor. Reports are coming in from North Dakota, South Dakota, Manitoba, Wisconsin, & Michigan. Most shooting stars are the size of specks of dust to pebbles. Based on how bright it was reported to be, experts believe this to be the size of a softball. The larger the object, the brighter as it burns through the Earth's atmosphere. Fireballs are pretty rare events, so consider yourselves lucky! <br />
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If you were even luckier and caught a picture of the event, we'd love to share it. Please go to "Join the Conversation" on our home page. You can download your picture there. </div>
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<a href="http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=13&month=05&year=2012">Asteroid Flyby</a> </h2>
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SpaceWeather<br />
Sun, 13 May 2012 21:18 EDT</div>
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A 13-meter space rock from the asteroid belt is flying past our planet today midway between Earth and the orbit of the Moon. There is no danger of a collision; at closest approach asteroid <a href="http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2012%20JU&orb=1" target="_blank" title="http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2012%20JU&orb=1">2012 JU</a> will be 190,000 km away.</div>
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<h2>
<a href="http://www.universetoday.com/95155/astrophoto-meteor-fireball-passing-through-the-milky-way/">Astrophoto: Meteor Fireball Passing through the Milky Way</a> </h2>
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Nancy Atkinson<br />
Universe Today<br />
Mon, 14 May 2012 13:39 EDT<br />
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/102433/full/meteor_lake_580x326.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Luke Arens"><img alt="Minnesota Fireball" border="0" height="184" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/102433/large/meteor_lake_580x326.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
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<span class="tiny">© Luke Arens</span><br />
<span class="caption">A northern Minnesota lake reflects a large meteor fireball. </span><br />
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Northern Minnesota is famous for its bountiful lakes, and clear, dark skies. This beautiful astrophoto combines both - and more - as photographer <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lukearens/" target="_blank" title="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lukearens/">Luke Arens</a> captured a big meteor fireball reflecting off a northern Minnesota lake just as the Milky Way core rose above the scene. Luke took this image over the weekend as part of a timelapse sequence, which he says will be available soon. We'll add the timelapse view here, so watch our <a href="http://www.twitter.com/universetoday" target="_blank" title="http://www.twitter.com/universetoday">Twitter feed</a> for updates! <br />
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<a href="http://www.universetoday.com/95158/you-just-got-a-haircut-from-asteroid-2012-ju/#more-95158">You Just Got a Haircut from Asteroid 2012 JU</a> </h2>
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Nancy Atkinson<br />
Universe Today<br />
Mon, 14 May 2012 21:49 EDT</div>
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/102501/full/2012_JU.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© JPL"><img alt="2012 JU" border="0" height="175" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/102501/large/2012_JU.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
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<span class="tiny">© JPL</span><br />
<span class="caption">Orbit diagram for asteroid 2012 JU.</span><br />
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OK, we admit that's a bit of an exaggeration, but an asteroid about the size of a school bus <i>did</i> come fairly close to Earth yesterday! On May 13, Asteroid 2012 JU passed harmlessly between Earth and Moon. This space rock is somewhere between 8 and 17 meters across, and it came within about 190,000 kilometers (118,000 miles) from Earth - about a half a Lunar Distance (LD), or 0.0014 AU. Its looping orbit is currently closely aligned with Earth's (click <a href="http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2012%20JU&orb=1" target="_blank" title="http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2012%20JU&orb=1">here</a> to see JPL's orbit diagram applet) and will be moving rather slowly away from us over the next few weeks. <br />
<br />
There are two other known space rocks that will be making somewhat close passes by Earth later this month: 2010 KK37, which might be about 43 meters wide, will come within 2.3 LD (880,000 km) on May 19, and 2001 CQ36, which might be as big as 170 meters wide, will go by at 10 LD (3.8 million km) on May 30. There is no threat of any of these asteroids hitting our planet. <br />
<br />
Asteroids passing between the Earth and Moon happens on a fairly regular basis. Last month, on April 1, a 46-meter wide asteroid named 2012 EG5 came within 230,000 km, and on March 26 of this year, two smaller asteroids shaved by at a mere 58,000 km and 154,000 km. And in January <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/93177/2012-bx34-behind-the-scenes-in-the-discovery-of-a-near-earth-asteroid/" target="_blank" title="http://www.universetoday.com/93177/2012-bx34-behind-the-scenes-in-the-discovery-of-a-near-earth-asteroid/">2012 BX34</a> passed by at just 59,600 km from the Earth's surface. <br />
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<h2>
<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2145769/Have-scientists-finally-meteorite-set-1908-Tunguska-explosion.html">Tunguska - Have scientists finally found fragments of the meteorite which set off the mysterious 1908 catastrophe?</a> </h2>
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Rob Waugh<br />
DailyMail.co.uk<br />
Thu, 17 May 2012 16:34 EDT</div>
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At 7.17am on June 30, 1908, an explosion like a detonating hydrogen bomb erupted in the forests of Siberia - and until now, scientists have offered no conclusive explanation for the event. <br />
<br />
Now Italian scientists claim to have found chunks of a meteorite which might have caused the blast - from seismic and magnetic scans of nearby Lake Cheko. <br />
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Lake Cheko, they claim is an impact crater for the blast - which devastated nearly 1,000 square miles of forest and was detected hundreds of miles away. </div>
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/102787/full/ff.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" height="246" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/102787/large/ff.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
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<span class="caption">The Tunguska event, or explosion, was an enormously powerful explosion that occurred near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in Siberia - and was seen as far away as Britain</span></div>
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<br />
'This "Tunguska Event" is probably related to the impact with the Earth of a cosmic body that exploded about three to six miles above ground, releasing in the atmosphere 10-15 megatons of energy,' say the researchers. <br />
<br />
Fragments of the impacting body have never been found, and its nature (comet or asteroid) is still a matter of debate. <br />
<br />
'We report here results from a magnetic and seismic reflection study of a small lake, Lake Cheko, located about 8 km NW of the inferred explosion epicenter, that was proposed to be an impact crater left by a fragment of the Tunguska Cosmic Body,' say the researchers, from the University of Bologna in a paper published in <i>Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems</i>. </div>
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/102788/full/ff.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Unknown"><img alt="" border="0" height="220" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/102788/large/ff.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
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<span class="tiny">© Unknown</span><br />
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<span class="caption">Siberian Evenk people today: 'The sky split in two and fire appeared high and wide over the forest,' a member of the local Evenki tribe remembered at the time</span></div>
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They claim to have detected a stony fragment in the lake that could be a remnant of the meteorite that caused the explosion. <br />
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Seismic reflection and magnetic data revealed an anomaly close to the lake center, about 30ft below the lake floor; this anomaly is compatible with the presence of a buried stony object and supports the impact crater origin for Lake Cheko.' <br />
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The explosion was so huge it was visible in Britain - and conspiracy theorists have claimed for decades it might have been caused by UFOs or other supernatural forces. <br />
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'The sky split in two and fire appeared high and wide over the forest,' a member of the local Evenki tribe remembered. <br />
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'The split in the sky grew larger, and the entire northern side was covered with fire. </div>
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<h2>
<a href="http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/325091">Asteroid 2012 DA14 May Hit Communications Satellite in 2013</a>
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John Thomas Didymus<br />
Digital Journal<br />
Fri, 18 May 2012 12:38 EDT</div>
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/102883/full/asteroid_could_pass_near_commu.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Dieter Spannknebel, Getty Images"><img alt="Comm SAT" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/102883/medium/asteroid_could_pass_near_commu.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
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<span class="tiny">© Dieter Spannknebel, Getty Images</span><br />
<span class="caption">A communications satellite orbits Earth (file illustration).</span></div>
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Asteroid
2012 DA14, discovered early this year by the LaSagra Observatory in
Spain, will pass inside the geosynchronous satellite ring about 35,800
km above the equator on Feb. 15, 2013. Astronomers say the asteroid may
hit a communications satellite. <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/05/120517-asteroid-close-earth-satellites-danger-space-science/" target="_blank" title="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/05/120517-asteroid-close-earth-satellites-danger-space-science/">National Geographic</a>
reports that Paul Chodas, a planetary astronomer at NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, said: "That's very
unlikely, but we can't rule it out."
<br />
<br />
According to calculations, the asteroid will pass close enough to Earth
to disrupt some orbiting satellites. Chodas, however, said that the
orbiting International Space Station in low-Earth orbit is not at risk.
<br />
<br />
In spite of the fact that <a href="http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news174.html" target="_blank" title="http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news174.html">NASA</a>
astronomers assure that the asteroid will not hit the Earth, Steven
Chesley, also of JPL, said: "We don't know exactly where it is, and that
uncertainty maps through to an uncertainty in the orbit and
predictions." The uncertainty, according to astronomers, means that they
can't rule out that it will not hit Earth in subsequent close
approaches to Earth after 2013.
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_DA14" target="_blank" title="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_DA14">NASA astronomers</a>
say there is an estimated cumulative 0.031% risk (1 in 3,230) of 2012
DA14 impacting Earth sometime between 2020 and 2082, a figure they hope
to refine further as they collect more information during its close
approach to Earth in February next year.
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/05/120517-asteroid-close-earth-satellites-danger-space-science/" target="_blank" title="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/05/120517-asteroid-close-earth-satellites-danger-space-science/">National Geographic</a>
reports that if the asteroid hits the the Earth, it will likely hit the
Antarctica or the Southern Ocean because it approaches the Earth from
the south. The impact of the 140,000 ton rock could release energy
equivalent to a 2.4 megaton bomb, about the same as the 1908 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event" target="_blank" title="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event"> Tunguska blast</a>
in which hundreds of square miles of forest in Siberia were leveled.
According to Chodas, "If the asteroid were to strike the ocean, It could
produce a tsunami," although "it probably wouldn't be big."
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<h2>
<a href="http://remanzacco.blogspot.co.nz/2012/05/update-on-comet-c2011-l4-panstarrs.html">Update on Comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS)</a>
</h2>
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Giovanni Sostero, Ernesto Guido & Nick Howes<br />
Remanzacco Observatory<br />
Fri, 18 May 2012 15:29 EDT</div>
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Comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) was found by <a href="http://pan-starrs.ifa.hawaii.edu/public/" target="_blank" title="http://pan-starrs.ifa.hawaii.edu/public/">Pan-STARRS</a>
1 telescope on Haleakala, Maui, on the night of 2011, June 5-6. At the
moment of discovery the comet was at a distance of nearly 7.9 AU from
the Sun (discovery magnitude 19.4). According to it's orbit, around
perihelion in March 2013 the comet would be located only 0.30 AU from
the Sun and might become a bright naked eye object ( ~ magnitude 1). For
more info about the discovery of this comet, see our <a href="http://remanzacco.blogspot.it/2011/06/new-comet-c2011-l4-panstarrs.html" target="_blank" title="http://remanzacco.blogspot.it/2011/06/new-comet-c2011-l4-panstarrs.html">previous post</a> on this blog of 2011, June 09.
<br />
<br />
We performed some follow-up measurements of comet C/2011 L4 remotely from the <a href="http://www.faulkes-telescope.com/" target="_blank" title="http://www.faulkes-telescope.com/">Siding Spring-Faulkes Telescope South</a>
on 2012, May 18.5 through a 2.0-m f/10.0 Ritchey-Chretien + CCD. The
comet is now at 4.6 AU from the Sun (m2 ~ 15.6). Below you can see our
follow-up image (click on it for a bigger version):
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/102882/full/C2011L4_2012May15_E10.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Remanzacco Observatory"><img alt="Comet C/2011 L4" border="0" height="187" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/102882/large/C2011L4_2012May15_E10.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
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<span class="tiny">© Remanzacco Observatory</span></div>
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It's interesting to notice a very compact coma, this
means active dust production even at 4.6 AU away from the Sun (very
good news). The image processing shows an asymmetric coma, probably due
to a line-of-sight effect. According to our previous experiences, the
"jet-like" structures evidenced by the rotational-gradient filtering,
shows very likely the striking asymmetry of the coma/tail, instead of a
genuine activity due to the outgassing of the nucleus (that we are
unlikely to resolve, at this time). This idea is confirmed by the
appearance of the comet through the two other algorithms we applied, the
azimuthal median subtraction and the 1/r theoretical coma subtraction.
<br />
<br />
Anyway, our R-filtered image (that are showing mainly the dusty coma)
shows that comet Panstarrs is pretty active, even at such big distances
from the Sun (this is a good sign for future expectations on a bright
comet, next year).
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</h2>
<h2>
<a href="http://schiaparelli204.wordpress.com/2012/05/20/discovery-of-cometary-appearance-of-2011-kp36/">Asteroid 2011 KP36 Now Appears to be a Comet</a>
</h2>
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G.V.Schiaparelli Astronomical Observatory<br />
Sun, 20 May 2012 14:01 EDT</div>
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2011 KP36 was originally discovered as an asteroid by T. H. Bressi of <a href="http://spacewatch.lpl.arizona.edu/" target="_blank" title="http://spacewatch.lpl.arizona.edu/">Spacewatch survey</a>
on 2011, May 21. Its orbit was unusual (actually a=38.6 AU, e=0.87,
i=19°), belonging to the outer Solar System. Its T3 parameter (respect
to Jupiter) is 2.64, so it entered our T3 internal list of targets.
<br />
<br />
During observations of NEO 1998 OK1 with the 0.81-m f/4 of <a href="http://ari.home.mchsi.com/observatory_directory.htm" target="_blank" title="http://ari.home.mchsi.com/observatory_directory.htm">ARI Observatory</a>
(Westfield, code H21) on Apr. 19 Tomas Vorobjov serendipitously
detected also 2011 KP36 in the same FOV. Stacking all the images
together (totalling 30 minutes) with its proper motion vector, Tomas
Vorobjov firstly noted its cometary appearance, with a coma 6″ wide and a
possible tail 9″ long in PA around 10°. Its FWHM was 4.4″ while stars
nearby were 3.5″.
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://schiaparelli204.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/c2011kp36_anim-h21.gif" target="_blank" title="http://schiaparelli204.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/c2011kp36_anim-h21.gif">Here is an animation</a> from two cropped stacks (30×30 seconds each).
<br />
<br />
After his alert, Sergio Foglia and myself observed it the following day with the 2.0-m f/10 <a href="http://www.faulkes.com/dfet/index.php/projects/faulkes-telescope-project/faulkes-telescope-north" target="_blank" title="http://www.faulkes.com/dfet/index.php/projects/faulkes-telescope-project/faulkes-telescope-north">Faulkes Telescope North</a>
at Haleakala. Conditions were nearly the best possible and stacking
4×180 seconds images its cometary activity was quite clear. FWHM was
1.3″ while stars 1.1″, but the real confirmation was the presence
(visually) of a round faint coma at least 7″ wide. Here is the image:
<br />
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/102973/full/c2011kp36_ftn1.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© G.V.Schiaparelli Astronomical Observatory"><img alt="Comet 2011 KP36" border="0" height="314" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/102973/large/c2011kp36_ftn1.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
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<span class="tiny">© G.V.Schiaparelli Astronomical Observatory</span></div>
</div>
<br />
On Apr. 21, under good seeing conditions I obtained
60×30 seconds images with the 0.38-m f/6.8 reflector from Schiaparelli
Observatory: its faint coma was visible for 13″ wide even if its FWHM
was only 10% larger than stars nearby (3.7″ vs 3.4″).
<br />
<br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/102974/full/c2011kp36_20120421_buzzi204.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© G.V.Schiaparelli Astronomical Observatory"><img alt="Comet 2011 KP36_1" border="0" height="201" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/102974/large/c2011kp36_20120421_buzzi204.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© G.V.Schiaparelli Astronomical Observatory</span></div>
<div class="image-caption">
</div>
</div>
Another confirmation came from Tomas Vorobjov using th <a href="http://www.cosmosportal.org/articles/view/141051/?topic=17835#gen4" target="_blank" title="http://www.cosmosportal.org/articles/view/141051/?topic=17835#gen4">RCT 1.3-m f/13 from Western Kentucky University located at Kitt Peak</a> (diffuse object with a 8″ coma and a hint of tail in p.a. 80 deg).
<br />
<br />
Discovery was announced on <a href="http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iau/cbet/003100/CBET003109.txt" target="_blank" title="http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iau/cbet/003100/CBET003109.txt">CBET 3109</a> on May 17, together with the orbital elements on <a href="http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K12/K12K12.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K12/K12K12.html">MPEC 2012-K12</a>.
</div>
<h2>
</h2>
<h2>
<a href="http://remanzacco.blogspot.co.nz/2012/05/new-comet-p2012-k3-gibbs.html">New Comet: P/2012 K3 (GIBBS)</a>
</h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
Giovanni Sostero, Nick Howes & Ernesto Guido<br />
Remanzacco Observatory<br />
Thu, 24 May 2012 14:56 EDT</div>
</div>
Cbet nr. 3122, issued on 2012, May 23, announces the discovery of a new comet (discovery magnitude 18.3) by <b><i>A. R. Gibbs</i></b> on CCD images taken with the Mount Lemmon 1.5-m reflector on May 21.3. The new comet has been designated P/2012 K3 (GIBBS).
<br />
<br />
We performed some follow-up measurements of this object, while it was
still on the neocp. Stacking of eight R-filtered exposures, 60-sec each,
obtained remotely, from the <a href="http://www.faulkes-telescope.com/" target="_blank" title="http://www.faulkes-telescope.com/">Siding Spring-Faulkes Telescope South</a>
on 2012, May 23.5, through a 2.0-m f/10.0 Ritchey-Chretien + CCD, shows
that this object is a comet: coma 5" in diameter and a tail nearly 5"
long in PA 250 deg.
<br />
<br />
Our confirmation image:
<br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/103347/full/P2012_K3_2012May23_E10.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Remanzacco Observatory"><img alt="P/2012(GIBBS)" border="0" height="261" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/103347/large/P2012_K3_2012May23_E10.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© Remanzacco Observatory</span></div>
<div class="image-caption">
</div>
</div>
M.P.E.C. <a href="http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K12/K12K50.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K12/K12K50.html">2012-K50</a>
assignes the following preliminary elliptical orbitalelements to comet
P/2012 K3: T 2012 Sept. 3.56; e= 0.37; Peri. = 158.59; q = 2.16 AU;
Incl.= 12.76
<br />
<h2>
</h2>
<h2>
<a href="http://remanzacco.blogspot.co.nz/2012/05/recovery-of-comet-p2005-n3-larson.html">Recovery of Comet P/2005 N3 (LARSON)</a>
</h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
Giovanni Sostero, Nick Howes & Ernesto Guido<br />
Remanzacco Observatory<br />
Fri, 25 May 2012 15:10 EDT</div>
</div>
<div class="article-body">
Cbet Circular <a href="http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iau/cbet/003100/CBET003123.txt" target="_blank" title="http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iau/cbet/003100/CBET003123.txt">No. 3123</a>, issued on 2012, May 25, announces the recovery of comet <b>P/2005 N3 (LARSON) = 2012 K4</b> (Larson) by our team; this comet was discovered on 2005, July 5.38 by <i>S. Larson</i> on CCD images taken in the course of the Mt. Lemmon Survey and it was last observed on 2005, December 02.
<br />
<br />
On 2012, May 22.6 we started an observing session to recover the
periodic comet P/2005 N3. We found an object of magnitude ~20.4 located
~4 arcmin north-east of the nominal position. On May 25.6 we have been
able to obtain a second night of observations.
<br />
<br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/103418/full/obs.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Remanzacco Observatory"><img alt="P/2005 N3-2012 K4" border="0" height="102" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/103418/large/obs.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© Remanzacco Observatory</span></div>
<div class="image-caption">
</div>
</div>
Stacking of, respectively, seven and thirteen R-filtered exposures, 60-seconds each obtained remotely from the <a href="http://www.faulkes-telescope.com/" target="_blank" title="http://www.faulkes-telescope.com/">Haleakala-Faulkes Telescope North</a>
on 2012, May 22.6 and 25.6, through a 2.0-m f/10.0 Ritchey-Chretien +
CCD, shows that comet P/2005 N3 (LARSON) has a ill-defined central
condensation of R magnitude about 20.3, surrounded by a weak coma 5" in
diameter, and a faint and broad tail, nearly 8" long toward the
south-west.
<br />
<br />
Below you can find our recovery image of 2012, May 25.:
<br />
<br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/103419/full/P2005N3_2012May25_F65.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Remanzacco Observatory"><img alt="2012 K4" border="0" height="261" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/103419/large/P2005N3_2012May25_F65.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© Remanzacco Observatory</span></div>
<div class="image-caption">
</div>
</div>
The
indicated correction to the prediction on MPC 75290 is Delta(T) = -0.26
day. The linked orbital elements and an ephemeris by G. V. Williams
appear on MPEC <a href="http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K12/K12K54.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K12/K12K54.html">2012-K54</a>.
</div>
<h2>
</h2>
<h2>
<a href="http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=28&month=05&year=2012">New Asteroid 2012 KP24 Flyby</a>
</h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
Space Weather<br />
Mon, 28 May 2012 14:56 CDT</div>
</div>
Today, May 28th, newly-discovered asteroid 2012 KP24 is flying past
Earth only one-tenth the distance to the Moon. Amateur astronomer
Rolando Ligustri photographed the 26-meter space rock during the early
hours of May 28th when it was about 350,000 km from our planet:
<br />
<br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/103612/full/rolando_ligustri_2012KP24_1205.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Rolando Ligustri"><img alt="Asteroid KP24" border="0" height="236" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/103612/large/rolando_ligustri_2012KP24_1205.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© Rolando Ligustri</span></div>
<div class="image-caption">
<br />
<span class="caption">I
photographed the asteroid 2012 KP24 this morning when was about 350.000
km from Earth. I have used a NW 254/820 ccd ST10Xme in bin 3.</span></div>
</div>
Measurements of <a href="http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2012%20KP24&orb=1" target="_blank" title="http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2012%20KP24&orb=1">the asteroid's orbit</a> confirm that there is no danger of a collision with Earth.
<br />
<h2>
</h2>
<h2>
<a href="http://remanzacco.blogspot.co.nz/2012/05/2012-kt42-close-approach.html">Asteroid 2012 KT42 - Close Approach</a>
</h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
Ernesto Guido, Nick Howes & Giovanni Sostero<br />
Remanzacco Observatory<br />
Mon, 28 May 2012 15:56 CDT</div>
</div>
<div class="article-body">
Tomorrow, May 29, 2012 at about 07:07 UT, the asteroid designated <a href="http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2012+KT42&orb=1" target="_blank" title="http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2012+KT42&orb=1">2012 KT42</a>
will pass only ~14,000 km (8,700 miles) or about ~0.05 lunar distance
(or 0.0001379 AU) above the Earth's surface. The asteroid was discovered
by Mt. Lemmon Survey with a 1.5-m reflector + CCD on <a href="http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K12/K12K66.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K12/K12K66.html">May 28, 2012</a> at magnitude ~18.1.
<br />
<br />
According to its absolute magnitude (H=28.8) this asteroid has an
estimated size of roughly 3-10 meters, so it is a small object. We have
been able to follow-up this object soon after his discovery while it was
still on the neocp, from the <a href="http://www.faulkes-telescope.com/" target="_blank" title="http://www.faulkes-telescope.com/">Siding Spring-Faulkes Telescope South</a> on 2012, May 28.4, through a 2.0-m f/10.0 Ritchey-Chretien + CCD.
<br />
<br />
At the moment of our images from FTS, "2012 KT42" was moving at about
~3.63 "/min and its magnitude was ~17.5. At the moment of its close
approach around 07UT of tomorrow, 2012 KT42 will be bright as magnitude
~12.0 and moving at ~11021"/min.
<br />
<br />
Below you can see an image (stack of 5x5-second exposures) showing the asteroid. Click on the thumbnail to see a bigger version:
<br />
<br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/103623/full/stack.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Remanzacco Observatory"><img alt="2012 KT42" border="0" height="185" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/103623/large/stack.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© Remanzacco Observatory</span></div>
<div class="image-caption">
</div>
</div>
Here you can <a href="http://s176.photobucket.com/albums/w189/walcom77/?action=view&current=animation_may_28_2012.gif" target="_blank" title="http://s176.photobucket.com/albums/w189/walcom77/?action=view&current=animation_may_28_2012.gif">see an animation</a> showing the motion of 2012 KT42. Each frame is a 5-second exposure through the FTS 2.0-m telescope.
<br />
<br />
While there is no cause for concern, this is one of
the closest approaches recorded. The table below shows the top 20
closest approaches by NEOs (Near-Earth Objects) sorted by nominal
distance. The table has been computed on the <a href="http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html" target="_blank" title="http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html">NASA/Neo-JPL</a> website. 2012 KT42 is the sixth closer approach to date. (<a href="http://remanzacco.blogspot.it/2011/02/2011-cq1-very-close-approach.html" target="_blank" title="http://remanzacco.blogspot.it/2011/02/2011-cq1-very-close-approach.html">2011 CQ1</a> is the closest non-impacting object in the asteroid catalog to date. The event that took <a href="http://remanzacco.blogspot.it/2008/10/small-asteroid-2008-tc3-to-hit-earth.html" target="_blank" title="http://remanzacco.blogspot.it/2008/10/small-asteroid-2008-tc3-to-hit-earth.html">2008 TC3</a> into the earth's atmosphere is not included). Click on the thumbnail to see a bigger version:
<br />
<br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/103624/full/tabella.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Remanzacco Observatory"><img alt="2012 KT42 Table" border="0" height="201" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/103624/large/tabella.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© Remanzacco Observatory</span></div>
<div class="image-caption">
</div>
</div>
On <a href="http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/mpml/message/27066" target="_blank" title="http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/mpml/message/27066">mpml</a> mailing list, <a href="http://members.shaw.ca/andrewlowe/" target="_blank" title="http://members.shaw.ca/andrewlowe/">Andrew Lowe</a>
pointed out that on May 29 at about 10:10 UT, 2012 KT42 the minimum
geocentric elongation from the center of the sun will be 0.1 degrees, so
given the parallax there will be a transit across the sun, centered in
southern Asia. If the diameter is about 5m, then the object could be
only about 0.006" across against the solar disk. Aldo Vitagliano
provided this map of the transit (computed by his software <a href="http://chemistry.unina.it/%7Ealvitagl/solex/" target="_blank" title="http://chemistry.unina.it/%7Ealvitagl/solex/">Solex</a>). Click on the thumbnail to see a bigger version:
<br />
<br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/103625/full/KT42Tran.gif" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Aldo Vitagliano"><img alt="2012 KT42 Transit Path" border="0" height="214" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/103625/large/KT42Tran.gif" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© Aldo Vitagliano</span></div>
</div>
</div>
<h2>
</h2>
<div class="article-top">
<span class="atop-l"></span>
<span class="atop-r"></span>
</div>
<div class="article-header">
<h2>
<a href="http://remanzacco.blogspot.co.nz/2012/05/new-comet-c2012-k5-linear.html">New Comet: C/2012 K5 (LINEAR)</a>
</h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
Ernesto Guido, Giovanni Sostero & Nick Howes<br />
Remanzacco Observatory<br />
Tue, 29 May 2012 17:56 CDT</div>
</div>
</div>
Cbet nr. <a href="http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iau/cbet/003100/CBET003127.txt" target="_blank" title="http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iau/cbet/003100/CBET003127.txt">3127</a>, issued on 2012, May 28, announces the discovery of a new comet (discovery magnitude 18.5) by the <i><b>LINEAR</b></i> survey on CCD images taken with the 1.0-m f/2.15 reflector on May 25.3. The new comet has been designated C/2012 K5 (LINEAR).
<br />
<br />
We performed some follow-up measurements of this object, while it was
still on the neocp. Stacking of 8 R-filtered exposures, 120-sec each,
obtained remotely, from the <a href="http://www.itelescope.net/" target="_blank" title="http://www.itelescope.net/">ITelescope</a>
network (near Mayhill, NM) on 2012, May 27.4, with a 0.43-m f/6.8
astrograph + CCD,shows that this object is a comet coma 10" in diameter
and a tail nearly 20" long in PA 210 deg.
<br />
<br />
Our confirmation image (click on the image for a bigger version):
<br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/103734/full/CD05581_2012May27_H06_281_29.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Remanzacco Observatory"><img alt="C/2012 K5 (LINEAR)" border="0" height="243" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/103734/large/CD05581_2012May27_H06_281_29.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© Remanzacco Observatory</span></div>
<div class="image-caption">
</div>
</div>
M.P.E.C. <a href="http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K12/K12K69.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K12/K12K69.html">2012-K69</a>
assigns the following preliminary parabolic orbital elements to comet
C/2012 K5: T 2012 Nov. 29.04; e= 1.0; Peri. = 138.80; q = 1.15 AU;
Incl.= 92.84
<br />
<h2>
</h2>
<h2>
<a href="http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2012/05160939.html">Jupiter, 2 of its moons and a sun-grazing Comet</a> </h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
Emily Lakdawalla<br />
Planetary.org<br />
Wed, 16 May 2012 15:08 EDT</div>
</div>
<div class="article-body">
Here's a neat video posted by <a href="http://twitter.com/sungrazercomets" target="_blank" title="http://twitter.com/sungrazercomets">SungrazerComets</a> (the Twitter identity of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory's <a href="http://sungrazer.nrl.navy.mil/" target="_blank" title="http://sungrazer.nrl.navy.mil/">Sungrazing Comets</a> website) this morning. It's an animation of images taken by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) on May 13 and 14, when Jupiter was passing through solar conjunction. It's pretty spiffy that SOHO can spot two of Jupiter's moons. As icing on the cake, the video also captures a sungrazing comet and a coronal mass ejection.<br />
</div>
<div class="article-body">
</div>
<div class="article-body">
</div>
<div class="article-body">
</div>
<div class="article-body">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/O5WuOZIRWjI" width="400"></iframe></div>
<div class="article-body">
<br /></div>
<div class="article-body">
<br /></div>
<div class="article-body">
<br /></div>
<h2>
<a href="http://www.universetoday.com/95260/meteor-shower-timelapse-seen-from-the-space-station/">Meteor Shower Timelapse Seen from the Space Station</a> </h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
Fraser Cain<br />
Universe Today<br />
Sat, 19 May 2012 15:04 EDT</div>
<div class="m-bar">
</div>
</div>
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/9UwJFWCLzS4?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0" height="309" width="400"></iframe><br />
Just as the Lyrid Meteor Shower was peaking on April 21, 2012, astronaut Don Pettit captured this incredible timelapse sequence from the International Space Station. Of course you can see the familiar view of cities sweeping beneath the station as it orbits the Earth, but if you watch carefully, you can see the bright flashes of meteors burning up in the Earth's atmosphere. The timelapse was made up of 310 individual frames captured during that evening, which were then stitched together into a single video.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h2>
<a href="http://blogs.abc.net.au/wa/2012/05/a-rare-meteor-appears-in-the-north-west-sky.html">Fireball appears north west of Perth, Australia</a> </h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
Gemma Snowdon<br />
Australian Broadcast Network<br />
Mon, 21 May 2012 02:40 EDT</div>
</div>
The skies in the north west were alight on Saturday night. <br />
<br />
We've had a couple of reports of giant orange things dropping from the sky. <br />
<br />
You can check out some of the reports on our <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/ABC-North-West/261072136810?filter=3" target="_blank" title="https://www.facebook.com/pages/ABC-North-West/261072136810?filter=3">facebook page</a>. <br />
<br />
Ralph Martin is the Acting Government Astronomer at the Perth Observatory... <br />
<br />
Listen to the audio file of this radio broadcast <a href="http://blogs.abc.net.au/wa/2012/05/a-rare-meteor-appears-in-the-north-west-sky.html" target="_blank" title="http://blogs.abc.net.au/wa/2012/05/a-rare-meteor-appears-in-the-north-west-sky.html">here</a>. <br />
<br />
<br />
<h2>
<a href="http://wtvr.com/2012/05/20/fireball-spotted-in-peru-sky/">Fireball filmed over Peru</a> </h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
Alix Bryan<br />
CBS6 WTVR.com<br />
Sun, 20 May 2012 02:47 EDT</div>
</div>
<div class="article-image to-right">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/103108/full/Fireball_Peru.png" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/103108/medium/Fireball_Peru.png" title="Click to enlarge" /> </a><br />
</div>
<div class="article-image to-right">
</div>
Arequipa, Peru - On May 17, Thursday, someone shot video of a strange object that looks like a fireball. <br />
<br />
The strange fireball was seen in the sky in Arequipa, Peru and caused great surprise for onlookers wondering what it was. <br />
<br />
Strange enough, this isn't the first incident with fireballs or meteoroids in Peru. <br />
<br />
<b>In September 2007, more than 600 were reported sick after a meteoroid landed.</b> <br />
<br />
And in August 2011 a suspected meteor streaked across the sky over the city of Cusco in Peru. <br />
<br />
Just click on the video to see the alleged fireball footage. <br />
<br />
<br />
<h2>
<a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Meteorites-add-to-Tuesday-sound-mystery/articleshow/13501772.cms">Meteorites Add to Explosion-like Sound Mystery</a> </h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
Snehlata Shrivastav,<br />
The Times of India<br />
Sat, 26 May 2012 16:18 EDT</div>
</div>
<div class="article-body">
<div class="article-image to-left">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/103492/full/akola_district.png" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Google Maps"><img alt="Akola District" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/103492/medium/akola_district.png" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© Google Maps</span><br />
</div>
<div class="image-caption">
</div>
</div>
Nagpur: It's official now. The fire balls seen by some people in Akola district and city on Tuesday were meteorite showers <b>spread over an area of over 200km</b>. They travelled in eastern direction and some fell in Katol tehsil of Nagpur district. It is the first time that meteorite shower has been recorded in Vidarbha. A GSI team will be surveying the entire area where people had witnessed fire balls and explosion like sound in a day or two for more evidence. <br />
<br />
However, the scientific reason of the sound remains unexplained. Speculations are that the sound could be the cumulative effect of different pieces of a large number of meteorites falling over a vast area or from impact of a single larger that fell in an uninhabited area like deep forest or river beds. The scientists are also not sure of any correlation, if any, between the meteorites falling and <b>tremors of 2.1 Richter scale recorded around the same time</b>. They said a tremor caused by impact of a huge meteorite could not be ruled out but the two events happening together could also be a coincidence. <br />
<br />
A team of geologists led by the deputy director general (DDG) of the Geological Survey of India (GSI) Central region in city Binod Kumar has collected small meteorite pieces from different locations in and around Katol town on Wednesday evening. "We got a phone call from Katol at around 5pm on Wednesday about some stone like objects fallen at different places. I rushed to the spot with four geologists and collected the pieces. All the pieces are meteorites," said Kumar. <br />
<br />
The DDG said many people had heard the sound. GSI team confirmed the facts in presence of the Katol tehsildar. Pieces from four different locations at Laxmi Nagar, IUDP Layout, Khutamba road and IUDP layout towards Nagpur road which were collected respectively by the town residents Nathoji Ramakrishna Charde, Govinda Muralidhar Mahajan, Javed Razzak Shaikh and Pundlik Kashiram Shivarkar. "The pieces are in our possession. We will send them to our head office at Kolkata where their exact chemical and physical analysis would be done and their age determined using radioisotope method," said Kumar. <br />
<br />
Director of petrology department G Suresh said all the pieces were from a 'stony meteorite' as they were very rich in silicate minerals and minute quantities of iron and nickel. "The black surface is because of burning effect as they entered the earth's atmosphere," he said. The sample from Lakshmi Nagar is biggest (9.5X9X5.5cm) and weighs 673.5 gms. <br />
<br />
Geologist S H Wankhede said, "all samples when collected were cold. They contain some nodules of iron and nickel. This piece caused an impact on the ground and created a void of 8X6X10 cm," he said. Third geologist Mohammed Shareef said that third piece recovered from agricultural field on Khutamba road fell on a galvanized iron ceiling and pierced it. <br />
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The Raman Science Centre project coordinator Shrikant Pathak clarified that meteorites sometimes caused a sound when they blast in air or big pieces strike with each other. Sound also occurred in case of a cracking of a cavity inside a meteorite piece. Big sounds occur only when big pieces hit earth. "But it is difficult to specify the reason for sound unless we find a much bigger piece of meteorite somewhere else in the region," he said. </div>
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<h2>
<a href="http://www.universetoday.com/95550/video-of-california-daytime-fireball-surfaces/">Video of April California Daytime Fireball Surfaces</a> </h2>
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Nancy Atkinson<br />
Universe Today<br />
Thu, 31 May 2012 17:04 CDT</div>
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Video footage has finally surfaced of the daytime fireball that illuminated the sky over the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California back in April. NASA and the SETI Institute had asked the public to submit any amateur photos or video footage of the event, and previously a just few photos were taken of the event, even though it happened in broad daylight and created sonic booms that were heard over a wide area, back on Sunday, April 22, 2012 at 7:51 a.m. PDT. A few weeks later, Shon Bollock, who was making a time-lapse kayaking video just outside Kernville, California realized he had captured the bolide streaking through the air. This video shows the event several times, successively zooming in for a closer look. According to NASA it is the only footage of the meteor thus far. <br />
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Meteorite hunters have been <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/94828/meteorite-hunters-find-fragments-from-the-recent-daytime-fireball-in-california/" target="_blank">successful in locating fragments</a> of the meteor, now called the Sutter's Mill meteor since the event occurred near the area famous for where gold was discovered back in 1848, creating the California gold rush. <br />
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NASA estimated fragments could be dispersed over a 16-km (10-mile) area. <br />
<br />
Phil Plait <a href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/05/31/video-of-the-daylight-california-fireball/" target="_blank">says</a> the video is being studied by astronomers and meteoriticists to try to calculate the trajectory, speed, and possible orbit of the object, which is difficult with just one video, so if anyone finds they have 'accidently' taken footage of the event, contact the NASA Lunar Science Institute at the NASA Ames Research Center. <br />
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NASA used an airship to search for meteorites from this event. Noted meteorite expert Peter Jenniskens said the meteorites found so far from the fall are Carbonaceous Chondrites from the CM group of meteorites, "a rare type of primitive meteorite rich in organic compounds,"and scientists have precious few samples of this kind of material. The meteorites are very interesting to scientists from an astrobiology perspective, as they contain molecules related to how the building blocks for life on Earth may have been delivered from outer space. Scientist believe that this meteor could hold the answers to the origin of life on Earth and the universe. By studying the meteor, scientists also will learn more about the early solar system and the formation of our planets. <br />
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"This is among the most chemically primitive meteorites," said NLSI Deputy Director Greg Schmidt. "It's like asking 'how did life on Earth begin?' and then having a fossil fall right in your back yard. This is exciting stuff - who knows what's inside? The Sutter's Mill Meteorite could be the most profound sample collected in over 40 years." <br />
<br />
Via the <a href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/05/31/video-of-the-daylight-california-fireball/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DiscoverSpace+%28Discover+Space%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher" target="_blank">Bad Astronomer</a></div>
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</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">A Service of <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">Signs of the Times</a>: The most comprehensive, objective and reliable Alternative News Source on the Web. If you aren't reading <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">SOTT</a>, you don't know what's REALLY happening!</div>Keithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06011086310017706847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385115091808825739.post-33563054810461360012012-05-09T17:29:00.002+01:002012-05-09T17:33:06.562+01:00April 2012<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h2>
<a href="http://www.nzherald.co.nz/space/news/article.cfm?c_id=325&objectid=10796268">'Unbelievable' meteor seen in the skies over New Zealand - residents report 'loud boom' from large fiery meteor</a> </h2>
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New Zealand Herald<br />
Mon, 02 Apr 2012 17:32 CDT<br />
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<span class="caption">A trail left by the meteor, taken from Karori, Wellington.</span></div>
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A spectacular, bright meteor that left a long trail in the sky has stunned witnesses in Wellington and Christchurch tonight. The WeatherWatch website has been inundated with reports of the fireball, which witnesses say rushed across the sky at about 6.30pm. A Nelson resident described it as an "unbelievable'' green, orange and white ball flying past at "super speed'', leaving behind a massive trail that lasted for nearly 10 minutes before dissipating. <br />
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A Hanmer Springs resident said they heard "a loud boom'' about two minutes after it streaked past. "Not sure if hit the ground or sonic boom, perhaps the latter, very exciting! Much more exciting than putting the washing out.'' A Wellingtonian said the meteor was "full on magnesium bright and flaming'', while another said it was "almost fluorescent and very intense''. <br />
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A Cantabrian said the whole family were excited by the meteor, which came low to the horizon with two bright flashes and trails of smoke. "Like an arc welder torch, it seemed VERY close and low to us, was waiting for the bang it seemed so close and bright, but obviously moving at tremendous speed. I have never seen anything like this!'' <br />
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Police central communications shift inspector Ken Climo said some of his staff had seen the event and described it as "quite spectacular''. <br />
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The Rescue Coordination Centre described it as a contrail, he said. </div>
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<h2>
<a href="http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/suspected-meteor-s-fate-fascinates-astronomers-4813065">Suspected meteor's fate fascinates astronomers</a> </h2>
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TVNZ<br />
Tue, 03 Apr 2012 15:05 CDT<br />
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<span class="tiny">© Alex McNeil</span><br />
<span class="caption">The meteor from Bulls</span></div>
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(New Zealand) Astronomers are hoping to find out if what was thought to be a giant meteor has landed on Earth. <br />
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Eye witnesses from Northland to Christchurch spotted what is believed to be a meteor flash across the sky just before 6.30pm last night. <br />
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Police up and down the country were inundated with calls from people describing a fireball that flashed green and orange, followed by a spiral trail. <br />
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People in the South Island reported a sonic boom. <br />
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Astronomers say it poses no risk. <br />
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<i>Do you have any pictures or video of the 'meteor'. Send them to ONE News at news@tvnz.co.nz</i> <br />
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The Carter Observatory said on its Facebook page it appeared to be a meteor burning up in Earth's atmosphere. <br />
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The astronomers hope to find out today if any of the meteor could have survived the re-entry to reach the ground and where it could have landed. <br />
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Do you have any pictures or video of the 'meteor'. Send them to ONE News at news@tvnz.co.nz <br />
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The Carter Observatory said on its Facebook page it appeared to be a meteor burning up in Earth's atmosphere. <br />
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The astronomers hope to find out today if any of the meteor could have survived the re-entry to reach the ground and where it could have landed. <br />
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Astronomer John Field of the observatory told ONE News meteors are very rare. <br />
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<div class="StoryComment">
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<b>Comment: </b>The above statement is <a href="http://www.sott.net/signs/list_by_category/17-Fire-in-the-Sky" target="_blank">grossly inaccurate</a>. <br />
<br /></div>
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He said by tracking the orbits of them, astronomers can work out where they came from to give an idea of what their parent body was. <br />
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"If they actually fall down to earth and become a meteorite and people recover it, we can analyse to work out where they came in the solar system. These objects could be about four billion years old," Field said. <br />
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Katy Robb said: "We saw it streak and then burn itself out in a big flash. The residue of light lingered for several minutes afterwards." <br />
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Olivia Atkinson said it looked like a "giant ball of fire" that "exploded at the end". She said she could only see it for five seconds. <br />
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Anton Jelinek spotted the phenomenon from Wakefield in Tasman District. <br />
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"It started out green, and the progressed through red and orange to a very bright white," he said. <br />
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"It left a white trial which lasted for a few minutes."<br />
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<h2>
<a href="http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/environment/article/Fireball-most-likely-space-garbage-or-meteor-3453614.php">San Antonio Fireball leaves area residents wondering</a> </h2>
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MySanAntonio.com<br />
Tue, 03 Apr 2012 12:02 CDT</div>
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People who reported seeing a fiery ball of light in the cloudless noon sky Monday really did see an unidentified flying object. <br />
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The flying object has not been identified. But no one has conjectured that it held little green men with giant eyes. <br />
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It was likely falling space debris or a meteor, according to the National Weather Service. <br />
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"It could definitely have caused that," said meteorologist Pat McDonald. "It's the only thing we can think that could have caused that." <br />
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A space rock or piece of an old satellite burning up as it hits the Earth's atmosphere is not a rare occurrence, said Joe Wheelock, the public affairs specialist at the McDonald Observatory. <br />
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"It's not uncommon at all," he said. <br />
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Jane Marke, an amateur astronomer, said she was at a traffic light near the airport when she saw a bright light streaking across the eastern sky at 11:49 a.m. <br />
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"I saw a brightness of light fall from the sky, going very fast," Marke said. "I would say it was about 1 magnitude. That's about as bright as you can get." <br />
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She said she believes it was a meteor, though it could have been "a piece of space junk." <br />
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A San Antonio Express-News photographer driving between Kerrville and Comfort saw what he described as a very bright ball of light low in the sky at 11:50 a.m. <br />
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Around the same time, a 911 caller reported seeing some sort of airborne fiery object that appeared to be falling near Johns Road north of Interstate 10 in Boerne. A police officer was dispatched but didn't find anything, a department clerk said. <br />
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Sheriff's offices in Kendall County and Kerr County reported receiving no calls about the object. <br />
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The Army, which operates an ammunition storage and transfer facility at Camp Stanley in Northwest Bexar County, reported no unusual activity Monday morning. <br />
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"All the ranges at Camp Stanley are closed, so we weren't testing ammunition and we haven't had any incident today regarding the storage and transfer facilities," said Phil Reidinger, an Army spokesman at Fort Sam Houston. <br />
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The Air Force said none of its planes at two local bases was involved in an incident that could have caused the flash. <br />
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"We don't have anything that would generate a great flash of light in the sky," said Dave Smith, a spokesman with the Air Education and Training Command at Randolph AFB. <br />
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For those who missed the fireball, the good news is that the Lyrid meteor shower can be seen April 21-22. <br />
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Colin McDonald, Zeke MacCormack, Sig Christenson and Scott Huddleston contributed to this report. </div>
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<h2>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIHW4iYxvOQ">First 'February Fireballs', now 'April Fireballs': Daytime Meteor Streaks over Texas</a> </h2>
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WOAI 4 News<br />
Mon, 02 Apr 2012 12:11 CDT<br />
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We've received a bunch of phone calls Monday about a ball of fire in the sky. <br />
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John Haley says that's exactly what it looked like. <br />
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<b>"It was like a fireball falling right out of the sky,"</b> Haley told News 4 WOAI.<b> "It was so bright! It was like a little piece of the sun falling with a big torch behind it."</b> <br />
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I spoke to our astronomer expert Bob Kelley with the Scobee Planetarium, and he explained that it was a phenomenon called "April Fireballs." <br />
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Chunks of meteors enter and burn up in our atmosphere. The fireballs are brighter than a shooting star and can happen at any time of the day. For reasons astronomers don't fully understand, they occur in early April. <br />
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San Antonians weren't the only ones who saw the April Fireball Monday morning. Sightings were reported in New Braunfels, Kerrville, Floresville and other cities nearby. <br />
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"I can chalk that up on the old bucket list -- I saw a meteorite during the day," laughed Haley." </div>
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<b>Comment: </b>The phenomenon known as 'April Fireballs'? When a spate of fireballs rained down in February, NASA labelled them the 'February Fireballs', even though no such thing existed before this year... <br />
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/241972-Fireballs-of-February-" target="_blank" title="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/241972-Fireballs-of-February-">"Fireballs of February"?</a><br />
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<h2>
<a href="http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20120404/ADV01/120404089/-Flare-may-meteor">Fireball spotted over Lake Michigan</a> </h2>
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Samantha Hernandez<br />
greenbaypressgazette.com<br />
Wed, 04 Apr 2012 12:25 CDT</div>
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/95235/full/MeteorFireball_breakup_Chumack.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© John Chumack/FILE PHOTO"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/95235/medium/MeteorFireball_breakup_Chumack.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
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<span class="tiny">© John Chumack/FILE PHOTO</span></div>
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<span class="caption">Coming to a neighbourhood near you soon? Another fireball streaks through the sky.</span></div>
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A call that brought out search and rescue crews off the Lake Michigan shore Tuesday night may have been sparked by a falling meteor. <br />
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The U.S. Coast Guard Canal Station in Sturgeon Bay responded to a sighting of an off-shore white flare near Jacksonport Tuesday night. <br />
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"We had a call at approximately 9:15 p.m. local time of one white flare an undetermined distance off the shore" near Jacksonport, said BMC Justin Longval, executive petty officer at the station. <br />
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A white flare does not necessarily mean distress - a distress flare is red - but the Coast Guard launched its 45-foot response boat and called in an aircraft from the Air Station in Traverse City, Mich., for the search. <br />
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The Coast Guard searched by air and water for two hours without finding anything or anyone, Longval said. <br />
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A helicopter from Traverse City conducted a first-light search Wednesday morning. It found nothing. <br />
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"It's always better to report it" and make sure there is nothing there, he said. <br />
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The Coast Guard has received no reports of missing persons or vessels and concluded the sighting may not have been flare. <br />
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"Meteorite, falling star, whatever you want to call it," Longval said. There is no way to know. </div>
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<h2>
<a href="http://english.pravda.ru/news/science/06-04-2012/121015-russian_satellite-0/">Propaganda Alert! Defunct Russian satellite to ram into Earth again</a> </h2>
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Pravda<br />
Fri, 06 Apr 2012 08:56 CDT</div>
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<span class="tiny">© unknown</span></div>
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Molnia (Lightning) satellite, which Russia launched into space during the 1990s to control missiles, may crash on Earth during the upcoming several days. <br />
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The location of Molnia's crash has not been determined yet. The satellite may cause considerable destruction during the fall. It weighs 1.6 tons. However, the spacecraft may partially burn in the atmosphere when falling. <br />
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The satellite may fall down on the planet before April 9<sup>th</sup>. Most likely, it will crash somewhere in the center of the Arab Peninsula. <br />
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Russian specialists monitor the spacecraft. The service time of the satellite is two years, the Fifth Channel reports. <br />
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Molnia-1T satellites were replaced with Meridian military spacecraft during the 2000s. <br />
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Two spacecraft went off Earth's orbit last week. They were the first Soviet satellite Meteor-1 and one of the first US research satellites Explorer-8. <br />
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The satellite may fall down on the planet before April 9<sup>th</sup>. Most likely, it will crash somewhere in the center of the Arab Peninsula. <br />
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Russian specialists monitor the spacecraft. The service time of the satellite is two years, the Fifth Channel reports. <br />
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Molnia-1T satellites were replaced with Meridian military spacecraft during the 2000s. <br />
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Two spacecraft went off Earth's orbit last week. They were the first Soviet satellite Meteor-1 and one of the first US research satellites Explorer-8. <br />
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<i></i> </div>
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<b>Comment: </b>More disinformation as fireballs rain down... <br />
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/243816-First-February-Fireballs-now-April-Fireballs-Daytime-Meteor-Streaks-over-Texas" target="_blank">First 'February Fireballs', now 'April Fireballs': Daytime Meteor Streaks over Texas</a><br />
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<h2>
<a href="http://www.livescience.com/19592-texas-daytime-fireball.html">NASA reinvents history to make increasing numbers of fireballs seem normal</a> </h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
Natalie Wolchover<br />
Live Science<br />
Tue, 10 Apr 2012 10:21 CDT<br />
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/99211/full/texas_fireball.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© YouTube | Celestialconvergence"><img alt="Texas Fireball" border="0" height="230" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/99211/large/texas_fireball.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
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<span class="tiny">© YouTube | Celestialconvergence</span><br />
<span class="caption">A spectacular fireball streaked across the Texas sky April 4.</span></div>
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A great ball of fire streaked across the Texas sky during the daytime last week, much to the surprise of thousands of people who witnessed it. So bright that it looked "like a little piece of the sun falling," as one San Antonio resident told the local news station, the rare daytime meteor event was yet another example of the scientific mystery known as spring fireball season. <br />
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According to NASA, 30 years of observations show that there's a consistent uptick in the number of fireballs - meteors that glow brighter than the planets as they scorch through Earth's atmosphere - during the spring compared with other times of the year. "There are two peaks: one around February and the other at the end of March and early April," said Bill Cooke, head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. "And this remains a mystery." <br />
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The <a href="http://www.livescience.com/2333-earth-clouds-alive-bacteria.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.livescience.com/2333-earth-clouds-alive-bacteria.html">Texas event</a> was bright enough to have corresponded to the atmospheric burnup of a space rock at least a yard across, Cooke told <a href="http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/" target="_blank" title="http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/">Life's Little Mysteries</a>. But no one knows why springtime meteors are 10 to 30 percent more common. "I can tell you a lot of the bright and slow fireballs appear to be coming from the direction opposite the sun, but they have not much in common other than that," he said. "You see a lot more ordinary meteors in the fall, but the spring seems to have the big slow movers - the ones that are really impressive." <br />
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To tackle the mystery, Cooke and his NASA colleagues have set up a network of "smart meteor cameras" around the United States that they use to triangulate the trajectories of meteors, pinning down their positions to within the area of a football field as they enter the atmosphere. This has enabled the scientists to map the origins of falling space rocks from different parts of the sky. <br />
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The approximately 1,800 meteor events recorded by the camera network so far indicate that the spring fireballs probably originate from <a href="http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/886-asteroid-comet-or-meteor.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/886-asteroid-comet-or-meteor.html">asteroids, while fall meteors come from comets</a>. "The [spring fireballs'] orbits indicate they come from the main asteroid belt. A lot of the smaller meteors in the fall come from comets, which are made of icy bits of dust, and they don't last long in the atmosphere. Those ones are generally not big enough to make fireballs." <br />
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Once sufficient data has been collected, the scientists expect a pattern to emerge that will reveal the reason for spring fireball season, or the fact that Earth seems to encounter more asteroidal material in the spring. "It appears that a lot of the stuff out there in the asteroid belt is clumping up in the springtime more than other times of the year," he said. <br />
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The other hope is that the network's precision will improve to the point that a fireball's trajectory can be calculated accurately enough to locate and retrieve a meteorite on the ground after it has fallen. That would allow scientists to study what the chunk of asteroidal material is made of, and to trace it back to the asteroid from which it came. </div>
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<b>Comment: </b>This phenomenon is certainly anything but 'rare', as the original headline of the above article claimed: <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/243816-First-February-Fireballs-now-April-Fireballs-Daytime-Meteor-Streaks-over-Texas" target="_blank">First 'February Fireballs', now 'April Fireballs': Daytime Meteor Streaks over Texas</a> <br />
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As for NASA. they're just making this stuff up to fool folks. <br />
<blockquote class="typ1">
"There are two peaks: one around February and the other at the end of March and early April," said Bill Cooke, head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. </blockquote>
Really? That's not what Bill said back in February this year when the so-called 'February Fireballs phenomenon' was first promoted: <br />
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/241972-Fireballs-of-February-" target="_blank">"Fireballs of February"?</a> <br />
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No mention of this "second peak in late March or early April"... <br />
<br />
Go to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteor_shower" target="_blank">Wiki's page</a> on meteor showers. See anything listed for late March or early April? Nope, NASA is just making BS up as it goes along.<br />
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<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/trooper-motorist-mysterious-object-fell-sky-125824263.html">Trooper, motorist: Mysterious object fell from sky</a> </h2>
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Associated Press<br />
Thu, 12 Apr 2012 11:55 CDT</div>
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/99442/full/shutterstock_20120412144628_32.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© WWLP"><img alt="Meteor" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/99442/medium/shutterstock_20120412144628_32.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
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<span class="tiny">© WWLP</span><br />
<span class="caption">File photo.</span><br />
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Authorities in northwestern Connecticut say they didn't find anything after a state trooper and another person reported a large object falling out of the sky in Litchfield. <br />
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<i><a href="http://www.rep-am.com/news/local/634388.txt" target="_blank" title="http://www.rep-am.com/news/local/634388.txt">The Republican-American</a></i><a href="http://www.rep-am.com/news/local/634388.txt" target="_blank" title="http://www.rep-am.com/news/local/634388.txt"> of Waterbury reports</a> that a person driving in Litchfield at about 2 a.m. Tuesday reported that a green, glowing object the size of a whale fell from the sky and crashed into Bantam Lake. Officials say that at about the same time, a state trooper 10 miles away in Warren called dispatchers to report that something fell out of the sky and landed near Bantam or Morris. <br />
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Morris firefighters made several passes up and down the lake in a boat looking for a possible plane crash, but didn't find any debris. <br />
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Authorities called off the search, leaving the mystery unsolved. <br />
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<a href="http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/11857161-418/story.html">Hundreds Report Seeing Fireball in the Sky Over Chicago</a> </h2>
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SunTimes<br />
Thu, 12 Apr 2012 16:19 CDT</div>
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Skywatchers across the Chicago area reported a streaking fireball in the sky so intense that some thought they'd witnessed a fiery plane crash on the Southeast Side. <br />
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Reports of the fireball starting coming in about 8:25 p.m., according to a meteor and <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com" target="_blank" title="lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com">meteorite sighting blog,</a> with over 100 people from Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Iowa reporting the light show. <br />
<br />
Descriptions ranged from simply a blue-green fireball to a yellow fireball with a red center and a trailing blue-and-white tail. <br />
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John from North Chicago wrote "12sec NW green/blue very bright unknown it only lasted about 12sec but it was a sight to see truly amazing." <br />
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But while many delighted in the display, others thought they'd witnessed something much grimmer as emergency crews responded to 126th Street and Avenue 0 on the Far Southeast Side of the city to investigate a possible plane crash. <br />
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A police helicopter was also called to help search Wolf Lake, which sits on the Illinois-Indiana border near the Hegewisch neighborhood. <br />
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Searchers found nothing, and authorities soon found that while no aircraft had been reported missing, many skywatchers were reporting a "very bright" meteor falling about 8:20 p.m. and crews stopped their search, the Chicago Fire Department said. <br />
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No one from NASA or the National Weather Service could be reached for comment. </div>
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<h2>
<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/9201259/RAF-sonic-boom-jets-spark-resident-alarm-after-helicopter-emergency.html">Really? UK Ministry of Defence Claims RAF Jets Rushing To Intercept Private Helicopter Caused Massive Boom That Shook Homes Across England</a> </h2>
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UK Telegraph<br />
Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:24 CDT</div>
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Emergency services <b>across swaths of England</b> were inundated with calls from worried residents amid reports of a mysterious "loud bang" which turned out to be a sonic boom from two RAF Typhoon jets. <br />
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Concerned locals across the Home Counties, Cotswolds, Wiltshire, Somerset and parts of the Midlands reported hearing the deafening noise <b>shortly after 6pm on Thursday amid fears of a large explosion.</b> <br />
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But rather than anything sinister, it was a sonic boom caused by a pair of Royal Air Force Typhoon jets breaking the sound barrier, the Ministry of Defence said. <br />
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The Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) crews were scrambled after a civilian helicopter emitted an emergency signal in the Oxford area. <br />
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MoD sources said the "idiot" pilot, who has not been identified, had used a wrong frequency to <b>emit the emergency signal that usually indicates an aircraft has either been hijacked or had "gone rogue".</b> <br />
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Fearing that a serious incident was unfolding, MoD officials gave the jets the green light to go "supersonic, which resulted in the sonic boom". <br />
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The jets, based at RAF Conningsby in Lincolnshire, were already on route by the time the pilot realised his mistake and switched to the correct one. <br />
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An aviation source close to the incident, said: "It was caused by a helicopter transmitting a hijack code which triggered the launch of the two Typhoons. <br />
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"Supersonic flight was authorised by London Military Air Traffic Control which is only allowed in exceptional circumstances over land." The MoD response was standard procedure after receiving such a signal, officials said. <br />
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But such was the extent of the noise that homes started to shake across Coventry, Rugby and Leamington as hundreds of residents rang police and emergency services. <br />
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One video posted to Twitter, believed to be a crack of thunder by the person behind the camera lens in Northamptonshire, was later reported as the sonic boom by Channel 4 News. <br />
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Meanwhile, residents around Bath and Swindon reported seeing the fighter jets performing manoeuvres in the skies overhead. <br />
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Chris Wilford, 38, a Bath resident, told The <i>Daily Telegraph</i> that the jets kept circling the helicopter and "looked very close" to the aircraft, which he thought was a police helicopter at first. <br />
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"(It) slowed down and seemed to sharply pull round at one point (and) looked very near the helicopter from where I was watching," the council manager said. <br />
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"Around the helicopter, they pulled so sharp that the jets nose pulled almost verticle and you could see it was a triangle shaped Jet. <br />
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"It was very noisy, at first, because planes on their way to Bristol airport regularly fly over, I thought it must have been one of those, it was very low. I saw the helicopter first then the Jet arrived." <br />
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Alison Howell, 33, a resident from Leamington Spa, Warks, said she thought there had been a huge car crash outside of her house. <br />
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<b>"The noise was just deafening, it sounded like a massive car accident right outside my front door," she said.</b> <br />
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<b>"It was pretty terrifying to be fair. I nearly jumped out of my skin.</b> <br />
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<b>"The windows shook and I thought they were going to break. I've never heard anything like it in my life."</b> <br />
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Mandy Leech, 44, from Coventry, added: "If it was just somebody accidentally pressing a button in his helicopter I won't be very happy because it woke my baby up and scared the life out of me." <br />
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Inspector Phil Rogers, of Thames Valley Police, said his force had been "inundated with calls". <br />
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"We were concerned to start with but there were no reports of any explosions, damage or casualties," he said. <br />
<br />
"The calls we got were widespread." <br />
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<b>A spokesman for West Midlands Police added: "The cause of the noise is not known at this stage however we can state that the 'incident' does not require any direct police attendance."</b> <br />
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On Thursday night an MoD spokesman said: "We can confirm that a small civilian aircraft was transmitting inadvertently on an emergency frequency at approximately 1810. <br />
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"Two typhoons from the Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) responded accordingly and <b>authorisation was given from them to go supersonic</b> which resulted in the sonic boom. <br />
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<b>"There was no actual threat to the civilian aircraft and they soon rectified their mistake."</b> <br />
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It remained unclear last night what action was being taken against the pilot. It is the second time this year that a sonic boom has been created by a Typhoon aircraft. <br />
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In January, the MoD confirmed that a loud noise heard by people across the North of England was caused by an RAF fighter jet breaking the sound barrier. <br />
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A sonic boom is the sound associated with the shockwaves created when an object travels through the air and breaks the sound barrier. <br />
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The noise contains large amounts of sound energy, meaning sonic booms are often mistaken for explosions. </div>
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<b>Comment: </b>Really? This sounds like the MOD making up a lame plausible answer to what is clearly not a sonic boom. Sonic booms are not heard across hundreds of miles of countryside. And why would RAF jets be scrambled and allowed to go supersonic (which is only authorised in extreme circumstances) in response to what was a fairly benign situation? In addition, this boom was heard six hours before another massive boom <a href="http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/2012/04/12/delaware-sonic-boom-jet-prompt-hundreds-of-questions.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/2012/04/12/delaware-sonic-boom-jet-prompt-hundreds-of-questions.html">was heard across a wide area of Ohio, USA</a>. <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/244035-Big-boom-still-has-Poconos-buzzing" target="_blank" title="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/244035-Big-boom-still-has-Poconos-buzzing">Given the large number of meteorite sightings across the globe in recent years, including loud unexplained booms</a>, the most likely explanation is that what people heard, both in the UK and Ohio, was the overhead detonation of a meteorite fragment.</div>
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<a href="http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120407/NEWS/204070328">Meteor explodes over Pennsylvania? Big boom still has Poconos buzzing</a> </h2>
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Pocno Record<br />
Sat, 07 Apr 2012 15:55 CDT</div>
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Was it a secret military exercise, the beginning of the Mayan prophesy or an alien invasion? <br />
<br />
A loud boom, heard by Pocono residents and others throughout northeastern Pennsylvania the night of March 30, remains a mystery. <br />
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The boom, heard at about 10:10 p.m., shook cars and houses from Long Pond to Bushkill. <br />
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Pocono Record readers at the time speculated it was a tanker wreck on Interstates 80 or 380, a bunch of semi-trucks rolling down a quiet street or an exploding meth lab. <br />
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<b>Some residents reported a bright flash in the sky that didn't appear to be lightning just before the blast.</b> <br />
<br />
But most readers agreed the sound was no routine thunder. <br />
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<span class="BoldGrey">What it wasn't</span> <br />
<br />
One thing it probably wasn't was an earthquake. <br />
<br />
The U.S. Geological Survey noted five reportable earthquakes worldwide between 10:02 and 10:22 p.m. The closest to the Poconos was a 1.6 magnitude quake in Seeley, Calif., more than 2,800 miles from northeastern Pennsylvania. <br />
<br />
Ohio meteorologist and Pocono weather expert Ben Gelber said the sonic boom was probably due to thunderstorms. <br />
<br />
"<b>A similar boom was heard in Honesdale</b>, which rules out a local explosion of some kind," he said. "Acoustic 'shock waves' triggered by a lightning flash trapped in a cold surface can be uncommonly and frighteningly loud." <br />
<br />
Temperature readings that night were in the low 40s. <br />
<br />
Thunder has been known to crack wood and shatter windows in extreme circumstances, according to Gelber. The sound waves are refracted or trapped in the lowest layers of the atmosphere just above us. <br />
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"The timing with storms present, a preceding flash and sonic boom reports separated by 45 miles fit with scattered thunderstorms along a warm front overrunning cold air near the ground," he said. <br />
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<span class="BoldGrey">Unlikely explanation</span> <br />
<br />
An astronomer Gelber consulted said there was a <b>remote chance that a fragmenting meteoroid could have been responsible for a sonic boom as it passed through a thicker atmosphere closer to the surface.</b> <br />
<br />
"<b>This would be a rare situation</b>, and almost certainly would have left some magnetized fragments locally for such a large explosion to occur, and simultaneously during a thunderstorm. However, this would likely not account for the sonic boom around Honesdale," Gelber said. <br />
<br />
<b>The Poconos are not alone in unexplained noises.</b> <br />
<br />
A small New England community has been beleaguered by mysterious blasts for more than 300 years, baffling scientists and residents, according to published accounts. <br />
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The town, Moodus, Conn., is about 30 miles outside of Hartford with a 2010 population of 1,413. <br />
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The Wangunk Indian tribe lived in the area during the middle and later parts of the second millennium. The town's name was derived from the Indian word meaning "place of noises." <br />
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For hundreds of years, residents spoke of unexplained underground thumps and thunders. They are reported to occur in a particular place about a mile deep and a few hundred yards wide. <br />
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The Wangunk tribe believed the booms were made by a spirit angered by the European colonists settling in the area. The settlers blamed the noises on the battle sounds of good and evil witches fighting for their puritanical souls. <br />
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Investigators have been unable to explain the noises, which could disappear for a decade at a time. <br />
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Geophysicists blamed "microquakes," which occur periodically, but that didn't really explain why they would make noises that sound like distant thunder or cannon fire. </div>
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<b>Comment: </b>"This would be a rare situation". REALLY? Apparently the astronomer that was consulted for this comment has NOT been paying attention to the news! <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/244034-Deep-Large-and-Heavy-Boom-Over-Ohio-Blamed-On-Jet" target="_blank" title="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/244034-Deep-Large-and-Heavy-Boom-Over-Ohio-Blamed-On-Jet">"Deep Large and Heavy" Boom Over Ohio Blamed On Jet</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/244032-Really-UK-Ministry-of-Defence-Claims-RAF-Jets-Rushing-To-Intercept-Private-Helicopter-Caused-Massive-Boom-That-Shook-Homes-Across-England" target="_blank" title="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/244032-Really-UK-Ministry-of-Defence-Claims-RAF-Jets-Rushing-To-Intercept-Private-Helicopter-Caused-Massive-Boom-That-Shook-Homes-Across-England">Really? UK Ministry of Defence Claims RAF Jets Rushing To Intercept Private Helicopter Caused Massive Boom That Shook Homes Across England</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/243680-Unbelievable-meteor-seen-in-the-skies-over-New-Zealand-residents-report-loud-boom-from-large-fiery-meteor" target="_blank" title="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/243680-Unbelievable-meteor-seen-in-the-skies-over-New-Zealand-residents-report-loud-boom-from-large-fiery-meteor">'Unbelievable' meteor seen in the skies over New Zealand - residents report 'loud boom' from large fiery meteor</a> <br />
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/243659-Did-You-Hear-That-Boom-Residents-Report-Saturday-Night-Sounds-that-Shook-Homes" target="_blank" title="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/243659-Did-You-Hear-That-Boom-Residents-Report-Saturday-Night-Sounds-that-Shook-Homes">Did You Hear That Boom? Residents Report Saturday Night Sounds that Shook Homes</a></div>
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<a href="http://rt.com/news/siberia-ufo-fall-meteorite-958/">Meteorite hits in Siberia? Strange Sounds and Powerful explosion could be heard</a> </h2>
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RT<br />
Fri, 13 Apr 2012 03:35 CDT</div>
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/99535/full/ic60d0488fb8f9106fd908f45828dd.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="irkutsk, meteorite" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/99535/medium/ic60d0488fb8f9106fd908f45828dd.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
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<span class="caption">An image from Russia's "Vesti" Channel</span></div>
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An unidentified glowing object is said to have crashed down from the skies in Russia's Siberia, causing a powerful explosion. A search for the mysterious item is underway amid speculations of what on Earth it could be. <br />
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Witnesses describe seeing a bright glow covering the sky, followed by a shining object <b>falling with a strange clanging sound</b> and disappearing in the distance with a blast. <br />
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The unidentified object supposedly fell in the taiga forest of the Irkutsk region, 15 kilometers from the nearest village of Vitim, on Friday night. The head of the regional administration said a group of researchers has been sent to inspect the area and question witnesses. <br />
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"We will be able to say what it is, only when we see the thing itself and the place where it fell," explained head of the region Aleksandr Sergey. "The investigators, together with hunters are going there on snowmobiles." <br />
<br />
There are two possible causes of the incident being examined. The object could either be a part of a large meteorite, or satellite wreckage. <b>Speculations that it could be a piece of the failed, recently launched North Korean carrier rocket have been dismissed</b>. Neither could it be a piece of any other aircraft as there have been no flights in the area. <br />
<br />
The director of the astronomical observatory at Irkutsk University however explained that the searches won't find any traces if it was a meteorite. <br />
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"Usually such objects completely disintegrate - they burn down in the atmosphere and split into very small fragments upon falling," he said. </div>
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/99534/full/map_showing_irkutsk_region.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© unknown"><img alt="map of russia, irkutsk" border="0" height="240" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/99534/large/map_showing_irkutsk_region.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
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<span class="tiny">© unknown</span><br />
<span class="caption">Map of Russia, showing the Irkutsk region where the unidentified flying object fell</span></div>
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This is not the first incident of this kind in the area. <br />
<br />
The best-known case, the Vitim bolide, fell in this very area in 2002 causing a powerful explosion. Detected by a US military missile-defense satellite, the event recalled the massive Tunguska blast of 1908, caused by a large falling meteorite. <br />
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This March, a mysterious cylinder fell in another part of Siberia, causing widespread speculation as to what it was. While media supposed it was part of a satellite or a fragment of a ballistic missile, the Russian Federal Space Agency denied ownership of the object. </div>
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</h2>
<h2>
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/post/fireball-in-broad-daylight-april-2-texas-sighting-confirmed-meteor-seen-in-chicago-wednesday/2012/04/13/gIQAPJk9ET_blog.html">It's raining fireballs! April 2 Texas daytime fireball confirmed, another Meteor seen in Chicago Wednesday</a> </h2>
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<div class="m-bar">
Steve Tracton<br />
Washington Post<br />
Sun, 15 Apr 2012 05:01 CDT</div>
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Early last week (April 2), thousands of people in and around San Antonio, Texas reported seeing what one eyewitness described as a piece of the sun falling from the sky during full daylight. <br />
<br />
Bill Cooke, head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office, initially reported the sighting was a brilliant fireball from a meteor burning up as it entered the Earth's atmosphere. Later, he bowed to other expert's opinion that it was a jet contrail reflecting the glow of the setting sun - apparently based on erroneous footage (of an actual contrail) aired by a local TV station. <br />
<br />
This week, though, the sightings were officially reinstated as, in fact, a rare fireball - at least one yard across - bright enough to be seen during daylight. <br />
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A fireball is a meteor larger and brighter than normal. The American Meteor Society <a href="http://www.amsmeteors.org/2012/04/midwestern-usa-fireball-april-11-2012/" target="_blank">offers more background</a>: <br />
<blockquote class="typ1">
Fireballs occur every day over all parts of the Earth. It is rare though for an individual to see more than one or two per lifetime as they can also occur during the day (when the blinding sun can obscure them), or on a cloudy night, or over the ocean where there is no one to witness them. Observing during one of the major annual meteor showers can increase your chance of seeing another bright meteor. </blockquote>
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<b>Comment: </b>Nothing to see here folks! Fireballs are seen all over the world, every day, always have been, always will be! No doubt when one of them causes serious damage in an urban area, these same 'authorities on fireballs' will tell us that it happens all the time, the city that got hit was 'just unlucky'... <br />
<br />
This reshaping of the past to fit the facts of the present is typical of a scientific mindset so hopelessly bound to the extremist uniformitarian worldview. <br />
<blockquote class="typ2">
Uniformitarianism is the assumption that the same natural laws and processes that operate in the universe now, have always operated in the universe in the past and apply everywhere in the universe. <br />
<br />
~ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniformitarianism" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="typ1">
"Oceania was at war with Eurasia; therefore Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia." <br />
<br />
~ George Orwell, <i>1984</i> </blockquote>
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<br />
<br />
Only two daylight fireballs are sighted per year on average. <b>Coincidently or otherwise, on the same day as the San Antonio fireball, the average was tied by a daytime fireball observed over New Zealand.</b> <br />
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<b>Comment: </b>Uhm, say what?! <br />
<br /></div>
<br />
For unknown reasons, fireballs visible in the night sky (at least as brilliant as Venus) occur most frequently from February through the spring. To date, at least 10 nighttime fireballs have been confirmed over the U.S. this year. <br />
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<div class="StoryComment">
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<b>Comment: </b>...first NASA called them "February fireballs", now it's "occur most frequently from February through the spring"... watch them extend that to 'February through the summer'... <br />
<br /></div>
<br />
Here's a video of one captured from University of Wisconsin-Madison on the roof of the Atmospheric, Oceanic & Space Sciences Building on Wednesday around 8:20 p.m. central time. <br />
<br />
The American Meteor Society said it received nearly 40 reports of the above fireball from several Midwestern states. <br />
<br />
Reports of many different colors have been received, with blue and green being most mentioned. The average brightness reported by witnesses was near the light produced by a half-illuminated moon. <br />
<br />
This fireball streaked above the skies of the Windy City. WLS 890AM Chicago reported: "The meteor that blazed across the sky in the Chicago area Wednesday night was probably about the size of a basketball and moving about 36,000 mph." <br />
<br />
The last time a fireball was spotted in the Chicago skies was March 2003 WLS said. </div>
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<b>Comment: </b>"March 2003", really? That's not what we heard: <br />
<br />
<a href="http://articles.chicagobreakingnews.com/2011-01-19/news/28533032_1_meteor-sky-wednesday-night-streaks" target="_blank">Bright meteor streaks across Chicago sky</a>, 19 January 2011 <br />
<br />
Authorities' explanations for what's going on are starting to wear very thin indeed: <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/244032-Really-UK-Ministry-of-Defence-Claims-RAF-Jets-Rushing-To-Intercept-Private-Helicopter-Caused-Massive-Boom-That-Shook-Homes-Across-England" target="_blank">Really? UK Ministry of Defence Claims RAF Jets Rushing To Intercept Private Helicopter Caused Massive Boom That Shook Homes Across England</a>, 13 April 2012 <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/244035-Meteor-explodes-over-Pennsylvania-Big-boom-still-has-Poconos-buzzing" target="_blank">Meteor explodes over Pennsylvania? Big boom still has Poconos buzzing</a>, 7 April 2012 </div>
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<h2>
<a href="http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/2012G1/2012G1.html">New Comet - P/2012 G1 (PanSTARRS)</a> </h2>
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<div class="m-bar">
Seiichi Yoshida<br />
Aerith Net<br />
Tue, 17 Apr 2012 23:38 CDT</div>
</div>
<span class="BoldGrey">Discovery Date:</span> April 13th 2012 <br />
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<span class="BoldGrey">Magnitude:</span> 21.1 Mag <br />
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<span class="BoldGrey">Discoverer: </span>Pan-STARRS 1 telescope (Haleakala) <br />
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/99856/full/mag.gif" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Aerith Net"><img alt="P/2012 G1" border="0" height="240" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/99856/large/mag.gif" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
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<span class="tiny">© Aerith Net</span><br />
<span class="caption">Magnitude Graph</span><br />
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The orbital elements are published on <a href="http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/mpec/K12/K12H17.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/mpec/K12/K12H17.html">M.P.E.C. 2012-H17</a>. </div>
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<h2>
</h2>
<h2>
<a href="http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/2012F6/2012F6.html">New Comet - C/2012 F6 (Lemmon)</a> </h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
Seiichi Yoshida<br />
Aerith Net<br />
Tue, 17 Apr 2012 23:56 CDT</div>
</div>
<span class="BoldGrey">Discovery Date:</span> 23rd March 2012 <br />
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<span class="BoldGrey">Magnitude:</span> 20.7 mag <br />
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<span class="BoldGrey">Discoverer:</span> A. R. Gibbs (Mount Lemmon Survey) <br />
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<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/99859/full/mag.gif" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Aerith Net"><img alt="C/2012 F6 (Lemmon)" border="0" height="243" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/99859/large/mag.gif" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
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<span class="tiny">© Aerith Net</span><br />
<span class="caption">Magnitude Graph</span></div>
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The orbital elements are published on <a href="http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/mpec/K12/K12G45.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/mpec/K12/K12G45.html">M.P.E.C. 2012-G45</a>. </div>
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<h2>
<a href="http://science1.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/18apr_lyrids/">A wonderful night in April - April 21 and the 3D Lyrid Meteor Shower</a> </h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
Dr. Tony Phillips<br />
Science@NASA<br />
Fri, 20 Apr 2012 16:02 CDT</div>
</div>
<div class="article-body">
This weekend, NASA scientists, amateur astronomers, and an astronaut on board the International Space Station will attempt the first-ever 3D photography of meteors from Earth and space. <br />
<br />
"The annual Lyrid meteor shower peaks on April 21-22," says Bill Cooke, the head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. "We're going to try to photograph some of these 'shooting stars' simultaneously from ground stations, from a research balloon in the stratosphere, and from the space station." <br />
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<div align="center">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/uJNUaGUPnPM?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0" height="309" width="400"></iframe></div>
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Lyrid meteors come from Comet Thatcher. Every year in late April Earth passes through a stream of debris from the old comet, which has been bringing Lyrid meteors to our planet for at least 2600 years. Specks of Thatcher's dust hit the top of atmosphere at 110,000 mph and disintegrate in a flurry of meteors. Most years, the shower produces about 15 to 20 Lyrids per hour. <br />
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This is a good year to look for Lyrids because the Moon will be new when the shower peaks. Dark skies favor sightings both from Earth and from Earth orbit. <br />
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"Even though the Lyrids are not noted for spectacular rates, the combination of a New Moon and a very favorable viewing geometry from the International Space Station (ISS) presents a unique opportunity to simultaneously image shower meteors from above and below," says Cooke. <br />
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ISS Flight Engineer Don Pettit will be operating the camera on the space station. <br />
<br />
"Even though his equipment was designed for tasks other than meteor observing, Don is a skilled astrophotographer, and we have every confidence that he will maximize the chances of capturing a Lyrid from 400 km above Earth's surface." <br />
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As the Space Station passes over North America multiple times on the night of April 21st, a network of all-sky cameras--some operated by amateur astronomers and others by NASA--will be recording the shower. In Bishop, California, a group of high school and middle school students will launch a helium balloon to the stratosphere. The payload floating some 40 km above Earth's surface will carry an experimental low-cost meteor camera and recorder developed by the Meteoroid Environment Office. <br />
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As astrophotographers know, catching a fleet meteor with a single camera takes some luck. Catching one meteor with multiple cameras, some of them on platforms moving as fast as 17,000 mph, scattered from Earth to Earth orbit, sounds more like winning the lottery. <br />
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"Actually, we think the odds are fairly good," says Cooke, who estimates a 1 in 6 chance of a simultaneous catch between the ISS and one of the wide-field ground cameras. <br />
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If the effort does produce 3D imagery of any Lyrids, Cooke plans to use the photos to test ideas and algorithms for processing date gathered by future space-based meteor observatories. "We're laying the groundwork for small satellites that might one day be used to monitor meteor showers from Earth orbit," he explains. <br />
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Cooke encourages sky watchers everywhere be alert for meteors this Saturday night. Typical Lyrids are about as bright as the stars of the Big Dipper, so they're good for beginners. And it's not unusual to see one or two fireballs when the shower peaks. A good time to look is during the hours after midnight, when the shower's radiant is rising toward its zenith. <br />
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Although the Lyrid meteor rate is usually capped at 20 per hour, better displays sometimes occur when Earth glides through an unusually dense clump of debris. In 1982, for instance, astronomers counted as many as 90 Lyrids per hour. <br />
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"Such an outburst would be great for our experiment," says Cooke. <br />
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Amateur astronomers who wish to help monitor the 2012 Lyrids are encouraged to download the Meteor Counter for iPhones. The app records meteor counts and reports the data to NASA for possible analysis. <br />
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Also, Cooke and colleagues will be "staying up all night" on April 21st to chat with the general public about the shower. <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/connect/chat/lyrids2012_chat.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.nasa.gov/connect/chat/lyrids2012_chat.html">Tune in</a>.<br />
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<h2>
<a href="http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/2012HD2/2012HD2.html">New Comet - 2012 HD2</a> </h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
Seiichi Yoshida<br />
Aerith Net<br />
Sat, 21 Apr 2012 01:17 CDT</div>
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<span class="BoldGrey">Discovery Date:</span> April 18, 2012 <br />
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<span class="BoldGrey">Magnitude:</span> 19.6 mag <br />
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<span class="BoldGrey">Discoverer:</span> J. V. Scotti (Kitt Peak) <br />
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/100202/full/mag.gif" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Aerith Net"><img alt="Comet 2012 HD2" border="0" height="243" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/100202/large/mag.gif" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
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<span class="tiny">© Aerith Net</span><br />
<span class="caption">Magnitude Graph</span></div>
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The orbital elements are published on <a href="http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/mpec/K12/K12H32.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/mpec/K12/K12H32.html">M.P.E.C. 2012-H32.</a> <br />
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<h2>
<a href="http://www.nbcbayarea.com/weather/stories/NorCal-Sonic-Boom-Possible-Meteor-Impact-148439535.html">Loud boom over Northern California and Nevada thought to be from meteor</a> </h2>
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<div class="m-bar">
Lori Preuitt<br />
NBCbayarea<br />
Sun, 22 Apr 2012 14:56 CDT<br />
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</div>
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/100376/full/leonid_meteor_shower.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/100376/medium/leonid_meteor_shower.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
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<span class="caption">A picture of a very active Leonid meteor shower.</span><br />
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The Tuolumne County sheriff's department said they are investigating the possibility that it might have been the physical impact of an overnight meteor shower. Some people in the Tahoe area said they saw what they believed to be a meteor just prior to the sound. <br />
<br />
People who live in in Lake Tahoe, El Dorado County, Placer County, Tuolumne County, Amador County and Nevada County contacted our sister station in Sacramento. <a href="http://www.kcra.com/news/30937145/detail.html#ixzz1smqhkz00" target="_blank">KCRA is reporting</a> that they heard the sound just after 8:30 a.m. <br />
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A television station in Reno said they received similar calls from the city of Reno and as far away as Incline Village. <br />
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Meteorologists in California and Nevada including our own Rob Mayeda said there were meteor showers Saturday night that could have still been going on Sunday morning. <br />
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If the boom was a signal that an outer space rock made it way through the atmosphere, then there could be a rock or rocks now on Terra Firma. So far, no one has called authorities or television stations to report "a hit." <br />
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Mayeda said the meteor would likely be a bolide rock and that it likely burned up before getting to the ground. <br />
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Every year the Earth passes through the orbit of a comet causing the Lyrid meteor shower. The results on a clear night is a meteor shower, which comes in the form of light streaks shooting across the night sky. <br />
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The stars are <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/lyrid-meteor-shower-2012-shooting-stars-moon-helps/story?id=16189652" target="_blank">actually debris from the comet</a> as it enters the Earth's atmosphere. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://spaceweather.com/" target="_blank">According to the International Meteor Organization</a>, the Lyrid meteor shower peaked with a maximum between 20 and 30 meteors per hour. That is not the best of the year's meteor showers, but many observers said they were pleasantly surprised. <br />
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There was also a reported meteor streak in the South Bay Sunday morning at 7:50 a.m. Don Hirschfeld said he was at the Capitol Flea market when he saw a brilliant green streak race across the San Jose sky in the northeast direction. Hirshfeld said it lasted just a few seconds, but caught bargain shoppers' attention. There was no boom in the San Jose event and the streak ended with burn up flashes. <br />
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<span class="BoldGrey">UPDATE:</span> NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) tells News 4 they have received reports of a meteor strike near the Kingsbury Grade area but there is no confirmation at this point. <br />
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NBC Bay Area is reporting the Tuolumne County sheriff's department, about 90-miles east of Stockton, is investigating the possibility that there may have been the physical impact from an overnight meteor shower.People in Northern California and Nevada reported hearing a loud boom in the sky above the Sierra Sunday morning. </div>
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<h2>
<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2012/0423/Humongous-exploding-fireball-in-sky-probably-a-meteor-say-scientists-video">Second 'Rare' Daytime Fireball Explodes Over US This Month, Van-sized Meteor NOT part of Lyrid Shower</a> </h2>
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<div class="m-bar">
Eoin O'Carroll<br />
Christian Science Monitor<br />
Mon, 23 Apr 2012 15:55 CDT</div>
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A thunderous boom accompanied by a greenish fireball hurtling across the sky shattered the morning tranquility of many residents of Nevada and northern California on Sunday. <br />
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According to the Associated Press, the unannounced pyrotechnics prompted a flood of 911 calls in both states. <br />
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"It made the shades in my room shake hard enough to <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2012/0423/Mysterious-explosion-and-daylight-fireball-in-Nevada-California-skies-video" target="_blank" title="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2012/0423/Mysterious-explosion-and-daylight-fireball-in-Nevada-California-skies-video">slam into the window a couple times</a>," one Reno, Nev., resident, who initially thought it was an earthquake, told the AP. <br />
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"It knocked me off my feet and was shaking the house," said a mother in Arnold, Calif., who said she heard a booming sound at about 8 a.m. "It sounded like it was next door." <br />
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<iframe src="//widget.newsinc.com/single.html?WID=2&VID=23615274&freewheel=69016&sitesection=csmonitor" frameborder="0" height="320" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" width="400"></iframe></div>
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Those who happened to be looking at the sky say they saw a blazing light hurtling across the sky. <br />
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It is an event that makes you glad to be alive," Matthew Neal of San Francisco told the AP. "The main body was bright green and the head was bright red and white." <br />
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The fireball, which was visible in towns some 600 miles apart, was almost certainly what astronomers call a bolide, an exceptionally bright meteor. The loud crack was likely a sonic boom caused by the meteor's shockwave. <br />
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SPACE.com's Denise Chow <a href="http://www.space.com/15385-daytime-fireball-california-nevada.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.space.com/15385-daytime-fireball-california-nevada.html">quotes Bill Cooke</a>, the head of NASA's Meteoroid Environments Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., who estimated that the meteor was <a href="http://www.space.com/15385-daytime-fireball-california-nevada.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.space.com/15385-daytime-fireball-california-nevada.html">moving at about 33,500 mph</a>, weighed more than 150,000 lbs., and was roughly the size of a minivan. The energy released by the meteor as it entered the atmosphere was equivalent to about a fourth of the energy of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, he said. <br />
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No crater or debris has yet been found. <br />
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The bolide came during the peak of the <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2012/0423/Lyrid-meteor-shower-lights-up-sky-around-world-video" target="_blank" title="http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2012/0423/Lyrid-meteor-shower-lights-up-sky-around-world-video">Lyrid meteor shower</a>, which occurs annually as the earth passes through the icy tail of Comet Thatcher. Cooke told SPACE.com that it was unlikely that the two phenomena were related, but that he would not rule it out. <br />
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In any case, this meteor was probably composed of stuff much, much denser than ice. <br />
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Bolides are rare, but not completely unheard of. At about 10 p.m. on April 14, 2010, the night sky over southern Wisconsin turned to day as a meteor <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2010/0415/Fireball-in-sky-meteor-in-Wisconsin-rattles-homes-nerves" target="_blank" title="http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2010/0415/Fireball-in-sky-meteor-in-Wisconsin-rattles-homes-nerves">exploded in the atmosphere</a>. NASA later estimated the size of that meteor to be about 3.3 feet in diameter. The following August, residents in Alabama spotted a fireball caused by a meteor <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2010/0810/Meteor-shower-over-Alabama-heralded-by-large-fireball" target="_blank" title="http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2010/0810/Meteor-shower-over-Alabama-heralded-by-large-fireball">moving at a whopping 134,000 mph</a>. <br />
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The study of meteors in the United States began with a spectacular bolide. On December 14, 1807, residents of Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut spotted what one observer called a "globe of fire" barreling through the sky. <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1213/p20s01-usgn.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1213/p20s01-usgn.html">Fragments were recovered in Weston, Conn.</a>, marking some of the earliest evidence that shooting stars were caused by rocks from space. </div>
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<b>Comment: </b><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/244485-Sierra-Fireball-Decoded-Not-a-Lyrid" target="_blank" title="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/244485-Sierra-Fireball-Decoded-Not-a-Lyrid">Sierra Fireball Decoded - Not a Lyrid</a> <br />
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Choice quotes from the above video: <br />
<blockquote class="typ1">
"It happens right around April 22 every year..." </blockquote>
<blockquote class="typ2">
"The people who saw this were very lucky..." </blockquote>
<blockquote class="typ1">
"A rare daytime shooting star, no cause for alarm..." </blockquote>
There's an even better quote <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303978104577362092502481230.html" target="_blank" title="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303978104577362092502481230.html">here</a> from another 'expert' interviewed by the <i>Wall Street Journal</i>: <br />
<blockquote class="typ2">
"It happened at the height of an ongoing meteor shower that happens every year. <b>In that part of the country it's visible in the sky for several days</b>... uhm... the Lyrid meteor shower..." </blockquote>
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/100580/full/BS_Meter.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/100580/large/BS_Meter.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a></div>
...They have got to be kidding us! Oh wait, they are... <br />
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<b><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/244096-It-s-raining-fireballs-April-2-Texas-daytime-fireball-confirmed-another-Meteor-seen-in-Chicago-Wednesday" target="_blank" title="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/244096-It-s-raining-fireballs-April-2-Texas-daytime-fireball-confirmed-another-Meteor-seen-in-Chicago-Wednesday">It's raining fireballs! April 2 Texas daytime fireball confirmed, another Meteor seen in Chicago Wednesday</a></b> <br />
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The idea that NASA or anyone else can know in advance that a "mini-van-sized meteor" is going to explode in the sky on a particular day in a particular part of a particular country is total BS when we remember that in recent years asteroids have whizzed past Earth and their presence has only been detected at the very last minute, totally confounding all 'predictions': <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/240732-Bus-sized-asteroid-shaves-Earth-with-one-day-s-notice" target="_blank" title="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/240732-Bus-sized-asteroid-shaves-Earth-with-one-day-s-notice">Bus-sized asteroid shaves Earth with one day's notice</a> <br />
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This is <b>not </b>business as usual folks, don't let them fool you by ridiculing it with X-files theme songs or 'expert views'.<br />
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<h2>
<a href="http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/25/11386897-nasa-releases-photo-of-meteor-blazing-across-nevada-skies?lite">NASA shares photo of meteor in Nevada skies</a>
</h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
David R. Arnott<br />
MSNBC<br />
Wed, 25 Apr 2012 06:10 CDT</div>
</div>
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/100653/full/meteor_nevada.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Lisa Warren/NASA-JPL/AP"><img alt="" border="0" height="214" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/100653/large/meteor_nevada.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© Lisa Warren/NASA-JPL/AP</span><br />
<span class="caption">An image provided by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory shows a meteor over Reno, Nevada on April 22, 2012.</span></div>
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NASA
has released a photograph of a flaming meteor that unleashed a powerful
sonic boom Sunday morning, rattling houses in California and Nevada
when its disintegration released energy equivalent to a 5-kiloton
explosion.
<br />
<br />
The former space rock entered Earth's atmosphere around 8 a.m. PT on
April 22 and exploded over California's Central Valley, according to
NASA, which <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/asteroids/news/neo20120424.html" target="_blank">pinpointed the location in a map posted on its website</a>.
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47145238" target="_blank">According to space.com</a>, several witnesses initially thought they had experienced an earthquake.
<br />
<br />
"An event of this size might happen about once a year," said Don Yeomans
of NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office. "But most of them occur
over the ocean or an uninhabited area, so getting to see one is
something special."
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<br />
<i></i>
</div>
<br />
<b>Comment: </b>We've noted for several years that the
amount of space debris coming in or around the planet has been on the
rise. Have a look at some of these articles for more info.
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/146792-The-Hazard-to-Civilization-from-Fireballs-and-Comets" target="_blank">The Hazard to Civilization from Fireballs and Comets</a>
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/232298-Connecting-the-Dots-Cosmic-Changes-Planetary-Instability-and-Extreme-Weather" target="_blank">Cosmic Changes, Planetary Instability and Extreme Weather</a>
<br />
And keep an eye on this section: <a href="http://www.sott.net/signs/list_by_category/17-Fire-in-the-Sky" target="_blank">Fire in the Sky</a>, as we continue documenting these occurrences.<br />
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<h2>
<a href="http://www.universetoday.com/94828/meteorite-hunters-find-fragments-from-the-recent-daytime-fireball-in-california/">Meteorite Hunters Find Fragments from the Recent 'Daytime Fireball' in California</a>
</h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
Nancy Atkinson<br />
Universe Today<br />
Thu, 26 Apr 2012 09:30 CDT</div>
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<div class="article-image to-right">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/100731/full/ff.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Franck Marchis' Cosmic Diary blog"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/100731/medium/ff.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© Franck Marchis' Cosmic Diary blog</span><br />
<span class="caption">Meteorite expert and researcher Peter Jenniskens with a fragment of the bolide seen over California on April 22, 2012. </span></div>
<div class="image-caption">
</div>
</div>
Meteorite
hunters have been successful in locating fragments from the huge meteor
visible in the daytime skies over California last weekend. One of the
successful hunters was Peter Jenniskens, an expert in meteors and
meteorites, perhaps best known for retrieving the fragments of <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/89656/the-asteroid-that-fell-to-earth-meteorites-from-2008-tc3-still-giving-up-their-secrets/" target="_blank" title="http://www.universetoday.com/89656/the-asteroid-that-fell-to-earth-meteorites-from-2008-tc3-still-giving-up-their-secrets/">asteroid 2008 TC3</a> which fell in Sudan in 2008. <a href="http://cosmicdiary.org/fmarchis/2012/04/25/daylight_meteor_incalifornia/" target="_blank" title="http://cosmicdiary.org/fmarchis/2012/04/25/daylight_meteor_incalifornia/">Astronomer Franck Marchis wrote in his Cosmic Diary blog</a>
that Jenniskens realized the size of the California meteor was very
similar to 2008 TC3, and so fragments should have reached the surface,
just like they did in 2008.
<br />
<br />
Jenniskens went out searching and found a four-gram fragment of the meteor in a parking lot in Lotus, California.
<br />
<br />
<b>Update:</b> NASA and the SETI Institute are asking the
public to submit any amateur photos or video footage of the meteor that
illuminated the sky over the Sierra Nevada mountains and created sonic
booms that were heard over a wide area at 7:51 a.m. PDT Sunday, April
22, 2012.
<br />
<br />
Marchis wrote that several scientists from the Bay Area met at NASA Ames
Research Center on April 24 to discuss a strategy for a search
campaign, examining a radar data map which showed that dozens of
fragments from the 100g to 1 kg range may have reached the ground.
<br />
<br />
Jenniskens said the fragment he found was a <a href="http://www.meteoris.de/class/CM-Group.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.meteoris.de/class/CM-Group.html">Carbonaceous Chondrites </a>from the CM group of meteorites, "a rare type of primitive meteorite rich in organic compounds," he said.
<br />
<br />
"We are very interested in this rare find," said Greg Schmidt, deputy
director of the NASA Lunar Science Institute. "With the public's help,
this could lead to a better understanding of these fascinating objects."
<br />
<br />
Several other fragments were found, the first one by <a href="http://www.mail-archive.com/meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com/msg105408.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.mail-archive.com/meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com/msg105408.html">noted meteorite hunter Robert Ward.</a>
<br />
<br />
"Getting fresh fragments of meteoroids, called meteorites, is key for
astronomers to understand the composition of those remnants of the
formation of the solar system," Marchis wrote. "Fresh fragments are
unaltered by the Earth's weather and erosion processes, so they are
pristine samples which can be used to detect organic materials for
instance."
<br />
<br />
Photos and video footage would help the scientists to better analyze the
trajectory of the meteor and learn about its orbit in space. This
information will also help scientists to locate the places along the
meteor path where fragments may have fallen to the ground.
<br />
<br />
People who have photos or video of the meteorite are asked to contact Jenniskens at petrus.m.jennniskens@nasa.gov.
<br />
<br />
Marchis noted that a storm is heading towards the region and rain could
alter the remaining fragments. So if you live nearby, consider heading
out to take a look. Here is the radar map:
</div>
<div class="article-body">
<br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/100732/full/ff.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Mrc Fries"><img alt="" border="0" height="273" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/100732/large/ff.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© Mrc Fries</span><br />
<span class="caption">Radar map by Marc Fries showing the possible location of fragments (green area) of the meteor between Auburn and Placerville.</span></div>
<div class="image-caption">
</div>
</div>
Marchis
also said that if anyone has access to security camera footage taken on
April 22, 2012 in the area of the fireball sighting, it may be useful
to check them to see if the fireball was visible. "Astronomers could use
them to pin down the site of the fall, maximizing the hunt for
fragments," he said.
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://cosmicdiary.org/fmarchis/2012/04/25/daylight_meteor_incalifornia/" target="_blank" title="http://cosmicdiary.org/fmarchis/2012/04/25/daylight_meteor_incalifornia/">Read more at the Cosmic Diary</a>.
</div>
<br />
<br />
<h2>
<a href="http://news.discovery.com/space/comet-photograph-amateurs-faulkes-telescope-120427.html">Thar She Blows! Amateurs Photograph Incoming Comet</a>
</h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
Mark Thompson<br />
Discovery News<br />
Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:01 CDT</div>
</div>
<div class="article-body">
<i>Astronomers using the Faulkes Telescope are first to re-image the comet before its Rosetta spacecraft meet-up in 2014</i>
<br />
<br />
Astronomy is one of the few sciences that allows amateur practitioners
to actively take part in real research projects -- be it monitoring
planetary atmospheres or studying distant galaxies.
<br />
<br />
Over recent years, <a href="http://news.discovery.com/space/advancing-frontiers-amateur-astronomy-110513.html" target="_blank" title="http://news.discovery.com/space/advancing-frontiers-amateur-astronomy-110513.html">the advance in technology</a> has led to the availability of research-grade telescopes across the Internet such as the <a href="http://www.faulkes-telescope.com/" target="_blank" title="http://www.faulkes-telescope.com/">Faulkes telescopes in Hawaii and Siding Spring (Austalia)</a>.<br />
<br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/100862/full/ff.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Faulkes Telescope"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s5/100862/large/ff.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© Faulkes Telescope</span><br />
<span class="caption">The 4-kilometer (2.5 miles) wide Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko as spotted by astronomers using the Faulkes Telescope system. </span></div>
</div>
<br />
It was with these instruments that a team of amateur astronomers
have been the first to re-image Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko as it
makes its latest dive toward the inner solar system.
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://news.discovery.com/space/slide-show-comet-encounters-110216.html" target="_blank" title="http://news.discovery.com/space/slide-show-comet-encounters-110216.html">PHOTOS: 6 Intimate Comet Encounters</a></b>
<br />
<br />
The comet, originally discovered in 1969 by Klim Churyumov and Svetlana
Gerasimenko, orbits the sun once every six and a half years. <a href="http://www.esa.int/esaMI/Rosetta/" target="_blank" title="http://www.esa.int/esaMI/Rosetta/">The European Rosetta mission</a> is currently <i>en route</i>
to the comet and, in 2014, the spacecraft will have a close encounter
with the "dirty snowball," dropping a small lander onto its icy surface.
<br />
<br />
At a recent conference for the Rosetta mission with both professional
and amateur astronomers, Faulkes Telescope Pro-Am Program Manager Nick
Howes put forward a detailed plan for long-term observations of the
comet, using the 2-meter Faulkes telescopes.
<br />
<br />
"After attending a hugely successful meeting with
representative of many major professional telescopes and the European
Space Agency (ESA), our proposal to provide ground support for the ESA
Rosetta mission was very well received," Howes told Discovery News.
"We'd heard that the VLT and other large professional observatories had
not been able to image the comet, but we'd already put forward a
detailed proposal which included attempting to image it from April 2012,
when the magnitude was estimated between 23-24."
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://news.discovery.com/space/close-encounters-comets.html" target="_blank" title="http://news.discovery.com/space/close-encounters-comets.html">PHOTOS: Close Encounters with Comets</a></b>
<br />
<br />
Despite some uncertainty, Howes' reputation for pushing the Faulkes
telescopes to their limits convinced the professionals that it was
possible and it wasn't long before British Astronomical Association
member Richard Miles managed to capture the comet on April 19, 2012.
<br />
<br />
Following the initial discovery, Howes' team in Italy, Giovanni Sostero
and Ernesto Guido managed to get the confirmation image of the comet on
April 25.
<br />
<br />
The team now plan to work with schools and other amateur astronomers to
obtain follow-up observations in order to refine the comet's orbit,
helping ESA to calculate orbits and trajectories for the Rosetta
mission.
<br />
<br />
Sarah Roberts, Education Director for Faulkes Telescopes, explains:
"We're now hoping to work with the wider amateur community over the
coming years, and at this time, get schools and students imaging the
comet as much as possible, as the data is scientifically valuable, and
will probably lead to some research papers from the pro-am community".
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://news.discovery.com/space/another-beautiful-view-of-comet-lovejoy-from-space-111223.html" target="_blank" title="http://news.discovery.com/space/another-beautiful-view-of-comet-lovejoy-from-space-111223.html">PHOTO: Another Beautiful View of Comet Lovejoy From Space</a></b>
<br />
<br />
"It's a remarkable achievement from our 'amateur' teams," said Paul
Roche, Faulkes Telescope Director. "We held back on any announcement of
the first capture, as the minor planet center usually like to have more
than one observation before they confirm a comet recovery, but to find
that the images taken by our telescopes have proved yet again what
amateurs can do, is quite remarkable"
<br />
<br />
"'Amateurs' is such a misnomer in these instances as was evidenced from
the reception and comments made by the professional community at the
Rosetta conference."
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">A Service of <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">Signs of the Times</a>: The most comprehensive, objective and reliable Alternative News Source on the Web. If you aren't reading <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">SOTT</a>, you don't know what's REALLY happening!</div>Keithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06011086310017706847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385115091808825739.post-35975714046781199382012-03-08T14:01:00.003+00:002012-06-02T23:07:42.796+01:00March 2012<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<h2>
<a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/offbeat/story/2012/03/01/nl-meteor-cbs-301.html">Green Object Reported in the Sky Over Newfoundland</a> </h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
CBC News, Canada<br />
Thu, 01 Mar 2012 09:41 CST</div>
<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br />
</span> </div>
</div>
<div class="article-body">
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/95683/full/li_istock_meteor_620.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© iStockphoto"><img alt="Fireball" border="0" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/95683/large/li_istock_meteor_620.jpg" style="height: 231px; width: 400px;" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© iStockphoto</span><br />
<br />
<span class="caption">There have been reports that a bright green object was seen in the sky from Conception bay South, eastern Newfoundland. This image wasn't taken recently it is for story illustration purposes only. </span></div>
</div>
<br />
Facebook and Twitter social media sites on the northeast Avalon were busy with reports of an unidentified, green object falling in the sky over Conception Bay South Wednesday night.<br />
<br />
"It was turquoise in colour and was rounded on the bottom and tapered to a point on top. It looked big, but it was hard to tell how far away it was. It was moving extremely fast toward the ground," said a Facebook status update from the St. John's area.<br />
<br />
"I've read about a couple of natural phenomena now that could explain it ... something called a green fireball and a meteor - which can apparently be blue, white or green," said another one.<br />
<br />
No one has reported an alien abduction yet ... but the reports on Twitter and Facebook weren't isolated to eastern Newfoundland.<br />
<br />
People from many parts of the northeastern U.S. also posted reports on astronomy internet forums all evening claiming they saw a green light in the sky. <br />
<br />
"Almost certainly it was what we call a bolide, which is a very bright, sporadic meteor much brighter than the run of the mill meteor. These things can rival the brightness of the full moon," said Chris Stevenson of the Royal Astronomical Society of Newfoundland and Labrador.<br />
<br />
"One tip off - despite the fact that green is our favourite alien colour - is that this was reported as blue/green."<br />
<br />
Stevenson said most meteors are basically large rocks the size of a baseball or maybe as large as a basketball. He said when they hit the Earth's atmosphere at several tens of kilometres per second they burn up very fiercely and very brightly.<br />
<br />
He said the sightings Wednesday appear to be concentrated in the northeast U.S., Quebec and Ontario and Newfoundland.<br />
<br />
"It's not an airplane, they move more slowing," said Stevenson.<br />
<br />
He also ruled out extraterrestrials.<br />
<br />
"Definitely not aliens unless they are hardy little buggers that can survive very ferocious temperatures," said Stevenson.<br />
<br />
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<h2>
<a href="http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120301/NEWS/203010408/-1/NEWSMAP">Meteorite discovery reported in Exeter, Northeastern US</a> </h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
Aaron Sanborn<br />
Seacoastonline.com<br />
Thu, 01 Mar 2012 14:00 CST</div>
<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br />
</span> </div>
</div>
<div class="article-body">
<div class="article-image to-right">
<a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/95716/full/exeter.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Rich Beauchesne/rbeauchesne@seacoastonline.com"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/95716/medium/exeter.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© Rich Beauchesne/rbeauchesne@seacoastonline.com</span><br />
<br />
<span class="caption">Aidan Ulery of Exeter holds several pieces of what are believed to be stony meteorites. He said that, after seeing a giant, green fireball in the sky at about 10:15 Tuesday night, he went in search of an impact site.</span></div>
</div>
A town already known for its encounters with UFOs may have added another out-of-this-world chapter to its history on Tuesday night.<br />
<br />
A piece of a meteoric fireball that was seen across the region may have landed on one of the town's streets.<br />
<br />
The fireball, caused when debris burns up in the atmosphere, was spotted by numerous people in New England and Canada on Tuesday night, including Aidan Ulery, 32, of Exeter.<br />
<br />
Ulery was at a friend's home on Main Street between 10 and 10:30 p.m., when he saw the light.<br />
<br />
"I thought it was a spaceship at first, honestly," Ulery said. "It was a 10-foot, green ball that came suddenly down from the sky."<br />
<br />
But unlike the others who reported sightings across the region, Ulery swore the object struck nearby on Park Street, and went looking for it. While he didn't find anything Tuesday night, Ulery said he knew something was different. <br />
<br />
"I could smell it," he said.<br />
<br />
He returned to Park Street on Wednesday morning and found a small dent in the middle of the road and chunks of what he believes was a meteorite.<br />
<br />
Ulery then brought the chunks to Santerre's Stones 'n Stuff on Water Street, where the store's owner, rock lover Neil Santerre, was impressed by the discovery.<br />
<br />
Santerre said meteors typically contain iron, nickle and stone, or some combination of those materials.<br />
<br />
"This one kind of falls into the stone category," Santerre said of Ulery's discovery.<br />
<br />
Santerre said, in addition to containing stone, the chunks were also magnetic.<br />
<br />
<div class="article-image to-left">
<a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/95718/full/exeter2.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Rich Beauchesne/rbeauchesne@seacoastonline.com"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/95718/medium/exeter2.jpg" style="height: 278px; width: 291px;" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© Rich Beauchesne/rbeauchesne@seacoastonline.com</span><br />
<br />
<span class="caption">Aidan Ulery of Exeter, left, meets with Neil Santerre, an expert rock collector and owner of Santerre's Stones 'n Stuff in Exeter, to examine what they believe are meteor fragments that landed in Exeter. </span></div>
</div>
"Everything about this object tells me that it's a (meteorite)," he said. "If it's not, I don't have a clue what it is."<br />
<br />
Santerre said it's possible other pieces of the suspected meteorite fell elsewhere, but they may never be found, because they'll eventually just blend in.<br />
<br />
"This is really rare," Santerre said. "I never thought I would see a fresh one."<br />
<br />
Tiffany Nardino, education director at the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center in Concord, said sightings of Tuesday night's fireball were reported all over, including to many area police departments.<br />
<br />
She said people continue to report the sightings to the American Meteor Society. Some people reported seeing a red fireball, others reported that it was green, blue or white, according to Nardino.<br />
<br />
"All of them said it was extremely bright, and a few of them claimed to see it explode," she said. "Fireballs are rare; to see one explode is even more rare."<br />
<br />
Nardino said, in many cases, meteors are vaporized in the atmosphere, but if it exploded close to the ground, it's possible that some pieces, called meteorites, could've made it to the ground.<br />
<br />
She said the pieces would have a black outer coating and would be magnetic, like the chunks Ulery discovered.<br />
<br />
<div class="article-image to-right">
<a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/95719/full/exeter3.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Rich Beauchesne/rbeauchesne@seacoastonline.com"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/95719/medium/exeter3.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© Rich Beauchesne/rbeauchesne@seacoastonline.com</span><br />
<span class="tiny"><br />
</span></div>
</div>
Nardino said the best way to confirm Ulery's discovery would be to perform chemical analyses on the chunks of material.<br />
<br />
Ulery, who works at the popular downtown eatery The Loaf & Ladle, said he would like to get the chunks checked by a geologist to confirm they're meteorites, and then sell them.<br />
<br />
He added that it's fitting that he found the chunks because, three days ago, he got a fortune from a fortune cookie that stated something major would happen to him in three days.<br />
<br />
"This is weird," he said, laughing.<br />
<br />
Santerre said it would be ironic if the chunks were confirmed to be meteorites that landed in Exeter, given Exeter's UFO history, which includes an incident in 1965 that is considered one of the most well-documented UFO sightings in the United States.<br />
<br />
"Obviously, it's just the luck of the draw; the meteor doesn't care where it lands," he said. "Who knows?" </div>
<br />
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<h2>
<a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2012/03/01/nl-meteor-cbs-301.html">Green Fireball Seen All Over Southeastern Canada</a> </h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
CBC News<br />
Fri, 02 Mar 2012 04:48 CST</div>
<div class="article-print">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="article-body">
<i>Similar reports were made throughout the northeastern U.S. Wednesday</i><br />
<br />
A video of the meteor taken at 22:12 EST on 28 February 2012 in Dunrobin, Ontario, Canada:<br />
<br />
<div align="center">
<object><embed allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="flvurl=http://v8.nonxt3.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?id%3Da358370fc667e917%26itag%3D5%26app%3Dblogger%26ip%3D0.0.0.0%26ipbits%3D0%26expire%3D1332832926%26sparams%3Did,itag,ip,ipbits,expire%26signature%3D68415C7E454AE3ECF2074AC244CCD9B48E9E0EF1.1948291AE24084897C0104BBE22F2F425C7372E4%26key%3Dck1&iurl=http://video.google.com/ThumbnailServer2?app%3Dblogger%26contentid%3Da358370fc667e917%26offsetms%3D5000%26itag%3Dw160%26sigh%3D-JkjafVWXPb-h23FC3S1Q6bt0RE&autoplay=0&ps=blogger" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.youtube.com/get_player" height="385" width="400"></embed></object></div>
<br />
<br />
Facebook and Twitter social media sites on the northeast Avalon were busy with reports of an unidentified, green object falling in the sky over Conception Bay South Wednesday night.<br />
<br />
"It was turquoise in colour and was rounded on the bottom and tapered to a point on top. It looked big, but it was hard to tell how far away it was. It was moving extremely fast toward the ground," said a Facebook status update from the St. John's area.<br />
<br />
"I've read about a couple of natural phenomena now that could explain it ... something called a green fireball and a meteor - which can apparently be blue, white or green," said another one. <br />
<br />
No one has reported an alien abduction yet ... but the reports on Twitter and Facebook weren't isolated to eastern Newfoundland.<br />
<br />
People from many parts of the northeastern U.S. also posted reports on astronomy internet forums all evening claiming they saw a green light in the sky.<br />
<br />
"Almost certainly it was what we call a bolide, which is a very bright, sporadic meteor much brighter than the run of the mill meteor. These things can rival the brightness of the full moon," said Chris Stevenson the St. John's Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.<br />
<br />
"One tip off - despite the fact that green is our favourite alien colour - is that this was reported as blue/green."<br />
<br />
Stevenson said most meteors are basically large rocks the size of a baseball or maybe as large as a basketball. He said when they hit the Earth's atmosphere at several tens of kilometres per second they burn up very fiercely and very brightly.<br />
<br />
He said the sightings Wednesday appear to be concentrated in the northeast U.S., Quebec and Ontario and Newfoundland.<br />
<br />
"It's not an airplane, they move more slowing," said Stevenson.<br />
<br />
He also ruled out extraterrestrials.<br />
<br />
"Definitely not aliens unless they are hardy little buggers that can survive very ferocious temperatures," said Stevenson. </div>
<br />
<br />
<h2>
<a href="http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120222-waiting-for-a-rock-to-fall">How Likely Am I To Be Hit By an Asteroid?</a> </h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
David Spiegelhalter<br />
BBC.co.uk<br />
Thu, 23 Feb 2012 06:41 CST</div>
<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br />
</span> </div>
<div class="article-body">
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/95897/full/p00pf8jh.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Science Photo Library"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/95897/large/p00pf8jh.jpg" style="height: 230px; width: 385px;" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© Science Photo Library<br />
</span></div>
</div>
<i>A report suggests that there should be 91 deaths every year from asteroid strikes, but what are the chances of that actually happening? </i><br />
<br />
Buy insurance. Tick. Health check. Tick. Drive sensibly. Tick. As a general rule, we humans like to control our lives. But let's face it, all of this caution is a complete waste of time if a huge rock from space has your name on it.<br />
<br />
Take the recent 'near-miss' by the poetically-named asteroid 2012 BX34, which was only discovered two days before it sailed past within 40,000 miles (60,000km) of Earth. What if it had been heading straight for us?<br />
<br />
A wonderful report from the US National Research Council (NRC) says that on average there should be 91 deaths per year from asteroid strikes - a remarkably precise figure and one that deserves some digging.<br />
<br />
Try to think of when you last heard about an asteroid striking the earth. There really aren't that many of them, or at least that many that are noticed or reported in newspapers. <br />
<br />
One of the last significant impacts occurred on 30 June 1908, when an asteroid or comet exploded 6.2 miles (10km) above a secluded forest in Tunguska, Siberia, flattening trees over an area of 625 sq miles (1600 sq km), which surprisingly few people cared about at the time due to the remoteness of the region and the fact that there seem to have been no casualties.<br />
<br />
Calculations suggest that if it had landed 4 hours and 47 minutes later, it would have hit St Petersburg<sup>1</sup>, in which case people might have cared a lot, particularly as it was rather a delicate time in Russian history. According to estimates, such an airburst occurring over New York would cost $1.19tn to insurers in property damage, not to mention causing approximately 3.2 million fatalities and 3.76 million injuries.<br />
<br />
But that has not occurred. In fact, there are surprisingly few reports of fatalities involving asteroids. A few cars in the United States have been damaged and there was a case of a cow being killed in Valera, Venezuela in 1972 - the unfortunate animal was duly eaten and bits of the meteorite were later sold to collectors. A home outside Paris was also recently hit by an egg-shaped meteorite, but the appropriately-named Comette family were away at the time.<br />
<br />
So how can the NRC be so precise? Well, to understand we need to understand how astronomers and statisticians think about these risks.<br />
<br />
As these threats come in all shapes and sizes astronomers have established a classification system to help gauge the potential level of risk. If asteroids or comets come within one-third of the distance from the Earth to the Sun - just over 30 million miles (48 million km) - they are labelled as Near Earth Objects (NEOs). 'Near' is clearly a relative term, though this does show how comparatively close asteroid 2012 BX34 came. Fortunately, there are observatories watching over us and Nasa's Near Object Program is keeping count of what is passing through our local area. By December 2011, over 8,500 NEOs had been found and named, with around 500 being added to the list every year.<br />
<br />
If an object is found that is at least 480ft (150m) across, and which will pass closer than 20 times the distance between the moon and the Earth (around five million miles, or eight million km), it earns itself the status of Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA). If anything this big were to hit the Earth, the consequences would be serious. So far 1,271 of these have been found, of which 151 are of more than 0.6 miles (1km) in diameter, a size that could be globally catastrophic.<br />
<br />
Working out the chances of an Earth-asteroid collision and the damage it would cause is not like an insurer dealing with a collision between two cars: there is almost no direct historical data, so astronomers create equations relating to the size of an asteroid, how many there are around, how often they might hit the Earth and what the explosive force of any impact would be. These estimates are continually being revised and are subject to some esoteric disputes.<br />
<br />
Asteroids in the 16-32 feet (5-10m) diameter range find their way to Earth around once per year, releasing energy equivalent to approximately 15,000 tons of TNT when they explode: about the same as the bomb detonated over Hiroshima. Most go unseen and unrecorded. An airburst of an 80ft (25m) asteroid would release energy equivalent to around one million tons of TNT, or one megaton (Mt), equivalent to around 65 Hiroshima bombs. That same NRC report estimates an average of 200 years between such impacts.<br />
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The Tunguska devastation in Siberia is thought to have been caused by an asteroid of around 160ft (50m) diameter exploding 6 miles (10km) up, releasing 10Mt of energy. The NRC estimates an average interval of 2,000 years between events of this size, although other studies have suggested that Tunguska-like events could be caused by objects as small as 100ft (30m), which would equate to nearly a 50:50 chance of such an event occurring in a given lifetime<sup>2</sup>.<br />
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Bigger asteroids start being considered as 'continental-scale events', although it is tricky to predict what damage such a major impact would cause. Due to the differing coverage of the Earth's surface, there is a 70% chance that any such impact would hit the ocean, and models have suggested a 1,300ft (400m) asteroid could cause a tsunami 650ft (200m) high<sup>3</sup>, although with regards to possible consequences, there is great uncertainty about whether such a wave would break on the continental shelf, whether the population could evacuate, and so on.<br />
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<span class="BoldGrey">Mass extinctions</span><br />
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Nasa estimate that there are currently around 900 Near Earth Objects of over 0.6 miles (1km) across, and if one hit us it would release around 100,000Mt of energy. Such an impact would almost certainly be globally catastrophic. Thankfully, such strikes should only be expected every 700,000 years, but even bigger collisions have occurred. Considerably more than just one cow perished when a 6 mile (10km) wide, 100,000,000Mt lump hit the Yucatan peninsula in modern-day Mexico 65 million years ago: this impact is credited with changing the climate and wiping out the dinosaurs. But such mass extinction events are only estimated to come along every 100 million years or so. So not much need to worry there, then.<br />
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In terms of future threats, the current catalogue indicates no serious risk from asteroids that we know of. The biggest known danger Nasa can point to is a 1 in 600 chance of a collision with the 460ft (140m) 2011-AG5 asteroid sometime in the 2040s. But most asteroids less than 1,640ft (500m) across remain undiscovered, and although these would be unlikely to cause a global catastrophe, they could certainly take us by surprise. 2008 TC3 was 6-16ft (2-5m) across and weighed around 80 tons when it exploded over the Sudanese desert on 7 October 2008. It was the first asteroid to ever be detected before impact, but it was only picked up 19 hours prior to its destruction, and one can imagine the crisis if its predicted path had passed over a big city. It exploded with a force of around 2,000 tons of TNT and 10kg of fragments were picked up afterwards - though thankfully nobody was hurt.<br />
<br />
<span class="BoldGrey">Is it worth getting up?</span><br />
<br />
So, once again, back to that figure of 91 deaths.<br />
<br />
This now begins to make more sense when you realise that it is an average taken over millennia, in which almost all years show no deaths, but a few isolated events cause massive casualties. In fact, the figure of 91 deaths is almost evenly balanced between more frequent, smaller-scale impacts, and statistically very infrequent globally catastrophic impacts.<br />
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So, I know what you are now thinking: what is the risk of being killed by an asteroid in my bed - or anywhere else for that matter - in my lifetime?<br />
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As I said in my first column, statisticians like to define such risk events in terms of micromorts: that is, a one-in-a-million chance of dying. Since there are 7 billion people on Earth and 91 people are expected to die every year from an asteroid impact, this works out at 1/77 micromorts per person per year - about the same risk as a 3 mile (5 km) car journey, but much less risky than riding a motorcycle for 60 miles (97km) in the UK (around 10 micromorts).<br />
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Assuming a lifetime of around 77 years, this comes to the delightfully round number of one micromort per lifetime from asteroids. Which, as risks go, is hardly the end of the world.<br />
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<span class="BoldGrey">References </span><br />
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1. Woo G. Calculating Catastrophe. 1st ed. <i>Imperial College Press</i>; 2011. 368 p.<br />
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2. Boslough MBE, Crawford DA. Low-altitude airbursts and the impact threat. <i>International Journal of Impact Engineering</i>. (2008) 35: 1441 - 1448.<br />
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3. Ward SN, Asphaug E. Asteroid Impact Tsunami: A Probabilistic Hazard Assessment. <i>Icarus</i>. (2000) 145:64 - 78. </div>
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<b>Comment: </b>For more information on impact events, see these exclusive Sott articles:<br />
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/154007-Impact-Hazards-on-a-Populated-Earth-" target="_blank">Impact Hazards on a Populated Earth</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/151954-Meteorites-Asteroids-and-Comets-Damages-Disasters-Injuries-Deaths-and-Very-Close-Calls" target="_blank">Meteorites, Asteroids and Comets: Damages, Disasters, Injuries, Deaths and Very Close Calls</a><br />
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<a href="http://theforeigner.no/pages/news/meteorite-fall-in-southern-norway/">Fireball seen from southern Norway and Sweden</a> </h2>
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Michael Sandelson & Lyndsey Smitm<br />
The Foreigner<br />
Fri, 02 Mar 2012 14:36 CST</div>
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<a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/95931/full/Fireball_large.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Steinar Midtskogen"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/95931/medium/Fireball_large.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
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<span class="tiny">© Steinar Midtskogen</span><br />
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It is thought many people witnessed the event, as it the fireball was extremely bright and it was followed by a loud bang.<br />
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Astronomer Knut Jørgen Røed Ødegaard, who is behind website Bangirommet.no, is asking for any information that people can provide about it.<br />
<br />
He would also like information on any meteorites that may have fallen to the ground, advising people to look on frozen lakes where smaller rocks will not have had the power to go through the ice.<br />
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The rocks are likely to be almost or completely black and will stand out easily on road surfaces.<br />
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Mr Røed Ødegaard tells <i>The Foreigner</i>, "I've received 800 answers with reports of sightings so far, from southern Norway and Sweden.<br />
<br />
"We are now better able to pinpoint the probably location of where the many fragments, known as meteorites, landed. These were in Norefjell, southwestern Norway." <br />
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Norefjell is a mountain range in Buskerud County, with valleys Hallingdal and Eggedal and Numedal.<br />
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Watch the video by Steinar Midtskogen <a href="http://voksenlia.net/nytt/2012/ildkule-20120301.mp4" target="_blank">here</a> (external link). </div>
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<b>Comment: </b>Here is an all-sky camera shot of the fireball:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/PqCmvrkTMZM" width="400"></iframe></div>
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<a href="http://rt.com/news/paint-asteroid-earth-nasa-767/">Newly-Discovered Asteorid 2012 DA14 could hit Earth in February 2013</a> </h2>
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Russia Today<br />
Sat, 03 Mar 2012 22:32 CST</div>
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<a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/95994/full/years_site_tunguska_blast_559_.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© unknown "><img alt="" border="0" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/95994/large/years_site_tunguska_blast_559_.jpg" style="height: 253px; width: 338px;" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
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<span class="tiny">© unknown </span><br />
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<span class="caption">A dangerous asteroid heading to the Earth was spotted by stargazers three years after it had got onto its current orbit</span><br />
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To avert a new apocalypse - this time set for February 2013 - scientists suggest confronting asteroid 2012 DA14 with either paint, or big guns. The tough part of either scheme is that time has long run out to build a spaceship for any operation.<br />
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NASA confirms the 60-meter (197-feet) asteroid, spotted by Spanish stargazers in February, <b>has a good chance of colliding with Earth in eleven months</b>.<br />
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The rock's closest approach to the planet is scheduled for February 15, 2013, when the distance between the planet and space wanderer will be under 27,000 km (16,700 miles). This is lower than the geosynchronous orbit kept by the Google Maps satellite. <br />
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<span class="BoldGrey">Fireworks and watercolors</span><br />
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With the asteroid zooming that low, it will be too late to do anything with it besides trying to predict its final destination and the consequences of impact.<br />
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<a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/96013/full/ia439a404ac807a398e7e038280ea6.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Nasa"><img alt="" border="0" height="235" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/96013/large/ia439a404ac807a398e7e038280ea6.jpg" style="height: 286px; width: 389px;" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
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<span class="tiny">© Nasa</span></div>
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A spaceship is needed, experts agree. It could shoot the rock down or just crash into it, either breaking the asteroid into debris or throwing it off course.<br />
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"We could paint it," says NASA expert David Dunham.<br />
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Paint would affect the asteroid's ability to reflect sunlight, changing its temperature and altering its spin. The asteroid would stalk off its current course, but this could also make the boulder even more dangerous when it comes back in 2056, Aleksandr Devaytkin, the head of the observatory in Russia's Pulkovo, told <i>Izvestia</i>.<br />
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<a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/96014/full/2012_da14_orbit_diagram_181.gif" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© n/a"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/96014/large/2012_da14_orbit_diagram_181.gif" style="height: 202px; width: 381px;" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
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<span class="tiny">© n/a</span><br />
<span class="caption">2012 DA14 orbit diagram</span></div>
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<span class="BoldGrey">Spaceship impossible?</span><br />
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Whatever the mission, building a spaceship to deal with <a href="http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/risk/2012da14.html" target="_blank">2012 DA14</a> will take two years - at least.<br />
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The asteroid has proven a bitter discovery. It has been circling in orbit for three years already, crossing Earth's path several times, says space analyst Sergey Naroenkov from the Russian Academy of Sciences. It seems that spotting danger from outer space is still the area where mere chance reigns, while asteroid defense systems exist only in drafts.<br />
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Still, prospects of meeting 2012 DA14 are not all doom and gloom.<br />
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"The asteroid may split into pieces entering the atmosphere. In this case, most part of it will never reach the planet's surface," remarks Dunham.<br />
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But if the entire asteroid is to crash into the planet, the impact will be as hard as in the Tunguska blast, which in 1908 knocked down trees over a total area of 2,150 sq km (830 sq miles) in Siberia. This is almost the size of Luxembourg. In today's case, the destination of the asteroid is yet to be determined. </div>
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<b>Comment: </b>SOTT considers it highly unlikely that this asteroid will impact earth. We have had close misses in the past. 28000km is certainly a relatively short distance, it's about 7% of the Earth-Moon distance, but please remember we had had an even closer miss last year at 4% Lunar distance: <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/230418-Just-Found-Another-Asteroid-To-Give-Earth-a-Close-Shave-June-27-2011" target="_blank">Close Shave</a><br />
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For the moment it is not possible to predict exactly how this object will act when it gets close to Earth because of the various gravitational and non-gravitational perturbations. So wait and see as usual.<br />
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We should be more worried about those things we don't see...<br />
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<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2109920/Meteor-lights-sky-England.html?ito=feeds-newsxml">Meteor Lights up the Sky Across England</a> </h2>
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James Millbank<br />
Daily Mail, UK<br />
Sun, 04 Mar 2012 00:46 CST</div>
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Thousands of stargazers witnessed a spectacular meteor shower last night.<br />
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It lit up the skies across the north of England and was spotted as far south as Peterborough.<br />
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The meteor exploded after streaking across the night sky for more than 30 seconds.<br />
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<a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/95985/full/article_2109920_1204DAEE000005.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© The Daily Mail, UK"><img alt="England Fireball_1" border="0" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/95985/large/article_2109920_1204DAEE000005.jpg" style="height: 225px; width: 384px;" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
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<span class="tiny">© The Daily Mail, UK</span><br />
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<span class="caption">Starstruck: The meteor, visible in the top right hand corner of this image as an elongated white streak, was seen in the skies across the north of England and was spotted as far south as Peterborough.<br />
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The shower was seen at various locations across England, including Manchester, Derbyshire and the Lake District.<br />
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Hundreds of people posted messages on Twitter after witnessing the event unfold. Scores even put their own video footage of the shower on the internet.<br />
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The meteor was first spotted at 9.38pm but other sightings were reported until 9.45pm - which backed up speculation on Twitter that there had been more than one meteor.<br />
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Some reports suggested there was a large meteor followed by a series of smaller ones.<br />
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One Twitter user wrote: 'The Amazing #Meteor looked like a plane from Man Airport but then seems to rise and burn up in front of me near #JodrellBank.' <br />
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Meteors - or shooting stars - are the result of small particles entering the Earth's atmosphere at high speed.<br />
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They burn up and shine as a short-lived streak of light.<br />
<br />
Meteor showers in the UK are fairly common, but it is rare that there is a clear enough night for people to see them across the length of the country.<br />
<br />
They are also not normally as large or as close as those spotted last night.<br />
<br />
The last meteor shower passed overhead in January.<br />
<br />
That show was brief but intense and those who caught it witnessed 60 and 200 meteor streaks an hour.<br />
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One of the annual displays - known as the Geminid meteor shower - comes from the remains of an extinct comet.<br />
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Some experts believe it is becoming more spectacular. At its peak up to 100 shooting stars may be seen every hour.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Np8U68KiDoQ" width="400">&lt;p&gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;</iframe></div>
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<h2>
<a href="http://news.sky.com/home/strange-news/article/16181854">Thousands Witness Spectacular Fireball Streak Over UK (Video)</a> </h2>
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Sky News<br />
Sun, 04 Mar 2012 05:55 CST</div>
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<a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/95995/full/Fireball_UK.png" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Sky News"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/95995/large/Fireball_UK.png" style="height: 210px; width: 374px;" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
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<span class="tiny">© Sky News</span><br />
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<span class="caption">The enormous fireball was seen from Scotland to the south coast of England.</span></div>
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Police forces and astronomy websites have been inundated with sightings after a suspected meteor shot across darkened British skies.<br />
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Reports of a "bright light" and an "orange glow" were received by police across Scotland and the north of England at around 9.40pm on Saturday.<br />
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The Met Office tweeted: "Hi All, for anyone seeing something in the night sky, we believe it was a meteorite."<br />
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A spokesman for Strathclyde Police said the force had been "inundated" with calls about a bright object in the sky across the west of Scotland.<br />
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Minutes later, Durham Police received calls from concerned members of public who had seen a "bright light or a fire in the sky" and believed it may have been an incident involving an aircraft.<br />
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The American Meteor Society website was inundated with dozens of Britons logging sightings.<br />
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Michelle Thornton, from Birmingham, stated it was "the most amazing thing I have seen in the night sky in ages - outstanding :)" <br />
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Meanwhile, website user Brandi, from Stirling, at first thought it was a firework and wondered if it was a missile after it "changed direction".<br />
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"We wondered if it was a missile. The tail was longer than any astral body I have ever seen and the colour between the head and tail was very distinct.<br />
<br />
"The head was bright - warm colours - and the tail was much longer. We thought it was a firework because it stuttered out and seemed to fade, but we did not hear the bang.<br />
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"It then reappeared as it continued across the sky, seemingly changing directions slightly - as if around a 15 degree corner.<br />
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"It then also seemed to go lower down in the sky and then passed out of our vision after another 10 seconds or so.<br />
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"It still looked orangey-red in the distance as it left our vision, but we could not see the tail from that angle."<br />
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<embed allowfullscreen="false" allowscriptaccess="sameDomain" flashvars="file=http://static1.sky.com/feeds/skynews/latest/h264/700/2012/03/040312-meteor-slow.mp4&autostart=false" height="385" src="http://www.sott.net/signs/player.swf" width="400"></embed></div>
The Royal Observatory at Greenwich said it was probably part of a meteor shower that happens at this time every year.<br />
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The Kielder Observatory reported the sighting as a "huge fireball" travelling from north to south over Northumberland at 9.41pm, and rated it at magnitude -9.<br />
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A brightness of magnitude -6 is required to be seen in daylight and according to the International Meteor Organisation only one in 12,000 reaches magnitude -8.<br />
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The observatory tweeted: "Of 30 years observing the sky #fireball best thing I have ever seen period." </div>
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<b>Comment: </b>Here it is from another angle:<br />
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<a href="https://www.sott.net/articles/show/www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHY0sl9b8uk&feature=player_embedded" target="_blank">Amazing footage of huge meteor passing over UK 3rd march 2012 </a><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="309" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/VHY0sl9b8uk" width="400"></iframe></div>
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<h2>
<a href="http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/2012BJ98/2012BJ98.html">New Comet C/2012 BJ98</a> </h2>
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<div class="m-bar">
Seiichi Yoshida<br />
Aerith Net<br />
Sun, 04 Mar 2012 15:48 CST</div>
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<span class="BoldGrey">Profile</span><br />
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<table><tbody>
<tr> <td><b>Discovery Date:</b> </td> <td>January 26 and March 1, 2012 </td> </tr>
<tr> <td><b>Magnitude:</b> </td> <td>19.2 mag, 19.1 mag </td> </tr>
<tr> <td><b>Discoverer:</b> </td> <td>Rik Hill (Mount Lemmon Survey), Alex R. Gibbs and Eric J. Christensen (Mount Lemmon Survey) </td> </tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/96316/full/mag.gif" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Aerith Net"><img alt="Magnitude Graph for BJ98" border="0" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/96316/large/mag.gif" style="height: 302px; width: 398px;" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© Aerith Net<br />
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The orbital elements are published on <a href="http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/mpec/K12/K12E18.html" target="_blank">M.P.E.C. 2012-E18.</a> <br />
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<h2>
<a href="http://truthdive.com/2012/03/03/asteroid-2011-ag5-may-hit-earth-in-2040.html">Asteroid 2011 AG5 may hit earth in 2040</a> </h2>
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<div class="m-bar">
Saravanan Jawahar<br />
truthdive<br />
Sun, 04 Mar 2012 06:44 CST</div>
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Washington, March 3: The 460 feet (140 meter) wide space rock, asteroid which is called 2011 AG5 could collide with Earth in 2040.<br />
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<a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/95997/full/6348497_610_333.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA/JPL/Caltech/NEOPO "><img alt="2011 ag5" border="0" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/95997/large/6348497_610_333.jpg" style="height: 219px; width: 368px;" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
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<span class="tiny">© NASA/JPL/Caltech/NEOPO </span><br />
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<span class="caption">The orbit of asteroid 2011 AG5 carries it beyond the orbit of Mars and as close to the sun as halfway between Earth and Venus. </span></div>
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Talk about the asteroid was on the agenda during the 49th session of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), held earlier in Vienna.<br />
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Due to its current location in the daytime sky, observations of 2011 AG5 cannot be made by Earth-based telescopes, so its orbit has not yet been determined to a level where scientists can confidently project its location decades into the future. But that day is coming.<br />
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"In September 2013, we have the opportunity to make additional observations of 2011 AG5 when it comes within 91 million miles (147 million kilometers) of Earth," said Don Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. <br />
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"It will be an opportunity to observe this space rock and further refine its orbit. Because of the extreme rarity of an impact by a near-Earth asteroid of this size, I fully expect we will be able to significantly reduce or rule out entirely any impact probability for the foreseeable future." Even better observations will be possible in late 2015.<br />
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To be a real danger to Earth and have a strike probability of 1 in 625, the asteroid has to fly through a particular keyhole-like area of space in September 2013. Schweickart said a decision to deflect 2011 AG 5 away from this keyhole, by changing its path using gravitational effects, should be made "very soon, if not now".<br />
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"If a keyhole deflection is ruled out as option, a direct deflection is marginally possible, at best," he said, adding that directly deflecting the asteroid would be difficult with existing launch vehicle capability.<br />
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2011 AG5 will next be near Earth in February of 2023 when it will pass the planet no closer than about 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers). In 2028, the asteroid will again be in the area, coming no closer than about 10.4 million miles (16.7 million kilometers).<br />
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The Near-Earth Object Program Office states the Earth's gravitational influence on the space rock during these flybys has the potential to place the space rock on an impact course for Feb. 5, 2040. </div>
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<a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/sightings-of-meteor-reported-across-the-uk-7536089.html">Sightings of meteor reported across the UK</a> </h2>
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The Independent<br />
Sun, 04 Mar 2012 06:37 CST</div>
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Police forces across the UK have received numerous calls after a large fireball, thought to be a meteor, was spotted in the sky.<br />
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Reports of a "bright light" and an "orange glow" were received by police across Scotland and the north of England around 9.40pm yesterday.<br />
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The Met Office tweeted: "Hi All, for anyone seeing something in the night sky, we believe it was a meteorite."<br />
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The Kielder Observatory also reported the sighting of a "huge fireball" travelling from north to south over Northumberland at 9.41pm.<br />
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The Observatory posted on Twitter: "Of 30 years observing the sky £fireball best thing I have ever seen period."<br />
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Meteors are particles from space that burn up in a streak of light as they enter the Earth's atmosphere, whereas meteorites are larger objects that survive the trip and reach the surface of the Earth. <br />
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Dr David Whitehouse, an author and astronomer, said: "Judging by its brightness, it may have have been large enough to survive and hit the ground but until people work out its trajectory we won't have any idea where it might have come down."<br />
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Dr Whitehouse said the object was about the size of a fist and was probably the debris of a planet that never properly formed.<br />
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"It's a chunk of rock that's probably come from somewhere between Mars and Jupiter has been in space for thousands of millions of years.<br />
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"There are 10s of thousands of bits of rock and grains of sand orbiting between Mars and Jupiter. Some of it comes out of that orbit and some of it hits the Earth."<br />
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A spokesman for Strathclyde Police said the force had been "inundated" with calls about a bright object in the sky across the west of Scotland.<br />
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A Durham Police spokeswoman said a number of calls came in around 9.45pm from concerned members of public who had seen a "bright light or a fire in the sky" and believed it may have been incidents involving an aircraft.<br />
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"It has been confirmed with air traffic control that there are no incidents of aircraft in difficult and nothing registered on radar," she said.<br />
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"The sightings are believed to be either an asteroid burning out or similar which has been restricted to the upper atmosphere only."<br />
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Grampian Police said reports of people seeing a "flare or a bright object with a tail" were received from across the region.<br />
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And Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary said numerous calls were made about a "large ball of fire in the sky" across Annandale and Eskdale. One user wrote on the force's Facebook page: "It was awesome to see! Really big and bright!"<br />
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A force spokesman wrote on Facebook: "A number of reports have been received from the public reporting observing bright lights or what is described as a large ball of fire in the sky.<br />
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"Inquiry has confirmed that this is actually a low level meteor shower."<br />
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Meanwhile, Lothian and Borders Police said it had received "quite a lot" of calls from members of the public.<br />
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Strathclyde Police and Central Scotland Police checked with air traffic control who confirmed there were no concerns and all aircraft was accounted for.<br />
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Coastguard also received calls from members of the public asking if a flare had been used. One call was made to the coastguard in Stornoway, with one person reporting seeing a flare in the sky.<br />
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Hundreds of people took to Twitter to report similar sightings across Scotland and the north of England.<br />
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People described seeing a bright fireball moving across the sky with a large tail.<br />
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Adrian West, of Meteorwatch, said he had seen reports of sightings from Scotland to Devon.<br />
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He said he spotted the meteor in Berkshire and believed it could have gone down in the English Channel or the Bay of Biscay.<br />
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Mr West told the BBC it was a "fireball flying from north to south", that was "very bright in the sky" and lasted for a few seconds.<br />
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He said: "It had a very bright orange nucleus and a green tail.<br />
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"It was seen by hundreds, maybe thousands of people." </div>
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<a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/meteor-shower-dazzles-the-victorian-sky/story-fn7x8me2-1226288864518">Meteor Shower Dazzles Victorians Lucky Enough to See It</a> </h2>
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Angus Thompson<br />
Herald Sun, Australia<br />
Sun, 04 Mar 2012 19:34 CST</div>
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<span class="BoldGrey">UPDATE:</span> A fireball that streaked through the sky last night had many thinking a plane had crashed.<br />
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The meteor was seen across Victoria at about 10.45pm, including at Anglesea, Frankston, Berwick, Cairnlea, Tullamarine, Dandenong.<br />
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The fireball even caused a sensation in the UK with police inundated with emergency phone calls.<br />
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The control tower in Melbourne's Tullamarine Airport was also flooded with calls from locals fearing there had been a plane crash.<br />
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Astronomer David Reneke said it was unusual that the fireball was spotted across the globe and said it was probably the lead up to a meteor shower that was about to happen.<br />
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He said usually at the end February fireballs were often seen but not in March. <br />
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"To be seen around the world - it's crazy," he said.<br />
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"They are just slow moving bits of rock that catch on fire and burn.<br />
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"On occasions they even explode."<br />
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<i>Herald Sun</i> reader Brad Dorrington, of Newborough, witnessed the sky show.<br />
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"(It) looked amazing several red hot glows with a trail behind them with what looked to be dust behind it," he said.<br />
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Benjamin Cross, of Berwick, said it was surreal to glimpse the fiery tail.<br />
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"(It was) the most amazing thing I have ever seen," he said. </div>
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<b>Comment: </b>It's very unlikely that the one in Australia was the same as the one in the UK. Meteors only light up like that when entering the final stages of their descent. If it were seen from Melbourne to Scotland, half the planet would surely have sat up and taken notice!<br />
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<a href="http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/space/stories/asteroid-strike-in-2013-is-overhyped-nasa-says">Asteroid 2012 DA14 - strike in 2013 is overhyped, NASA says</a> </h2>
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Mother Nature Network<br />
Wed, 07 Mar 2012 12:24 CST</div>
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Despite feverish speculation from doomsayers, the near-Earth asteroid 2012 DA14 won't slam into our planet next year, NASA researchers say.<br />
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The asteroid, which astronomers estimate to be about 150 feet (45 meters) across, will give Earth an uncomfortably close shave on Feb. 15, 2013, coming nearer to our planet than the satellites we've lofted to geostationary orbit. But 2012 DA14 poses no real impact danger on that pass, according to NASA scientists.<br />
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<a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/96284/full/ff.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA/JPL Near-Earth Object Program Office"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/96284/large/ff.jpg" style="height: 225px; width: 385px;" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
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<span class="tiny">© NASA/JPL Near-Earth Object Program Office</span><br />
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<span class="caption">In this oblique view, the path of near-Earth asteroid 2012 DA14 is seen passing close to Earth on Feb. 15, 2013.</span><br />
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"Its orbit about the sun can bring it no closer to the Earth's surface than 3.2 Earth radii on February 15, 2013," researchers with the Near-Earth Object Program Office, at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., wrote in an update on March 6.<br />
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One Earth radius is roughly 3,963 miles (6,378 kilometers) at the equator. So by this reckoning, the nearest 2012 DA14 can get to us next year is 12,680 miles (20,406 km). <br />
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For comparison, satellites in geosynchronous orbit circle our planet at an altitude of 22,245 miles (35,800 km). Other satellites orbit much lower. The International Space Station, for example, flies at around 240 miles (386 km) above the planet.<br />
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2012 DA14 was discovered late last month by astronomers at the La Sagra Observatory in southern Spain. Its path around the sun is roughly similar to that of Earth, and it makes relatively close approaches to our planet twice per orbit.<br />
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Calculations show that the space rock came within about 1.5 million miles (2.5 million km) this past Feb. 16, or about six times the distance from Earth to the moon.<br />
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Next February's much closer encounter has ignited something of a media firestorm, with various outlets publishing stories with headlines such as "Incoming! Asteroid 2012 DA14" and "Tunguska-Sized Asteroid Homing on Earth."<br />
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This latter article is referring to the 1908 "Tunguska event," in which a comet or meteoroid exploded above the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in Siberia, flattening about 500,000 acres (2,000 square km) of forest.<br />
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While 2012 DA14 won't slam into us next February, humanity needs to remain vigilant against the asteroid threat, many researchers say. Huge impacts are a part of our planet's history, after all; one wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, and <b>it's just a matter of time before another big space rock lines Earth up in its sights, astronomers say. </b> </div>
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<a href="http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/2012E1/2012E1.html">New Comet C/2012 E1 (Hill)</a> </h2>
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Seiichi Yoshida<br />
Aerith Net<br />
Wed, 07 Mar 2012 13:15 CST</div>
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<span class="BoldGrey">Profile</span><br />
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<table><tbody>
<tr> <td><b>Discovery Date:</b> </td> <td>March 2, 2012 </td> </tr>
<tr> <td><b>Magnitude:</b> </td> <td>19.6 mag </td> </tr>
<tr> <td><b>Discoverer:</b> </td> <td>R. E. Hill (Mount Lemmon) </td> </tr>
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<a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/96307/full/mag.gif" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Aerith Net"><img alt="Magnitude Graph" border="0" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/96307/large/mag.gif" style="height: 301px; width: 397px;" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
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The orbital elements are published on <a href="http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/mpec/K12/K12E39.html" target="_blank">M.P.E.C. 2012-E39.</a> <br />
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<a href="http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/0257P/2012.html">New Comet 257P/SOHO (2012)</a> </h2>
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Seiichi Yoshida<br />
Aerith Net<br />
Wed, 07 Mar 2012 16:33 CST</div>
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<tr> <td><b>Discovery Date:</b> </td> <td>January 13, 2012 </td> </tr>
<tr> <td><b>Magnitude:</b> </td> <td>6 mag </td> </tr>
<tr> <td><b>Discoverer:</b> </td> <td>Alan Watson (STEREO-B spacecraft) </td> </tr>
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<a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/96320/full/2012_mag1.gif" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Aerith Net"><img alt="Magnitude Graph for 257P/SOHO" border="0" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/96320/large/2012_mag1.gif" style="height: 303px; width: 399px;" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
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<span class="tiny">© Aerith Net<br />
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The orbital elements are published on <a href="http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/mpec/K12/K12E18.html" target="_blank">M.P.E.C. 2012-E18.</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.news.ninemsn.com.au/technology/8429923/mystery-fireball-lights-up-sky-in-vic-tas">Mystery fireball lights up sky in Tasmania</a> </h2>
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ninemsn.com.au<br />
Mon, 05 Mar 2012 17:16 EST</div>
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A fiery meteor has lit up the sky over Victoria and Tasmania. <br />
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The object, described as a glowing red fireball moving horizontally across the sky about 10.45pm (AEDT) on Sunday, was an unusual sight for this time of year, according to astronomer David Reneke. <br />
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Observers say the meteor was visible for about 20 seconds. <br />
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Professor Reneke says he and his colleagues are at a loss to explain the timing and exact nature of the meteor. <br />
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It may have been a slow-moving piece of rock that ignited or a piece of space junk, he said. <br />
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<b>"It's unprecedented, we don't seem to be in a meteor shower period at the moment,"</b> Professor Reneke said. <br />
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"(Fireballs) tend to be very slow moving and they travel more horizontally than vertically... if you ever see one, they stick in your mind for the rest of your life." <br />
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Professor Reneke says he has received dozens of reported sightings from across Victoria and Tasmania. <br />
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Social network site Twitter was abuzz on Monday with reports of the meteor. <br />
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The phenomenon comes after a fireball was reported in skies over the United Kingdom on Saturday, with police inundated with calls from concerned residents, <i>The Guardian</i> reports. <br />
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It is impossible to be sure if the sighted meteors in the UK and Australia are the same, Professor Reneke says. </div>
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<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/unexplained-explosion-caught-live-phoenix-news-broadcast-171534371.html">Unexplained "Phoenix Lights" explosion caught live on news broadcast</a> </h2>
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Eric Pfeiffer<br />
Yahoo News<br />
Fri, 09 Mar 2012 14:17 EST<br />
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Phoenix's FOX 10 reporter Andrea Robinson was in the middle of an on-air report when an unexplained, bright white explosion appeared in the distance behind her. <br />
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The strange blast was caught on tape and aired live during Robinson's report. At first, news station employees thought the explosion was a transformer. But when FOX 10 checked with local utility providers APS and Salt River Project, they were told no transformers had blown in the area. <br />
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While the source of the explosion remains a mystery, it comes just before the 15th anniversary of one of the most-famous UFO sightings in recent history. On March 13, 1997, a cluster of glowing orbs moving in a V-shaped formation was spotted in the skies above Phoenix. That incident was also caught on film. The origin of the light formation has since been endlessly analyzed and debated. <br />
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Arizona is also home to Travis Walton, who famously claimed to have been abducted by a UFO in 1975. Walton has written a number of books on the subject, and his story was turned into the 1993 film "Fire in the Sky." <br />
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And while Phoenix officials remain stumped by the strange light explosion, FOX 10 has reached out to the public asking for assistance in explaining exactly what was caught on film.<br />
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<a href="http://www.11alive.com/news/article/232186/40/CARTERSVILLE--Fireball-spotted-over-north-Georgia">Fireball Spotted Over North Georgia</a> </h2>
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11Live.com<br />
Fri, 09 Mar 2012 14:47 EST </div>
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Cartersville - Scientists at the <a href="http://www.tellusmuseum.org/" target="_blank">Tellus Science Museum</a> said they observed a fireball in the sky over north Georgia Wednesday evening. <br />
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The <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/offices/meo/home/index.html" target="_blank">NASA Meteoroid Environment Office</a> confirmed that a bright fireball streaked across the skies over parts of Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia at 10:19 p.m. Wednesday. The fireball was captured by cameras at NASA's <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/home/index.html" target="_blank">Marshall Space Flight Center</a> in Huntsville, as well as by cameras in Tullahoma, Tenn., and at the Tellus Science Museum. <br />
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NASA says the meteor was first recorded at an altitude of 51.5 miles, just southeast of Tunnel Hill, Ga., moving to the west-southwest at about 33,500 mph. The fireball was last spotted near Rock Spring, Ga., along Ga. Highway 95.<br />
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<a href="http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005141100">Unexplained explosions heard in Croy Canyon: Mountain Home Air Force Base denies responsibility</a> </h2>
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Tony Evans<br />
Idaho Mountain Express<br />
Fri, 09 Mar 2012 03:01 EST</div>
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(Idaho, USA) Blaine County sheriff's deputies responded to reports of loud booming noises in western Hailey last week, but could not find the source of the sounds. <br />
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Speculations about the source of the sounds, which were heard across the city and to the west, range from supersonic aircraft to explosive targets. <br />
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Sheriff's Lt. Jay Davis said that following reports of the sounds, deputies drove on Friday, March 2, into Croy Canyon and heard them also, but could not find their source. <br />
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"We have some suspicions," Davis said, including explosive targets, but he said the investigation is ongoing. <br />
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Tannerite is the trademark name for an ammonium nitrate/aluminum powder-based binary explosive used in target practice. <br />
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A gunshop owner in the Wood River Valley who asked to remain anonymous said that Tannarite, if used in sufficient quantities, could produce loud enough explosions to be heard far away. He said a high-caliber rifle had to be shot into the material to detonate it. <br />
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Dan Freeman, who farmed in Croy Canyon a few years ago, said he heard "ground-shaking" explosions from far to the west-southwest many times. He said his wife heard the explosions Friday from their home on Buttercup Road west of Hailey. <br />
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"In Croy Canyon, we sometimes would hear five to 10 explosions in a day, some bigger and some smaller," Freeman said. "I think we were hearing explosions from the bombing range east of Mountain Home Air Force Base." <br />
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Air Force Base Master Sgt. Andrew Leonard said he reviewed flight logs for supersonic aircraft at Mountain Home for last Friday and determined that multiple F-15E jets had flown in "military trains" about 50 miles west of Hailey at the time of the reports. However, Leonard said the jets are not allowed to fly fast enough in that area to break the sound barrier, which sets off sonic booms that can be heard many miles away. <br />
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Leonard said a bombing range west of Mountain Home could not be the source of loud noises more than 50 miles away in Hailey. <br />
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"We can barely hear them from here," he said. <br />
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<i>Tony Evans: tevans@mtexpress.com </i> </div>
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<a href="http://www.universetoday.com/94105/valuable-space-rock-crashes-into-oslo-cabin/#more-94105">Valuable Space Rock Crashes Into Oslo Cabin</a> </h2>
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Jason Major<br />
Universe Today<br />
Mon, 12 Mar 2012 12:01 EDT</div>
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/96674/full/space_rock.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Rune Thomassen"><img alt="Oslo Meteorite" border="0" height="241" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/96674/large/space_rock.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
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<span class="tiny">© Rune Thomassen</span><br />
<span class="caption">This meteorite struck the Thomassen family's cabin in Oslo. </span></div>
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A family in Oslo got a surprise when they visited their allotment garden cabin for the first time this season and found that a 585-gram (20 oz.) meteorite had ripped a hole through the roof. The space rock was discovered "lying five or six metres away," the cabin's owner, Rune Thomassen, told the local newspaper <i>VG.</i> <br />
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Such an event is rare in Norway; since 1848 the country has noted only 14 meteorite discoveries. <br />
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Astrophysicist Knut Jørgen Røed Ødegaard from the University of Oslo investigated the report and found it to be genuine. <br />
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"You can tell immediately that it's genuine from the burned crust, and you can also recognize it from how rough and unusual it is. It gives me goosebumps," Ødegaard told <i>VG.</i> <br />
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<a href="http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/nai/" target="_blank">NASA Astrobiology Institute's</a> Hans Amundsen noted the meteorite's unusual composition: "This is a very rare meteorite because you can see from the cut of it that it contains fragments from many different kinds of rock that have cemented together, forming a so-called breccia." <br />
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Such meteorites are caused by previous collisions, cementing together different types of material from impacts with asteroids or planets.This means the meteorite that landed on the Thomassens' cabin may very well have been blown off the surface of Mars at some point in the distant past! <br />
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"This is unique. This is double-unique," Ødegaard noted to <i>VG.</i> <br />
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According to Amundsen, such a meteorite is very valuable to researchers as well as private collectors, who may be willing to pay highly for it. Chunks of Mars have fetched USD $877 per gram in the past... making the Thomassens' find potentially worth over $500,000! <br />
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Norway's geological museum has the country's only meteorite collection "and they're the right ones to determine what kind of meteorite this is," Amundsen said. <br />
<br />
Read more on this story <a href="http://www.newsinenglish.no/2012/03/12/meteorite-smashed-through-oslo-roof/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+newsinenglish%2FAzQS+%28Views+and+News+from+Norway%29" target="_blank">here,</a> and see coverage with photos and <a href="http://www.vg.no/nyheter/utrolige-historier/artikkel.php?artid=10078768" target="_blank">video on the <i>VG</i> site here</a> (in Norwegian). </div>
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<h2>
<a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gt-gbSZhVUHLsnysnQehSU9AmSrA?docId=CNG.277eb7c0a5801ccc73a60f7de81e81ce.9d1">Meteorite chunk falls on Oslo</a> </h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
Agence France-Presse<br />
Mon, 12 Mar 2012 13:47 EDT</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="article-body">
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/97028/full/ALeqM5iW0TQb219hJRgMoZbU3uxcNc.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Agence France-Presse"><img alt="" border="0" height="203" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/97028/large/ALeqM5iW0TQb219hJRgMoZbU3uxcNc.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© Agence France-Presse</span></div>
<div class="image-caption">
<br />
<span class="caption">An apparent meteorite that split in two after hitting the roof of a cottage in central Oslo</span></div>
</div>
A Norwegian family was flabbergasted to find that what appeared to be a piece of a meteorite had crashed through the roof of their allotment garden hut in the middle of Oslo, media reported Monday. <br />
<br />
The rock weighing 585 grammes (one pound, four ounces), which split in two, probably detached from a meteorite observed over Norway on March 1, experts said, and had landed on the empty hut in the Thomassen family's allotment in a working-class neighbourhood of the Norwegian capital. <br />
<br />
Astrophysicist Knut Joergen Roed Oedegaard and his wife Anne Mette Sannes, a meteorite enthusiast, identified the object as a breccia, or a rock composed of broken fragments of minerals or rock. <br />
<br />
"It is a sensation in more than one way. On one hand because it is rare that a piece of meteorite goes through a roof and on the other hand because it is a breccia, which is even harder to find," Sannes told AFP. <br />
<br />
She said the owners of the meteorite pieces wanted to keep them in Norway, maybe in a museum. <br />
<br />
Meteorites speed through space and generally break up as they enter our atmosphere, but it is extremely rare for the debris to fall on inhabited areas, according to Serge Koutchmy, a researcher at the Paris Astrophysical Institute. <br />
<br />
"This family is very lucky," Koutchmy told AFP. <br />
<br />
"First off because the piece of meteorite did not cause much damage, but also because it is worth a small fortune," he said. <br />
<br />
A meteorite from Mars, for instance, can fetch around 5,000 kroner (670 euros, $876) per gramme, according to geophysicist Hans Amundsen quoted on the website of the Verdens Gang daily, adding though that it remained unclear where the meteorite pieces that landed in Oslo came from and how rare they were. </div>
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<h2>
<a href="http://www.newsinenglish.no/2012/03/14/another-meteorite-found-in-oslo/">Another meteorite found in Oslo</a> </h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
Nordic Labour Journal<br />
Wed, 14 Mar 2012 15:03 EDT</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="article-image to-right">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/97040/full/ssTuWRv68Xs6ffrAc748HQDWTtiNHo.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" height="179" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/97040/medium/ssTuWRv68Xs6ffrAc748HQDWTtiNHo.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<br />
<span class="caption">Liv Kibsgaard with her 700 gram meteorite</span></div>
</div>
A woman out walking her dog on the large grassy hilltop plateau known as Ekebergsletta in Oslo found the second meteorite in as many days in Norway's capital on Tuesday. She said it was better that winning the local lottery. <br />
<br />
"I laid awake several hours last night and thought about how lucky I was," Liv Kibsgaard told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) on Wednesday. Her brother, who is a geologist, advised her to be careful with the meteorite, wrap it up "and don't tell anyone right away." <br />
<br />
Kibsgaard's discovery of a 700-gram meteorite lying on the grass at Ekeberg <a href="http://www.newsinenglish.no/2012/03/12/meteorite-smashed-through-oslo-roof/" target="_blank">followed the discovery of a 585-gram meteorite on Sunday</a> that had crashed through the roof of a cabin in Oslo's Rodeløkka district. Astrophysicist Knut Jørgen Røed Ødegaard had predicted on Monday that more meteorites could likely be found as well, and he's been proven correct. <br />
<br />
"There are still probably more pieces lying around waiting to be found, because we can see on these stones that pieces have fallen off as they traveled through the atmosphere," Ødegaard said. "It's just to keep your eyes open. Now there are stones from outer space in Oslo and Akershus." <br />
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<h2>
<a href="http://www.dagbladet.no/2012/03/14/nyheter/innenriks/meteor/astronomi/20677204/">Third fireball explodes over Norway this month</a> </h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
Geir Barstein<br />
Dagbladet Nyheter<br />
Wed, 14 Mar 2012 14:59 EDT</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="article-body">
<i>Translated by Sott.net reader</i> <br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/97127/full/fireball_Norway.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" height="179" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/97127/large/fireball_Norway.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /> </a><br />
</div>
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
</div>
Before the dust from the previous meteor had settled down, a new meteor illuminated the night sky over the eastern part of Norway. Tonight's fireball was observed at 00.09.30 on the 14th of March, and was visible for just under 6 seconds, Steinar Midtskogen told <i>Dagbladet</i>. <br />
<br />
The astronomy enthusiast had erected a camera that surveys the sky from Voksenlia in Holmenkollåsen. It is so far not possible to determine whether the object burnt up in the atmosphere or if parts of it reached the ground in the form of meteorites. <br />
<br />
This one was weaker than the one we saw on March 1st. Whether it produced any meteorite downfall is too early to tell but it is definitely a candidate that should be followed up, according to Midtskogen. <br />
<br />
<div align="center">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="309" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/SgoZkX_4DKc" width="400"></iframe></div>
<br />
<span class="BoldGrey">The third fireball</span> <br />
<br />
More data and searching of footage is needed before it is possible to say anything about its trajectory. Seen from Oslo the meteor was visible in the southwest, possibly over southern parts of Buskerud or Telemark. <br />
<br />
This is the third large meteor over eastern Norway that has been caught on tape in the last few weeks. In addition to the meteor in the beginning of March, people driving to work in the morning rush-hour saw a similar sight on the 3d of February. Earlier this week it also became known that a meteorite probably went through a roof in Rodeløkka in Oslo. <br />
<br />
The earth is constantly bombarded with matter from space. What is commonly known as stardust is tiny particles the size of sand grains that enter the atmosphere and is a common sight on a clear night. The earth is hit with these particles several million times each day. <br />
<br />
<div class="StoryComment">
<br />
<b>Comment: </b>Right, except these are clearly <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/242984-Another-meteorite-found-in-Oslo" target="_blank">NOT</a> 'grains of sand'. <br />
<br /></div>
<br />
<span class="BoldGrey">More than usual</span> <br />
<br />
The larger fireballs that are observed several times a year are typically caused by objects from 15-20 grams up to 100 grams, says professor Kaare Aksnes at the Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics at the University in Oslo. <br />
<br />
<div class="StoryComment">
<br />
<b>Comment: </b>Okay, except the one which broke up and crashed to the ground a few nights ago contained several chunks, one of which weighed at least <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/242984-Another-meteorite-found-in-Oslo" target="_blank">700 grams</a>! <br />
<br /></div>
<br />
Even though they are rarer than the tiny particles they still enter the atmosphere regularly over Norwegian territory. They often remain undetected because their trajectory takes them over uninhibited areas, in the daytime or when it is cloudy. <br />
<br />
You can get meteors during daylight as well, but they would have to be large, Aksnes says. <br />
<br />
On account of information indicating that this night's meteor was smaller than the fireball from the 1st of March, Aksnes holds it unlikely that fragments have survived the journey through the atmosphere without being burned up. <br />
<br />
This one must have been significantly smaller. The particles do not have to be very big but can still illuminate a large part of the sky, Aksnes says. <br />
<br />
Steinar Midtskogen, who started his camera project 8-9 years ago, believes he <span class="BoldRed">"has observed more luminous meteors than usual lately."</span> <br />
<br />
This can be a coincidence, or it can be because the earth enters areas in space that holds larger amounts of debris that then hits the atmosphere. Aksnes thinks the cause is the former. <br />
<br />
The earth isn't presently in a portion of space that should cause a meteor swarm, Aksnes says. </div>
<br />
<b>Comment: </b>So, maybe larger amounts of debris are entering this 'area of space', rather than the other way around? <br />
<br />
There has indeed been an incredible number of fireballs lately, of which the three over eastern Norway are just a few... <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/242727-Fireball-Spotted-Over-North-Georgia" target="_blank">9 March, Fireball Spotted Over North Georgia</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/242515-Meteor-Shower-Dazzles-Victorians-Lucky-Enough-to-See-It" target="_blank">4 March: Meteor Shower Dazzles Victorians Lucky Enough to See It</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/242486-Thousands-Witness-Spectacular-Fireball-Streak-Over-UK-Video-" target="_blank">4 March: Thousands Witness Spectacular Fireball Streak Over UK</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/242443-Fireball-seen-from-southern-Norway-and-Sweden" target="_blank">2 March: Fireball seen from southern Norway and Sweden</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/242383-Green-Fireball-Seen-All-Over-Southeastern-Canada" target="_blank">2 March: Green Fireball Seen All Over Southeastern Canada</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/242337-Green-Object-Reported-in-the-Sky-Over-Newfoundland" target="_blank">1 March: Green Object Reported in the Sky Over Newfoundland</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/242300-What-Was-The-Bright-Flash-In-The-Sky-Tuesday-Night-" target="_blank">29 February: What Was The Bright Flash In The Sky Tuesday Night?</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/241961-Huge-fireball-streaks-through-Edmonton-sky" target="_blank">22 February: "Huge fireball" streaks through Edmonton sky</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/241934-Meteor-Rain-in-China" target="_blank">22 February: Meteor Rain in China</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/241622-US-Exploding-UFO-Wakes-Thousands-in-South-Carolina" target="_blank">14 February: Exploding UFO Wakes Thousands in South Carolina</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/241512-Exploding-Fireball-recorded-over-Okayama-Japan" target="_blank">12 February: Exploding Fireball recorded over Okayama, Japan</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/241133-Reports-of-fireball-with-huge-tail-seen-over-Western-Australia" target="_blank">5 February: Fireball with huge tail seen over Western Australia</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/241129-Fireball-Photographed-Over-Corfu-Greece" target="_blank">5 February: Fireball Photographed Over Corfu, Greece</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/241132-East-coast-of-US-lights-up-as-another-enormous-fireball-streaks-through-sky" target="_blank">4 February: East coast of US lights up as another enormous fireball streaks through sky</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/241131-Huge-Fireball-Over-Tokyo-2-February-2012" target="_blank">2 February: Huge Fireball Over Tokyo, 2 February 2012</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/241079-US-Wednesday-night-s-Texas-meteor-so-bright-it-was-seen-in-Kansas" target="_blank">1 February: Wednesday night's Texas meteor so bright it was seen in Kansas</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/240942-Canada-Halifax-fireball-probably-a-meteor" target="_blank">1 February: Halifax 'fireball' probably a meteor</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<h2>
<a href="http://www2.wsav.com/news/2012/mar/15/mystery-boom-heard-felt-across-region-ar-3418171/">Mystery "Boom" Heard & Felt Across Georgia Region</a>
</h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
Crystal Bruce<br />
WSAV TV3<br />
Thu, 15 Mar 2012 21:47 EDT</div>
</div>
<div class="article-body">
WSAV is looking into reports of a "boom" felt across the region this morning.
<br />
<br />
We checked with the Chatham Emergency Managemet Agency and the US Geological Survey. Neither report any tremors in the area.
<br />
<br />
The National Weather Service says there was no weather related activity in the area.
<br />
<br />
As far as military bases, Hunter, Ft. Stewart and Beaufort Marine Corp
Air Station all say it didn't have anything to do with them.
<br />
<br />
However, the Air National Guard says anytime military jets are training off the coast they can cause a sonic boom.
<br />
<br />
And GEMA confirms that they've talked to the military and they do have some reports of training exercises going on.
<br />
<br />
Here's what some of you had to say on Facebook:
<br />
<br />
"<a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=839854885" target="_blank">Malinda Naquin</a>
I'm in Richmond Hill and it sounded like it does when a hard storm is
starting up, the roof kind of 'popped' and then the windows rattled.
But, it was sunny so I figured it was a sonic boom. We hear Ft. Stewart
all the time now, again, but usually that is lower in tone than this
was."
<br />
<br />
"<a href="http://www.facebook.com/chibaby1968" target="_blank">Teresa Gocial</a>
too many people from all around felt it, scared the crap outta me shook
my house like something slammed into it..nothing like what I normally
feel from Ft. Stewart"
<br />
<br />
"<a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003222913925" target="_blank">Dee Southworth</a> Hear it and felt it on St. Simons. I thought one of our large live oaks fell near the house.
<br />
<br />
We did more digging and found something called the Seneca Guns.
<br />
<br />
Here's what the USGS says about the phenomenom:
<br />
<blockquote class="typ2">
"Earthquake "booms" have been reported for a long time, and they tend to
occur more in the Northeastern US and along the East Coast. Of course,
most "booms" that people hear or experience are actually some type of
cultural noise, such as some type of explosion, a large vehicle going
by, or sometimes a sonic boom, but there have been many reports of
"booms" that cannot be explained by man-made sources. No one knows for
sure, but scientists speculate that these "booms" are probably small
shallow earthquakes that are too small to be recorded, but large enough
to be felt by people nearby.
<br />
<br />
As it turns out....there are many factors that contribute to the "sound'
that an earthquake makes. To begin to understand these factors we have
to understand the <a href="http://earthquake.usgs.gov/faq/meas.html#16" target="_blank">different types of waves,</a> the speed they travel through the earth, and the speed that sound travels through the air."
</blockquote>
</div>
<br />
<h2>
<a href="http://romenews-tribune.com/view/full_story/17886334/article-Recent-meteor-may-have-left-pieces-in-Walker-County-?instance=home_news_lead_story">Recent meteor may have left pieces in Walker County</a>
</h2>
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<div class="m-bar">
Rome News-Tribune<br />
Fri, 16 Mar 2012 08:42 EDT</div>
</div>
<div class="article-body">
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/97150/full/3FGB_031512meteor.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Christi McEntyre"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/97150/medium/3FGB_031512meteor.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© Christi McEntyre</span></div>
<div class="image-caption">
<br />
<span class="caption">This
satellite photo provided by NASA shows the projected trajectory and
possible impact zone of the meteorite. Lucky residents or property
owners in this or surrounding areas might just find a small visitor from
space some-where on their land. Click on image to enlarge.</span></div>
</div>
On Wednesday, March 7, shortly after 10 p.m., a meteor ended its long journey across space just above Walker County.
<br />
<br />
Bill Cooke, Walker County native and current lead member of the NASA
Meteorite Environmental Office, confirmed that NASA meteor-tracking
cameras in Huntsville, Ala., Tullahoma, Tenn., and at the Tellus Science
Museum in Cartersville, Ga., detected the bright fireball of a meteor
entering Earth's atmosphere approximately 52 miles northeast of Rocky
Face in Whitfield County at 10:19 p.m. on March 7.
<br />
<br />
The meteor was estimated to weigh about 50 pounds before its descent to
Earth, at which time the intense heat of atmospheric entry would have
broken the space rock into multiple smaller pieces.
<br />
<br />
NASA lost track of the meteor's fireball - meaning its disintegration
was nearly complete - about 17 miles above Ga. 95 southeast of Rock
Spring.
<br />
<br />
Cooke and his team at NASA estimate that small
remnants of the meteor - weighing in at one pound or less - may have
survived reentry and landed somewhere between the Walker County
Correctional Facility to the east and Cove Road to the west.
<br />
<br />
"Anyone in this area who has noticed an unusual rock found after the
night of March 7th should note the location of the find and are
encouraged to contact the NASA Meteoroid Environment Office at the
Marshall Space Flight Center," said Cooke. "Potential meteorite hunters
are reminded that meteorites belong to the owner of the property on
which they land, and that one should obtain the permission of the
property owners before conducting a search."
<br />
<br />
Cooke hopes members of the public living in the Rock Spring or Cove Road
areas will have memories of strange sounds or sights occurring the
night of March 7 and will be able to point NASA in a more precise
direction to de-termine where the meteorites may have landed.
<br />
<br />
"Often with meteorites, it's the public that gives us clues as to where to look," he said.
<br />
<br />
Jim Smith, longtime Walker County school board member and former teacher
of Bill Cooke, was unable to see the meteor through his planetarium and
observatory in Chickamauga, but later recalled hearing the event.
</div>
<br />
<br />
<h2>
<a href="http://www.phenomenica.com/2012/03/near-miss-asteroid-to-return-even.html">Near-miss asteroid to return even closer next year</a>
</h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
Phenomenica<br />
Fri, 16 Mar 2012 10:56 EDT</div>
</div>
<div class="article-body">
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/97254/full/2012da14.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/97254/large/2012da14.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="316" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© NASA </span></div>
</div>
An amateur team spotted the unusual asteroid, named 2012 DA14, on February 22.
<br />
<br />
Its small size and orbit meant that it was observed only after it had
flown past Earth at about seven times the distance of the Moon.
<br />
<br />
However, current predictions indicate that on its next flyby, due on 15
February 2013, it will pass Earth at just 24 000 km - closer than many
commercial satellites.
<br />
<br />
"This is a safe distance, but it is still close enough to make the
asteroid visible in normal binoculars," said Detlef Koschny, responsible
for near-earth objects in ESA's Space Situational Awareness (SSA)
office.
<br />
<br />
The asteroid was discovered by the La Sagra Sky Survey observatory, in
the southeast of Spain, near Granada, at an altitude of 1700 m, one of
the darkest, least light-polluted locations on the European mainland.
<br />
<br />
"Considering its path in the morning sky, its rather fast angular
motion, the quite faint and fading brightness and its orbit high above
the plane of Earth's orbit, it was a slippery target - and easily
could have escaped undetected during this Earth visit," said Jaime
Nomen, one of the discoverers.
<br />
<br />
"A preliminary orbit calculation shows that 2012
DA14 has a very Earth-like orbit with a period of 366.24 days, just one
more day than our terrestrial year, and it 'jumps' inside and outside of
the path of Earth two times per year."
<br />
<br />
While an impact with Earth has been ruled out on the asteroid's next
visit, astronomers will use that close approach for more studies and
calculate the Earth and Moon's gravitational effects on it.
<br />
<br />
"We will also be keen to see the asteroid's resulting orbit after the
next close approach in order to compute any future risk of impact," said
Koschny.
<br />
<br />
The La Sagra Sky Survey is operated by the Observatorio Astronomico de
Mallorca and has recently joined ESA's SSA programme. In the future it
will provide observations to the asteroid data hub that ESA is
developing.
<br />
<br />
Together with information on space weather and debris, its information
will help European scientists and policy-makers understand and assess
hazards, particularly if an Earth-threatening asteroid is ever found.
<br />
<br />
The discovery of 2012 DA14 is particularly significant for the Agency's
SSA office, because it is typical of the estimated half a million
undiscovered near-Earth objects up to 30 m across.
<br />
<br />
"The goal is to be able to spot them at least three weeks before closest approach to Earth."
<br />
<br />
"We are developing a system of automated optical telescopes that can
detect asteroids just like this one, with the goal of being able spot
them at least three weeks before closest approach to Earth," said
Koschny.
<br />
<br />
To achieve this, ESA specialists supported by European industry are
planning a network of 1 m-diameter telescopes with a combined field of
view large enough to image the complete sky in one night.
</div>
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<h2>
<a href="http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/2012F1/2012F1.html">New Comet C/2012 F1 (Gibbs)</a>
</h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
Seiichi Yoshida<br />
Aerith.net<br />
Sun, 18 Mar 2012 12:08 EDT</div>
</div>
</div>
<span class="BoldGrey">Discovery Date:</span> March 16, 2012
<br />
<br />
<span class="BoldGrey">Magnitude:</span> 18.7 mag
<br />
<br />
<span class="BoldGrey">Discoverer:</span> A. R. Gibbs (Catalina)
<br />
<br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/97310/full/mag.gif" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Aerith.net"><img alt="Magnitude Chart" border="0" height="243" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/97310/large/mag.gif" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© Aerith.net</span><br />
<span class="caption">Magnitude chart.</span></div>
<div class="image-caption">
</div>
</div>
The orbital elements are published on <a href="http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/mpec/K12/K12F30.html" target="_blank">M.P.E.C. 2012-F30.</a>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<h2>
<a href="http://en.rian.ru/science/20120324/172363667.html">"Space Junk" Misses ISS</a>
</h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
RIA Novosti<br />
Sat, 24 Mar 2012 06:50 EDT</div>
</div>
<div class="article-body">
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/97909/full/162875016.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA"><img alt="" border="0" height="187" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/97909/large/162875016.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© NASA</span><br />
<span class="caption">International Space Station </span></div>
<div class="image-caption">
</div>
</div>
A
piece of space debris missed the International Space Station (ISS) on
Saturday, forcing its crew members to take shelter in rescue craft, NASA
said.
<br />
<br />
The debris "safely passed in front of the ISS," the U.S. space agency wrote on its Twitter account.
<br />
<br />
The six crew members were given the all clear to return to their normal duties.
<br />
<br />
NASA said the junk was a leftover from a February 2009 collision
involving Russia's defunct military communications satellite Comsos 2251
and the U.S. commercial Iridium spacecraft.
<br />
<br />
The Soyuz spacecraft are used to ferry crew to and
from the ISS, "for either a normal end of mission, or as a "rescue"
craft," NASA explained.
<br />
<br />
Before getting into the capsules, the crew - two Americans, three
Russians and a Dutch astronaut - closed all the hatches om the ISS.
<br />
<br />
NASA said earlier the debris was predicted to pass 14.8 kilometers below the space station.
<br />
<br />
<b>This is the third time an ISS crew were told to follow the same procedure following similar incidents in 2009 and 2011.</b>
</div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="article-top">
<span class="atop-l"></span>
<span class="atop-r"></span>
</div>
<div class="article-header">
<h2>
<a href="http://www.space.com/15031-space-junk-station-astronaut-threat.html">"Space Junk" Forces Station Astronauts to Take Shelter in Lifeboats</a>
</h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
Tariq Malik<br />
SPACE.com<br />
Sat, 24 Mar 2012 07:56 EDT</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="article-body">
<div class="article-image to-right">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/97922/full/space_station_view_100213_02.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/97922/medium/space_station_view_100213_02.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© NASA</span><br />
<span class="caption">Sunlight
glints off the International Space Station with the blue limb of Earth
providing a dramatic backdrop in this photo taken by an astronaut on the
shuttle Endeavour just before it docked after midnight on Feb. 10, 2010
during the STS-130 mission. </span></div>
<div class="image-caption">
</div>
</div>
A leftover piece of an
old Russian satellite forced six astronauts on the International Space
Station to take shelter in a pair of lifeboat-like space capsules today
(March 24), but zipped harmlessly by the outpost to the crew's relief.
<br />
<br />
The piece of <a href="http://www.space.com/topics/space-junk-orbital-debris-news" target="_blank">space junk</a>
was spotted too late to move the orbiting laboratory out of the way and
flew as close as 6.8 miles (11 kilometers) when it zoomed by at about
2:38 a.m. EDT (0638 GMT), NASA officials said.
<br />
<br />
While the chances of collision were remote, the potential danger of a
hit was enough for Mission Control to order the station crew - which
includes three Russians, two Americans and a Dutch astronaut - to seek
shelter in two docked Soyuz space capsules just in case a quick escape
to Earth is required.
<br />
<br />
"I don't see anything, which is good news," one of the station
astronauts said in Russian, which was translated in a NASA broadcast.
<br />
<br />
<b>It was the third time in 12 years that station astronauts took shelter from a close space debris pass. </b>
<br />
<br />
NASA and its partners typically order an avoidance
maneuver when a piece of space junk is expected to pass close by the
space station and there are several days of advance notice. But this
latest space <a href="http://www.space.com/14674-space-junk-solution-5-spacecraft.html" target="_blank">debris threat</a> was initially spotted on Friday morning, too late to plan a major maneuver, NASA officials said.
<br />
<br />
"We're not too concerned about it, but it's too late to do a [debris
avoidance maneuver]," station flight director Jerry Jason radioed
station commander Daniel Burbank, of NASA, and his crew late Friday.
<br />
<br />
According to NASA updates, the space debris is a remnant of the Russian
Cosmos 2251 communications satellite. In 2009, the defunct spacecraft
crashed into the U.S. satellite Iridium 33 in a <a href="http://www.space.com/5542-satellite-destroyed-space-collision.html" target="_blank">massive space collision</a> that created a huge cloud of more debris. The crash created 2,000 pieces of orbital debris.
<br />
<br />
While the size of the space debris was difficult to pin down, it was
"relatively small," NASA spokesman Rob Navias said during NASA TV
commentary of the space trash flyby.
<br />
<br />
NASA astronaut Don Pettit, who is the other American aboard the space
station, radioed Mission Control Friday to say he hoped to try and snap a
photo of the space debris if it was possible. But the space debris
whizzed by the space station unseen.
<br />
<br />
Space junk is a growing threat for astronauts on the space station, as
well as other satellites orbiting Earth. According to recent estimates,
there is about 6,000 tons of space debris in orbit today. NASA and the
U.S. military's Space Surveillance Network regularly track about 20,000
pieces of the debris in order to help other active satellites avoid
collisions with the orbital trash.
</div>
<br />
<b>Comment: </b>SOTT wonders what is UP with all the
recent alleged man-made space objects either falling out of the sky, or
forcing astronauts to take shelter in lifeboats? Is it possible that it
is not really "space junk" and such explanations are being offered to
cover up the fact that the planet is being subjected to cometary
fragment bombardment?<br />
<br />
<br />
<h2>
<a href="http://www.space.com/15043-small-asteroids-earth-close-shave.html">2 Small Asteroids Give Earth a Close Shave</a>
</h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
Tariq Malik<br />
Space.com<br />
Mon, 26 Mar 2012 12:09 EDT</div>
</div>
<div class="article-body">
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/98113/full/dangerous_asteroid_impact_eart.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Ted Stryk/Emily Lakdawalla"><img alt="Asteroids" border="0" height="235" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/98113/large/dangerous_asteroid_impact_eart.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© Ted Stryk/Emily Lakdawalla</span><br />
<span class="caption">This
montage of images from several different observations and missions
shows asteroids and comets visited by spacecraft from Earth. </span></div>
</div>
<br />
Two tiny asteroids zipped close by Earth today (March 26), passing
between our planet and the orbit of the moon, but posed no threat of
impacting our world, NASA scientists say.
<br />
<br />
The two space rocks flew by Earth in rapid fire; one zoomed by early in
the day while the second buzzed the planet at 1:09 p.m. EDT (1709 GMT),
according to astronomers with NASA's <a href="http://www.space.com/9911-asteroids-aplenty-space-rocks-types-places.html" target="_blank">Asteroid Watch</a> program.
<br />
<br />
"Both are very small (under 10 meters) and pose no risk," the scientists wrote in a Twitter update.
<br />
<br />
The first object, called asteroid 2012 FP35, came within 96,000 miles
(154,000 km) of the Earth when it passed by earlier today, the
scientists wrote. Asteroid 2012 FP35 is just under 30 feet (9 meters)
wide, making it about the size of a tour bus.
<br />
<br />
The second <a href="http://www.space.com/51-asteroids-formation-discovery-and-exploration.html" target="_blank">asteroid</a>
is dubbed 2012 FS35 and crept even closer to Earth, coming within
36,000 miles (58,000 km) when it whipped by the planet. Asteroid 2012
FS35 is even smaller than its predecessor; at nearly 10 feet (3 meters)
wide, it's only the size of a small car.
<br />
<br />
The paths of both asteroids brought them well inside
the orbit of the moon, which typically circles Earth at a distance of
about 238,000 miles (382,900 km). Asteroid 2012 FP35 - the farther of
the two space rocks - passed within 0.4 lunar distances to Earth,
while asteroid 2012 FS35 came within 0.17 lunar distances, NASA
scientists said.
<br />
<br />
The two asteroids were first detected over the weekend and quickly dismissed as potential <a href="http://www.space.com/14857-asteroid-nuclear-bomb-explosion-video.html" target="_blank">impact threats to Earth.</a> Their small size means they would likely not survive the fiery trip through Earth's atmosphere to reach the surface.
<br />
<br />
NASA's Asteroid Watch project is part of the agency's Near-Earth Objects
program based at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. NASA
scientists and other teams of astronomers regularly scan the sky for
larger, potentially dangerous asteroids in order to determine if they
pose a risk of impacting the Earth.
</div>
<br />
<br />
<h2>
<a href="http://remanzacco.blogspot.co.nz/2012/03/new-comet-p2012-f5-gibbs.html">New Comet: P/2012 F5 (GIBBS)</a>
</h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
Giovanni Sostero, Ernesto Guido and Nick Howes<br />
Remanzacco Observatory<br />
Mon, 26 Mar 2012 12:38 EDT</div>
</div>
<div class="article-body">
CBET 3069 and <a href="http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K12/K12F87.html" target="_blank">M.P.E.C. 2012-F87,</a>
issued on 2012, March 25, announced the discovery of a periodic comet
by A. R. Gibbs on Mar. 22.8, through the Mount Lemmon 1.5-m reflector.
On his images, Gibbs, found a stellar coma and a long, narrow tail about
7'.4 long in p.a. 292.5 deg. The new object has been designated P/2012
F5 (GIBBS) by the Minor Planet Center.
<br />
<br />
We tried its follow up at first on 2012, March 23.8, when this object
was still listed in the NEO-CP webpage as "TF85899". We operated from
the Malina River Observatory (Povoletto, Italy) through a 0.3-m, f/4.7
reflector + CCD, under a hazy sky. On our stackings we found a faint and
narrow, streak, about 2-arcmin long, oriented toward PA 295 deg.
<br />
<br />
This feature was very close to the expected position of "TF85899"
however, due to its faintness (R about 19.2) and curious shape, we
suspected it might be a noise, rather than a real object, so we decided
to go for a second night of follow-up, just to make sure. On 2012, Mar.
25.8, we repeated the observations of this object with the same set-up,
and found again an odd aspect: kind of elongated and narrow tail, at
least 30" long, toward PA300 (in these images we suspected that the tail
might be longer than this, however our observations were hampered by a
bright, nearby field star). The central condensation was very difficult
to locate, hampering its precise astrometric measurement.
<br />
<br />
Meanwhile other observers reported about its curious
shape in a the [Comets-ml] forum, so we had an independent confirmation
that what we observed on Mar. 23.8 was actually a real (albeit odd)
cometary object, and not an artifact.
<br />
<br />
Our confirmation image of March 23:
<br />
<br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/98115/full/P2012F5_2012Mar23_B90.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Remanzacco Observatory"><img alt="Comet Gibbs" border="0" height="300" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/98115/large/P2012F5_2012Mar23_B90.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© Remanzacco Observatory</span></div>
<div class="image-caption">
</div>
</div>
According
to the preliminary orbital elements issued by the Minor Planet Center,
P/2012 F5 has an orbital period of 5.32 years, an inclination on the
ecliptic of 13.5 deg, semi-major axis of 3 AU and en eccentricity about
0.4. Its perihelion was reached in September 2010.
</div>
<br />
<br />
<h2>
<a href="http://www.space.com/15121-april-fools-day-asteroid-earth-flyby.html">April Fools' Day Asteroid to Buzz Earth Sunday: No Joke!</a>
</h2>
<div class="article-info">
<div class="m-bar">
Tariq Malik<br />
Space.com<br />
Sat, 31 Mar 2012 09:46 EDT</div>
</div>
<div class="article-body">
<div class="article-image to-left">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/98543/full/asteroid_2012_eg5_april1_2012.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA/JPL"><img alt="EG5 Asteroid" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/98543/medium/asteroid_2012_eg5_april1_2012.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© NASA/JPL</span><br />
<span class="caption">This graphic depicts the orbit of asteroid 2012 EG5 (in blue) during its April Fool's Day flyby of Earth on April 1, 2012.</span></div>
</div>
<br />
An asteroid the size of a passenger jet will zoom close by Earth on
Sunday (April 1) just in time for April Fools' Day, but it has no chance
of hitting the Earth, NASA says.
<br />
<br />
The asteroid 2012 EG5 will be closer than the moon when it passes Earth
at 5:32 a.m. EDT (0932 GMT). The space rock is about 150 feet wide (46
meters), according to a NASA update.
<br />
<br />
"Asteroid 2012 EG5 will safely pass Earth on April 1," scientists with
NASA's Asteroid Watch program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in
Pasadena, Calif., wrote in a Twitter statement.
<br />
<br />
The space rock may be visiting Earth on <a href="http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/1270-april-fools-five-fake-scientific-breakthroughs.html" target="_blank">April Fools' Day,</a>
but its flyby is no prank. The asteroid will creep within 143,000 miles
(230,000 kilometers) of Earth during its closest approach, which is
just over half the distance between Earth and the moon's orbit. The moon
typically circles the Earth at a distance of 238,000 miles (382,900
km).
<br />
<br />
Asteroid 2012 EG5 is the third relatively small asteroid to buzz the Earth in seven days. <a href="http://www.space.com/15043-small-asteroids-earth-close-shave.html" target="_blank">Two smaller asteroids</a> passed near Earth on Monday (March 26).
<br />
<br />
Early Monday, the bus-size asteroid 2012 FP35 came
within 96,000 miles (154,000 km) of Earth. It was followed a few hours
later by asteroid 2012 FS35, which is the size of a car and passed Earth
at a range of 36,000 miles (58,000 km).
<br />
<br />
Like asteroid 2012 EG5, those two smaller space rocks on Monday posed no
risk of hitting Earth. Those space rocks were so small they would not
survive the trip through Earth's atmosphere, even if they were aimed at
our planet, Asteroid Watch researchers said.
<br />
<br />
Asteroid 2012 EG5 was discovered on March 13 by astronomers searching
for near-Earth space rocks. Another space rock, the asteroid 2012 FA57,
was discovered on March 28 and will fly by Earth on April 4 when it
passes at a range just beyond the orbit of the moon.
<br />
<br />
Scientists with NASA's Near-Earth Object Program at JPL and other teams of astronomers regularly monitor the sky for larger, <a href="http://www.space.com/11093-photos-asteroids-deep-space-rocks.html" target="_blank">potentially dangerous asteroids</a> to determine if they pose an impact threat to Earth.
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">A Service of <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">Signs of the Times</a>: The most comprehensive, objective and reliable Alternative News Source on the Web. If you aren't reading <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">SOTT</a>, you don't know what's REALLY happening!</div>Keithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06011086310017706847noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385115091808825739.post-49501910267001437782012-02-05T20:36:00.004+00:002012-03-10T09:42:42.295+00:00February 2012<div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=01&month=02&year=2012">Comet Garradd to Make Closest Approach to Earth in March</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Space Weather<br />Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:54 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> Astrophotographers, ready your cameras. On Friday morning, February 3rd, Comet Garradd (C/2009 P1) will pass approximately 0.5 degrees from globular cluster M92 in Hercules. Last night, Rolando Ligustri took this picture of the converging pair using a remotely-controlled 106mm telescope in New Mexico:<br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/93068/full/rolando_ligustri_C2009P1_12013.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Rolando Ligustri"><img style="width: 389px; height: 525px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/93068/large/rolando_ligustri_C2009P1_12013.jpg" alt="Comet Garradd" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Rolando Ligustri</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">New image of the comet Garradd, ever closer to the globular cluster M92. In this case, I have worked with a greater resolution in such a way as to able to appreciate all the dozens of small galaxies present in the photo. apo 106/530 STL11000 L=600s in bin 1 RGB=60s each in bin2.<br /><br /></span></div></div>The ten minute exposure shows the comet's fan-shaped dust tail, which roughly traces the comet's orbit, and its pencil-thin gas tail, which points almost directly away from the sun due to the action of the solar wind.<br /><br />The star cluster and the comet are both located in the constellation Hercules, high overhead in northern hemisphere skies before sunrise. Sky and Telescope offers a <a href="http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/highlights/Comet-Garradd-in-Transition-134910733.html" target="_blank">sky map</a> of the comet's path. Observers with computerized GOTO telescopes can track the comet by plugging in <a href="http://scully.cfa.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/returnprepeph.cgi?d=c&o=CK09P010" target="_blank">orbital elements</a> from the Minor Planet Center.<br /><br />At the moment, Comet Garradd has an astronomical magnitude of +6.5, invisible to the naked eye but an easy target for backyard telescopes. Forecasters expect it to brighten by a factor of ~2 in the weeks ahead as the comet <a href="http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=C%2F2009%2BP1&orb=1" target="_blank">approaches Earth</a> for a 1.3 AU close encounter in early March. This could be a good time to invest in a <a href="http://www.shopspaceweather.com/152mmf48comethunterotawithdeluxecaseandaccessories.aspx" target="_blank">Comet Hunter.</a><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">More Images:</span><br /><br />From <a href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Lorenzo-Comolli-d103m_1326112699.jpg" target="_blank">Lorenzo Comolli</a> of Bogli, Italy; from <a href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Gregg-Ruppel-P120Garradd_012412_1327432795.jpg" target="_blank">Gregg Ruppel</a> of Ellisville, MO; from <a href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Mike-Broussard-garradd-20120129-10x240-1600-85f5_6_1327871170.jpg" target="_blank">Mike Broussard</a> of Maurice, Louisiana; from <a href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Dr-Paolo-Candy-L-LRGGarr_18_11_11_1321721217.jpg" target="_blank">Dr Paolo Candy</a> of Ci.A.O. Cimini Astronomical Observatory - Italy<br /><br /><div class="article-icon"> <span class="atop-l"></span><br /><br /></div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www.news957.com/news/local/article/324620--halifax-fireball-probably-a-meteor-astronomer">Canada: Halifax 'fireball' probably a meteor</a> <br /></h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">The Canadian Press<br />Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:36 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/93057/full/bol4.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img style="width: 394px; height: 246px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/93057/large/bol4.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><br /><span class="caption">File photo<br /><br /></span></div></div>An expert on astronomy says the glowing fireball that some Halifax residents saw streaking through the sky Thursday night was probably a meteor.<br /><br />Alan Strauss at the Mount Lemmon Sky Center in Arizona says these spectacular fireballs are quite common.<br /><br />However, Strauss says people often miss them because they just don't look up that much.<br /><br /><div style="font-style: italic;" class="StoryComment"><strong>Comment: </strong>That or they just have incredibly short memories. This is from January 2009:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/173992-Canada-Halifax-Nova-Scotia-Ball-of-Fire" target="_blank">Canada: Halifax, Nova Scotia - Ball of Fire</a></div><br />The fiery object appeared to travel from west to east over the Halifax area at around 9:30pm.<br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2095494/Awe-inspiring-Outback-Comet-shimmers-Australian-swamp-blazes-trail-night-sky.html">Comet Lovejoy as seen from Australian outback</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Julian Gavaghan<br />UK Daily Mail<br />Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:41 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/93327/full/article_0_118F46EF000005DC_574.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Wayne England"><img style="width: 397px; height: 262px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/93327/large/article_0_118F46EF000005DC_574.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Wayne England</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">Out-of-this world beauty: An amazing comet streaks over a swamp in South Australia. It was captured by photographer Wayne England who was lying in wait<br /><br /></span></div></div>This is the out-of-this world photograph of the beauty of an amazing comet streaking across the cosmos.<br /><br />Caught on camera over a swamp in Australia the stunning image shows the trail of the Comet Lovejoy as it passed close to Earth.<br /><br />Lying in wait in the darkness in Poocher Swamp Game Reserve near Adelaide, was photographer Wayne England who took this amazing snap.<br /><br />As his picture shows the darkness of the swamp and the reflection of the water made the perfect backdrop to reflect the comet zooming across the sky.<br /><br />Mr England, 40, who is a member of the Astronomical Society of South Australia, said he first heard about the comet travelling close to Earth in December and had several nights to try and catch a glimpse at 4am in the morning on Christmas Eve.<br /><br />He said: 'Each night I travelled 6miles out of the town to my favourite site, Poocher Swamp Game Reserve because of the dark sky, water and reflections of the stars in them water.<br /><br />'The comet looked amazing when I first saw it on the morning of Christmas Eve. It was so bright and large in the pre-dawn sky.<br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/93328/full/article_0_118F48E1000005DC_176.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Wayne England"><img style="width: 391px; height: 258px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/93328/large/article_0_118F48E1000005DC_176.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Wayne England</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">Comet Lovejoy blazes a trail and manages to compete with a sky full of stars. That streak of light to the right appears to be a separate fireball entering the atmosphere</span></div></div><br />'It had two tails, one curving slightly away from the other at the top. It was like a beacon or a laser shooting up into the sky.<br /><br />'I'm so glad I saw it when it was so bright and on subsequent nights because it faded fast over several days.<br /><br />'This was of course the best time to take photos of it and because it was moving relatively fast - you could see the amount it had moved each night.'<br /><br />Wayne used a Nikon D7000 with a Tokina 12-24mm lens with settings of ISO 3200 or 6400, 20-30secs exposure at f/4.<br /><br />He said: 'I like the wide angle this lens produces and with it I often try to get reflections of the stars in the water, which to create a good effect can only be done with wider angle lenses.<br /><br />'The comet was initially visible just before sunrise but by the New Year it was visible from about 1am but had faded considerably.<br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/93329/full/article_0_118F468C000005DC_239.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Wayne England"><img style="width: 397px; height: 509px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/93329/large/article_0_118F468C000005DC_239.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Wayne England</span><br /><span class="caption">Colour: A full range of hues can be seen across the bright night sky as the comet passes close to Earth</span></div></div> </div><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2012/feb/02/meteor-fireball-dallas-sky-wednesday-night/">US: Meteor hurtled over Texas on Wednesday night</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Teresa Gubbins<br />Pegasus News<br />Thu, 02 Feb 2012 06:02 CST</div> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"><br /><div align="center"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/p2SdEHcq5So" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="400"></iframe></div><br /><em>Witnesses spotted it from Oklahoma City to south of Waco</em><br /><br />At about 8 p.m. on Wednesday night, a meteor zipped across the sky over Dallas, then burst into a streaking flame before burning out.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.wfaa.com/home/Fireball-in-Texas-sky-was-meteor-FAA-says-138535509.html" target="_blank">WFAA</a> received more than 200 reports, and a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman <a href="http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/02/01/3705628/briefs-bright-light-above-north.html" target="_blank">confirmed</a> that it was likely a meteor or meteorite. Sightings <a href="http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com/search/label/Texas%20/%20Oklahoma%20Meteor%20Fireball%201FEB2012" target="_blank">extended</a> from as far north as Oklahoma City to south of Waco. Some heard a boom. On its Wednesday night broadcast, CBS 11 described it as an "electrophonic" meteor -- one that can be heard as it burns.<br /><br />Comments on WFAA's <a href="https://www.facebook.com/home.php#%21/wfaachannel8" target="_blank">Facebook page</a> came from The Colony, Rockwall, and beyond, each describing it slightly differently: as a "large blue and green ball with a orange tail," as "bright green," and as "real bright blue with a long fire trail behind it."<br /><br />I actually saw it as it burned out. In what was undoubtedly an optical illusion, it looked like it was coming from south of downtown Dallas and moving in a northeast direction, as if headed for White Rock Lake. I happened to be watching a performance online by Bjork from Tuesday night's <em>The Colbert Report</em>. She sang "Cosmogony," a song from her new album <em>Biophilia </em>and I was trying to figure out the lyrics.<br /><br />The song, coincidentally -- or not?! -- is about the creation of the universe: <blockquote class="typ1"> "Heaven, heaven's bodies / World around me make me wonder / And they say back then our universe wasn't even there / Until a sudden bang and then there was light, was sound, was matter / And it all became the world we know." </blockquote> The view from my window looks towards Baylor Hospital, and it's not-uncommon to see helicopters hovering, then landing on Baylor's helipad. So, initially the gold streak in the sky appeared to be just another helicopter about to land. It looked surprisingly close. But its path had an unfamiliar, angular slant, and that's what caught my eye. Then it began to burn out, its head growing larger, with a long tail. All of a sudden the light extinguished, and then a minute or two later, a boom -- as if it had crashed and landed somewhere. The whole thing lasted all of 15 seconds.<br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-02-bx34-scenes-discovery-earth-asteroid.html">2012 BX34: Behind the scenes in the discovery of a near Earth asteroid</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Nancy Atkinson<br />Universe Today<br />Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:28 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> Several blockbuster movies, television shows and commercials have depicted the discovery of an asteroid heading towards Earth and usually, somehow, impending doom is averted. But how do the discoveries of Near Earth Objects really happen? Asteroid 2012 BX34 buzzed by Earth last week, and even though this small asteroid was never considered a threat to Earth, its discovery still piqued the interest of the public.<br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/93187/full/ff.png" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Alex Gibbs, Catalina Sky Survey/University of Arizona"><img style="width: 386px; height: 309px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/93187/large/ff.png" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Alex Gibbs, Catalina Sky Survey/University of Arizona</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">The images in which asteroid 2012 BX34 was discovered. Images are from Jan. 25, 2012 10:30 UT.<br /><br /></span></div></div>It was discovered by Alex Gibbs, an astronomer and software engineer from the Catalina Sky Survey. <em>Universe Today</em> asked Gibbs to share his experiences of being an asteroid hunter and what it was like to find this latest NEO that made the Top-20 list of closest approaches to Earth.<br /><br />The Catalina Sky Survey is a research program at the University of Arizona and is part of the Spaceguard Survey, a NASA project to discover and catalog Earth-approaching and Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs).<br /><br />When astronomers look through telescopes, asteroids don't look much different from stars - they are just points of light. But these points of light are moving; however they are moving slow enough that to detect the motion, astronomers take a series of images, usually four images spaced 10-12 minutes apart.<br /><br />Then, the observers run specialized software to examine their images for any star-like objects that are moving from one image to the next. The software removes any candidates that correspond to known objects or main-belt asteroids.<br /><br />Gibbs said the software has a low detection threshold to avoid missing anything, so the observer looks over what the software found and determines which are real. The remaining objects that the software determines could be interesting are then sent in to the Minor Planet Center (MPC) at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for the team or others to follow up.<br /><br />Gibbs said his discovery images of 2012 BX34 were taken at 10:30 UT (3:30 am in Tucson) on January 25, 2012. He was using a Schmidt telescope on Mount Bigelow. At the time, the object was 1.8 million km away, moving 1.15 degrees/day across the sky, and at 20th magnitude.<br /><br />On the night of discovery, Gibbs said 2012 BX34 seemed just like most of the NEOs they find. But something unusual happened the following night.<br /><br />"No one seemed to be able to find it," Gibbs said via email. "That happens sometimes, but it should have been pretty easy for the observatories that were looking. When my colleague, Rik Hill, found a 'new' object nearby I was suspicious that it might be the same object. The object's rapid increase in brightness and apparent motion had made it difficult to recognize as the same object."<br /><br />When Gibbs put the two observations together he could tell they were the same object. But more importantly, he also could tell the object was going to come fairly close to Earth.<br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/93188/full/ff.gif" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Catalina Sky Survey/Alex Gibbs"><img style="width: 394px; height: 229px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/93188/large/ff.gif" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Catalina Sky Survey/Alex Gibbs</span><br /><span class="caption">2012 BX34 passing in front of galaxies in Virgo about 4.5 hours before closest approach to Earth.<br /><br /></span></div></div>"That's when I emailed the MPC to point out that they were the same object," Gibbs said.<br /><br />Even though this is what Gibbs does for a living, certainly there must be a certain thrill (or butterflies in the stomach) when it is realized one of these NEOs is coming fairly close to Earth?<br /><br />"We realized it was going to come pretty close, but wouldn't impact," Gibbs said. "I knew it was small enough that it would disintegrate if it did, so although I was excited, I was also a little disappointed that it wasn't going to put on more of a show. But I definitely prefer this to it being TOO flashy!"<br /><br />The software at the MPC also figured out this asteroid was coming close, and just like in the movies, astronomer Gareth Williams, associate director of the MPC, was aroused from his sleep in the middle of the night by a pager message. But, said Williams in an interview with the BBC, "when I saw the miss distance was going to be 10 Earth radii, I said 'that's too far for me to get up,' so I rolled over and went back to sleep."<br /><br />"That explains why the emails I exchanged with him later on were so short," Gibbs said.<br /><br />At its closest approach, on January 27 15:15 UT, 2012 BX34 was 59,600 km from the Earth's surface, moving 729 deg/day, appearing at 14th magnitude, which is 250 times brighter than when Gibbs first saw it.<br /><br />Gibbs said it is common for discoveries to be followed up by others astronomers, though it's not a rigid practice.<br /><br />"Whenever we find something moving in an 'interesting' way we send it to the Minor Planet Center, as do all the other surveys," he said. "The MPC publishes the objects on their public NEO Confirmation Page. Various parties then follow the objects up, both pros and amateurs. Whether an object is deemed interesting or not is primarily determined by software that looks at the motion and brightness, though we can often tell when we see it. We also submit anything that appears to have cometary features."<br /><br />As of January 29, 2012, 8,648 Near-Earth objects have been discovered, with about 840 of these NEOs being asteroids with a diameter of approximately 1 kilometer or larger. Also, 1,284 of these NEOs have been classified as PHAs.<br /><br />"NEOs are ones that come within 1.3 AU of the Sun (since the Earth is at 1 AU it means they pass through our neighborhood)," Gibbs said. " PHAs are those that are larger than about 150 m (500 ft) and come within 0.05 AU of Earth's orbit, so that at some point in the future they may cross paths." (See more info on PHAs <a href="http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/faq/#pha" target="_blank">here</a>)<br /><br />"The large asteroids are much brighter than objects like 2012 BX34," Gibbs said. "We see them as they orbit the Sun, and can determine if they are likely to come close to the Earth at some point. That gives us a lot more time to do something about an impact from the most dangerous asteroids. However, we ought to be doing more to catalog all the asteroids that could potentially take out a city or cause a tsunami. We are finding them now, but not fast enough. An asteroid impact is one of the few predictable and potentially preventable natural disasters."<br /><br />Even though asteroid 2012 BX34 was one of the top-20 closest approaches by an asteroid, its size made it a non-issue. While bus-sized sounds pretty big, this is small enough that it would break apart and burn up in the atmosphere. Instead, it passed by harmlessly.<br /><br />"But a close fly-by like this one serves to remind people that asteroids of all sizes do come by the Earth," said Gibbs. "We need to be vigilant."<br /><br />As for Gibbs, he is back at his job of asteroid hunting, and tonight will be scanning the skies from a larger telescope on Mt. Lemmon in Arizona. </div><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=02&month=02&year=2012">US: Texas Fireball</a> <br /></h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">Space Weather<br />Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:49 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> Last night, a spectacular fireball appeared in the skies of eastern Texas and Oklahoma. As is often the case for unexpected night-sky phenomena, few pictures are available. The best so far comes from a police dash-board camera in the small town of Little River-Academy, TX:<br /><br /><div align="center"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/cHKElGrTo80" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="400"></iframe></div><br />One wonders if the officer looked up from writing the ticket to witness the spectacle above.<br /><br />According to Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office, this was probably a natural object--a small asteroid about the size of a car or bus--not a decaying satellite or other manmade space debris. The fireball, which disintegrated in the general vicinity of Dallas-Fort Worth, was bright enough to be seen on NASA cameras located in New Mexico more than 500 miles away. "It was about as bright as the full Moon (astronomical magnitude -13)," estimates Cooke, who is still analyzing data and sighting reports in hopes of calculating the object's orbit. He might yet figure out where the Texas fireball came from. Stay tuned for updates.<br /><br /><em></em> </div><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>Here's a closer view of the fireball:<br /><br /><div align="center"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/R-3yuTKdmFc" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="309" width="400"></iframe></div><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www.ksn.com/news/local/story/Meteor-spotted-in-Kansas/p1VQT7ZMMUOhf88H8Rg9zQ.cspx">US: Wednesday night's Texas meteor so bright it was seen in Kansas</a> <br /></h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">ksn.com<br />Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:57 CST</div> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"><br /><div align="center"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6n92hy8Cw9E" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="309" width="400"></iframe></div><br />Wichita, Kansas - If you saw an unusual bright light moving across the sky Wednesday night, chances are, you were looking at a meteor.<br /><br />A patrol car dash camera in northern Texas captured the falling meteor as it was streaking across the sky around 8 p.m. Wednesday night.<br /><br />"There was a bright light that was seen in the sky from Wichita through Oklahoma and down into Texas," said director of Lake Afton Observatory, Greg Novacek.<br /><br />Traveling anywhere from ten to forty miles per second, he estimates it landed in Texas, just south of Waco.<br /><br />"There was actually a sonic boom heard near Waco from the meteor," said Novacek.<br /><br />While most meteorites are never found because they land in the ocean, Kansans seem to stumble upon the space rocks more often than others.<br /><br />"Kansas actually ranks second in the U.S. for recorded meteorite falls and the only state ahead of us is Texas," said Wichita Meteorite Society Founder, Jerry Calvert.<br /><br />That is because farmers plow up much of the state, exposing the meteorites.<br /><br />"They claim that every square mile of the earth has a meteorite on it, at least one meteorite , so the trick then comes how you can actually identify them," said Calvert.<br /><br />"The best way to check is to get a magnet, and if it sticks, chances are you've found a meteorite," said Novacek.<br /><br />Meteorites hit earth about once a day, people just usually do not notice them.<br /><br /><div class="StoryComment"><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>That's a version of 'nothing-to-see-here-folks' we haven't heard before! We here at Sott.net sure notice 'em!<br /><br />This hit Canada the following night: <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/240942-Canada-Halifax-fireball-probably-a-meteor" target="_blank">Halifax 'fireball' probably a meteor</a><br /><br />It is true however, that the vast majority aren't paying attention...<br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/93323/full/paying_attention_meteor.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Sott.net"><img style="width: 381px; height: 269px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/93323/large/paying_attention_meteor.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Sott.net</span></div></div></div><br />What makes Wednesday night's meteor so special is the fact that people actually saw it, thanks to clear, dark skies, timing, and location.<br /><br />If you spot a meteor the size of Wednesday night's, you will have about twenty seconds to notice it, whereas a shooting star burns out within about two seconds. </div><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://blogs.nature.com/news/2012/02/japan%E2%80%99s-second-asteroid-probe-gets-the-green-light.html">Japan's second asteroid satellite gets the green light</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Brian Owens<br />NewsBlog<br />Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:18 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image to-right"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/93324/full/hayabusa.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© JAXA"><img src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/93324/medium/hayabusa.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© JAXA</span></div></div><em>Posted on behalf of Ichiko Fuyuno.</em><br /><br />Nearly six years after it was proposed, Japan's Space Activities Commission has finally approved the development of Hayabusa 2, successor to the Hayabusa asteroid probe, which returned samples to Earth in 2010 (see '<a href="http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110825/full/news.2011.506.html" target="_blank">Asteroid visit finds familiar dust</a>').<br /><br /><a href="http://b612.jspec.jaxa.jp/hayabusa2/e/index_e.html" target="_blank">Hayabusa 2</a> will aim for 1999JU3, a small asteroid about 900 metres in diameter. The asteroid is slightly bigger than the first mission's destination, Itokawa, but it is supposedly more primitive and contains more organic or hydrated materials, which may provide clues about the origins of the Solar System. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) plans to launch Hayabusa 2 in 2014 or 2015, land on the asteroid in 2018 and return to the Earth in 2020.<br /><br />Hayabusa 2 will be closely based on its predecessor, but will incorporate many "lessons learned" from the problems encountered by the first mission. In the original Hayabusa, the ion-thrust engines died before the end of the mission, so the team will work to extend their operating life. The probe crashed down on the surface when it attempted its first landing, because of a malfunction of an obstacle-detection sensor. The sensor will be scrapped and navigation systems improved to enable a smooth touch-down.<br /><br />Moreover, the original Hayabusa had expected to fire two bullets on the Itokawa surface to blast up debris that could be sampled, but it didn't happen because of problems with the autonomous navigation systems. Instead of using bullets, the new team will develop an impactor to drop on the asteroid surface.<br /><br />But aside from the technical challenges, funding could be a problem. For 2012, Hayabusa 2 has been allotted 3 billion yen (US$39 million), less than half the amount requested by JAXA and only a slice of the expected total cost of 26 billion yen ($342 million). </div><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/news-comment/when-it-comes-to-dangerous-asteroids-any-solution-is-still-a-fantasy">When it comes to dangerous asteroids, any solution is still a fantasy</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Jonathan Gornall<br />The National<br />Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:25 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image to-right"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/93325/full/asteroidrisk.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Sarah Lazarovic for The National"><img src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/93325/medium/asteroidrisk.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Sarah Lazarovic for The National<br /><br /></span></div></div>Back in September, The Takeaway was gazing up at the sky in trepidation at the news that yet another piece of redundant manmade space junk was hurtling back to Earth, threatening to extensively remodel someone's lawn.<br /><br />Four months later and we are ducking again, but this time the author of our fear is not some rocket scientist who forgot that what goes up must come down, but the universe itself.<br /><br />It isn't, it turns out, the old tin cans we should be concerned about so much as the thousands of Near-Earth Objects (NEO) - asteroids large and small - heading our way, some with the potential to explode in our atmosphere with the force of a nuclear arsenal and cause an Extinction Level Event.<br /><br />Remember the dinosaurs? Well exactly.<br /><br />The good news is that we are getting quite good at spotting these things. So far Nasa, which began looking in earnest in 2005, has discovered 8,000, with another 70 popping up every month.<br /><br />The bad news is that we aren't yet good enough at spotting them and, even if we did spot one about to bash into is, there isn't much we could do about it.<br /><br />Take the asteroid 2012 BX34, an 11-metre rock that whipped past the planet at about 8pm UAE time last Friday: 60,000 kilometres might not sound like a near-miss, but that's just one sixth of the distance to the Moon and, travelling at close to 50,000kph, BX34 was just a little over an hour away from dropping in.<br /><br /><strong>And, in a nutshell, we didn't see it coming - the first anyone knew about it was the previous Wednesday. And BX34's near-miss barely made it into the top-20 of such near misses.</strong><br /><br />"There is," Gareth Williams of the Minor Planet Centre told the BBC, after some no-doubt fevered calculations, "absolutely no chance of it hitting us" - which was just as well, as a paper published last week, with impeccable timing, made clear.<br /><br />"There is currently no concerted international plan addressing the impact threat and how to organise, prepare and implement mitigation measures," was the headline point from the paper, 'A Global Approach to Near-Earth Object Impact Threat Mitigation', written by a collaborating group of scientists from the US, UK, Russia, Germany, France and Spain.<br /><br />There is no shortage of ideas, say the scientists - just a shortage of political will and cash to get them off the drawing board: in theory, "kinetic impactor" spacecraft could be launched, a so-far entirely imaginary "Gravity tractor" could be deployed on sentry duty or (and this, you will remember, was Bruce Willis's favourite option, as modelled in the 1998 film <em>Armageddon</em>), we could nuke 'em.<br /><br />But whatever solution we choose, we should choose it soon. Looming just over the horizon is the potentially apocalyptic asteroid Apophis - and the clue is in the name. Apophis was an ancient Egyptian demon, aka The Uncreator.<br /><br />This 330m-wide rock is due to come awfully close in 2029 - just 29,470 km close, says Nasa - but it will miss us. Phew.<br /><br />When it returns in 2036, however, there could be "a small estimated chance of impact" (though "less than 1 in 45,000" doesn't sound that small) while new measurements possible in 2013 would "likely confirm" that Apophis will miss us by millions of kilometres.<br /><br />Likely? Sort of reassuring. Except Russian scientists don't agree.<br /><br />What's "likely" for them, said Professor Leonid Sokolov of the St Petersburg State University, is that a "collision with Earth may occur on April 13, 2036".<br /><br />Nasa remains sanguine. "The threat to any one person from auto accidents, disease, other natural disasters and a variety of other problems is much higher than the threat from NEOs," it says.<br /><br />"Our best insurance rests with the NEO scientists and their efforts to first find these objects and then track their motions into the future."<br /><br />Fine. But then what? Send for Bruce? </div><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>Exactly, then what??<br /><br />It's not big kick-ass asteroids we need to be thinking about. It's the possibility of micro-meteorites and cometary dust bringing all sorts of chaos people in the modern era haven't seen before.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/145683-New-Light-on-the-Black-Death-The-Cosmic-Connection" target="_blank">New Light on the Black Death: The Cosmic Connection</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://remanzacco.blogspot.co.nz/2012/02/new-comet-p2011-vj5-lemmon.html">New Comet: P/2011 VJ5 (LEMMON)</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Giovanni Sostero, Alison Tripp, Nick Howes & Ernesto Guido<br />Remanzacco Observatory<br />Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:12 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> Cbet nr.3010, issued on 2012, February 03, announces the discovery of a new comet (discovery magnitude 18.5) by R. E. Hill on CCD images obtained on February 01.4, 2012 taken with the Catalina Sky Survey's 0.68-m Schmidt telescope. The new comet has been designated P/2011 VJ5 (LEMMON).<br /><br />T. Spahr, Minor Planet Center, noted that this object appears identical to an apparently asteroidal object discovered by the Mount Lemmon Survey on Nov. 3 (observer R. Kowalski; discovery observations tabulated below) and then designated 2011 VJ5.<br /><br />We performed some follow-up measurements of this object, while it was still on the neocp. Stacking of 8 R-filtered exposures, 30-sec each, obtained remotely, from the <a href="http://www.faulkes-telescope.com/" target="_blank">Haleakala-Faulkes Telescope North</a> on 2012, Feb.1.6, through a 2.0-m f/10.0 Ritchey-Chretien + CCD, under good seeing conditions, shows that this object is a comet: compact coma nearly 3" in diameter with a sharp central condensation, and a tail about 20" long in PA 292.<br /><br />Our confirmation image below.<br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/93300/full/P2011VJ5_2012Feb01_F65.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Remanzacco Observatory"><img style="width: 399px; height: 363px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/93300/large/P2011VJ5_2012Feb01_F65.jpg" alt="Comet Lemmon" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Remanzacco Observatory<br /><br /></span></div></div>M.P.E.C. 2012-C14 assigns the following preliminary orbital elements to comet P/2011 VJ5: T 2011 Dec. 8.7; e= 0.55; Peri. = 315.12; q = 1.50 AU; Incl.= 3.97<br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://remanzacco.blogspot.co.nz/2012/02/new-comet-c2012-b3-la-sagra.html">Another New Comet: C/2012 B3 (LA SAGRA)</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">G. Sostero, K. Rochowicz, E. Guido, N. Howes & A. Tripp<br />Remanzacco Observatory<br />Sat, 04 Feb 2012 12:25 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> Cbet nr. 3012, issued on 2012, February 04, announces the discovery of a new comet (discovery magnitude 18.3) on CCD images taken with the 0.45-m f/2.8 reflector at La Sagra, Spain on January 29.1, 2012. The apparently asteroidal object was later noted by Jaime Nomen on La Sagra images taken on Jan. 30.2 to be a possible comet with slight diffuseness. The new comet has been designated C/2012 B3 (LA SAGRA).<br /><br />We performed some follow-up measurements of this object, while it was still on the neocp. Stacking of 10 R-filtered exposures, 20-sec each, obtained remotely, from the <a href="http://www.faulkes-telescope.com/" target="_blank">Haleakala-Faulkes Telescope North</a> on 2012, Jan.30.6, through a 2.0-m f/10.0 Ritchey-Chretien + CCD, under good seeing conditions, shows that this object appears "soft", compared to the nearby field stars of similar brightness (stellar FWHM of 1.2").<br /><br />Our confirmation image:<br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/93370/full/21SB188_2012Jan30_F65.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Remanzacco Observatory"><img style="width: 391px; height: 356px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/93370/large/21SB188_2012Jan30_F65.jpg" alt="La Sagra" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Remanzacco Observatory<br /><br /></span></div></div>M.P.E.C. <a href="http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K12/K12C23.html" target="_blank">2012-C23</a> assignes the following preliminary parabolic orbital elements to comet C/2012 B3: T 2011 Nov. 29.91; e= 1.00; Peri. = 49.22; q = 3.52 AU; Incl.= 106.85<br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www2.insidenova.com/news/2012/feb/04/2/fireball-streaks-meteor-virginia-sky-ar-1664954/">East coast of US lights up as another enormous fireball streaks through sky</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Kari Pugh<br />Inside NoVA<br />Sat, 04 Feb 2012 05:22 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image to-right"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/93424/full/DC_MD_VA_WV_PA_NC_NY_NJ_RI_Bol.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com"><img src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/93424/medium/DC_MD_VA_WV_PA_NC_NY_NJ_RI_Bol.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">Kudos to http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com for putting this map of eyewitness reports together. The Neon Markers are Sighting Reports and the Red Circle Markers are Allsky Camera Locations. Hopefully one of them picked up visual of this fireball.</span></div></div>More than 100 people from New Jersey to North Carolina reported seeing a bright streak of light with a tail shooting through the night sky late Friday.<br /><br />"It looked a lot brighter than a shooting star," German Osorio wrote on InsideNova.com's <a href="https://www.facebook.com/insidenova?ref=ts" target="_blank">Facebook page</a>. "Maybe only a few hundred feet up and it had that color that propane gets when it burns."<br /><br />Kseniya Ledbetter of Fairfax said she spotted the fireball as she drove along Braddock Road east of Va. 28 around 10:15 p.m. "The most beautiful thing I ever saw! It was changing colors and then went out right above Hampton Chase neighborhood."<br /><br />NASA, the FAA and the National Weather Service have yet to weigh in on the sky phenomena, but the website <a href="http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">"The Latest Worldwide Meteor/Meteorite News" </a>had more than 100 posts Saturday about the fireball from people in Virginia, New Jersey, New York, Maryland and North Carolina.<br /><br />The American Meteor Society had <strong>56 reports of a fireball sighting, again from New Jersey to North Carolina</strong>. Most reports came from Virginia and Maryland.<br /><br /><strong>"Big and blue with a red tail. Looked like a meteor to us," </strong>Jessica Guido of Stafford wrote on our Facebook page.<br /><br />Witnesses reported seeing the fireball between 10 and 10:30 p.m. All described it as very bright and very low.<br /><br /><strong>"It was awesome, bright as could be with a hint of blue green,"</strong> wrote Michele Janke, who saw the fireball along Prince William Parkway.<br /><br />According to the American Meteor Society, fireballs are very bright meteors, about as bright as Venus in the morning and evening skies. About 10 to 15 meteorites fall to Earth each day, but sighting are rare since streaking fireballs often fall over the ocean, or during daylight hours when they can't be seen.<br /><br /><div class="StoryComment"><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>If sightings are so rare, why has SOTT.net collected eight reports of fireballs in the past week alone?<br /><br /></div><br />Fireballs are sometimes accompanied by sonic booms, as happened in Texas on Wednesday.<br /><br />More than 200 people from Texas to Oklahoma reported a streaking fireball that night. A dash-mounted camera in a police cruiser captured the meteor's descent. Many also reported a loud boom as the fireball approached the ground. Watch the video here, courtesy of WFAA TV in Dallas-Forth Worth. </div><br /><strong>Comment: </strong><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/241133-Reports-of-fireball-with-huge-tail-seen-over-Western-Australia" target="_blank">Reports of fireball with huge tail seen over Western Australia</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/241131-Huge-Fireball-Over-Tokyo-2-February-2012" target="_blank">Huge Fireball Over Tokyo, 2 February 2012</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/241129-Fireball-Photographed-Over-Corfu-Greece" target="_blank">Fireball Photographed Over Corfu, Greece</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/241126-Russia-Something-fell-from-the-sky-in-the-village-of-Novobureysk" target="_blank">Russia: Something fell from the sky in the village of Novobureysk</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/241079-US-Wednesday-night-s-Texas-meteor-so-bright-it-was-seen-in-Kansas" target="_blank">US: Wednesday night's Texas meteor so bright it was seen in Kansas</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/240942-Canada-Halifax-fireball-probably-a-meteor" target="_blank">Canada: Halifax 'fireball' probably a meteor</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/240823-Rhode-Island-US-Extremely-bright-unexpected-meteor-caught-on-camera" target="_blank">Rhode Island, US: Extremely bright 'unexpected' meteor caught on camera</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><h2> <a href="http://oko-planet.su/phenomen/phenomendiscussions/100693-chto-to-upalo-s-neba-v-poselke-novobureyskom.html">Russia: Something fell from the sky in the village of Novobureysk</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Translation by SOTT<br />Oko Planety<br />Sun, 05 Feb 2012 04:36 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> <div class="article-body"> Car's DVR camera captured a UFO. A glowing object fell from the sky on the outskirts of the village Novobureysk. The footage shows the date and time: January 22, 2012, 9:10.<br /><br /><div align="center"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/h4o6FaTLlsM" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="400"></iframe></div> </div> <strong></strong><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2012/02/fireball-over-corfu-greece.html">Fireball Photographed Over Corfu, Greece</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Bill Metallinos & Jim Foster<br />Earth Science<br />Sun, 05 Feb 2012 05:00 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/93419/full/fireball_corfu.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Bill Metallinos"><img style="width: 313px; height: 193px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/93419/large/fireball_corfu.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Bill Metallinos<br /><br /></span></div></div>The photo above showing a startling fireball appearing to rip apart the night sky was seen during a star observation session at Mount Pantokrator on the Greek island of Corfu. I had set my camera up to get a picture of our small group and before long this brilliant meteor lit up the surrounding landscape. It was approximately -8 magnitude or about 25 times brighter than Venus at its brightest -- so bright that we were bathed in a sea of blue-green light. You can see the reflection on my 16 in (41 cm) telescope, on the table at right-center and on the side of my car. Click <a href="http://www.astrovox.gr/forum/album_pic.php?pic_id=14276" target="_blank">here</a> to see a short animation.<br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Photo details: </span>Canon EOS 40D camera; 15mm fisheye lens; f/2.8; ISO 800; 30 second exposure; Photoshop; Cropped.<br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com/2012/02/hugh-fireball-over-tokyo-02feb2012.html">Huge Fireball Over Tokyo, 2 February 2012</a> <br /></h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="article-body">lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com<br />Sun, 05 Feb 2012 05:06 CST<br /><br /><div align="center"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/LhstQVVT5Wo" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="309" width="400"></iframe></div> </div> </div> </div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-header"> <span class="atop-l"></span><h2> <a href="http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com/2012/02/western-australia-bolide-meteor.html">Reports of fireball with huge tail seen over Western Australia</a> <br /></h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com<br />Sun, 05 Feb 2012 05:39 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <span class="BoldGrey">5 Feb 2012</span>: 'sas' Perth - 01.10am 10 sec. Australia - Yellowish huge yellowish shooting star not that I saw. No photo<br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">5 Feb 2012</span>: 'Rhett' WA Kalgoorlie - 1:05:00 15 seconds. N-S, Green As the moon N/A I've never see anything like it, it had a huge tail.<br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">5 Feb 2012</span>: 'dan' perth, WA, Australia - 1:18 15 seconds. N-S, orange, blue, yellow brighter than moon, larger than moon none massive, bigger than moon.<br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">5 Feb 2012</span>: 'Tara Isaac' Perth, Western Australia - 01.10 hours approx 20 secs. E-W, Large, bright green fiery head, long white tail. Brighter than Venus. No photo, seen while driving freeway North<br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/53423254-78/space-debris-kessler-orbit.html.csp?page=1">Propaganda Alert! Space junk orbiting Earth threatens satellites, space exploration</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Sheena McFarland<br />The Salt Lake Tribune<br />Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:51 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image to-right"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84712/full/meteor_1_2_1.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© File Photo"><img src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84712/medium/meteor_1_2_1.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© File Photo</span><br /><span class="caption">Meteors now posing as anthropogenic space junk?<br /><br /></span></div></div>Nighttime sky gazers looking for shooting stars sometimes catch a glimpse of a slower, brighter object streaking across the sky.<br /><br />It's usually not a meteor, but rather a bolt or a paint chip that is part of the tons of debris floating in Earth's orbit, posing real dangers to space exploration.<br /><br />A new film opening at Clark Planetarium on Friday called <em>Space Junk 3D</em> highlights some of those risks.<br /><br />"What's the history of pioneers working through a new frontier? They leave behind stuff, it's what archaeologists find," said Seth Jarvis, director of the Clark Planetarium. "Space is the final frontier, and we're leaving behind stuff. The legacy of the space age includes footprints on moon, but it also includes orbiting clouds of litter that create a real challenge to orbiting activities."<br /><br />Don Kessler, retired NASA senior scientist for Orbital Debris and star of the film, wrote a paper in 1978 predicting what will happen as more space junk filled Earth's orbit.<br /><br />"I was trying to understand ... how long would it take before we had to worry about manmade objects colliding with one another," Kessler told <em>The Tribune</em>.<br /><br />The answer: Right about now.<br /><br />In 2007, China's military performed a test of an anti-satellite weapon. It worked, taking out a satellite and creating a massive debris cloud that will orbit for hundreds of years. Two years later, two satellites collided, again forming a huge debris cloud that puts other satellites, rockets and other space vehicles at risk. <br /><br /> "That collision put the icing on the cake," Kessler said. "We now have to pay a lot closer attention to what's going on."<br /><br />Models show that such collisions will happen about every 10 years, but as those debris clouds expand, so will the likelihood of major damage.<br /><br />Rules were established in the late 1990s to require all rockets that would be left in orbit to expend all of their fuel before they began orbiting, leveling off the numbers of explosions. But it didn't cut down on the amount of debris floating around the planet.<br /><br />When Kessler wrote his first paper about space junk collisions, there were about 3,000 objects being monitored and tracked on Earth. Currently, there are more than 16,000 objects.<br /><br />But in reality, there are probably hundreds of thousands more pieces than that, as only objects the size of softballs or bigger can be tracked. People may not worry about nuts, bolts and paint chips, but they are orbiting at between 15,000 and 17,500 miles per hour, said Patrick Wiggins, NASA Solar System Ambassador to Utah.<br /><br />"Think about how tiny a bullet is, but you get it moving fast enough and your lights are out for good," Wiggins said.<br /><br />It's a problem that could hinder space flight in the future, the planetarium's Jarvis said.<br /><br />"We now have 50-plus years of putting stuff in orbit around the Earth, and we've not been mindful of the debris it leaves behind," Jarvis said. "It's like driving down the highway and scattering wrappers and soda cans out the windows."<br /><br />There are new regulations in place to help, including requiring satellites to move out of heavily trafficked orbits within 25 years of launching, but they are not long-term solutions. Those new rules, in part, have created some "junkyard orbits" where defunct satellites can move to and be out of the way of active traffic, but that will only last so long.<br /><br />"It's the idea that you solve pollution by dilution, but within those regions, things will start colliding," Kessler said.<br /><br />He hopes to see some of the solutions proposed in the film, such as spacecraft that use nets to collect the debris or even a massive, automated recycling center in orbit. But he worries that the political will doesn't exist to support such endeavors.<br /><br />"Like so many other environmental issues we've faced, we don't do what's needed until it's expensive to correct," Kessler said. "This is one problem that is going to be expensive to correct." </div> <br /><strong>Comment: </strong>Our immediate cosmic environment IS probably littered with junk left there by certain governments who live by the maxim that the means justify the ends. But it is the height of denial to buy into the notion that all these reports of fireballs we've been collecting are man-made objects. This 'space junk' theme is starting to smell strangely like 'anthropogenic global warming', which provides a plausible - but 'not even wrong' - cover story for Earth changes.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/128992-Forget-About-Global-Warming-We-re-One-Step-From-Extinction-" target="_blank">Forget About Global Warming: We're One Step From Extinction!</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www.livescience.com/18390-largest-meteorite-druids-burial.html">Mystery of Britain's Largest Meteorite Solved</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Jeanna Bryner<br />Live Science<br />Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:24 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/93761/full/lake_house_meteorite.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© The Open University"><img style="width: 364px; height: 276px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/93761/large/lake_house_meteorite.jpg" alt="Meteorite" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© The Open University</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">Likely the largest meteorite found in Britain, this one spans about 1.6 feet (0.5 meters) across and has been on Earth some 30,000 years.</span></div></div><br />With a weight that rivals a baby elephant, a meteorite that fell from space some 30,000 years ago is likely Britain's largest space rock. And after much sleuthing, researchers think they know where it came from and how it survived so long without weathering away.<br /><br />The giant rock, spanning about 1.6 feet (0.5 meters) across and weighing 205 pounds (93 kilograms), was likely discovered by an archaeologist about 200 years ago at a burial site created by <a href="http://www.livescience.com/16318-photos-early-christian-rome-catacombs-artifacts.html" target="_blank">the Druids</a> (an ancient Celtic priesthood) near Stonehenge, according to said Colin Pillinger, a professor of planetary sciences at the Open University.<br /><br />Pillinger curated the exhibition "<a href="http://royalsociety.org/events/2012/objects-in-space/" target="_blank">Objects in Space,</a>" which opens today (Feb. 9) and is the first time the public will get a chance to see the meteorite. The exhibition will explore not only the mystery that surrounds the origins of the giant meteorite, but also the history and our <a href="http://www.space.com/13753-meteorite-men-geoff-notkin-interview.html" target="_blank">fascination with space rocks.</a><br /><br />As for how the meteorite survived its long stint on Earth, researchers point to the ice age. <br /><br /> "The only meteorites that we know about that have survived these long ages are the ones that were <a href="http://www.livescience.com/13581-antarctic-meteorite-mineral-wassonite.html" target="_blank">collected in Antarctica,</a>" said Pillinger, adding that more recently, some ancient meteorites have been collected in the Sahara Desert. This rock came from neither the Sahara Desert nor Antarctica, but rather the Lake House in Wiltshire.<br /><br />"Britain was under an ice age for 20,000 years," Pillinger told LiveScience, explaining the climate would have protected the rock from weathering.<br /><br />At some point, the Druids likely picked up the meteorite when scouting for rocks to build burial chambers. "They were keen on building burial sites for [the dead] in much the same way the Egyptians built the pyramids," Pillinger said.<br /><br />Then, years later, an archaeologist with ties to other, famous archaeologists, likely found the rock while excavating the Druids' <a href="http://www.livescience.com/5714-british-skeleton-suggests-ancient-murder-mystery.html" target="_blank">burial sites,</a> he said. The archaeologist then brought the rock back to his house in Wiltshire, where its more recent residents took notice and alerted researchers.<br /><br />"The men whose house this was found at spent a lot of time opening these burial sites 200 years ago for purposes of excavating them," Pillinger said. "Our hypothesis is that the stone probably came out of one of those burial chambers."<br /><br />The meteorite is called a chondrite, a group that includes <a href="http://www.livescience.com/3613-searching-meteorites-deserts-oman.html" target="_blank">primitive meteorites</a> that scientists think were remnants shed from the original building blocks of planets. Most <a href="http://www.livescience.com/14060-4-5-billion-year-meteorite-yields-mineral.html" target="_blank">meteorites found on Earth</a> fit into this group.<br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/93762/full/danebury_meteorite.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© The Open University"><img style="width: 394px; height: 268px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/93762/large/danebury_meteorite.jpg" alt="Danebury Meteorite" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© The Open University</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">The much smaller meteorite on display at the Royal Society's exhibit was excavated from a grain pit where ancient peoples of the Iron Age stored their crops.</span></div></div>Other objects on display include a much smaller meteorite, weighing about an ounce (32 grams), and excavated from a grain pit where ancient peoples of the Iron Age stored their crops. It was discovered in the 1970s at Danebury Hill Fort in Hampshire, though it wasn't until the 1980s when scientists analyzed metal in the walnut-size object did they realize its extraterrestrial origin.<br /><br />The exhibition will also include a Damien Hirst "spot painting," which features the famous Beagle 2 spacecraft as its center spot. In addition, part of Newton's apple tree will be on display.<br /><br />The story of how researchers are uncovering the origins of these impressive specimens will astonish and delight visitors to this remarkable exhibition, which also contains letters and books charting the history of scientific interest in meteorites.<br /><br />The Royal Society's London headquarters will house the exhibit through March 30.<br /><br /><br /><br /><h2> <a href="http://remanzacco.blogspot.co.nz/2012/02/new-comet-c2012-c1-mcnaught.html">New Comet: C/2012 C1 (McNAUGHT)</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Giovanni Sostero, Nick Howes & Ernesto Guido<br />Remanzacco Observatory<br />Sat, 11 Feb 2012 12:34 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> <div class="article-body"> Cbet nr.3016, issued on 2012, February 11, announces the discovery of a new comet (discovery magnitude 18.8) by R. H. McNaught on CCD images obtained on February 5.5, 2012 taken with the 0.5-m Uppsala Schmidt telescope at Siding Spring. The new comet has been designated C/2012 C1 (McNAUGHT).<br /><br />We performed some follow-up measurements of this object, while it was still on the neocp. Stacking of eight R-filtered exposures, 30-sec each, obtained remotely, from the <a href="http://www.faulkes-telescope.com/" target="_blank">Siding Spring-Faulkes Telescope South</a> on 2012, Feb. 6.4, through a 2.0-m f/10.0 Ritchey-Chretien + CCD, shows that this object is a comet: coma about 5" in diameter, with a weak central condensation. The coma is slightly elongated toward the southwest.<br /><br />Our confirmation image<br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/93927/full/TC75EA1_2012Feb06_E10.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Remanzacco Observatory"><img style="width: 393px; height: 358px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/93927/large/TC75EA1_2012Feb06_E10.jpg" alt="C/2012 C1 (McNaught)" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Remanzacco Observatory</span></div></div> <br /><br /> M.P.E.C. <a href="http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K12/K12C38.html" target="_blank">2012-C38</a> assignes the following preliminary orbital elements to comet C/2012 C1: T 2013 Mar. 1.17 e= 1.0; Peri. = 284.59; q = 4.63 AU; Incl.= 95.68 </div></div><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <div class="article-icon"><br /></div> <h2> <a href="http://remanzacco.blogspot.co.nz/2012/02/new-comet-c2012-c2-bruenjes.html">New Comet: C/2012 C2 (BRUENJES)</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Ernesto Guido, Giovanni Sostero & Nick Howes<br />Remanzacco Observatory<br />Sun, 12 Feb 2012 19:45 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> Cbet nr. 3019, issued on 2012, February 12, announces the discovery of a new comet (discovery magnitude 15.3) by Manfred Bruenjes on 30-s CCD exposures taken on two nights with a 0.36-m f/2.0 Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector on February 11.1 & 12.08. The new comet has been designated C/2012 C2 (BRUENJES).<br /><br />We performed some follow-up measurements of this object, while it was still on the neocp. Co-adding of 5 unfiltered exposures, 30 seconds each, obtained remotely on 2012 Feb 12.8 through a 0.15-m f/7.3 refractor + CCD (Nerpio MPC Code - I89) confirms that this object is a comet: diffuse coma 1 arcminute and 30 arcseconds in diameter, with a sharp central condensation<br /><br />Our confirmation image:<br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/93995/full/stack_3x30sec_T0003C_15cm_2.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Remanzacco Observatory"><img style="width: 390px; height: 229px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/93995/large/stack_3x30sec_T0003C_15cm_2.jpg" alt="Comet Bruenjes" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Remanzacco Observatory</span></div></div> <br /><br /> M.P.E.C. <a href="http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K12/K12C44.html" target="_blank">2012-C44</a> assignes the following preliminary parabolic orbital elements to comet C/2012 C2: T 2012 Mar. 12.84; e= 1.00; Peri. = 62.95; q = 0.80 AU; Incl.= 162.71<br /><br />Congrats to <a href="http://www.moonglow.net/ccd/comet/index.html" target="_blank">Fred Bruenjes</a> for this discovery! </div><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <div class="article-icon"><br /></div> <h2> <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2099818/Atomic-bombs-used-protect-Earth-incoming-asteroids-new-research-shows.html">Laughable! Scientists Say Nuclear Bomb CAN Save Earth from Asteroid</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Damien Gayle<br />The Daily Mail, UK<br />Sat, 11 Feb 2012 02:01 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/94027/full/article_0_11AFAC2F000005DC_423.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Los Alamos National Lab/YouTube"><img style="width: 394px; height: 240px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/94027/large/article_0_11AFAC2F000005DC_423.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Los Alamos National Lab/YouTube</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">Boom: This picture shows the effect that a one megaton nuclear blast would have on an incoming asteroid that threatened Earth<br /><br /></span></div></div>It sounds like a plot fit for a disaster movie - but this is real life.<br /><br />Scientists say they have worked out a way to blast an asteroid into space dust using an atomic bomb.<br /><br />The plan has potentially world-saving consequences should an asteroid emerge on a collision course with Earth.<br /><br />And unlike the film <em>Armageddon</em> - where Bruce Willis and his crew of stars fly a space shuttle to an oncoming Asteroid to drill a warhead into its core - the nuclear payload could be delivered by rocket.<br /><br />Using one of the world's most powerful supercomputers at Los Alamos National Laboratory, physicists have calculated the effect of a nuclear blast on an incoming space rock.<br /><br />Although Nasa and other space agencies have mapped most nearby asteroids, the effect of one catching us by surprise would be catastrophic and, they believe, is worth preparing for. <br /><br /> Robert Weaver, R&D scientist at Los Alamos, used Cielo, their newest Cray supercomputer, to simulate the effect of nuking an asteroid.<br /><br />'If one of these objects is discovered at a short notice time, say a few months away, and is on an Earth crossing trajectory there could be potentially devastation on a world-wide scale,' he said.<br /><br />Luckily, Mr Weaver's team believes asteroids are really conglomerates of rocks held together by the force of gravity and that one atomic blast could be enough to shatter them into harmless space dust.<br /><br />The calculation uses an asteroid of the size and shape of the mapped Itokawa asteroid, which has 500m across by 250m wide and is thought to be composed of granite rocks.<br /><br />By placing a one megaton bomb on the side of Itokawa, the simulation shows how a shockwave will travel through the asteroid from the detonation point and shake it to harmless rubble.<br /><br />'As the shock wave moves through, ultimately this one megaton blast will disrupt all the rocks in the rock pile of this asteroid and if this were an Earth-crossing asteroid it would fully mitigate the hazard posed by the initial asteroid itself,' Mr Weaver said.<br /><br />It is only since Los Alamos got their hands on Cielo, which runs on 32,000 processors, giving it a remarkable 1.35 petaflop calculating capacity, that simulations of this complexity could be run.<br /><br />Mr Weaver said: 'The calculations I'm running new on Cielo in 3D are state of the art calculations on 32,000 processors.<br /><br />'This is mind boggling to me. We've never run on this many processors.'<br /><br /><div align="center"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/hOcNbAV6SiI" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="400" width="400"></iframe></div><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqv5iUz2zAM">Exploding Fireball recorded over Okayama, Japan</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Sheilaaliens<br />YouTube<br />Sun, 12 Feb 2012 15:47 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> Video of a fireball entering Earth's atmosphere and exploding over Okayama, Japan, 12th February 2012.<br /><br /><div align="center"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/cqv5iUz2zAM" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="309" width="400"></iframe></div><br /><br />Thanks to the fine folks at <a href="http://sonotaco.jp/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2715" target="_blank">Sonotaco.jp</a> for their videos/images.<br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/94056/full/m20120211_233502_kagawa1_01p_6.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© SonotaCo Network"><img style="width: 367px; height: 275px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/94056/large/m20120211_233502_kagawa1_01p_6.jpg" alt="Japan fireball" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© SonotaCo Network</span></div></div> <br /><br /><div class="hbds"> <span class="hbds-l"></span> <span class="hbds-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <div class="article-icon"> <br /></div> <h2> <a href="http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/02/13/3009457/what-was-that-light-in-the-sky.html">US: What was that light in the sky?</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">April Bethea<br />The Charlotte Observer<br />Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:00 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/94060/full/j20120213_064247_831Stuart.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Stuart McDaniel"><img style="width: 346px; height: 259px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/94060/large/j20120213_064247_831Stuart.jpg" alt="NC fireball" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Stuart McDaniel</span><br /><span class="caption">Lawndale, NC Sandia Sentinel Allsky<br /><br />Date: February 13 2012. Time: 01:42 am EST<br /><br /></span></div></div>So, just what was that in the sky this morning?<br /><br />Some upstate South Carolina residents reported seeing a fireball and hearing a large boom around 1:45 a.m. today. But so far, the National Weather Service hasn't been able to confirm that it was a meteor.<br /><br />"There's no evidence of anything actually striking the ground," said meterologist Harry Gerapetritis, of the National Weather Service office in Greer, S.C. "So it must have burned up in the sky, as best anybody can tell." <br /><br /> Gerapetritis said the calls came in from Spartanburg, Greenville and Cherokee counties.<br /><br />He said meteor sightings are rare.<br /><br /><div class="StoryComment"><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>The evidence would suggest otherwise. Seems Mr Gerapetritis is not up to date with the ever increasing number of sightings and reports of sonic booms from around the globe, as frequently recorded by SOTT.net.<br /><br /></div><br />"We have occasionally received these calls over the years but this one appears to have been exceptionally bright and it must have been accompanied by a sonic boom as well, so I believe that's why it encouraged so much interest." </div><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www.wistv.com/story/16920981/possible-meteorite-wakes-many-in-upstate">US: Possible Meteorite Wakes Many in South Carolina</a> <br /></h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">WISTV<br />Mon, 13 Feb 2012 07:36 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image to-left"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/94088/full/16920981_BG1.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© WISTV"><img src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/94088/medium/16920981_BG1.jpg" alt="Possible Meteor" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© WISTV</span><br /><span class="caption">Simulated image of a meteorite.<br /><br /></span></div></div>Greenville - Emergency dispatchers from across the Upstate and The National Weather Service office say they got numerous calls overnight from people who heard a loud explosion followed by lights streaking across the sky.<br /><br />The National Weather Service said it got a call from Greenville police around 2 a.m. Police said they had been getting calls about lights in the sky and a loud boom.<br /><br />They said after they started getting calls they checked the security camera at the National Weather Service and saw a flash of light at 1:42 a.m. A National Weather Service representative said it could have been a meteorite.<br /><br />The National Weather Service say they also got calls from Cherokee County. One of these callers said they saw an object breaking apart in the sky. <br /><br /> In Spartanburg County alone, dispatchers took approximately 75 calls, and reports are coming in from as far away as Lexington, NC and Carrollton, Ga.<br /><br />Firefighters with the Reidville fire department in Spartanburg County witnessed the light show first hand. They tell us it happened at approximately 1:55 a.m.<br /><br />The National Weather Service is also taking reports and gathering information on the event. </div><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <div class="article-icon"> <br /></div> <h2> <a href="http://www2.wspa.com/news/2012/feb/14/big-boom-monday-morning-may-be-meteorite-officials-ar-3220118/">South Carolina, US: New Video Shows Upstate Meteor</a> <br /></h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">WSPA.com<br />Tue, 14 Feb 2012 00:00 CST</div> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div align="center"><br /><div align="center"><object height="295" width="400"><param name="movie" value="http://vp.mgnetwork.net/viewer.swf?u=b151f404a86d102faba2001ec92a4a0d&z=SPA&embed_player=1"><br /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><br /><embed src="http://vp.mgnetwork.net/viewer.swf?u=b151f404a86d102faba2001ec92a4a0d&z=SPA&embed_player=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" height="295" width="429"></embed></object></div><br /></div>Spartanburg - Officials in Spartanburg County said a large boom heard by many people in the Upstate Monday morning may be a meteor.<br /><br />Law enforcement officials saw a large ball of fire that popped in the air around 1:45 a.m. Monday. Viewers from Greenville to Cherokee Counties called 7 On Your Side saying they heard the noise and their homes shook. No one was hurt.<br /><br />Calls poured in to dispatchers across the Upstate soon after. Some said it sounded like a crash. Others said they thought someone was kicking in their door.<br /><br />The National Weather Service tells 7 On Your Side it was most likely something speeding toward Earth from outer space. It could have been moving as fast as 10 times the speed of sound.<br /><br />"Thank God for the atmosphere," says Doug Gegen. <br /><br /> Gegan is Staff Astronomer at the Roper Mountain Science Center and says something like the noise some heard overnight is worth noting.<br /><br />"To have something out of the ordinary like this thing was last night would be very unusual," he adds.<br /><br />Even a handful of gravel that enters the Earth's atmosphere at speeds much greater than the speed of sound will create a spectacular light show and make noise; such particles would likely not survive the trip down as they would all burn up along the way.<br /><br />Millions of these enter the atmosphere every day; most of the ones that cause sky flashes are only pebble/gravel sized and unlikely to survive the trip to land. </div><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <div class="article-icon"> <br /> </div> <h2> <a href="http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/2012CH17/2012CH17.html">New Comet: C/2012 CH17 (MOSS)</a> <br /></h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">Werith Net<br />Tue, 14 Feb 2012 21:10 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> Discovery Date February 7, 2012<br />Magnitude 17.9 mag<br />Discoverer Morocco Oukaimeden Sky Survey (MOSS)<br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/94236/full/CK12C17H_2.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© meineko.sakura.ne"><img style="width: 389px; height: 264px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/94236/large/CK12C17H_2.jpg" alt="Comet Moss" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© meineko.sakura.ne</span></div></div><span class="BoldGrey">Orbital Elements</span><br /><br />T 2012 Sept. 28.07814 TT MPC<br />q 1.2957137 (2000.0) P Q<br /> Peri. 138.01949 -0.04302480 +0.92540652<br /> Node 125.94444 -0.99480698 -0.00488755<br />e 1.0 Incl. 27.71566 -0.09223850 -0.37894443<br />From 29 observations 2012 Feb. 2-13. <br /><br /> <div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/94237/full/chart1.gif" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Seiichi Yoshida"><img src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/94237/large/chart1.gif" alt="Moss Flight Path_1" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Seiichi Yoshida</span></div></div><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/94238/full/chart2.gif" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Seiichi Yoshida"><img style="width: 344px; height: 235px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/94238/large/chart2.gif" alt="Moss Flight Path_2" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Seiichi Yoshida</span></div></div><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/94239/full/mag.gif" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Seiichi Yoshida"><img style="width: 382px; height: 290px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/94239/large/mag.gif" alt="Magnitude Graph" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Seiichi Yoshida</span><br /><span class="caption">Magnitude Graph</span></div></div> </div><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <div class="article-icon"> <br /> </div> <h2> <a href="http://news.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474981111845">US: Exploding UFO Wakes Thousands in South Carolina</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Tom Rose<br />Gather<br />Tue, 14 Feb 2012 07:20 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> A streaking flash of blue light, what many witnesses are calling a UFO, burst over the midnight skies of South Carolina early on Monday morning. What was it? No one really knows, but the object, caught on tape, has astronomers trying to allay fears in a nervous public.<br /><br />The unidentified flying object was caught on a home security cam, reflected in the window of a parked car, and a nighttime sky camera which showed the UFO blasting through the sky trailed by a flashing tail.<br /><br />Local astronomers were immediately consulted and tried to allay public fears by saying the UFO was probably a comet or meteorite, even though such celestial phenomenon are usually well-known and expected by the time an object of this size burns up in the atmosphere.<br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/94273/full/UFO_Explodes_Over_SC.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Unknown"><img style="width: 395px; height: 232px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/94273/large/UFO_Explodes_Over_SC.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span></div></div>Still, one local resident, interviewed by the local FOX affiliate in the video below, admits she was scared and wondered for just a moment if it was "aliens" attacking. <br /><br /> Here's the video:<br /><br /><div align="center"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/we7HUdsfdjs" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="309" width="400"></iframe></div><br />What do you think? Why weren't scientists aware this UFO was streaking through the sky beforehand? Is it a comet or meteorite?<br /><br />Please leave a comment below.<br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <div class="article-icon"> <br /> </div> <h2> <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-16986737">Wilsford-cum-Lake doorstep meteorite 'biggest to fall in UK'</a> <br /></h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">BBC News<br />Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:31 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image to-right"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/94315/full/_58433922_58433826.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© BBC News"><img src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/94315/medium/_58433922_58433826.jpg" alt="Wilsford-cum-Lake meteorite" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© BBC News</span><br /><span class="caption">Experts said it would have taken at least four people to lift the meteorite<br /><br /></span></div></div>Mystery had always surrounded the origins of a 200lb (90kg) meteorite that had been on the doorstep of a Wiltshire house for more than 80 years.<br /><br />Experts had wondered if the space rock had initially landed in another part of the world several thousand years ago and had been brought at some stage over to England<br /><br />However, researchers now believe the 1.6ft (50cm) long rock may have landed 30,000 years ago closer to home - making it possibly the largest meteorite ever found in Britain. <br /><br /> What was known about the rock was that it had been on the step of Lake House near Wilsford-cum-Lake since the early-1900s.<br /><br />But when the family, who wished to remain anonymous, wanted to sell property in 1991, they decided to take the rock, which they had always referred to as "grandfather's meteorite", to the Natural History Museum.<br /><br />At the time, museum experts confirmed it as a meteorite but were unable to verify if it had been found in the UK.<br /><br />It had been assumed the rock, which is four times larger than any other meteorites that had been previously found in the UK, had been collected by the family's grandfather on his travels abroad.<br /><br />But Professor Colin Pillinger, from the Open University, who has been researching the meteorite's history for more than a year, said there was photographic evidence of the rock being on the steps of the house which predates the family.<br /><br />He said he was now "99.9% certain" the meteorite had landed in the UK.<br /><br />"It's very unusual to find a meteorite this big in Britain," he said.<br /><br />"They are very unstable, they contain a lot of metallic iron which oxidises and the meteorite falls to pieces.<br /><br />"So the only logical explanation of how such a big meteorite may have survived being on Earth for 30,000 years is that it fell on or near a glacier and was in a deep freeze for 20,000 years."<br /><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/94316/full/_58491523_41290945.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© BBC News"><img src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/94316/medium/_58491523_41290945.jpg" alt="Pillinger" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© BBC News</span><br /><span class="caption">Professor Pillinger believes the giant meteorite was unearthed in an excavation of a burial mound</span></div></div><br /><span class="BoldGrey">'Scavenging druids'</span><br /><br />Professor Pillinger, famed for his work on the Beagle II Mars explorer, said he believed the low-humidity and freezing conditions would have protected the rock from weathering.<br /><br />"Then along came some druids, scavenging on Salisbury Plain for strange or interesting stones, and it was picked up and used in a chalk mound," he said.<br /><br />"And the 'reducing environment' of chalk - the anaerobic environment - would have prevented the iron from oxidising."<br /><br />The giant fragment of asteroid is then thought to have been unearthed by a previous occupant of Lake House, who is known to have excavated several nearby burial mounds.<br /><br />"He was an archaeologist and was digging every barrow up in sight trying to find treasure," said Professor Pillinger.<br /><br />"And we think he got it out of a barrow and added it to his collection."<br /><br />The meteorite, known as a common chondrite, is due to go on display at the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum in autumn.<br /><br />Adrian Green, the museum's director, said there was still "a lot of debate" about how the rock came to be on the doorstep of Lake House.<br /><br />"But it's not uncommon for exotic rocks to be built into burial mounds," he added.<br /><br />"And it's still covered in chalk which is the bedrock of the landscape.<br /><br />"And it's colossal - it would take four people to lift it - and it's not aesthetically pleasing, so common sense dictates that this has not been shipped from abroad at ridiculous cost and significant effort, but that it came from the UK." </div><br /></div> <br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/ancient-meteor-standing-between-one-iowa-town-water-154639667.html">US: Ancient meteorite standing between one Iowa town and its water supply</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Eric Pfeiffer<br />The SideShow<br />Fri, 17 Feb 2012 09:45 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/94360/full/mansoncrater.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Iowa Geological and Water Survey"><img style="width: 386px; height: 316px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/94360/large/mansoncrater.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Iowa Geological and Water Survey<br /><br /></span></div></div>The remains of a 1.5 mile-wide, 10 billion-ton meteorite are causing problems for a small Iowa town, 74 million years after it <strong>crashed onto the Earth's surface at 45,000</strong> miles per hour.<br /><br /><em>The Des Moines Register</em> reports that the 1,600 residents of Manson, Iowa are struggling to locate a site for the town's well due to the geological impact of the meteorite. The crash created the underground <strong>Manson Crater</strong> - which <strong>has a diameter of 24 miles</strong> and reaches into four neighboring counties.<br /><br />"It's hard to predict exactly what you are going to hit," state geologist Robert Libra told the Register. "It's a jumbled mess."<br /><br />For a little context, <strong>the asteroid blamed for wiping out the dinosaurs and most life on Earth 65 million years ago is estimated to have been about 9 miles in diameter</strong>. According to a 2010 article in the journal <em>Science</em>, that impact was the equivalent of 1,000,000 Hiroshima nuclear bombs, creating tsunamis and earthquakes measuring more than 10 on the Richter scale. <br /><br /> An explainer on the Iowa Geological & Water Survey site explains that while the Manson Crater meteorite wasn't enough to wipe out the dinosaurs (it hit Earth nearly 10 million years prior), it nonetheless had a comparable effect on prehistoric Iowa. <strong>The impact is said to equal 10 trillion tons of TNT, resulting in an electromagnetic blast that incinerated anything within 130 miles and wiped out all life within 650 miles of the blast.</strong><br /><br />In fact, the Manson Crater meteorite was long-thought to have been the cause of the dinosaurs extinction, until scientists determined that it was too old. Still, it remains one of the largest outer space collision sites in North America.<br /><br />And now, after years of struggling to find a sustainable water source, engineers at Iowa's Department of Natural Resources say they may have come up with a solution: Drilling for water near the crater's center. They speculate that the crater's center is home to Iowa's softest water source.<br /><br />"Water that comes out of the central part is naturally soft," Anderson said. "It's the only naturally soft groundwater in the state of Iowa," Anderson said.<br /><br />Of course, fans of Stephen King's <em>The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill </em>will tell you that getting too close to any meteorite should raise a red flag. </div><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <div class="article-icon"> <br /> </div> <h2> <a href="http://remanzacco.blogspot.co.nz/2012/02/new-comet-p2012-c3-panstarrs.html">New Comet: P/2012 C3 (PANSTARRS)</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Nick Howes, Giovanni Sostero & Ernesto Guido<br />Remanzacco Observatory<br />Fri, 17 Feb 2012 12:52 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> Cbet nr. 3021, issued on 2012, February 16, announces the discovery of a new comet (discovery magnitude 21.6) by Larry Denneau and Richard Wainscoat in four exposures taken with the 1.8-m Pan-STARRS 1 telescope at Haleakala on February 15.3. The new comet has been designated P/2012 C3 (PANSTARRS).<br /><br />We performed some follow-up measurements of this object, while it was still on the neocp. Stacking of ten R-filtered exposures, 60-sec each, obtained remotely, from the <a href="http://www.faulkes-telescope.com/" target="_blank">Siding Spring-Faulkes Telescope South</a> on 2012, Feb. 16.6, through a 2.0-m f/10.0 Ritchey-Chretien + CCD, shows that this object is a comet: faint fan-shaped tail, nearly 6-arcsec long in PA 284.<br /><br />Our confirmation image:<br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/94373/full/P2012C3_2012Feb16_E10.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Remanzacco Observatory"><img style="width: 399px; height: 363px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/94373/large/P2012C3_2012Feb16_E10.jpg" alt="Comet Pan-Starrs" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Remanzacco Observatory<br /><br /></span></div></div>M.P.E.C. <a href="http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K12/K12D03.html" target="_blank">2012-D03</a> assignes the following preliminary parabolic orbital elements to comet P/2012 C3: T 2011 Oct. 11.99; e= 0.61; Peri. = 346.39; q = 3.67 AU; Incl.= 9.38 <br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=we7HUdsfdjs">Video of last week's enormous fireball over South Carolina</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar"><br />Fox News<br />Fri, 17 Feb 2012 12:59 CST</div> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <br /><div align="center"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/we7HUdsfdjs" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="309" width="400"></iframe></div><br /> Many people across the Upstate called FOX Carolina and said they were awakened by a loud boom and flash of light early Monday morning.<br /><br />Most of the reports of the unusual phenomenon came from people living in Cherokee, Spartanburg and Greenville counties at about 1:45 a.m.<br /><br />Officials at the National Weather Service at the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport said that based on eyewitness reports, the event was likely a meteor.<br /><br />The Weather Service said there was a flash in the sky about 1:46 a.m. and they recorded a very faint flash with their cameras.<br /><br />Spartanburg police told the Weather Service that they had received numerous calls from the public. They said that one of their officers said they saw a flash light up their car and saw various pieces disintegrate in the sky.<br /><br />Greenville resident Joseph Fidler sent security camera video from his home showing a bright light illuminating his neighborhood and a reflection of the meteor in the windshield of his car below.<br /><br />Stuart McDaniel, of Lawndale, NC, sent in video to FOX Carolina that shows a large fireball streaking across the lower horizon at about the same time as the meteor was reported in the Upstate.<br /><br />Dr. Scott Howard, a geologist with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, said the chances of finding a meteorite are very slim. He said only six have ever been found in South Carolina, three of which were found in the Upstate.<br /><br />Howard said objects coming into the atmosphere, known as meteors, are common and are usually called shooting stars. He said if something hits the ground, it is then called a meteorite. </div><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <div class="article-icon"> <br /> </div> <h2> <a href="https://www.sott.net/articles/show/Astronomer%20asks%20for%20witnesses%20to%20file%20reports">Shooting star spotted in Canadian skies</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Clara Ho<br />The Vancouver Sun<br />Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:41 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> Calgary - Social media was abuzz about what appeared to be a meteor shooting over the city Tuesday night, with sightings also reported from Edmonton and parts of Saskatchewan.<br /><br />One reader told the <em>Herald </em>she saw the bright green fireball northeast of Cochrane shortly before 9 p.m. followed by a sparking tail of yellow and orange.<br /><br />Alan Dyer, an astronomer with Telus Spark, encouraged people to file reports online <a href="http://miac.uqac.ca/MIAC/fireball.php" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><br />"If we get at least a few dozen reports, we can begin to triangulate the location," he said, adding witnesses should indicate where they were when they spotted the meteor.<br /><br />He said most meteors burn up entirely before making it to earth.<br /><br /><em>Source: Postmedia News</em> <br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <div class="article-icon"> <br /> </div> <h2> <a href="http://hainanwel.com/en/unusual-world/1549-strong-meteor-rain-in-china.html">Meteor Rain in China</a> <br /></h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">Hainanwell.com<br />Wed, 22 Feb 2012 12:56 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-image to-left"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/94937/full/Qinghai_20meteorit.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/94937/medium/Qinghai_20meteorit.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a></div>The newspaper <em>News of Shenzhen</em> in Chinese today announced, that in the Chinese province of Qinghai was a strong meteor rain, during which on the land fell a several dozen meteorites, the largest of which reached a weight of 12.5 kg (see the photo, left).<br /><br />It is reported, that the local residents heard two loud explosions in the sky and then saw the traces of fire falling meteorites. While the investigated area is only about a few square kilometers, scientists may be able to find more meteorites in this place. How to say the Chinese scientists - all meteorites are the fragments of a large meteorite, which crashed, when it entering in the Earth's atmosphere. <br /> </div><br /><br /><br /><h2> <a href="http://www.inews880.com/Channels/Reg/LocalNews/story.aspx?ID=1658553">"Huge fireball" streaks through Edmonton sky</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Brenton Driedger<br />inews880.com<br />Wed, 22 Feb 2012 05:25 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> <div class="article-body"> You may go your whole life without seeing a meteor. But Andy Steblyk has already seen two in less than four years.<br /><br />First, there was the big meteor that made international headlines in November 2008. Steblyk had a front row seat as he was driving south of Grande Prairie. And then Tuesday night as he was driving in downtown Edmonton, Steblyk saw something very similar in the eastern sky.<br /><br />"A huge fireball, and the tail was just sparkling," recalls Steblyk. "It's like something you'd see in a cartoon or in a movie."<br /><br />"Even telling the story again, it makes me shake a bit that I get to see this kind of stuff. Not too many people get to see one in their lifetime, and I got to see two," adds Steblyk, estimating that the whole thing lasted between five and seven seconds.<br /><br />At first he thought the flash of light was a plane crash. But as it kept falling and getting brighter, Steblyk noticed how similiar it was to what he saw in 2008. He says with luck like this, he knows exactly what he needs to do next. <br /><br /> "And that's why I'm going to buy a lottery ticket at lunch today," he says, with a chuckle. "I've got to make a wish on that one."<br /><br />Other listeners emailed our newsroom to say they also witnessed the meteor, describing it as a "bright white flare" followed by "three green flashes that lit up the sky like fireworks never could."<br /><br />Eyewitnesses in Saskatchewan reported similar sightings, from Lloydminster to Saskatoon. </div> <br /><strong>Comment: </strong>Was Andy Steblyk just 'lucky' or is there presently a greater probability of anyone in the region seeing more than one fireball in his or her lifetime? Meteor statistics suggest that many more of us will have the opportunity to 'wish upon a shooting star' in the coming years.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/240942-Canada-Halifax-fireball-probably-a-meteor" target="_blank">Canada: Halifax 'fireball' probably a meteor, 2 February 2012</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/240204-Canada-Meteor-Flashes-Through-Edmonton-Sky" target="_blank">Meteor Flashes Through Edmonton Sky, 13 January 2012</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/180477-Canada-Fireball-streaks-across-early-morning-sky-in-Edmonton" target="_blank">Fireball streaks across early-morning sky in Edmonton, 31 March 2009</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197914-Canada-Fireballs-spotted-in-Edmonton-sky" target="_blank">Fireball spotted in Edmonton sky, 27 November 2009</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=N6CgWkChPjI" target="_blank">Fireball over Edmonton, 20 November 2008</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/133170-Meteorites-hit-near-Redwater-passed-over-Edmonton" target="_blank">Meteorites hit near Redwater, passed over Edmonton, 29 May 2007</a><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <div class="article-icon"> <br /> </div> <h2> <a href="http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/22feb_februaryfireballs/">"Fireballs of February"?</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Dr. Tony Phillips<br />NASA Science News<br />Thu, 23 Feb 2012 09:21 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> In the middle of the night on February 13th, something disturbed the animal population of rural Portal, Georgia. Cows started mooing anxiously and local dogs howled at the sky. The cause of the commotion was a rock from space.<br /><br />"At 1:43 AM Eastern, I witnessed an amazing fireball," reports Portal resident Henry Strickland. "It was very large and lit up half the sky as it fragmented. The event set dogs barking and upset cattle, which began to make excited sounds. I regret I didn't have a camera; it lasted nearly 6 seconds."<br /><br />Strickland witnessed one of the unusual "Fireballs of February." "This month, some big space rocks have been hitting Earth's atmosphere," says Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. "There have been five or six notable fireballs that might have dropped meteorites around the United States."<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/94975/full/ff.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img style="width: 357px; height: 177px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/94975/large/ff.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><br /><span class="caption">A fireball over north Georgia recorded on Feb. 13th by a NASA all-sky camera in Walker Co., GA. </span></div></div><br /><a href="http://science.nasa.gov/media/medialibrary/2012/02/22/ev_20120213_000236A_02A.wmv" target="_blank">Video link</a><br /><br />It's not the number of fireballs that has researchers puzzled. So far, fireball counts in February 2012 are about normal. Instead, it's <strong>the appearance and trajectory of the fireballs that sets them apart</strong>.<br /><br />"These fireballs are particularly slow and penetrating," explains meteor expert Peter Brown, a physics professor at the University of Western Ontario. "They hit the top of the atmosphere moving slower than 15 km/s, decelerate rapidly, and make it to within 50 km of Earth's surface." <br /><br /> The action began on the evening of February 1st when a fireball over central Texas wowed thousands of onlookers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.<br /><br />"It was brighter and long-lasting than anything I've seen before," reports eye-witness Daryn Morran. "The fireball took about 8 seconds to cross the sky. I could see the fireball start to slow down; then it exploded like a firecracker artillery shell into several pieces, flickered a few more times and then slowly burned out." Another observer in Coppell, Texas, reported a loud double boom as "the object broke into two major chunks with many smaller pieces."<br /><br />The fireball was bright enough to be seen on NASA cameras located in New Mexico more than 500 miles away. "It was about as bright as the full Moon," says Cooke. Based on the NASA imagery and other observations, Cooke estimates that the object was 1 to 2 meters in diameter.<br /><br />So far in February, NASA's All-Sky Fireball Network has photographed about a half a dozen bright meteors that belong to this oddball category. They range in size from basketballs to buses, and all share the same slow entry speed and deep atmospheric penetration. Cooke has analyzed their orbits and come to a surprising conclusion: "They all hail from the asteroid belt - but not from a single location in the asteroid belt," he says. "There is <strong>no common source for these fireballs</strong>, which is puzzling."<br /><br />This isn't the first time sky watchers have noticed odd fireballs in February. In fact, the "Fireballs of February" are a bit of a legend in meteor circles.<br /><br />Brown explains: "Back in the 1960s and 70s, amateur astronomers noticed an increase in the number of bright, sound-producing deep-penetrating fireballs during the month of February. The numbers seemed significant, especially when you consider that there are few people outside at night in winter. Follow-up studies in the late 1980s suggested no big increase in the rate of February fireballs. Nevertheless, we've always wondered if something was going on."<br /><br />Indeed, a 1990 study by astronomer Ian Holliday suggests that the 'February Fireballs' are real. He analyzed photographic records of about a thousand fireballs from the 1970s and 80s and found evidence for a fireball stream intersecting Earth's orbit in February. He also found signs of fireball streams in late summer and fall. The results are controversial, however. Even Halliday recognized some big statistical uncertainties in his results.<br /><br />NASA's growing All-Sky Fireball Network could end up solving the mystery. Cooke and colleagues are adding cameras all the time, spreading the network's coverage across North America for a dense, uninterrupted sampling of the night sky.<br /><br />"The beauty of our smart multi-camera system," notes Cooke, "is that it measures orbits almost instantly. We know right away when a fireball flurry is underway - and we can tell where the meteoroids came from." This kind of instant data is almost unprecedented in meteor science, and promises new insights into the origin of February's fireballs.<br /><br />Meanwhile, the month isn't over yet. "If the cows and dogs start raising a ruckus tonight," advises Cooke, "go out and take a look." </div> <br /><strong>Comment: </strong>We've been searching for any historical references to this so-called "February Fireballs" suggestion, but nothing has turned up so far. Is NASA spinning another yarn?? As James McCanney explained in <em><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/226166-Planet-X-Comets-and-Earth-Changes-by-J-M-McCanney" target="_blank">Planet-X, Comets & Earth Changes</a></em>, NASA's real role is to keep the public misinformed about the threat from cometary debris: <blockquote class="typ1"> As this book goes to print, all the major observatories of the world are being taken off line. Astronomers are being told not to discuss "Planet X" with the public. As with [Hale-Bopp], NASA has shut the door on release of information. They are positioning their scientists to become part of the nightly national weather programs, and to be in position to defray any public awareness of what is truly happening with the Sun and our planetary system. (p. 84)<br /><br />The truth is that NASA, the NSA, and other government agencies are prohibited by law from disclosing to the public anything that would cause a national panic. So too they will try to prevent dissemination of my theories about comets because it might cause a public to redirect its allegiance as a new and potentially dangerous comet comes into the solar system. While the government officials are using tax dollars to build safety caves for their "shadow government" in case of "major disaster", they are leaving the public out to dry with no forewarning or protection. (p. 83) </blockquote> The past month has seen a number of enormous fireballs and overhead explosions, attracting a lot of attention around the world, so is NASA here indulging in a little Orwellian creative writing to present the recent fireballs as part of a recurring phenomenon that "has been observed for decades", when in fact it is entirely new (in the modern era anyway)?<br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jan/11/derry-residents-allowed-home-mystery-explosion">Derry residents allowed to return home after mystery explosion</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Henry McDonald<br />The Guardian<br />Wed, 11 Jan 2012 10:45 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image to-right"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/94986/full/Derry_007.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images"><img src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/94986/medium/Derry_007.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images</span><br /><span class="caption">Police said the loud explosion could be heard all over Derry<br /><br /></span></div></div><em>Police say they have failed to find the source of the blast, which could be heard all over the city.</em><br /><br />Residents in Derry who were forced to flee their homes on Tuesday after reports of a loud explosion were able to return on Wednesday afternoon.<br /><br />Mystery still surrounds the origin of the blast, which could be heard six miles away at the city's airport.<br /><br />A security operation in the Spencer Road and Fountain Hill areas on Wednesday morning failed to find any explosive device, although the Police Service of Northern Ireland said further searches would be carried out over the next few days in the districts.<br /><br />Superintendent Chris Yates said one line of inquiry was that the incident was an attack on police. He said they were investigating reports of masked men being seen in the area around the time of the incident.<br /><br />Yates said the explosion was heard all over the city on Tuesday.<br /><br />"It shook houses, shook windows and was heard as far as City of Derry airport. <br /><br /> "There are reports that a lorry blew its tyre at around the same time. It is a possibility, but would that sort of incident cause the shockwaves and noise that was felt? I doubt it.<br /><br />"There are also reports that a gas cylinder exploded. That is a possibility we need to look into.<br /><br />"What we also have is reports of masked men who made off from Dunfield Terrace. There are reports of debris landing on top of buildings.<br /><br />"There were police officers in the area at the time. We are not entirely sure what happened and we are just being very careful." </div><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <div class="article-icon"> <br /> </div> <h2> <a href="http://www.space.com/14672-space-junk-crashes-brazil-village-rocket.html">Space Junk Falls on Brazilian Village: Reports</a> <br /></h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">Space.com<br />Fri, 24 Feb 2012 12:19 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image to-left"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/95169/full/space_junk.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA/Orbital Debris Program Office"><img src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/95169/medium/space_junk.jpg" alt="Space Junk" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA/Orbital Debris Program Office</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">Each dot represents a bit of known space junk that's at least 4 inches (10 cm) in low-Earth orbit, where the space station and shuttles roam. In total, some 19,000 manmade objects this size or bigger orbit Earth as of July 2009; most are in low-Earth orbit. Countless smaller objects are also circling the planet.</span></div></div><br />A chunk of debris from an old European rocket apparently fell from space Wednesday (Feb. 22) and crashed in a small village in Brazil, according to Brazilian news reports.<br /><br />The piece of <a href="http://www.space.com/9818-expanding-danger-space-debris-fragmentation.html" target="_blank">space junk,</a> a spherical object, crashed at around 6 a.m. local time in the village of Anapurus in the state of Maranhão, according to the <a href="http://translate.google.com.br/translate?sl=pt&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=pt-BR&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http://www.jornalpequeno.com.br/2012/2/23/esfera-metalica-cai-em-povoado-de-anapurus-e-intriga-moradores-188155.htm&act=url" target="_blank">Brazilian newspaper <em>Jornal Pequeno.</em></a><br /><br />The metal sphere, which measures roughly 3.3 feet (1 meter) across, landed near a house and damaged some trees as it plummeted to the surface, according to the <em>Jornal Pequeno.</em><br /><br />The newspaper reported that residents of the village heard a loud bang and saw a bright flash of light before the object made its impact. Dedicated satellite observers were quick to offer suggestions about what the object could be and where it may have come from.<br /><br />Ted Molczan, of Toronto, is a respected satellite spotter and a member of a network of devoted amateur skywatchers around the world. On the online satellite-tracking community satobs.org, Molczan noted that the time of the crash and its location strongly indicate that the metallic sphere could be part of a spent European Ariane 44L rocket body. <br /><br /> "Typically, one to two objects are found each year somewhere in the world from re-entries," said Nicholas Johnson, chief scientist for orbital debris at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.<br /><br />"Last year, more than 100 metric tons of spacecraft and launch vehicles stages fell in uncontrolled reentries," Johnson told SPACE.com. "This amount was higher than recent previous years due to increased solar activity. 2012 might witness an even higher amount of uncontrolled reentry mass."<br /><br />Johnson spoke earlier this month at the United Nations 49th Session of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space in Vienna.<br /><br />At that UN gathering Johnson noted that nearly 500 satellite reentries occurred during 2011. Of that number, there were 474 that were uncontrolled reentries, along with 25 controlled reentries by 17 spacecraft and 8 rocket bodies.<br /><br />No accounts of personal injury or significant property damage were reported, Johnson said.<br /><br />The Brazil crash appears to correlate with re-entry predictions for the Ariane 44L rocket body. According to Space Track, a website managed by the United States Strategic Command, that Ariane 44L rocket body fell to Earth on Feb. 22 at 0909 GMT (or 6:09 a.m. local time in Anapurus).<br /><br />More photos of the large metal object were <a href="http://translate.google.com.br/translate?sl=pt&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=pt-BR&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http://www.bloginterligado.com.br/2012/02/objeto-misterioso-cai-no-municipio-de.html" target="_blank">posted on a Brazilian blog.</a> Curious townspeople inspected the piece of foreign debris, and even posed for pictures with it, before authorities collected the sphere, reported the <em>Jornal Pequeno.</em><br /><br />The crash site in Brazil is located on the predicted re-entry track, suggesting that what fell through the trees in the northeast region of the country was <a href="http://www.space.com/14132-space-junk-3d-film-orbital-debris.html" target="_blank">likely part of the old rocket.</a><br /><br />The Ariane 44L was used to launch two communications satellites into geostationary orbit on April 17, 1997.<br /><br />This is also not the first piece of space junk to land in Brazil - in March 2008, a similar spherical object fell to Earth and landed in a rural part of the city Rio Verde.<br /><br />Earth orbit is littered with derelict pieces of rockets and broken satellites. These shards of space junk pose a lingering threat to other satellites and spacecraft in orbit, and efforts are being made to curtail the amount of trash left in space. Today, more than 22,000 pieces of space debris are tracked in Earth orbit. </div><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <div class="article-icon"> <br /> </div> <h2> <a href="http://astrobob.areavoices.com/2012/02/24/february-fireballs-shake-things-up/">Raining Fire: February fireballs really shake things up</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Astro Bob<br />astrobob.areavoices.com<br />Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:13 CST</div> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <br /><div align="center"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/G2EirqkHTek" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="400"></iframe></div><br />Meteorites seem to be dropping everywhere. First China and now today comes word of fresh cosmic booty on the ground north of the town of Rockhaven (a wonderfully appropriate name) left in the wake of a brilliant fireball that appeared over Alberta, Canada this past Tuesday evening.<br /><br />The meteor was <a href="http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com/2012/02/mbiq-meteor-bot-internet-query-bot_22.html" target="_blank">described as blue-white</a> and as bright as the moon. Some went even further and compared it to the sun. Observers reported hearing low rumbling noises for several minutes after it broke up and disappeared. These are all good signs that material survived the fiery, high pressure flight through Earth's atmosphere. The first specimens of what appears to be a very fresh meteorite were picked up not long after the fall on a road north of Rockhaven and can be viewed <a href="http://saskatoon.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-art-collectibles-Rockhaven-Meteorites-W0QQAdIdZ357541925" target="_blank">HERE</a>. Yes, one of them is already up for sale! <br /><br /><div align="center"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/EFKp0ADs0rk" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="309" width="400"></iframe></div> <br /><br />The Rockhaven fall is just one of about a half dozen bright fireball sightings in North America this month. While that number isn't unusual, their very slow speed and deep penetration into the atmosphere is. Their incoming speed has been around 32,000 mph followed by a rapid deceleration and burnout at some 31 miles high.<br /><br />"This month, some big space rocks have been hitting Earth's atmosphere," says Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. "There have been five or six notable fireballs that might have dropped meteorites around the United States." The first one briefly lit up the sky over Dallas-Ft.Worth, Texas on February 1, wowing thousand with a sputtering light as bright as a full moon.<br /><br />The incoming meteoroids - as they're known before breaking up and potentially landing as meteorites on the ground - range in size from "basketballs to buses". When astronomers analyzed their orbits based on photos and eyewitness observations, they all trace back to various locales in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Most meteorites are thought to originate from collisions between asteroids that ultimately send fragments toward the Earth and other planets.<br /><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/95235/full/MeteorFireball_breakup_Chumack.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© John Chumack"><img src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/95235/medium/MeteorFireball_breakup_Chumack.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© John Chumack</span><br /><span class="caption">Coming to a neighbourhood near you soon? Another fireball streaks through the sky.</span></div></div>Because of this year's numerous sightings as well as those made by both amateurs and professionals in Februaries past, some astronomers suspect that a stream of meteors they've nicknamed the "February Fireballs" intersect Earth's orbit this time every year. Some studies show a correlation, some don't. We may soon get a more definitive answer thanks to a network of night eyes.<br /><br />There are currently six all-sky cameras operated by NASA's <a href="http://fireballs.ndc.nasa.gov/" target="_blank">All-Sky Fireball Network</a> in north Alabama, northwest Georgia, southern Tennessee and southern New Mexico with many more in the planning stages. Like the ever-watching eye of Sauron in the <em>Lord of the Rings</em> story (sorry for the dark analogy), the cameras photograph the sky with fisheye lenses all night long. When a fireball is seen by more than one camera, astronomers can triangulate its height, speed and even determine an orbit. And once you know an orbit, you can trace the cosmic rock back to its ancestral home.<br /><br />Scientists estimate that 37,000 to 78,000 tons of meteorite material falls to Earth each year. That number sounds huge, but remember that most meteoroids are broken up into dust from the profound heating and pressure experienced during atmospheric entry and never make it to the ground.<br /><br />According to NASA astronomer <a href="http://www.astronomycafe.net/qadir/qanda.html" target="_blank">Dr. Steve Odenwald</a>, the Earth intercepts 19,000 meteoroids weighing over 3.5 ounces every day. Of these, only about 10 are recovered by human hunters each year. Our planet is big, very big, and much of what falls does so in the oceans unseen by nearly everyone. That's what makes finding a meteorite - especially one from a fresh fall - so rare. </div><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <div class="article-icon"> <br /> </div> <h2> <a href="http://www.thestarphoenix.com/technology/claims+meteorite+find/6207742/story.html">Incoming Fireballs: Man Claims Meteorite Find</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Janet French<br />The StarPhoenix<br />Sat, 25 Feb 2012 00:00 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image to-right"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/95237/full/meteor_starphoenix.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Lana Haight"><img src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/95237/medium/meteor_starphoenix.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Lana Haight</span><br /><span class="caption">This photo shows rocks purported to be from a meteor that flashed across the Saskatchewan sky this week.<br /><br /></span></div></div><em>Rocks being offered for sale online</em><br /><br />A man claims to have found the first known meteorites from a fireball that lit up the sky over Saskatchewan and Alberta Tuesday night.<br /><br />A posting on Kijiji shows two roundish and blackened rocks a man says he found on the side of a highway north of Rockhaven. One of the rocks is listed for sale for an unspecified price and the other rock is shown suspended by a magnet.<br /><br />Now geologists and astronomers who study meteorites are trying to get in touch with the man in an attempt to verify whether the rocks are connected to Tuesday's meteor sighting, which rattled houses as it zoomed over North Battleford.<br /><br />Richard Huziak, a Saskatoon amateur astronomer and member of the Prairie Fireball Network, says the rocks in the picture look like chondrites, which match meteorites found after the Buzzard Coulee meteor crashed in central Saskatchewan in 2008. <br /><br /> Several researchers are trying to get in touch with the man - unsuccessfully, so far - in an effort to bring the rocks to the University of Saskatchewan for examination and testing.<br /><br />"Until they're presented, it's hard to know what fall they came from," Huziak said. They may well be meteorites, he said, but ones that fell years ago.<br /><br />U of S geologist Mel Stauffer is also trying to get in touch with the man in an effort to check the rocks' authenticity. "The photograph he posted on Kijiji looks to be of a meteorite," Stauffer said in an email.<br /><br />University of Calgary geoscientist Alan Hildebrand, who co-ordinates the Canadian Fireball Reporting Centre, said anyone who has found a meteorite and wants to sell it would be wise to have experts identify it first. Some meteorites are more rare - and therefore far more valuable - than others.<br /><br />"We have foolproof ways of telling if it's a recent fall or not," Hildebrand added.<br /><br />When contacted by <em>The StarPhoenix</em>, the man behind the Kijiji ad was not willing to have his name or photograph in the paper.<br /><br />Faye Rowat, one of a handful of residents in the tiny settlement of Rockhaven, said there have been a few people out searching the area since Tuesday's fireball. On Friday morning, she was about to head out with some magnets and her two grandsons, the youngest of which was enthused about the chance of coming across a space rock.<br /><br />"It's a free gift from the asteroid belt," Huziak said. "We can build spaceships for a hundred million dollars and go out and get pieces. Or they can just fall to the Earth and we can pick them up. Each rock tells you a bit more about the origin of the solar system and they all date back to the age of the formation of the Earth, or even before that."<br /><br />Both Huziak and Hildebrand said several new videos have surfaced in the past couple of days that are allowing them to narrow down the location of the so-called "strewn field" where pieces fell, which they say is likely south of Rockhaven. The hamlet is about 190 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon.<br /><br />Huziak said several explosions are visible in the video footage, suggesting pieces broke off the meteor higher up and may have survived the fall to Earth.<br /><br />Security camera footage from the Corman Air Park shows an intensely bright greenish ball that appears for just a second, hurtling towards the ground, leaving a brief trail of yellow sparks in its wake.<br /><br />Hildebrand said he wants to see more footage of that night from different locations, including cameras that were pointed at the ground and captured flashes of light and objects' shadows. More footage from different angles could help them narrow the crash site down to a dozen square kilometres and would result in a more fruitful meteorite search, he said.<br /><br />"We're not there yet." Would-be rock hunters should also know there's an etiquette to abide by. You can legally remove a rock you find on public land, but a meteorite sitting in a farmer's field belongs to him and if you remove it without permission, you are trespassing, Huziak said.<br /><br />On Thursday, one aspiring meteorite hunter put out a call on Lloydminster's Kijiji page looking for Rockhavenarea landowners' permission to search on their property. "Will pay for access & split 50/50," the post says.<br /><br />Huziak hopes people in the Rockhaven area are keeping an eye out for blackened rocks, which should be easily spotted on frozen ponds and against the backdrop of snow.<br /><br />"It's good for everyone to be out looking, because if there's a serendipitous discovery, we all benefit from it," he said.<br /><br />Sadly for meteorite hunters, this weekend's weather outlook is not favourable - a storm warning with five to 10 centimetres of snow, wind gusting to 70 kilometres an hour and poor visibility is forecast for Saturday. </div><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <div class="article-icon"> <br /> </div> <h2> <a href="http://www.wmur.com/news/30567996/detail.html">What Was The Bright Flash In The Sky Tuesday Night?</a> <br /></h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">WMUR9<br />Wed, 29 Feb 2012 13:24 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/95630/full/30570643_640X360.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Michael McCormack"><img style="width: 381px; height: 220px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/95630/large/30570643_640X360.jpg" alt="Fireball" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Michael McCormack</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">A webcam focused on the Memorial Bridge captured this image of a bright meteor reported by viewers across the region. The camera was set to a 4-second exposure.</span></div></div><br />Manchester, New Hampshire -- It was reddish-orange and only appeared in the sky for a moment or two, but it has a lot of people in the area asking questions.<br /><br />Several people in New Hampshire reported seeing a bright object in the sky about 10 p.m. Tuesday.<br /><br />Witnesses said it was a colored, glowing ball that was bright for few seconds and then vanished.<br /><br />Melanie Wilson, of Concord, said she was driving home from work on Airport Road when she saw the object above her car. She said the thought it was going to land on the highway, and she slowed down.<br /><br />But in a flash, it was gone.<br /><br />"It was scary and neat," Wilson said. <br /><br /> Sue Morel said she was stopped at a light in Hollis when she saw the bright, glowing ball. She said she had no idea what it was and watched it for only a second before it disappeared above the tree line.<br /><br />Tiffany Nardino of the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center said the explanation is pretty simple. She said it was most likely a fireball, a bright meteor that burned up in the atmosphere.<br /><br />She said it was probably a piece of rock about the size of a quarter, something that is not very commonly visible.<br /><br />Nardino said a fireball is like any other meteor except it is generally larger and makes a colored glow when it vanishes.<br /><br />She said there are usually only one or two in this part of the country each year.<br /><br />Did you see the flash in the sky? Tell us about it below. </div><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <div class="article-icon"> <br /> </div> <h2> <a href="http://www.space.com/14728-leap-day-asteroid-earth-flyby.html">Leap Day New Asteroid Will Zoom By Earth</a> <br /></h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">Space.com<br />Wed, 29 Feb 2012 15:00 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/95649/full/leap_day_asteroid.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA/JPL"><img style="width: 368px; height: 203px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/95649/large/leap_day_asteroid.jpg" alt="Asteroid 2012 DS32" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA/JPL</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">This NASA graphic depicts the orbit of the small asteroid 2012 DS32, which zooms by Earth on Feb. 29, 2012.</span></div></div><br />A small asteroid about the size of a house will make one cosmic leap by Earth today, just in time for leap day.<br /><br />The newfound asteroid 2012 DS32 poses no chance of hitting our planet, but will make an evening pass to mark this special day for Earth, NASA scientists said.<br /><br />"Happy<a href="http://www.space.com/14710-alien-planets-leap-years-earth.html" target="_blank"> Leap Day!</a> Small asteroid 2012 DS32 will safely pass Earth at 7:36 p.m. EST," astronomers with NASA's Asteroid Watch program wrote in a Twitter post. The <a href="http://www.space.com/11093-photos-asteroids-deep-space-rocks.html" target="_blank">Asteroid Watch</a> program is part of the Near Earth Object office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. <br /><br />The asteroid 2012 DS32 is about 61 feet (about 18.5 meters) across and will still be a good distance away from Earth when it makes its closest approach. At the nearest point, the asteroid will zoom within about 446,000 miles (717,767 kilometers) of the planet, which is slightly less than twice the distance between the Earth and the moon. The average Earth-moon distance is about 238,000 miles (382,900 km). <br /><br /> While it will still be leap day in the United States during the asteroid's flyby, it will already be March 1 in Europe and other areas farther east due to their local time zones.<br /><br />Leap Day is an extra 29th day added to the month of February every four years in order to keep the Gregorian calendar of months and days aligned with the Earth's seasons. A year with a leap day is known as a leap year.<br /><br />NASA scientists and other teams of astronomers routinely hunt for space rocks like 2012 DS32 as part of an ongoing search for potentially hazardous asteroids that could pose a threat of impacting Earth. </div></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">A Service of <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">Signs of the Times</a>: The most comprehensive, objective and reliable Alternative News Source on the Web. If you aren't reading <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">SOTT</a>, you don't know what's REALLY happening!</div>Keithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06011086310017706847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385115091808825739.post-84484888521272796792012-01-05T18:47:00.002+00:002012-02-05T20:33:33.745+00:00January 2012<div class="article-header"><h2> <a href="http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=01&month=01&year=2012">New Year's Fireball</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">Space Weather<br />Sun, 01 Jan 2012 12:24 CST</div><br /> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> The first bright fireball of the New Year streaked over the southwestern USA on Jan. 1st at 03:15 UT. It was visible from Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico. "I was able to see it out my window," reports amateur astronomer Thomas Ashcraft from his rural observatory outside of Santa Fe. "It was brilliant turquoise blue." Ashcraft operates a combination all-sky camera/forward-scatter meteor radar system, which captured the fireball's flight. Click <a href="http://www.heliotown.com/FBS20120101_0315utHE_Ashcraft.mp4" target="_blank">here</a> to play the movie--and don't forget to turn up the volume to hear the ghostly radar echo:<br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/90640/full/fireball_strip.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Space Weather"><img style="width: 379px; height: 271px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/90640/large/fireball_strip.jpg" alt="New Year's Fireball - 2012" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Space Weather<br /><br /></span></div></div>Cameras belonging to NASA's All-Sky Fireball Network also recorded the fireball from multiple locations. An orbit calculated from those data show that the fireball was a random meteoriod hailing from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. It hit Earth's atmosphere at 26 km/s (58,000 mph), which is relatively slow compared to other meteoroids, and disintegrated 82 km above Earth's surface.<br /><br />"This was an auspicious start to 2012," says Ashcraft. "Clear skies and Happy New Year!" <br /></div> <strong></strong><br /><br /><div align="center"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/VBFo504WUPA" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="309" width="400"></iframe><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><br /><br /><h2> <a href="http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-01-space-mountain-terrestrial-meteorites.html">Space mountain produces terrestrial meteorites</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Dauna Coulter<br />Physorg<br />Mon, 02 Jan 2012 07:51 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/90690/full/spacemountai.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA"><img style="width: 345px; height: 104px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/90690/large/spacemountai.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA</span><br /><span class="caption">A side view of Vesta's great south polar mountain.<br /><br />When NASA's Dawn spacecraft entered orbit around giant asteroid Vesta in July, scientists fully expected the probe to reveal some surprising sights. But no one expected a 13-mile high mountain, two and a half times higher than Mount Everest, to be one of them. </span></div></div>The existence of this towering peak could solve a longstanding mystery: How did so many pieces of Vesta end up right here on our own planet?<br /><br />For many years, researchers have been collecting Vesta meteorites from "fall sites" around the world. The rocks' chemical fingerprints leave little doubt that they came from the giant asteroid. Earth has been peppered by so many fragments of Vesta, that people have actually witnessed fireballs caused by the meteoroids tearing through our atmosphere. Recent examples include falls near the African village of Bilanga Yanga in October 1999 and outside Millbillillie, Australia, in October 1960.<br /><br />"Those meteorites just might be pieces of the basin excavated when Vesta's giant mountain formed," says Dawn PI Chris Russell of UCLA. <br /><br /> Russell believes the mountain was created by a 'big bad impact' with a smaller body; material displaced in the smashup rebounded and expanded upward to form a towering peak. The same tremendous collision that created the mountain might have hurled splinters of Vesta toward Earth.<br /><br />"Some of the meteorites in our museums and labs," he says, "could be fragments of Vesta formed in the impact -- pieces of the same stuff the mountain itself is made of."<br /><br />To confirm the theory, Dawn's science team will try to prove that Vesta's meteorites came from the mountain's vicinity. It's a "match game" involving both age and chemistry.<br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/90691/full/1_spacemountai.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Russell/Earth and Planetary Sciences"><img style="width: 348px; height: 118px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/90691/large/1_spacemountai.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Russell/Earth and Planetary Sciences</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">Cross-section of the south polar mountain on Vesta with the cross sections of Olympus Mons on Mars, the largest mountain in the solar system, and the Big lsland of Hawaii as measured from the floor of the Pacific, the largest mountain on Earth. These latter two mountains are both shield volcanoes.</span></div></div>"Vesta formed at the dawn of the solar system," says Russell. "Billions of years of collisions with other space rocks have given it a densely cratered surface."<br /><br />The surface around the mountain, however, is tellingly smooth. Russell believes the impact wiped out the entire history of cratering in the vicinity. By counting craters that have accumulated since then, researchers can estimate the age of the landscape.<br /><br />"In this way we can figure out the approximate age of the mountain's surface. Using radioactive dating, we can also tell when the meteorites were 'liberated' from Vesta. A match between those dates would be compelling evidence of a meteorite-mountain connection."<br /><br />For more proof, the scientists will compare the meteorites' chemical makeup to that of the mountain area.<br /><br />"Vesta is intrinsically but subtly colorful. Dawn's sensors can detect slight color variations in Vesta's minerals, so we can map regions of chemicals and minerals that have emerged on the surface. Then we'll compare these colors to those of the meteorites."<br /><br />Could an impact on Vesta really fill so many museum display cases on Earth? Stay tuned for answers. </div><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=03&month=01&year=2012">Quadrantid Meteor Shower</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">Space Weather<br />Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:19 CST</div><br /> </div> </div> Earth is about to pass through a stream of debris from 2003 EH1, a comet fragment that produces the annual Quadrantid meteor shower. Forecasters expect the shower to peak around 07:20 UT (02:20 am EST) on Wednesday morning, January 4th. At maximum, as many as 100 meteors/hour could emerge from a radiant near Polaris, the north star.<br /><br />Brian Emfinger of Ozark, Arkansas, photographed this one on Jan. 2nd:<br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/90807/full/Brian_Emfinger_01021201_132551.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Brian Emfinger"><img style="width: 395px; height: 267px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/90807/large/Brian_Emfinger_01021201_132551.jpg" alt="Fireball_1" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Brian Emfinger<br /><br /></span></div></div>"Wow! What a really nice fireball," says Emfinger. "It emerged very very close to the Quadrantid radiant, but I'm not 100% sure it is indeed an early Quadrantid."<br /><br />Even among professional researchers there is a lot of uncertainty about the Quadrantids. Because the shower occurs during the deep cold of northern winter, and because its peak is brief (often no longer than a couple of hours), this strong shower is seldom observed. Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office hopes 2012 will be different. "We encourage sky watchers to be alert for Quadrantids and send their observations to NASA using the Meteor Counter app," he says. "With a little help, we just might learn something new about this intriguing shower." <br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www.livescience.com/17708-bizarre-crystal-meteorite.html">Bizarre Crystal Hitched Ride on Meteorite</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Jeanna Bryner<br />Live Science<br />Tue, 03 Jan 2012 10:04 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image to-left"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/90803/full/meteorite_quasicrystal.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Paul Steinhardt, Princeton University"><img src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/90803/medium/meteorite_quasicrystal.jpg" alt="Quasicrystals " title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Paul Steinhardt, Princeton University</span><br /><span class="caption">A rock sample containing quasicrystals unearthed in the Koryak Mountains in Russia. </span></div></div><br />A rock fragment containing a previously unidentified natural quasicrystal may be the remnant of a meteorite that originated in the early solar system more than 4.5 billion years ago before Earth even existed.<br /><br />Until now, researchers had assumed such quasicrystals, whose atoms are arranged in a quasi-regular pattern rather than the regular arrangement of <a href="http://www.livescience.com/7511-bizarre-properties-glass-revealed.html" target="_blank">atoms inside a crystal,</a> were not feasible in nature. In fact, until now the only known quasicrystals were synthetic, formed in a laboratory under carefully controlled conditions. (This year's <a href="http://www.livescience.com/16393-nobel-prize-chemistry-quasicrystals.html" target="_blank">Nobel Prize in chemistry</a> honored Dan Shechtman for his 1982 discovery of quasicrystals, which at the time were thought to break the laws of nature.)<br /><br />"Many thought it had to be that way, because they thought quasicrystals are too delicate, too prone to crystallization, to form naturally," researcher Paul Steinhardt of Princeton University said. The new finding, described this week in the journal <em>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,</em> suggests "quasicrystals are much more common in the universe than we thought," Steinhardt added. <br /><br /> The rock was discovered in the Koryak Mountains of Russia. Various features of the quasicrystal suggest a meteorite origin, including the shapes of the grains and its chemical composition of metallic copper and aluminum that resemble those found in so-called carbonaceous chondrites; these are <a href="http://www.livescience.com/3613-searching-meteorites-deserts-oman.html" target="_blank">primitive meteorites</a> that scientists think were remnants shed from the original building blocks of planets. Most meteorites found on Earth fit into this group.<br /><br />Analysis of the quasicrystals revealed they were intermeshed with silicates and crystalline metals, with one quasicrystalline grain encased in a silica mineral called stishovite.<br /><br />"Stishovite is silicon dioxide, the same chemical that makes quartz and sand, but here it forms a different structure that only occurs at high pressures achieved in <a href="http://www.space.com/13490-meteorite-strike-earth-impact-model.html" target="_blank">meteorite collisions</a> and impacts," wrote Steinhardt in an email to LiveScience.<br /><br />The fact that the metallic aluminum was found in its unoxidized form was also surprising, since the metal has such a strong affinity for oxygen and couldn't have remained in that form here on Earth, Steinhardt said.<br /><br />"So, we have learned that extraterrestrial conditions enable a phase of matter not likely possible on Earth. This raises the question: What other materials have been made in space that would not form naturally on Earth. In particular, are there other quasicrystals?" Steinhardt said. </div><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=04&month=01&year=2012">Fantastic Quadrantids</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">Space Weather<br />Wed, 04 Jan 2012 13:27 CST</div><br /> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> This morning, Jan. 4th, Earth passed through a stream of debris from shattered comet 2003 EH1. The encounter produced a strong display of Quadrantid meteors over the Atlantic side of our planet, as many as <a href="http://imo.net/live/quadrantids2012/" target="_blank">80 per hour</a> according to the International Meteor Organization. Fredrik Broms caught this one streaking over his home in Kvaløya, Norway:<br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/90916/full/Fredrik_Broms_Quadrantid_04jan.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Fredrik Broms"><img style="width: 396px; height: 522px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/90916/large/Fredrik_Broms_Quadrantid_04jan.jpg" alt="Quadrantids Shower" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Fredrik Broms</span></div></div>"The Quadrantids of 2012 were fantastic," says Broms. "The display was dominated by fairly bright and fast meteors."<br /><br />NASA's All-Sky Fireball Network recorded 20 fireballs during the outburst. Data from multiple cameras allowed the orbits of the meteoroiuds to be calculated, and they are shown here in a diagram of the inner solar system:<br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/90917/full/orbits_strip2.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA"><img style="width: 395px; height: 306px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/90917/large/orbits_strip2.jpg" alt="Quadrantids Shower_1" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA</span></div></div> <br /><br /> <span class="BoldGrey">More Images:</span><br /><br />From <a href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Pete-Lawrence-C_M_IMG_5828_seq1_1325686878.jpg" target="_blank">Pete Lawrence</a> of Selsey, West Sussex, UK; from <a href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Didier-SCHREINER-Quadrantide-IMG_7976---Mod-Red-2_1325677614.jpg" target="_blank">Didier Schreiner</a> of Wormhout, France; from <a href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Renata-Arpasova-flickr-meteor-base-3_1325682047.jpg" target="_blank">Renata Arpasova</a> of Avebury, Wiltshire, UK; from <a href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Glenn-Wester-quadsGlennWester2048_1325680364.jpg" target="_blank">Glenn Wester</a> of Smithtown, New York; from <a href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Yu-Jun-IMG_7309_1325671709.jpg" target="_blank">Yu Jun</a> of Beijing, China; from <a href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Sylvain-Weiller-20120104-0617UT-Quadrantide9048Crop_1325674730.jpg" target="_blank">Sylvain Weiller</a> of Saint Rémy lès Chevreuse, France; from <a href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Fredrik-Broms-Quadrantid_04jan2012_FredrikBroms_1325660837.jpg" target="_blank">Fredrik Broms</a> of Kvaløya, Norway; from <a href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Pete-Glastonbury-Quadrantid2_1325657083.jpg" target="_blank">Pete Glastonbury</a> of Devizes, Wiltshire, UK; from <a href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Samuel-Todd-IMG_7249_1325674459.jpg" target="_blank">Samuel Todd</a> of Madison, Alabama; from <a href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Richard-Hay-DSC_4875---Copy_1325672217.jpg" target="_blank">Richard Hay</a> of Green Cove Springs, Florida; from <a href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Amirreza-Kamkar-IMG_2138_s_1325665293.jpg" target="_blank">Amirreza Kamkar</a> of Qayen, Iran </div><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www.yle.fi/uutiset/news/2012/01/great_fireball_spotted_over_southern_finland_3150671.html">Great fireball spotted over southern Finland</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">YLE.fi<br />Wed, 04 Jan 2012 12:05 CST</div><br /> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> A large fireball was seen over southern Finland on Tuesday evening, reports a magazine published by the Ursa Astronomical Association. The ball, shining brighter than the moon, was visible for about ten seconds.<br /><br />Ursa received numerous sightings of the fireball from various parts of southern and central Finland after 8:18pm on Tuesday.<br /><br /><div align="center"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7uuxUmso48M" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="400"></iframe></div><br /><br />The trajectory of the fireball is still being investigated. A mathematician of Ursa's fireball research group, Esko Lyytinen, gives a preliminary estimate that the phenomenon appeared over Narva in Estonia at the height of about 95km and vanished from sight around Heinola in southern Finland at the height of about 45-50km. <br /><br /> "We've had very good luck as the skies happened to clear at exactly the right moment and our automatic cameras recorded such a wonderful fireball. Otherwise, the whole night in Mikkeli was mostly cloudy," says Aki Taavitsainen, head of Ursa's Mikkeli office.<br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/90901/full/ff.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Aki Taavitsainen ja Jani Lauanne, Mikkelin Ursa"><img style="width: 373px; height: 217px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/90901/large/ff.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Aki Taavitsainen ja Jani Lauanne, Mikkelin Ursa</span><br /><span class="caption">A photo of the fireball snapped by Ursa's camera in Mikkeli.<br /><br /><br /></span><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=04&month=01&year=2012">Fantastic Quadrantids</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Space Weather<br />Wed, 04 Jan 2012 13:27 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> This morning, Jan. 4th, Earth passed through a stream of debris from shattered comet 2003 EH1. The encounter produced a strong display of Quadrantid meteors over the Atlantic side of our planet, as many as <a href="http://imo.net/live/quadrantids2012/" target="_blank">80 per hour</a> according to the International Meteor Organization. Fredrik Broms caught this one streaking over his home in Kvaløya, Norway:<br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/90916/full/Fredrik_Broms_Quadrantid_04jan.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Fredrik Broms"><img style="width: 399px; height: 526px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/90916/large/Fredrik_Broms_Quadrantid_04jan.jpg" alt="Quadrantids Shower" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Fredrik Broms</span></div></div>"The Quadrantids of 2012 were fantastic," says Broms. "The display was dominated by fairly bright and fast meteors."<br /><br />NASA's All-Sky Fireball Network recorded 20 fireballs during the outburst. Data from multiple cameras allowed the orbits of the meteoroiuds to be calculated, and they are shown here in a diagram of the inner solar system:<br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/90917/full/orbits_strip2.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA"><img style="width: 393px; height: 304px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/90917/large/orbits_strip2.jpg" alt="Quadrantids Shower_1" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA</span></div></div> <br /> <span class="BoldGrey">More Images:</span><br /><br />From <a href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Pete-Lawrence-C_M_IMG_5828_seq1_1325686878.jpg" target="_blank">Pete Lawrence</a> of Selsey, West Sussex, UK; from <a href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Didier-SCHREINER-Quadrantide-IMG_7976---Mod-Red-2_1325677614.jpg" target="_blank">Didier Schreiner</a> of Wormhout, France; from <a href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Renata-Arpasova-flickr-meteor-base-3_1325682047.jpg" target="_blank">Renata Arpasova</a> of Avebury, Wiltshire, UK; from <a href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Glenn-Wester-quadsGlennWester2048_1325680364.jpg" target="_blank">Glenn Wester</a> of Smithtown, New York; from <a href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Yu-Jun-IMG_7309_1325671709.jpg" target="_blank">Yu Jun</a> of Beijing, China; from <a href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Sylvain-Weiller-20120104-0617UT-Quadrantide9048Crop_1325674730.jpg" target="_blank">Sylvain Weiller</a> of Saint Rémy lès Chevreuse, France; from <a href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Fredrik-Broms-Quadrantid_04jan2012_FredrikBroms_1325660837.jpg" target="_blank">Fredrik Broms</a> of Kvaløya, Norway; from <a href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Pete-Glastonbury-Quadrantid2_1325657083.jpg" target="_blank">Pete Glastonbury</a> of Devizes, Wiltshire, UK; from <a href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Samuel-Todd-IMG_7249_1325674459.jpg" target="_blank">Samuel Todd</a> of Madison, Alabama; from <a href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Richard-Hay-DSC_4875---Copy_1325672217.jpg" target="_blank">Richard Hay</a> of Green Cove Springs, Florida; from <a href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Amirreza-Kamkar-IMG_2138_s_1325665293.jpg" target="_blank">Amirreza Kamkar</a> of Qayen, Iran<br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www.yle.fi/uutiset/news/2012/01/meteorites_fall_in_central_finland_3157267.html">Meteorites Fall in Central Finland</a> <br /></h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">YLE<br />Sat, 07 Jan 2012 16:59 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-image to-left"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/91230/full/Meteoriitti_2_426146b.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Ilmatieteen laitos/Mikko Syrjäsuo"><img src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/91230/medium/Meteoriitti_2_426146b.jpg" alt="Fireball" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Ilmatieteen laitos/Mikko Syrjäsuo</span><br /><span class="caption">Meteorite.<br /><br /></span></div></div>Parts of a fireball seen in Finnish skies on Tuesday evening have fallen in central Finland. According to the Finnish astronomy magazine <em>Tähdet ja Avaruus</em> (<em>Stars and Space</em>), the fireball fragmented, with the majority of pieces falling near the centre of Jämsä town.<br /><br />The largest pieces to land on earth weighed about one kilogram, according to calculations made by the meteorite section of Ursa Astronomical Association. Snow may have covered signs of the landings. However, meteorite fragments could still be found.<br /><br />According to <em>Stars and Space</em> magazine, it is rare to have meteorite impact close to large populated areas in Finland. A similar event last took place over a hundred years ago, when meteorites fell near the town of Mikkeli.<br /><br />The meteorites in the vicinity of Jämsä originate in a larger body that entered the earth's atmosphere around Narva in Estonia. The velocity of the object was about 19 kilometres per second, which is relatively low.<br /><br />The daily paper <em>Iltalehti</em> first reported on the meteorite in Finland. <br /><br /><br /><h2> <a href="http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=459737&CategoryId=14091">Mexico: Authorities Search for Meteorite that Fell on Northwest Mexico</a> <br /></h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">Latin American Hearld Tribune<br />Sat, 07 Jan 2012 00:00 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> <div class="article-image to-left"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/91234/full/Meteorite_20_201.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© LAHT"><img src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/91234/medium/Meteorite_20_201.jpg" alt="Meteor" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© LAHT<br /><br /></span></div></div>Culiacan - Mexican authorities are searching for a meteorite that fell to earth in a rural area in the northwestern part of the country, which was sighted in the region but about which there are as yet few details, officials said Friday.<br /><br />The alarm sounded when inhabitants of a mountainous region of Sinaloa state near the border with Chihuahua were startled by the approach of a luminous object in the night sky.<br /><br />NASA and Mexican emergency services agencies confirmed that the object was a meteorite, whose dimensions and exact place of impact are unknown.<br /><br />Some witnesses believed it could have crashed to earth between the Gustavo Diaz Ordaz Dam and the town of San Jose de Gracia.<br /><br />After hours of searching by air and land, an official of the Sinaloa municipality of Sinaloa, Marcial Alvarez, told Efe that the meteorite is believed to have impacted next door in Chihuahua state.<br /><br />This Saturday observers will fly over the area in search of the meteorite.<br /><br />It would not be the first time Sinaloa has seen a phenomenon like this. In 1871 a meteorite fell on the settlement of Bacubirito, which with a weight of 22 tons is considered one of the biggest in the world. <br /></div><br /><br /><h2> <a href="http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2012/01/12/1890345/fireball-report-prompts-search.html">US: Fireball Report Prompts Search of Island Marsh</a> <br /></h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">The Associated Press<br />Thu, 12 Jan 2012 07:30 CST<br /><br /></div> </div> Brunswick, Georgia. -- Authorities say they turned up nothing after Georgia State Patrol and U.S. Coast Guard crews searched a marsh off Jekyll Island for a possible plane crash.<br /><br />The search began around 10 p.m. Wednesday, after someone reported seeing a fireball disappear in the marsh.<br /><br />The <em>Florida Times-Union</em> <a href="http://jacksonville.com/news/georgia/2012-01-12/story/state-patrol-coast-guard-find-nothing-two-hour-search-jekyll-island" target="_blank">reports</a> the search was called off shortly after midnight early Thursday, and state patrol officials say it is believed the fireball might have been a meteor. <br /><br /><br /><h2> <a href="http://www.thesouthernreporter.co.uk/news/local-headlines/scientists_probe_mystery_boom_and_earth_tremors_in_northumberland_and_scottish_borders_1_2052457">UK: Scientists Probe Mystery Boom and Earth Tremors in Northumberland and Scottish Borders</a> <br /></h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">Southern Reporter, UK<br />Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:07 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> Experts are trying to determine what caused earth tremors and buildings to shake in Berwick and coastal areas of the Scottish Borders this afternoon.<br /><br />Scientists can't say if it was an earthquake and the RAF said the RAF says none of their planes caused a sonic boom.<br /><br />Seismologists are currently looking into the 3.15pm incident in Berwickshire and Northumberland.<br /><br />A British Geological Survey spokeswoman said: "We know something happened as we've had lots of reports of the earth shaking and it registered on our equipment."<br /><br />The data is being studied but the spokeswoman said they could not confirm if it was an earthquake or a sonic boom. But she said the data did not have the 'tell-tale' signs of an earthquake.<br /><br />A Northumbria Police spokesman said that reports had come in from as far afield as south as Craster and that Lothian and Borders Police had received reports from Burnmouth.<br /><br />He said that the RAF had reported that although planes were operating in the area it was not believed to be a sonic boom.<br /><br />It has also been felt in Wooler and Belford as well as throughout Berwick. <br /><br /><br /><h2> <a href="http://science1.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/12jan_cometlovejoy/">Comet Lovejoy - Some Comets like it Hot</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Dr.Tony Phillips<br />Science@NASA<br />Thu, 12 Jan 2012 11:53 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> <div class="article-body"> Comets are icy and fragile. They spend most of their time orbiting through the dark outskirts of the solar system safe from destructive rays of intense sunlight. The deepest cold is their natural habitat.<br /><br />Last November amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy discovered a different kind of comet. The icy fuzzball he spotted in the sky over his backyard observatory in Australia was heading almost directly for the sun. On Dec. 16th, less than three weeks after he found it, Comet Lovejoy would swoop through the sun's atmosphere only 120,000 km above the stellar surface.<br /><br />Astronomers soon realized a startling fact: Comet Lovejoy likes it hot.<br /><br />"Terry found a sungrazer," says Karl Battams of the Naval Research Lab in Washington DC. "We figured its nucleus was about as wide as two football fields - the biggest such comet in nearly 40 years."<br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/91678/full/Wayne_England1.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Wayne-England"><img style="width: 389px; height: 577px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/91678/large/Wayne_England1.jpg" alt="Comet Lovejoy_1" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Wayne-England</span><br /><span class="caption">Comet Lovejoy at sunrise on Dec. 25, 2011. Wayne England took the picture from Poocher Swamp, west of Bordertown, South Australia.<br /><br /></span></div></div>Sungrazing comets aren't a new thing. In fact, the orbiting Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) watches one fall toward the sun and evaporate every few days. These frequent kamikaze comets, known as "Kreutz sungrazers," are thought to be splinters of a giant comet that broke apart hundreds of years ago. Typically they measure about 10 meters across, small, fragile, and easily vaporized by solar heat.<br /><br />Based on its orbit, Comet Lovejoy was surely a member of the same family - except it was 200 meters wide instead of the usual 10. Astronomers were eager to see such a whopper disintegrate. Even with its extra girth, there was little doubt that it would be destroyed.<br /><br />When Dec. 16th came, however, "Comet Lovejoy shocked us all," says Battams. "<a href="http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/16dec_cometlovejoy/" target="_blank">It survived,</a> and even flourished." <br /><br /> Images from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory showed the comet vaporizing furiously as it entered the sun's atmosphere--apparently on the verge of obliteration - yet Comet Lovejoy was still intact when it emerged on the other side. The comet had lost its tail during the fiery transit--a temporary setback. Within hours, the tail grew back, bigger and brighter than before.<br /><br />"It's fair to say we were dumbfounded," says Matthew Knight of the Lowell Observatory and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab. "Comet Lovejoy must have been bigger than we thought, perhaps as much as 500 meters wide."<br /><br />That would make it the biggest sungrazer since Comet Ikeya-Seka almost 40 years ago. With a tail that stretched halfway across the sky, Ikeya-Seki was actually visible in broad daylight after it passed through the sun's atmosphere in October 1965. In Japan, where observers spotted the over-heated comet only 1/2 degree from the sun, it was described as 10 times brighter than the Full Moon.<br /><br />Comet Lovejoy wasn't that bright, but it was still amazing. Only a few days after it left the sun, the comet showed up in the morning skies of the southern hemisphere. Observers in Australia, South America, South Africa, and New Zealand likened it to a search light beaming up from the east before dawn. The tail lined up parallel to the Milky Way and, for a few days, made it seem that we lived in a double-decker galaxy.<br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/91679/full/lovejoy.png" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA"><img style="width: 377px; height: 205px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/91679/large/lovejoy.png" alt="Comet Lovejoy_2" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA</span><br /><span class="caption">This sequence of images, gathered by an extreme UV telescope onboard NASA's STEREO-B spacecraft, shows Comet Lovejoy's tail wiggling wildly in transit through the solar corona.<br /><br /><a href="http://spaceweather.com/comets/lovejoy_16dec11/EUVI_B_lovejoy.gif" target="_blank">Animated Version</a><br /><br /></span></div></div>Astronauts on the International Space Station also witnessed the comet. ISS Commander Dan Burbank, who has seen his share of wonders, even once flying directly through the Northern Lights onboard the space shuttle, declared Comet Lovejoy "the most amazing thing I have ever seen in space."<br /><br />An armada of spacecraft including SOHO, the Solar Dynamics Observatory, NASA's twin STEREO probes, Japan's Hinode spacecraft, and Europe's Proba2 microsatellite recorded the historic event.<br /><br />"We've collected a mountain of data," says Knight. "But there are some things we're still having trouble explaining."<br /><br />For instance, what made Lovejoy's tail wiggle so wildly when it entered the solar corona? Perhaps it was in the grip of the sun's powerful magnetic field.<br /><br />What caused Lovejoy to lose its tail inside the sun's atmosphere - and then regain it later? "This is one of the biggest mysteries to me," says Battams.<br /><br />And then there is the ultimate existential puzzle: How did Comet Lovejoy survive at all?<br /><br />As January unfolds, the "Comet that liked it Hot" is returning to the outer solar system, still intact, leaving many mysteries behind. "It'll be back in about 600 years," says Knight. "Maybe we will have figured them out by then." </div><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www.inews880.com/Channels/Reg/LocalNews/story.aspx?ID=1639126">Canada: Meteor Flashes Through Edmonton Sky</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Brenton Driedger<br />iNews880.com<br />Fri, 13 Jan 2012 11:51 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> Did you see that ball of white that flew through the sky Friday morning?<br /><br />Our newsroom was getting calls, emails, and tweets from listeners, and some are convinced they saw a meteor at around 7:30am.<br /><br />"I saw this huge flash come right across the sky going west to east," says James, who was driving near Thorsby at the time. "Just by chance I caught the whole thing. It was very, very bright and very low to the ground."<br /><br />Most callers agree that the light disappeared as quickly as it came.<br /><br />"This was quite bright -- a big chunk of white," says Pat, who was driving on 153 Avenue near Castledowns Road. "(It only lasted) about two or three seconds. They go fast. You notice them, and then before it hit the ground or before it disappeared near the horizon, it was out."<br /><br />Frank Florian from the Telus World of Science didn't see it, but by the description he's fairly confident that this was a meteor. <br /><br /> "They're usually short-lived, traveling very swiftly, usually taking anywhere from two to five seconds to go across the sky, very similar in nature to the 2008 fireball that was seen over much of Alberta and some of the northern states," says Florian.<br /><br />There have been reported sightings from Thorsby to Gibbons to Mundare to Lac la Biche. And when you can see it across such a broad area, Florian says that means it was likely still hundreds, even thousands, of kilometres away.<br /><br />"In terms of actually seeing it yourself, I'd say it's a little bit more on the rare side," says Florian, who wants to hear from anyone who caught a glimpse of the meteor. "In terms of how common things like this are passing through the earth's atmosphere, it happens every night. Every single day around the world, things are always hitting the earth, it's just a matter of you being outside at the right time." </div><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_19738810">US: Possible Meteorite Discovered in Castro Valley Back Yard</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Chris De Benedetti<br />Hayward Daily Review<br />Fri, 13 Jan 2012 20:49 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/91727/full/20120113_erev0114meteor_2_GALL.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Anda Chu "><img style="width: 385px; height: 263px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/91727/large/20120113_erev0114meteor_2_GALL.jpg" alt="Meteorite_1" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Anda Chu </span><br /><span class="caption">Mitch Medeiros, of Castro Valley, holds a two-pound rock that may be a meteorite in Castro Valley, Calif. Friday Jan. 13, 2012. Medeiros found the rock in his backyard Wednesday and phoned Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Friday morning. The lab is working with Medeiros to help him identify the rock. </span></div></div><br />Meteorites plummeting to earth? In Castro Valley?<br /><br />It wasn't exactly pennies from heaven, but if the smoldering, dark-colored rock discovered on Mitch Medeiros' property did indeed fall from the sky, it may fetch the 55-year-old a fortune. If, that is, it's a verifiable meteorite.<br /><br />Whatever it is has turned life upside down for the retired truck driver.<br /><br />Medeiros said his phone has continued to ring since he told friends his dog -- an energetic 2-year-old black Labrador retriever named Bella -- led him Wednesday to a small dirt pile that was spewing steam in the backyard of his Castro Valley hills home.<br /><br />"She was the one who found it. I never would have known," he said.<br /><br />While Bella barked in excitement, Medeiros shoveled the rock out of a fresh, foot-deep hole. It was glowing "like a barbecue coal," he said. <br /><br /> He ran water to cool the jagged charcoal-colored rock, which is about 2 inches wide and 4 inches long.<br /><br />He kept it in a cabinet for two days and didn't think much of it until he realized he could not answer a nagging question: Why would a normal rock glow?<br /><br />"I've never seen one like that before," he said.<br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/91728/full/20120113_erev0114meteor_1_GALL.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Anda Chu"><img style="width: 388px; height: 286px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/91728/large/20120113_erev0114meteor_1_GALL.jpg" alt="Meteorite_2" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Anda Chu</span></div></div>Medeiros, a married man with three children, telephoned Lawrence Livermore Laboratory for advice Friday morning.<br /><br />"We get these kinds of calls maybe a couple of times a month and, more often than not, it turns out not to be a meteor," said Lynda Seaver, a lab spokeswoman.<br /><br />Experts say that reports of meteorites are frequent, but like any valuable mineral, finding the real deal -- or any object plummeting from the sky -- is rare.<br /><br />But it's possible, lab scientists told Medeiros. They advised him to chip off a piece of the rock and mail it to the University of New Mexico, where experts will use an electron microscope to determine the rock's properties, Medeiros said.<br /><br />He since has stored the potentially valuable mineral in a bank safe-deposit box.<br /><br />In the meantime, he has fielded a torrent of phone calls from aggressive members of a subculture he previously didn't know existed: meteorite collectors and dealers.<br /><br />"I'm not even sure how they found out I had it," said Medeiros, who grew up in San Leandro.<br /><br />Rare forms often end up in major museums and have sold for as much as $1,000 per gram -- well above the current price of gold, according to a <a href="http://aerolite.org/" target="_blank">meteorite-related website.</a><br /><br />But he's not biting on any offers yet. It might be just another rock or a small piece of an old Russian spacecraft that has turned to junk in recent years.<br /><br />On the advice of websites and Lawrence Lab scientists, Medeiros said he has put the rock through a number of tests.<br /><br />A magnet, for example, did not stick to it and its excessive hardness broke off a hacksaw blade -- both good signs, experts told Medeiros.<br /><br />"It's almost like cutting stainless steel, it just bounces off," he said.<br /><br />The rock is so resistant it has made it difficult for him to break off a sample for official testing. But Medeiros is determined to find out and, he adds, he's growing more confident.<br /><br />"It's passed at least three of the tests," he said. "It's a meteor." </div> <strong></strong><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5glF4ifo7dJD3j5qIbC6WqqWNZI0w?docId=ee4fe5108eac44b8b28609cfa241aacc">Scientists: Mars Rocks Fell in Africa Last July</a> <br /></h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">Associated Press<br />Tue, 17 Jan 2012 10:14 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image to-left"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/91954/full/Mars_rocks_fell_in_Africa_last.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Darryl Pitt, Macovich Collection, via AP"><img src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/91954/medium/Mars_rocks_fell_in_Africa_last.jpg" alt="Meteorite" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Darryl Pitt, Macovich Collection, via AP</span><br /><span class="caption">A Martian meteorite was recovered in December last year near Foumzgit, Morocco.</span></div></div><br />Washington - Scientists are confirming a recent and rare invasion from Mars: meteorite chunks from the red planet that fell in Morocco last July.<br /><br />This is only the fifth time scientists have chemically confirmed Martian meteorites that people witnessed falling. The small rock refugees were seen in a fireball in the sky six months ago, but they weren't discovered on the ground in North Africa until the end of December.<br /><br />Scientists and collectors of meteorites are ecstatic and already the rocks are fetching big bucks because they are among the rarest things on Earth.<br /><br />A special committee of meteorite experts, which includes some NASA scientists, confirmed the test results Tuesday. They certified that 15 pounds of meteorite recently collected came from Mars. The biggest rock weighs over 2 pounds.<br /><br />Astronomers think millions of years ago something big smashed into Mars and sent rocks hurtling through the solar system. After a long journey through space, one of those rocks eventually landed here. It plunged into Earth's atmosphere, splitting into smaller pieces and one chunk shattered into shards when it hit the ground.<br /><br />This is an important and unique hands-on look at Mars for scientists trying to learn about the planet's potential for life. So far, no NASA or Russian spacecraft have returned bits of Mars, so the only Martian samples scientists can examine are those that come here in a meteorite shower. <br /><br /> Most other samples had been on Earth for millions of years - or at the very least decades - which makes them tainted with Earth materials and life. These new rocks, while still likely contaminated because they have been on Earth for months, are still more pure and better to study.<br /><br />The last time a Martian meteorite fell and was found fresh was in 1962. All the Martian rocks on Earth add up to less than 240 pounds.<br /><br />The new samples were scooped up by dealers from those who found them. Even before the official certification, scientists at NASA, museums and universities scrambled to buy or trade these meteorites.<br /><br />"It's a free sample from Mars, that's what these are, except you have to pay the dealers for it," said University of Alberta meteorite expert Chris Herd, who heads the committee that certified the discovery.<br /><br />He's already bought a chunk of meteorite and said he was thrilled just to hold it, calling the rock "really spectacular."<br /><br />One of the key decisions the scientists made Tuesday was to officially connect these rocks to the July fiery plunge witnessed by people and captured on video. The announcement and naming of these meteorites - called Tissint - came from the International Society for Meteoritics and Planetary Science, which is the official group of 950 scientists that confirms and names meteorites.<br /><br />Meteorite dealer Darryl Pitt, who sold a chunk to Herd, said he charges from $11,000 to $22,500 an ounce and he's sold most of his already. At that price, the new Martian rock costs about 10 times more per ounce than gold. </div> <br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=sun-diving-comet-sdo">NASA Satellite Witnesses a Comet's Plunge into the Sun</a> <br /></h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">Scientific American<br />Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:21 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <em>A sun-watching spacecraft has for the first time tracked a comet's path all the way into the solar atmosphere</em><br /><br />As dramatic exits go, it's on par with Major T. J. "King" Kong riding a falling nuclear bomb like a rodeo bull at the end of Dr. Strangelove. A NASA spacecraft has documented a comet's demise as it plunged toward the sun at 600 kilometers per second, broke apart and vaporized inside the solar atmosphere.<br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/92119/full/ff.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA / SOHO"><img src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/92119/large/ff.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA / SOHO</span></div></div>The comet, known as C/2011 N3 (SOHO), met its fiery fate on July 6. The object's official name designates that it was discovered in early July 2011 by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft. Many comets meet a similar end, but astronomers and solar physicists have never been able to track a comet's trajectory all the way into the depths of the solar corona, the outermost layer of the sun's atmosphere. <br /><br /> With the help of another spacecraft - NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which was launched in 2010 - a group of scientists were able to witness the final minutes of the comet's existence. The observations of C/2011 N3 as it broke apart allowed the researchers to estimate the comet's mass and the size of its nucleus; similar events in the future may provide clues about the origins of comets as well as probe conditions near the sun that are otherwise difficult to explore. The team of researchers published their findings in the January 20 issue of <em>Science</em>.<br /><br />SOHO has discovered more than 2,000 comets near the sun, most of them thanks to the help of unpaid amateur astronomers who comb through imagery from the spacecraft. Most of the sun-grazing comets, like C/2011 N3, belong to the Kreutz family, which is thought to have originated from a single progenitor that broke apart within the past few thousand years. The smallest of these comets are destroyed by the sun before they draw too close, so C/2011 N3 was rather sizable for a Kreutz-family comet, with a nucleus 10 to 50 meters across.<br /><br />"It must have been on the large side," says lead study author Carolus Schrijver, a solar physicist at the Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center in Palo Alto, Calif. The comet's size contributed not only to its survival deep into the solar atmosphere but also to its receiving close scrutiny during the sunward plunge. "This was noted as a particularly bright one," Schrijver says. "That morning as it was approaching the sun I said, 'Well, let's see if we can see it.'"<br /><br />An atmospheric imaging camera on SDO was indeed able to track the inbound comet, watching it bear down on the sun in an ultraviolet streak that lasted about 20 minutes before it disappeared. By that time the comet was only about 100,000 kilometers above the solar surface and had broken into a number of fragments, further hastening its vaporization.<br /><br />"The temperatures [at that point] are so high that things are evaporating," says astronomer Matthew Knight of Lowell Observatory and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, who did not contribute to the new study. "Not just gases and ices, but heavy elements."<br /><br />The comet's total obliteration in the solar atmosphere let Schrijver and his colleagues estimate how much material was lost in the process. "Because it vanished, we could actually measure its mass," Schrijver says. The researchers estimate that the comet may have shed as much as 60 million kilograms of material in its plunge - about the mass of the <em>Titanic</em>. But the comet's composition is less clear. "We're still trying to understand what was glowing," he says. The imager used to track C/2011 N3 is most sensitive to iron, but Schrijver notes that the glow could also have been produced by carbon or oxygen. </div><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://theconversation.edu.au/space-invasions-what-to-do-when-stuff-falls-from-the-sky-4961">Space invasions: what to do when stuff falls from the sky</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Alice Gorman<br />The Conversation<br />Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:14 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-image to-right"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/92176/full/ff.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Pat Dalton"><img src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/92176/medium/ff.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Pat Dalton</span><br /><span class="caption">Nearly 8,000 objects have been identified for possible collision with Earth<br /><br /></span></div></div>In the past six months, it seems something has fallen from the sky every second minute. In September, the UARS satellite re-entered the Earth's atmosphere, causing a media frenzy. In October, the German satellite Rosat re-entered, with much less fanfare. Before Christmas, there were reports of space junk falling near Esperance in Western Australia.<br /><br />And skywatchers were out in droves when the Quadrantid meteor shower put on its annual display earlier this month. Last weekend, the Russian Phobos-Grunt spacecraft, the country's 19th attempt to reach Mars, plunged back to Earth amid much speculation about the effects of its toxic fuel. <br /><br /> <span class="BoldGrey">Near Earth Objects</span><br /><br />We're getting used to the idea we're under continual bombardment from the heavens. But as well as objects from Earth orbit, there are some more sinister things to worry about: the nearly <strong>8,000</strong> identified Near Earth Objects (NEOs), asteroids, comets and meteoroids, whose orbits bring them close enough to Earth for collision to be a real risk. In November last year, the asteroid 2005 YU55 missed the Earth by a mere 300,000km.<br /><br />So what are we doing about this? At a panel convened last week in Adelaide by the International Space University's Southern Hemisphere Summer Space Program, experts noted that our knowledge about what's "out there" has increased exponentially in recent decades. We've got a pretty good idea of what is roaming around in the Near Earth environment.<br /><br />But as they also pointed out, very little is actively being done in the Southern Hemisphere to track and prepare for events such as re-entries.<br /><br />It wasn't always this way: until 1996, the Australian government funded a Spaceguard program, which was responsible for identifying one-third of all catalogued NEOs - a very impressive track record. There are currently calls to revive Spaceguard activities, bringing Australia more into line with international efforts. (And in the meantime, it looks as if Australia will participate in talks with the US and Europe to help address the space junk issue.)<br /><br />Australia is indeed very well placed, in terms of its location, size, expertise and availability of radio-quiet areas, to play an important role in observing and tracking both natural and human-manufactured objects in space. It's also one of the few countries that has direct experience in what happens when a spacecraft makes an uncontrolled re-entry over land.<br /><br />In 1979, Skylab, one of the largest spacecraft ever launched at that time, fell out of the sky in flaming fragments over Western Australia. No-one was hurt and there was no property damage, although the Shire of Esperance famously fined the US State Department $400 for littering. (The fine was finally paid in 2009 by public donations).<br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Hit and miss</span><br /><br />The first thing to note is that you would have to be very unlucky indeed to have a piece of space junk fall on you. It's only happened once that we know of. According to the Centre for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies (CORDS), Lottie Williams of Oklahoma was hit by a small piece of a Delta II rocket as she was taking a walk one day in 1996. She was unharmed. Similarly, there are no accounts of people being injured by meteorites. There's just so much ocean, desert and ice - and this is usually where the stuff lands.<br /><br />Accounts of Skylab's re-entry, however, can be used to derive some indications about what to expect. Sonic booms typically accompany objects falling at high speed through the upper atmosphere. As with fireworks, these loud noises can upset domestic pets and livestock. Take the same precautions as you would for your pets on New Year's Eve; there is plenty of information about this online.<br /><br />Falling meteorites have frequently been blamed for causing fires, and this was also a concern for people in the debris footprint of Skylab. Having an up-to-date fire plan and managing the local risk around your house in terms of available fuel are the best way to prepare for this.<br /><br />If spacecraft fragments fall near you, don't rush to collect them. For a start, there may be toxic fuel residues or metals such as beryllium, or radioactive material from power sources and onboard experiments. The most common spacecraft components to survive re-entry are spherical titanium pressure vessels.<br /><br />Usually regarded as an inert metal, titanium is now thought to have dangerous corrosion products. There are no recorded instances of people falling ill from contact with space junk, but there's no point taking the risk.<br /><br />As appealing as the idea of having a personal souvenir of space is, this is not technically junk. Under the terms of the <a href="http://www.state.gov/www/global/arms/treaties/space1.html" target="_blank">1967 Outer Space Treaty</a>, the fragments belong to the country which launched the spacecraft. So don't collect fragments and sell them on eBay - as people may well have done if the internet existed in 1979. (But, if you are really keen, you can still buy tiny pieces of Skylab encased in resin with an authentification certificate today). The pieces can be used to analyse the re-entry event, and perhaps what went wrong with the spacecraft.<br /><br />If you or your property have been damaged by the spacecraft, you may be entitled to compensation. It will be the responsibility of the appropriate government agency to negotiate what happens next. For most countries, this will be the national space agency. The closest Australia has at the moment is the Space Policy Unit based in Canberra.<br /><br />Next time you hear that a spacecraft might fall on Australia, don't be too alarmed. Keep an eye on the predictions, bring your kittens inside, and rejoice in the fact that there is one less object clogging up Earth's orbit. If you are concerned about NEOs, join those lobbying for the reinstatement of Spaceguard.<br /><br />It's not all doom and gloom. The stuff that falls from space reminds us we are part of the cosmos too.<br /><br /><em>Alice Gorman is a faculty member of the International Space University Southern Hemisphere Summer Space Program.</em><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <div class="article-icon"> <br /><br /> </div> <h2> <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16651642">NEOShield to assess Earth defence</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Jonathan Amos<br />BBC.co.uk<br />Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:21 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image to-right"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/92177/full/ff.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA/JPL/JHUAPL"><img src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/92177/medium/ff.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA/JPL/JHUAPL</span></div></div>NEOShield is a new international project that will assess the threat posed by Near Earth Objects (NEO) and look at the best possible solutions for dealing with a big asteroid or comet on a collision path with our planet.<br /><br />The effort is being led from the German space agency's (DLR) Institute of Planetary Research in Berlin, and had its kick-off meeting this week.<br /><br />It will draw on expertise from across Europe, Russia and the US.<br /><br />It's a major EU-funded initiative that will pull together all the latest science, initiate a fair few laboratory experiments and new modelling work, and then try to come to some definitive positions.<br /><br />Industrial partners, which include the German, British and French divisions of the big Astrium space company, will consider the engineering architecture required to deflect one of these bodies out of our path.<br /><br />Should we kick it, try to tug it, or even blast it off its trajectory? <br /><br /> "We're going to collate all the scientific information with a view to mitigation," explains project leader Prof Alan Harris at DLR.<br /><br />"What do you need to know about an asteroid in order to be able to change its course - to deflect it from a catastrophic course with the Earth?"<br /><br />It's likely that NEOShield will, at the end of its three-and-a-half-year study period, propose to the politicians that they launch a mission to demonstrate the necessary technology.<br /><br />The NEO threat may seem rather distant, but the geological and observational records tell us it is real.<br /><br />On average, an object about the size of car will enter the Earth's atmosphere once a year, producing a spectacular fireball in the sky.<br /><br />About every 2,000 years or so, an object the size of a football field will impact the Earth, causing significant local damage.<br /><br />And then, every few million years, a rock turns up that has a girth measured in kilometres. An impact from one of these will produce global effects.<br /><br />The latest estimates indicate that we've probably found a little over 90% of the true monsters out there and none look like they'll hit us.<br /><br />It is that second category that merits further investigation.<br /><br />Data from Nasa's Wise telescope suggests there are likely to be about 19,500 NEOs in the 100-1,000m size range, and the vast majority of these have yet to be identified and tracked.<br /><br />New telescopes are coming that will significantly improve detection success. In the meantime, the prudent course would be to develop a strategy for the inevitable.<br /><br />The strongest mitigation candidates currently would appear to be:<br /><br />Kinetic impactor: This mission might look like Nasa's Deep Impact mission of 2005, or the Don Quijote mission that Europe designed but never launched. It involves perhaps a shepherding spacecraft releasing an impactor to strike the big rock or comet. This gentle nudge, depending when and how it's done, could change the velocity of the rock ever so slightly to make it arrive "at the crossroads" sufficiently early or late to miss Earth.<br /><br />"The amount of debris, or ejecta, produced in the impact would affect the momentum of the NEO," says Prof Harris.<br /><br />"Of course, that will depend on what sort of asteroid it is - its physical characteristics. What's its surface like; how porous or dense it is? This is really something you would want to test with a demonstration mission."<br /><br />"Gravity tractor": This involves positioning a spacecraft close to a target object and using long-lived ion thrusters to maintain the separation between the two. Because of gravitational attraction between the spacecraft and the NEO, it is possible to pull the asteroid or comet off its trajectory. "It's like using gravity as a tow-rope," says Prof Harris. "It's not straightforward of course. Can you be sure those thrusters will keep working for the time they're needed - a decade or more? Do you have confidence that the spacecraft can look after itself autonomously all that time? These are the sorts of technical problems we will look at."<br /><br />In both scenarios, the effects are small, but if initiated years - even decades - in advance should prove effective enough.<br /><br />What we've learnt about asteroids, however, is that they are not all the same. Different rocks are likely to need different approaches.<br /><br />One method often discussed but about which there is great uncertainty is "blast deflection" - the idea that you would detonate a nuclear device close to, or on the surface of (even buried under the surface), an incoming rock.<br /><br />The Russian members of the NEOShield consortium will take a close look at the option.<br /><br />At present, I detect a lot of scepticism out there about this approach. Delivering the device to just the right place would prove very difficult, and the outcomes, depending on the composition and construction of the NEO, would be very hard to predict. But some better numbers than we have currently are required and TsNIIMash, the engineering arm of the Russian space agency (Roscosmos), will gather all the available data.<br /><br />"What we want to do is take a comprehensive view, to try to draw everything we know together, with the right expertise so that this thing has momentum," commented Dr Ralph Cordey, from Astrium UK.<br /><br />"We will look at the spectrum of techniques, trying to see which ones might be applicable in different cases. And then taking it to a level where we do some detailed design work on a possible mission to demonstrate one or more of these techniques."<br /><br />And Prof Harris added: "At the end of this, we want to be able to say to the space agencies 'if you're interested in asteroid mitigation, this is what we think. We have six countries represented in our consortium and we're all agreed this is the way to go'.<br /><br />"The politicians would then have everything on a plate. All they have to do is decide whether or not to execute the mission." </div><br /><br /><h2> <a href="http://www2.wnct.com/news/2012/jan/25/1/mystery-boom-reported-lenoir-county-ar-1855197/">North Carolina, US: Mystery "Boom" Reported in Lenoir County</a> <br /></h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">WNCT<br />Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:34 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> Kinston - We've received calls and Facebook messages about a loud "boom" heard shortly before noon in parts of Lenoir county, but so far officials say they aren't sure what caused the loud noise.<br /><br />Some are speculating it was a sonic boom caused by a plane.<br /><br />Several callers say it was so intense it shook the walls of local businesses.<br /><br />According to reports, the loud noise was heard in various parts of Lenoir County including LaGrange and various parts of Kinston near Lenior Community College.<br /><br />Local officials told "Nine on Your Side" they are unsure what caused the noise. <br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www.space.com/14316-hundreds-meteorites-antarctica-scientists.html">Meterorite Hunters: Hundreds of Meteorites Uncovered in Antarctica</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Leonard David,<br />SPACE.com<br />Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:00 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> A gang of heavily insulated scientists has wrapped up its Antarctic expedition, with its members thawing out from the experience, but pleased to have bagged more than 300 space rocks.<br /><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/92532/full/ansmet_researcher_base_camp_2.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© ANSMET"><img src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/92532/medium/ansmet_researcher_base_camp_2.jpg" alt="ansmet base camp" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© ANSMET</span><br /><span class="caption">Search for meteorites program places researchers on the ice to live in base camp conditions of wind and snow.<br /><br /></span></div></div>They are participants in the <a href="http://www.space.com/10572-meteorite-hunters-undaunted-antarctica-challenges.html" target="_blank">Antarctic Search for Meteorites program</a>, or ANSMET for short. Since 1976, ANSMET researchers have been recovering thousands of meteorite specimens from the East Antarctic ice sheet. ANSMET is funded by the Office of Polar Programs of the National Science Foundation.<br /><br />According to the ANSMET website, the specimens are currently the only reliable, continuous source of new, nonmicroscopic extraterrestrial material. Given that there are no active planetary sample-return missions coming or going at the moment, the retrieval of meteorites is the cheapest and only guaranteed way to recover new things from worlds beyond the Earth. [<a href="http://www.space.com/11093-photos-asteroids-deep-space-rocks.html" target="_blank">Photos: Asteroids in Deep Space</a> ] <br /><br /> <span class="BoldGrey">Special place</span><br /><br />"It has been another interesting season at Miller Range," said Ralph Harvey, associate professor in the department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.<br /><br />"The place is special for us because we seem to<a href="http://www.space.com/13753-meteorite-men-geoff-notkin-interview.html" target="_blank"> find meteorites everywhere</a> , in every little nook and cranny, almost unpredictable," Harvey told SPACE.com. "And it did it again ... lots of places we checked out just to be complete proved to have dozens of specimens."<br /><br />Harvey is the principal investigator for the ANSMET program. "I've been leading field parties since 1991 and I think this year marks my 25th overall with the program," Harvey said.<br /><br />Harvey likens his search for meteorites to a farmer who's used to harvesting corn in a field finding it growing in the barn, in the garage, in the basement and other surprising spots.<br /><br />The meteorite hunting wasn't all smooth, though.<br /><br />The team was held back significantly by early snowfalls that buried the meteorites. Even though a few strong windstorms cleared some of it, the whipping winds did not clear all of it, Harvey explained.<br /><br />"The total number of meteorites is less than half what I would have predicted, again primarily because of that early snow hiding all the specimens," Harvey said. "We'll be going back to the Miller Range at least one more time and maybe two."<br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Celestial collectibles</span><br /><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/92533/full/group_tebow_finding_meteorite_.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© ANSMET"><img src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/92533/medium/group_tebow_finding_meteorite_.jpg" alt=" ANSMET group" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© ANSMET</span><br /><span class="caption">Group Tebow finding 299th meteorite.<br /><br /></span></div></div><a href="http://www.space.com/13881-antarctic-astronomy-south-pole-telescopes-universe.html" target="_blank">Antarctica </a>is viewed as the world's premier meteorite hunting ground, and for good reason.<br /><br />While meteorites fall in a random fashion all over the globe, the East Antarctic ice sheet is a "desert of ice," a<a href="http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/160-brutal-harsh-environments-on-earth.html" target="_blank"> stark scene </a>that enhances the likelihood of finding meteorites, which are usually undisturbed and stand out against the background.<br /><br />In the just-concluded search, the team's bounty of celestial collectibles brought the total number of meteorites found in ANSMET history to 20,000. [<a href="http://www.space.com/13753-meteorite-men-geoff-notkin-interview.html" target="_blank">Hunting for Space Rocks</a>: Q&A with Geoff Notkin of 'Meteorite Men']<br /><br />Along with Harvey, the meteorite hunters are:<br /><br />John Schutt, an ANSMET mountaineer for over 30 years who once again played that role. He recently got an honorary doctorate recognizing his contributions to planetary science.<br /><br />Jim Karner, a postdoctoral researcher working with the ANSMET program and a specialist in Martian meteorites from Case Western Reserve. He's a veteran of four ANSMET expeditions.<br /><br />Christian Schrader, a geologist from NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., who has done significant rock work, particularly in studying lunar meteorites.<br /><br />Katie Joy, planetary geologist, most recently from the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, Tex., and a lunar meteorite researcher.<br /><br />Anne Peslier, a planetary scientist from NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston who has done a great deal of work on Martian meteorites.<br /><br />Jake Maule, a planetary scientist, recently of Carnegie Institute in Washington, D.C., with a specialty in astrobiology.<br /><br />Jesper Holst, a Ph.D. student studying planetary geochemistry at the University of Copenhagen.<br /><br />Tim Swindle, a planetary geochemist from the University of Arizona, taking part in the second half of the season, and a veteran of several previous expeditions.<br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Samples and survival kits</span><br /><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/92534/full/meteorite_hunting_success_2.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© ANSMET"><img src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/92534/medium/meteorite_hunting_success_2.jpg" alt="meteorite sample" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© ANSMET</span><br /><span class="caption">Success! On the prowl for meteorites at Miller Range, search team admires find.</span></div></div>The team members used Ski-Doo Snowmobiles to transport themselves out in the field. Each person is armed with a survival kit, meteorite gathering equipment, lots of water and food, medical kits, Iridium satellite phones and GPS devices.<br /><br />Once a sample is spotted, scientists assign it an identification number. They establish its position with GPS and note the specimen's size, possible classification and any distinguishing features such as shape or fusion crust.<br /><br />Researchers then collect the sample in a sterile Teflon bag, taking care to avoid contact with any mechanical or biological materials.<br /><br />While the field season was in progress, these samples were inventoried and kept frozen. Upon the team's return to McMurdo Station, the U.S. scientific headquarters in the Antarctic, the meteorites were transferred to special shipping containers and sent, still frozen, to the Antarctic Meteorite Curation Facility at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.<br /><br />There the meteorites are carefully removed from their sealed bags, dried to remove any attached snow or ice and stored under cleanroom conditions for future study.<br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Tent time</span><br /><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/92537/full/all_for_one_picture_2.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© ANSMET"><img src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/92537/medium/all_for_one_picture_2.jpg" alt="meteorite Hunters" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© ANSMET</span><br /><span class="caption">All-for-one picture of Antarctic meteorite hunters.<br /><br /></span></div></div>During their month-long stay, and at different camp sites, the group posted a series of dispatches from the field. Frequently, the noncooperating weather forced the team to spend lots of tent time: eating, reading, resting, writing.<br /><br />"But as always in Antarctica, everything depends on the weather," wrote an upbeat Peslier, "so who knows what tomorrow will bring!"<br /><br />Added another team member, "I am starting to wonder about the wisdom of having so many sugary snacks within hand's reach, literally, in our tent food box."<br /><br />"Life has been good so far in camp," wrote Joy. "There has been lots of great meals, endless hot chocolate drinking and, having dug out my box of sweet treats, I have uncovered my small stash of Kendal mint cake that I have been saving for months for the trip. Yum."<br /><br />In another dispatch from the ice, Schrader reported: "It was a special day for us because we collected our first meteorites. Yee haw." At the start of exploring Miller Range, he said, "we collected 15 specimens...a modest but solid start."<br /><br />Snug in his tent, Maule explained: "The biggest hardship for me out here is missing my loved ones back home. Yet, all of us on the team are in the same boat and we're all pulling together for one another. This place is special and it is a real honor for us to be here."<br /><br />As the Christmas holiday season neared, Maule observed: "Best wishes to everyone as the holiday season nears. We actually have a poor, stunted Christmas tree in a bucket outside the poo tent. Very festive."<br /><br />In another posting. Holst wrote: "A few hours of systematic searching yielded another 14 meteorites, including carbonaceous chondrite shards...I think we all feel that we hit the jackpot today, and we are so happy that we moved camp. So now, the real hunt is on! Oh yeah!" </div><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www.thisisgrimsby.co.uk/RAF-Big-bang-Grimsby-wasn-t/story-14985524-detail/story.html">RAF: Big bang in Grimsby, UK wasn't us</a> <br /></h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">This is Grimsby<br />Fri, 20 Jan 2012 09:08 CST<br /><br /></div> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> The Royal Air Force has said none of its planes were responsible for what many have called a "sonic boom" over Grimsby.<br /><br />As reported, the <em>Grimsby Telegraph</em> received many calls from residents who had heard what sounded like a large explosion at about 7pm on Wednesday.<br /><br />Initial fears that there had been an explosion were quickly allayed and theories turned to the possibility of a sonic boom from a plane.<br /><br />Initially, these suggestions appeared to be legitimate when it was revealed that the Ministry of Defence (MOD) is currently carrying out a low-flying operation named "Exercise Lightning Force" in the area.<br /><br />However, when contacted by the <em>Grimsby Telegraph</em>, Squadron Leader Nikki Stacey, based at Headquarters Air Command, said the noise had not been caused by an RAF aircraft, adding there was "nothing reported" from any of the forces' "fast jet units". Gareth Stringer, deputy editor of <em>Global Aviation Resource</em> magazine, said: "A sonic boom occurs when an aeroplane breaks the sound barrier and the noise that you hear is the shockwave of area around the aircraft. <br /><br /> "As far as I am aware, no aircraft should break the sound barrier within ten miles of the coast, but certain atmospheric and weather conditions can mean the sound of the boom can travel further.<br /><br />"That could explain why something may have been heard inland.<br /><br />"Being someone who's fascinated with aviation, hearing a sonic boom is something that I would find quite cool, but I can understand why people who didn't know what the noise was would be shocked.<br /><br />"These things do happen and it is certainly not something that people should be scared about."<br /><br />Although not confirmed, it appears that some kind of sonic boom is the most popular explanation held by residents who were startled by the noise.<br /><br />Julie Glover, who lives in Laceby, said: "I heard a big bang and the whole house shook.<br /><br />"I looked out of the window but all I saw was a plane flying over."<br /><br />Emma Lingard, of Healing, was tending to her horse in Immingham when the bang occurred.<br /><br />"I heard a loud clatter on the roof and some pheasants flew off, so I thought it was an animal," she said.<br /><br />"I jumped and the horse jumped. I walked out of the stable and couldn't see anything.<br /><br />"When I returned to the car, where my son, Tom, was, he said the car had shook.<br /><br />"Whatever it was, it was strong enough to shake a parked car." </div><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/93000/8-meter-wide-asteroid-will-pass-close-to-earth-on-january-27/">8-Meter-Wide Asteroid Will Pass Close to Earth January 27</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Nancy Atkinson<br />Universe Today<br />Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:00 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/92572/full/579x305x2012_BX34_gif_pagespee.png" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© JPL"><img style="width: 394px; height: 214px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/92572/large/579x305x2012_BX34_gif_pagespee.png" alt="Asteroid 2012 BX34 " title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© JPL</span><br /><span class="caption">Orbital parameters of Asteroid 2012 BX34 from JPL's Small Body Database.</span></div></div><br />A small asteroid will pass extremely close to Earth tomorrow (January 27, 2012). Named 2012 BX34, this 8 meter- (26-foot-) wide space rock will skim Earth less than 60,000 km (37,000 miles, .0004 AU), at around 16:00 UTC, according to the <a href="http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K12/K12B62.html" target="_blank">Minor Planet Center.</a> The latest estimates have it traveling at about about 500 meters/minute (1,643.17 ft/minute). 2012 BX34 has been observed by the <a href="http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/css/" target="_blank">Catalina Sky Survey</a> and the <a href="http://skycenter.arizona.edu/about/history" target="_blank">Mt. Lemmon Survey</a> in Arizona, and the <a href="http://www.mro.nmt.edu/Home/index.htm" target="_blank">Magdalena Ridge Observatory</a> in New Mexico, so its orbit is well defined and there is no risk of impact to Earth.<br /><br />Amateur astronomers in the right place and time could view this object, as it should be about magnitude 14 at the time of closest approach. Nick Howes, with the <a href="http://www.faulkes-telescope.com/" target="_blank">Faulkes Telescope Project</a> said his team is hoping to observe and image the asteroid, and we hope to share their images later. <br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/28172-bus-sized-asteroid-shaves-by-earth">Bus-sized asteroid shaves Earth with one day's notice</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Kerry Sheridan<br />Agence France Presse<br />Sat, 28 Jan 2012 08:41 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image to-right"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/92698/full/120127_space_asteroid_grid_6x2.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA"><img src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/92698/medium/120127_space_asteroid_grid_6x2.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA</span><br /><span class="caption">An orbital diagram puts the orbit of asteroid 2012 BX34 in perspective, in relation to the orbits of Earth and Venus.<br /><br /></span></div></div>An asteroid about the size of a bus shaved by Earth on Friday in what space watchers described as a "near-miss," though experts were not concerned about the possibility of an impact.<br /><br />The asteroid, named 2012 BX34, measured between six and 19 meters in diameter (20 to 62 feet), said Gareth Williams, associate director of the U.S.-based Minor Planet Center which tracks space objects.<br /><br />The asteroid, which had been unknown before it popped into view from a telescope in Arizona on Wednesday, came within about 60,000 kilometers (37,000 miles) of Earth on Friday at about 1500 GMT, he said.<br /><br /><strong>"It's a near miss. It makes the top 20 list of closest approaches ever observed,"</strong> Williams told AFP. <br /><br /> NASA had announced on Twitter on Thursday that the asteroid would "safely pass Earth on January 27."<br /><br />Williams explained that since the asteroid was so small, it could only be detected when it was close to the Earth, but that the fly-by, while a surprise, was not terribly uncommon.<br /><br /><strong>"This came about a sixth of the distance from the Moon," he said. "In the past year we have had some 30 objects that were observed to come within the orbit of the Moon."</strong><br /><br />Williams said his pager went off in the middle of the night Wednesday after the asteroid was first sighted, but once he checked he went right back to sleep because he knew it would not hit Earth from its projected distance.<br /><br /><div class="StoryComment"><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>Oh well that's alright then! Go back to sleep folks, nothing to see here! Just ANOTHER asteroid from deep space whizzing past us!<br /><br /></div><br />But where it goes next is less certain.<br /><br />"If we have radar on it from last night then we can probably predict it decades into the future," he said.<br /><br />"If we don't have radar, then we only have a two- to three-day arc of observations and extrapolating that into the future will be very uncertain."<br /><br />However, since the asteroid is so diminutive, it poses little threat to the vast Earth, he added.<br /><br />"This object is so small that even if it hits us the next time around it won't survive passage through the atmosphere in one piece," Williams said.<br /><br />"Objects in that size range -- six to 19 meters -- will typically break up due to the force of entering the atmosphere. All that may remain are a few fist- or football-sized rocks that make it to the ground as meteorites."<br /><br />In November last year, a much a larger asteroid called 2005 YU55 made its closest fly-by of Earth in 200 years.<br /><br />The near-spherical asteroid, 1,300 feet (400 meters) in diameter, passed by at a distance of 201,700 miles (324,600 kilometers), as measured from the center of Earth, NASA said.<br /><br />In 2008, a small asteroid estimated to be a few meters (yards) wide sparked a fireball in the night sky plunged down over Sudan, scattering fragments over the Nubian desert, NASA said. </div><br /><br /><h2> <a href="http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/56372-reports-glowing-ball-likely-small-meteorite-expert-says">Nova Scotia, Canada: Reports of glowing ball likely a small meteorite, expert says</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Eva Hoare<br />Herald News<br />Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:39 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> <div class="article-body"> People thought they saw a glowing red fireball streaked across Nova Scotia's night sky Thursday and they were likely right.<br /><br />"It's probably a fireball. They're actually fairly common," Alan Strauss, with the Mt. Lemmon Sky Center in Arizona, said Friday.<br /><br />Strauss said the glowing ball that appeared to travel from west to east over the Halifax area was a small meteorite, which is often described as a fireball.<br /><br />Often people just don't look up that much and miss these celestial wonders, said Strauss in an interview from Tucson.<br /><br />Many commentators on Nova Scotia blogs have been chatting up a storm about the stunning sight, describing a glowing ball as first green, then changing to a fuchsia-coloured streak travelling across the sky around 9:30 p.m. <br /><br /> Strauss said an asteroid was supposed to travel near the earth by sometime Friday, but it would not have been visible to the naked eye. Those with major telescopes would have had a glimpse, though, he said.<br /><br />The meteorite would probably have been quite small, said Strauss, likely measuring in size between a golf ball and a watermelon.<br /><br />But it's their trajectory that ultimately decides how visible they are, he said.<br /><br />For example, a meteorite entering the atmosphere in a straight path would burn up faster, while one that enters on a shallow curve would be more easily seen.<br /><br />Halifax Police said their 9-1-1 centre fielded some calls from curious residents, but it's still not clear what flew across the sky.<br /><br />"We weren't able to determine what it is, but at this point there is no evidence to determine there was any public risk," police spokesman Const. Brian Palmeter said. </div><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/local_news/providence/providence-rare-fireball-meteor-caught-on-camera">US: Rare Fireball Meteor Caught on Camera</a> <br /></h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">Eyewitness News<br />Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:16 CST<br /><br /></div> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div align="center"><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" id="video" data="http://www.wpri.com/video/videoplayer.swf?dppversion=16926" height="452" width="400"><param value="http://www.wpri.com/video/videoplayer.swf?dppversion=16926" name="movie"><param value="&skin=MP1ExternalAll-MFL.swf&embed=true&adSizeArray=1x1000,2x40,3x1000&adSrc=http%3A%2F%2Fad%2Edoubleclick%2Enet%2Fpfadx%2Flin%2Ewpri%2Fnews%2Fmetro%2Fregion%5F1%2Fdetail%3Bdcmt%3Dtext%2Fxml%3Bpos%3D%25pos%25%3Btile%3D2%3Bfname%3Dprovidence%2Drare%2Dfireball%2Dmeteor%2Dcaught%2Don%2Dcamera%3Bloc%3D%25loc%25%3Bsz%3D%25size%25%3Bord%3D11131661154936468%3Frand%3D%25rand%25&flv=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ewpri%2Ecom%2Ffeeds%2FoutboundFeed%3FobfType%3DVIDEO%5FPLAYER%5FSMIL%5FFEED%26componentId%3D23518903&img=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia2%2Ewpri%2Ecom%2F%2Fphoto%2F2012%2F01%2F26%2FBrown%5FUniversity%5Fcamera9ebaf92%2Daea6%2D4494%2D8b6c%2D62b76b479da60000%5F20120126191400%5F640%5F480%2EJPG&story=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ewpri%2Ecom%2Fdpp%2Fnews%2Flocal%5Fnews%2Fprovidence%2Fprovidence%2Drare%2Dfireball%2Dmeteor%2Dcaught%2Don%2Dcamera&category=local%5Fnews&title=Brown%20University%20camera%20catch%20fireball%20in%20the%20sky&oacct=dpsdpswpri,dpsglobal&ovns=fim&headline=Rare%20fireball%20meteor%20caught%20on%20camera&toggleVideoCode=3" name="FlashVars"><param value="all" name="allowNetworking"><param value="always" name="allowScriptAccess"></object><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Providence, Rhode Island - Last week, scientists at Brown University's Ladd Observatory noticed something very unusual showing up on their overnight sky camera.<br /><br />The skies in Providence were clear on January 19 when a fireball meteor appeared around 3 a.m.<br /><br />The camera, mounted on the roof of Observatory rolls overnight automatically and often records expected meteor showers. But this one was a pleasant surprise.<br /><br />The cameras captured the meteor as it vaporized into the atmosphere. The video shows a flash from the meteor, then there's the trail of smoke in the air which lingers for about 10 minutes after the meteor breaks up. <br /><br /> Fireball meteors are very bright. Less common than their dimmer cousins, there are thousands of these bright fireball meteors every day, we just don't see them.<br /><br />Brown Physics Professor, Savvas Koushiappas, says, "given that half of the world is under daylight, and the fact that most of the earth is made up of ocean, it's a rare event to have somebody look at something like this." </div></div><br /><br /><h2> <a href="http://en.rian.ru/science/20120129/171010725.html">These Pesky Cometary...err...Satellite Fragments: Space Station's Orbit Raised to Avoid Collision with Space Junk</a> <br /></h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">RIA Novosti<br />Sun, 29 Jan 2012 11:02 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/92765/full/159686771.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA"><img style="width: 399px; height: 234px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/92765/large/159686771.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA</span><br /><span class="caption">International Space Station<br /><br /></span></div></div>Specialists of Russia's Mission Control Center raised the orbit altitude of the International Space Station (ISS) in the early hours of Sunday to prevent a possible collision with a Chinese satellite fragment, a spokesman for the Center said.<br /><br />"The maneuver was performed using Zvezda service module engines," the spokesman said.<br /><br />The altitude of the ISS orbit was raised by 1.7 kilometers to 391.6 kilometers, he said, adding that the maneuver lasted 64 seconds. <br /><br /> NASA earlier reported on its website that 32 hours after Russia's Progress-M-14M docks with the ISS - which occurred at 4.08 am Moscow time (00:08 GMT) on Saturday - a fragment of the Chinese Fengyun-1C weather satellite is likely to pass in dangerous proximity to the space station.<br /><br />The satellite fragment approached the ISS several times in the past, most recently on January 24, but there was no need to change the station's altitude at that time, the spokesman said.<br /><br />The aging Fengyun-1C satellite was destroyed in 2007 during Chinese anti-satellite missile tests. Thousands of its fragments have since remained in orbit. </div> <br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www.thetruthbehindthescenes.org/2012/01/28/rare-fireball-meteor-caught-on-camera-by-ladd-observatory-in-rhode-island/">Rhode Island, US: Extremely bright 'unexpected' meteor caught on camera</a> <br /></h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">thetruthbehindthescenes.org<br />Sat, 28 Jan 2012 14:41 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> Rare Fireball Meteor caught on Camera by Ladd Observatory in Rhode Island - Jan 19, 2012<br /><br />"Last week, scientists at Brown University's Ladd Observatory noticed something very unusual showing up on their overnight sky camera.<br /><br />The skies in Providence were clear on January 19 when a fireball meteor appeared around 3 a.m.<br /><br />The camera, mounted on the roof of Observatory rolls overnight automatically and often records expected meteor showers. But this one was a pleasant surprise."<br /><br /> <div align="center"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/goZJx2A2oiE" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="400"></iframe></div> </div> <br /><strong>Comment: </strong>A rare event? Somebody hasn't been keeping up with SOTT.net!<br /><br /><br /><h2> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=QRY8hW2ya7E">Video: What was that thing?! Enormous fireball entering atmosphere over Northern Europe on Christmas Eve 2011</a> <br /></h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">YouTube<br />Sun, 29 Jan 2012 14:47 CST</div> </div> <br /><div align="center"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/QRY8hW2ya7E" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="400"></iframe></div><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www.wistv.com/story/16644670/more-questions-than-answers-in-mysterious-boom">South Carolina, US: More Questions than Answers in Mysterious South Congaree Boom</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Taylor Kearns<br />WISTV.com<br />Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:36 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> South Carolina - In a quiet little town like South Congaree, when something happens, everybody knows about it. Even if they don't exactly know what it was.<br /><br />"People are curious," said Betty Fairbanks, a resident. "We'd like to know what went on what it was."<br /><br />The incident happened Sunday morning around 8:00am when the sleepy town was shaken out of bed by some kind of loud boom.<br /><br />"At first we thought a big tree limb had fallen on the house," said Fairbanks. "It shook the house."<br /><br />Police Chief Jason Amodio says calls came in from a 4 mile radius, but no reports of damage or injury. But, most importantly, no cause.<br /><br />"We've talked to several people about it we even called the Cayce quarry, but there's no indication of any kind of quarrying going on that time of day or that would even be loud enough to be heard in the town if it was," said Amodio. <br /><br /> Some think a sonic boom from a passing jet might've done it, although Shaw Air Force Base doesn't have weekend flights and the FAA has no record of any military operation in the area Sunday morning.<br /><br />"We've lived here by the airport for 30 years and it was no airplane," said Fairbanks.<br /><br />Barring a meth lab or jet, there's the possibility of a meteorite or a piece of space junk crashing through the atmosphere. However, that's just another theory in a town full of questions. <br /><br />"If we could determine what it was to put everyone's mind at ease, that would be great," said Amodio. </div></div></div> </div></div></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">A Service of <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">Signs of the Times</a>: The most comprehensive, objective and reliable Alternative News Source on the Web. If you aren't reading <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">SOTT</a>, you don't know what's REALLY happening!</div>Keithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06011086310017706847noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385115091808825739.post-55919774606212187072011-12-06T17:27:00.004+00:002012-01-05T18:46:28.837+00:00December 2011<div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www.wjla.com/blogs/weather/2011/11/did-anybody-see-a-giant-fireball-on-monday-night--13772.html" target="_blank">US: Rainbow-Colored, Exploding Meteor Appears Just South of D.C.</a> <br /></h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">WJLA<br />Thu, 01 Dec 2011 05:00 CST<br /><br /></div></div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/88384/full/meteor_maryland_nov_2011_606.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Lorenzo Lovato"><img style="width: 397px; height: 269px;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/88384/large/meteor_maryland_nov_2011_606.jpg" alt="Italian Fireball" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Lorenzo Lovato</span><br /><span class="caption">A Leonid fireball during a Nov. 1998 meteor shower in Italy.</span></div></div><br />Hordes of incandescent meteors have ripped across U.S. skies this past week. According to alert skywatchers, the nation's capital got in on the stellar action in a big way.<br /><br />The delightful blog <a href="http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Lunar Meteorite Hunters</a> carries two reports of a glowing nightly visitor that appeared between 40 and 60 miles south of D.C. on Monday, Nov. 28. The first account is from Patrick in Leonardtown, Md., who caught a bright object whizzing by overhead around 9:20 p.m. The flaming flier lasted about 2 seconds, cycling like an <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpL9TqzuvWs" target="_blank">angry squid</a> from red to blue to green. Says Patrick, with minor spelling/grammar errors fixed: <blockquote class="typ2"> No discernible sound. Very bright, same as the moon. Not blinding, but quite noticeable. Not sure, [but it looked like it had] only one tail. I'm not sure if it was when it entered the atmosphere, but I saw almost an explosion or halo form around it about halfway through its travel before it disappeared. </blockquote> A meteor that was hoisted with its own <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petard" target="_blank">petard,</a> you say? Go on!<br /><br />The next account of Monday's space shenanigans comes from an unnamed observer in Stafford, Va., at approximately the same time of evening. This witness also says the object flamed out in a spectacular fashion: <blockquote class="typ2"> Two seconds left to right. White, reddish. Brightest thing in the sky.... I thought it was a falling star but then it exploded with a bright flash of light. It look like it hit something and disintegrated. There was a big puff of what look like smoke. </blockquote> The <a href="http://www.amsmeteors.org/fireball2/public.php?start_date=2011-01-01&end_date=2011-12-31" target="_blank">forums of the American Meteor Society</a> bear no similar reports of a Monday-night fireball near D.C., but resident site expert Robert Lunsford notes a <a href="http://www.amsmeteors.org/2011/11/meteor-activity-outlook-for-november-26-december-2-2011/" target="_blank">number of minor meteor showers</a> that might account for the sparking skies. The Andromedid shower is still ongoing with "low, but detectable" and slow-moving meteors, and the November Orionids reached their anthill peak on Nov. 30. A dimmed, crescent moon is allowing amateur astronomers in the Northern Hemisphere to see as many as four shooting stars an hour, Lunsford says.<br /><br />So keep your eyes open and you might just see one of these eerie travelers from the beyond. However, best know how to distinguish between a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnMURhNo8XI" target="_blank">meteor and a helicopter, first.</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><h2> <a href="http://boston.cbslocal.com/2011/12/01/mysterious-debris-crashes-through-plymouth-warehouse-roof/" target="_blank">US: Mysterious Debris Crashes Through Plymouth Warehouse Roof</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">CBS Boston<br />Thu, 01 Dec 2011 23:20 CST</div><br /> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image to-left"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/88432/full/space_junk.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Kathy Curran"><img src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/88432/medium/space_junk.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Kathy Curran</span><br /><span class="caption">A piece of metal crashed through the roof of a Plymouth business.<br /><br /></span></div></div>Plymouth - A solid piece of metal crashed through the roof of a Plymouth furniture warehouse on Thursday. Investigators say <strong>the debris appears to have fallen from the sky, but it did not come from a plane</strong>.<br /><br />Michael Facchini, the owner of Michael's Wholesale Furniture Distributors found the 3-5 lb. chunk of debris on the floor of his building off Camelot Drive.<br /><br />Facchini also discovered a hole in the roof of the building.<br /><br />"Looked up, the ceiling had a big hole," he told WBZ-TV's Kathy Curran. "One of the workers came by and noticed the office was a mess and asked if I knew what happened then I looked and saw metal and figured it came from high above."<br /><br />No one was hurt by the falling debris.<br /><br />The FAA has sent an inspector to Plymouth to help investigators.<br /><br /><div align="center"><script type="text/javascript" src="http://video.boston.cbslocal.com/global/video/videoplayer.js?rnd=824569;hostDomain=video.boston.cbslocal.com;playerWidth=420;playerHeight=340;isShowIcon=true;clipId=6509088;flvUri=;partnerclipid=;adTag=News;advertisingZone=CBS.BOSTON%252Fworldnowplayer;enableAds=true;landingPage=;islandingPageoverride=false;playerType=STANDARD_EMBEDDEDscript;controlsType=fixed"></script></div><br /><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/88433/full/plymouthobjectthruroof.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© David G. Curran/SatelliteNewsService.com"><img src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/88433/medium/plymouthobjectthruroof.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© David G. Curran/SatelliteNewsService.com</span><br /><span class="caption">A hole can be seen through the roof of a Plymouth business after a mystery object crashed through.<br /><br /></span></div></div>They are now tasked with trying to figure out where the metal came from.<br /><br />Officials originally suspected that it could have fallen off of a passing plane, but they have since ruled out that possibility.<br /><br />"We have no idea what it is. At this point, we can only speculate. No clue," said Plymouth police Capt. John Rogers. "This would have had to come through with some significant force or velocity to get through the warehouse roof and cause damage."<br /><br />At Michael's Wholesale Furniture Distributors, the fact no one was hurt has employees counting their lucky stars. In fact, they say they're going to play the lottery tonight after surviving this strange event. </div><br /><br /><br /><h2> <a href="http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/pickoftheweek/old/03dec2011/" target="_blank">The Great "Birthday Comet" of 2011</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">SOHO<br />Sat, 03 Dec 2011 02:05 CST</div><br /> </div> <div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/88500/full/C2011W32Dec2011compc_med.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© SOHO"><img style="width: 387px; height: 203px;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/88500/large/C2011W32Dec2011compc_med.jpg" alt="Comet Lovejoy" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© SOHO</span></div></div><br />SOHO's 16th Birthday gift is on it's way, and the tracking number states delivery by midnight on December 15th!<br /><br />On December 2nd, 2011, newly discovered Kreutz-group comet C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy) was announced. SOHO discovers these objects on average every three days, but this one is different... it was found from a ground based telescope, and marks the first such discovery in over 40yrs. It also marks a significant achievement for Australian astronomer Terry Lovejoy, who as an early pioneer of discovering SOHO comets over the internet, can now claim to be the first person to discover a Sungrazer from both ground and space-based telescopes!<br /><br />Traditionally, and with little exception, ground-discovered Kreutz-group comets have gotten bright. Very bright! In 1965, Kreutz-comet Ikeya-Seki was so bright, it could be seen by the naked eye by blocking the Sun out with your hand. We do not expect C/2011 W3 to get this bright, so reserve your seat next to your computer and stay tuned to the SOHO, STEREO and Sungrazer websites as we prepare for this rare and potentially spectacular object to enter our cameras around Dec 12, meeting its fiery demise late on Dec 15.<br /><br />We will have more information on this site over the coming week. In the meantime, updates will occasionally be posted at the <a href="http://sungrazer.nrl.navy.mil/index.php?p=news/birthday_comet" target="_blank">Sungrazer site.</a><br /><br />Stay tuned!<br /><br /><br /><br /><h2> <a href="http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Science%2Band%2BTech/Story/A1Story20111204-314240.html" target="_blank">Super Fireball Lights Up Night Sky in Northern China</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Sun Chi<br />China Daily/Asia News Network<br />Sat, 03 Dec 2011 23:59 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> China's Xinhua News Agency reported a golden UFO appeared in the northwestern sky and was seen by some citizens in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei on the evening of Nov 30. Astronomers said it was a super fireball that is rarely seen.<br /><br />Ma Qiang is an amateur astronomer living in Tianjin who witnessed the flying fireball.<br /><br />He said the fireball glittered and flew from northwest to the west around 5:25 pm and disappeared after two seconds.<br /><br />Its golden lights were brighter than the moon.<br /><br />Some citizens in Beijing also saw the fireball and reported the incident.<br /><br />Director of Beijing Planetarium Zhu Jin said the glittering object is a super bright fireball that is rarely seen, according to descriptions given by the witnesses.<br /><br />Astronomers say a fireball is a kind of meteor that has seldom been observed.<br /><br />Flying in the aerosphere, the fireball sometimes sounds like a pen scratching on paper. It is brighter than Venus at night.<br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <div class="article-icon"><br /></div> <h2> <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2070534/Giant-Asteroid-vesta-images-reveal-object-like-planet.html" target="_blank">New Views of Giant Asteroid Vesta Reveal it Could be 'More like a Planet' Say Scientists</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Rob Waugh<br />The Mail Online<br />Tue, 06 Dec 2011 10:05 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image to-right"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/88668/full/article_0_0F11716300000578_235.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA"><img src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/88668/medium/article_0_0F11716300000578_235.jpg" alt="Vesta close 2" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA</span></div></div>Vesta is the second-largest object in the asteroid belt - 320 miles across - and is being probed by a hi-tech robot 'surveyor' that will then move on to its bigger 'sister' asteroid Ceres.<br /><br />New views sent back by the probe, Dawn, this week, reveal an object more like a planet than an asteroid - and scientists say they now consider it a 'transitional body' between the two.<br /><br />The Dawn spacecraft has been beaming back images since July - the latest show a rugged surface is unique compared to the solar system's much smaller and lightweight asteroids.<br /><br />Impact craters dot Vesta's surface along with grooves, troughs and a variety of minerals.<br /><br />'Vesta is unlike any other asteroid,' said mission co-scientist Vishnu Reddy of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany. The new findings were presented at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.<br /><br />This image using color data obtained by the framing camera aboard NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows Vesta's southern hemisphere in color, centered on the Rheasilvia formation - the different colours reflect different minerals in the surface.<br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/88666/full/article_0_0F1249AA00000578_483.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA"><img style="width: 385px; height: 383px;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/88666/large/article_0_0F1249AA00000578_483.jpg" alt="Vesta" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA</span><br /><span class="caption">The latest pictures from Nasa's Dawn probe show that the moon is 'more like a planet' than an asteroid, scientists revealed on Monday<br /><br /></span></div></div>Rheasilvia is an impact basin measured at about 290 miles (467 kilometers) in diameter with a central mound reaching about 14 miles (23 kilometers) high. The black hole in the middle is data that have been omitted due to the angle between the sun, Vesta and the spacecraft.<br /><br />Most asteroids resemble potatoes, but Vesta is more like an avocado with its iron core, Reddy said.<br /><br />Asteroids are remnants from the birth of the solar system some 4.5 billion years ago around the same time as the formation of the rocky planets including Earth. Studying asteroids can offer clues about how our planetary system began.<br /><br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/88667/full/article_0_0F11706C00000578_440.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA"><img src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/88667/medium/article_0_0F11706C00000578_440.jpg" alt="vesta close 1" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA</span><br /><span class="caption">David Williams of Arizona State University considers Vesta a 'transitional body' between rocky planets and the thousands of asteroids floating between Mars and Jupiter<br /><br /></span></div></div>Instead of returning to the moon, NASA has decided to land astronauts on a yet-to-be determined asteroid as a stepping stone to Mars.<br /><br />David Williams of Arizona State University considers Vesta a 'transitional body' between rocky planets and the thousands of asteroids floating between Mars and Jupiter.<br /><br />The mission has yielded a mystery. Before Dawn arrived at Vesta, scientists predicted that the surface would harbor a volcano. There's a hill on Vesta, but researchers said there's no evidence of lava flow or volcanic deposits.<br /><br />Williams said it's possible the volcanic materials are buried, so the team will keep looking.<br /><br />Powered by ion propulsion instead of conventional rocket fuel, Dawn will study Vesta for several more months before cruising to an even bigger asteroid, Ceres, where it will arrive in 2015.<br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BlfC8OxgF4&feature=player_embedded">Japan: Fireball/Meteor Over the Moon, 4 December 2011</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">YouTube<br />Mon, 05 Dec 2011 12:54 CST</div> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <br /><br /><div align="center"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5BlfC8OxgF4" allowfullscreen="" width="400" frameborder="0" height="309"></iframe></div><br /><br /><div align="center"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/JRfLwAPciB8" allowfullscreen="" width="400" frameborder="0" height="309"></iframe></div><br />Not very many of these lately.<br /><br />I personally think it was a meteor or space junk burning up in the atmosphere, FYI.<br /><br /><a href="http://sonotaco.jp/" target="_blank">Source</a> <blockquote class="typ1"> "The Moon looks full in the video, but it was not full last night!" </blockquote> That's just a trick of the camera.<br /><br />Think of it as a light bulb -- if you take a picture of a dimly lit room with a visible light bulb, the room will be exposed normally, while the light bulb will be overexposed. If the camera measured exposure on the light bulb, the room would be completely dark, while the light bulb is properly exposed. The same thing happens with the moon -- it works just like the light bulb at night and it will always be overexposed.<br /><br />Try it yourself sometime.<br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=08&month=12&year=2011">Earth Hit By Fireball Storm</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">Space Weather<br />Thu, 08 Dec 2011 14:24 CST</div><br /> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> Ranging in size from microscopic space dust to mountainous asteroids, trillions of meteoroids zing through the inner solar system on a daily basis. What are the odds that five of them would cross the same point in space? Pretty good, actually. In fact, it happened just last night. Regard the following orbit diagram, then read on for an explanation:<br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/88870/full/ff.gif" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© MSFC Meteroid Environment Office"><img style="width: 395px; height: 370px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/88870/large/ff.gif" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© MSFC Meteroid Environment Office</span></div></div>These are the orbits of five objects that hit Earth on the night of Dec. 7/8. NASA's <a href="http://fireballs.ndc.nasa.gov/" target="_blank">All Sky Fireball Network</a> recorded the meteoroids as they disintegrated in the atmosphere over the United States, each one producing a bright fireball. Note how all the orbits converge on a single point--our planet.<br /><br />Every night the network's cameras scan the skies over the United States, forming an inventory of what hits the atmosphere. Combining images from multiple cameras, network software rapidly calculates the basic parameters of each interloper: orbit, speed, disintegration height, and more. At the moment, cameras are located in only four states (New Mexico, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee), but the network is expanding to provide even better coverage. <strong>Soon we'll see just how congested our intersection in space <em>really</em> is. </strong> <br /><br /> Stay tuned.<br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/meteor-crater-helps-unlock-planetary-history-194403193.html">Meteor Crater Helps Unlock Planetary History</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Leonard David<br />Space.com<br />Fri, 09 Dec 2011 00:00 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/89003/full/72aad27030ca8410f30e6a706700cc.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© The Associated Press/Meteor Crater, Northern Arizona"><img style="width: 390px; height: 247px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/89003/large/72aad27030ca8410f30e6a706700cc.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© The Associated Press/Meteor Crater, Northern Arizona</span><br /><span class="caption">Picture shows an aerial view of Meteor Crater, near Winslow, Ariz. </span></div></div>The Barringer meteorite crater - known popularly as "Meteor Crater" - near Winslow, Ariz., was formed some 50,000 years ago in the flat-lying sedimentary rocks of the Southern Colorado Plateau in Arizona. Now, scientists are using the crater to study mysteries near and far.<br /><br />This out-of-the-blue geological feature is considered a prime example of a young, well-preserved and well-documented simple <a href="http://www.space.com/8805-pristine-impact-crater-discovered-egypt-desert.html" target="_blank">impact crater</a>.<br /><br />That means it represents one of the most common morphological features on planetary surfaces, both on Earth, and elsewhere in our solar system. Scientists are using this crater to probe not just our own planetary history, but the <a href="http://www.space.com/10500-website-lets-smash-asteroid-earth-aftermath.html" target="_blank">mechanics of space rock impacts</a> throughout the universe.<br /><br />Meteor Crater is one of very few impact sites on our planet where the geologic details of crater excavation and ejecta emplacement are preserved. While the outline of most simple craters is circular, the shape of <a href="http://www.space.com/834-mystery-arizona-meteor-crater-solved.html" target="_blank">Arizona's Meteor Crater</a> strongly deviates from a circle and resembles a quadrangle. <br /><br /> <span class="BoldGrey">"Hole Earth" catalog</span><br /><br />The bowl-shape crater is surprisingly well preserved by terrestrial standards. That makes it a "kiss and tell" terrestrial feature that is being plumbed by researchers far and wide.<br /><br />The crater is roughly 0.75 miles (1.2 kilometers) in diameter. That giant hole in the ground sports a rim that rises up to 196 feet (60 meters) above the surrounding landscape. The crater floor falls to a depth of 590 feet (180 meters).<br /><br />The upper crater walls have average slopes of 40 to 50 degrees, although they also include vertical to near-vertical cliffs. The rock ejected from the crater forms a debris blanket that slopes away from the crater rim out to a distance of 0.6 miles (1 km).<br /><br />This <a href="http://www.space.com/13490-meteorite-strike-earth-impact-model.html" target="_blank">impact crater</a> is viewed as a treasured scientific site, not only here on Earth but in shaping future moon and Mars exploration plans. It has become a training ground for astronauts and robot hardware as well as a learning lab for planetary geologists who are investigating impact cratered terrains on other planets.<br /><br />Indeed, it's a "hole Earth catalog" of processes that keeps on giving.<br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Honing exploration skills</span><br /><br />When a cosmic interloper <a href="http://www.space.com/8908-ancient-meteorite-impact-shattered-santa-fe.html" target="_blank">slammed into Earth</a> tens of thousands of years ago, more than 175 million metric tons of rock were excavated and deposited on the crater rim and the surrounding terrain in a matter of a few seconds, said David Kring, a senior staff scientist and geologist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston.<br /><br />Kring has been engaged in studies of the crater for decades. He uses the site as a teaching tool for students, as well as a locale for honing the exploration skills to lunge beyond Earth.<br /><br />"Those rocks and the processes they record remain the focus of our studies next year," Kring told SPACE.com. "At the same time, we will conduct training activities that are designed to enhance the success of exploration of the moon and planetary surfaces throughout the solar system."<br /><br />There are a lot of activities at the crater, Kring said. He made two trips there in October alone, he added.<br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Training ground</span><br /><br />First of all, the crater is being used to instruct postdoctoral researchers in the field of lunar science, as well as educate graduate students who are studying <a href="http://www.space.com/8705-craters-expose-moon-insides.html" target="_blank">impact craters on the moon</a>, Mars, and elsewhere.<br /><br />Furthermore, Kring added, Meteor Crater is being used to tutor astronauts for planetary surface operations, which require different talents than those needed for past space shuttle flights and work on the International Space Station.<br /><br />In terms of active research, the crater is telling the story of how material is ejected and deposited after a space rock impact. Its revelations have implications for craters on all planetary surfaces.<br /><br />Moreover, research at the site is being conducted to determine how water produces gullies and otherwise erodes the crater. This could help scientists interpret observations of Mars.<br /><br />Research is also being conducted at Meteor Crater, Kring said, to refine the age of the impact event itself. This work will help calibrate isotopic systems to date geologic events that occur elsewhere in the world.<br /><br />Lastly, the crater is providing an on-the-spot opportunity for evaluating the design of traverses and geologic station activities on the moon, Mars and other exploration destinations.<br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">New questions</span><br /><br />There are still many open scientific questions about the crater itself.<br /><br />Kring said that an important remaining problem is that the trajectory of the impacting iron asteroid and the damage it caused to Earth's crust beneath the crater floor remain a mystery.<br /><br />"Both might be solved with a shallow drilling campaign," Kring said.<br /><br />Overall, there is still much work to do, Kring said.<br /><br />"As we push farther into the solar system, new questions are constantly being developed and require an assessment of new ideas at the world's best preserved impact crater," he said. "Thus, the crater is important for what it can tell us now, but is also important for what it will tell us as we continue to explore beyond low-Earth orbit."<br /><br />According to Brad Andes, president of Meteor Crater Enterprises, Inc., this year the crater attracted roughly 225,000 visitors.<br /><br />"We are excited about the fact that Meteor Crater has had a very important role as a science research laboratory in the past, but what is even more exciting is that almost every year, researchers request a visit to the crater because of a 'new' question that has been asked," Andes told SPACE.com. "And the answer to that question may live in the crater. This has been happening for decades. I am sure it will continue to happen for many more decades and possibly even centuries."<br /><br />There's also potential research at Meteor Crater investigating historical weather events. That information could even have a voice in the global warming debate, Andes said.<br /><br />"It is humbling to consider the fact that every day researchers get to work at a place that may be viewed as the Rosetta Stone for astrogeological research," he said. "This clearly illustrates the need to preserve it to the greatest degree possible while allowing legitimate research to happen here." </div> <br /></div><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://ca.news.yahoo.com/newfound-comet-dive-sun-next-week-144807344.html">Newfound Comet to Dive Through Sun Next Week</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Joe Rao<br />SPACE.com<br />Tue, 06 Dec 2011 11:14 CST<br /><br /></div> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image to-right"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/88681/full/ff.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Unknown"><img src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/88681/medium/ff.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span><br /><span class="caption">Illustration only</span></div></div>A newly discovered comet is racing toward a mid-December rendezvous with the sun - a rendezvous that it will likely not survive.<br /><br />The comet is categorized by astronomers as a "sungrazer" and it is destined to do just that; literally graze the surface of the sun (called the photosphere) and pass through the sun's intensely hot corona, where temperatures have been measured at upwards of 3.6-million degrees Fahrenheit (2-million degrees Celsius).<br /><br />While the comet will not collide with the sun, most astronomers say the odds are rather long that it will remain intact after its closest pass by the sun. The most exciting aspect of the event is that the comet's expected destruction should be visible on your computer monitor.<br /><br />And there is a very slight chance that, should the comet somehow manage to survive, it might briefly become visible in broad daylight. <br /><br /> <span class="BoldGrey">Discovery</span><br /><br />The comet was discovered by Australian amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy Nov. 27 using a C8 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, working with a QHY9 CCD camera.<br /><br />At first, Lovejoy believed that the rapidly moving fuzzy image he saw was nothing more than a camera reflection. But two nights later, despite clouds and haze, he managed to find the fuzzy object again and take several new images.<br /><br />Lovejoy then put out a call to some trusted observers to confirm his observations. He received that confirmation Dec. 1 from Mount John Observatory, based in the Mackenzie Basin on the South Island of New Zealand. By then, 31 separate observations of the comet had been collected to determine an orbit, and the first announcement of Lovejoy's discovery was made this past Friday (Dec. 2) by the Minor Planet Center of the International Astronomical Union.<br /><br />Its official title is C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy). It is Terry Lovejoy's third comet discovery.<br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Grazing the sun</span><br /><br />Astronomer Gareth V. Williams computed a preliminary orbit for the comet, which indicates that perihelion (closest approach to the sun) will occur at 7 p.m. EST Dec. 15 (00:00 GMT on Dec. 16) at a distance of 548,000 miles (882,000 km) from the center of the sun, meaning that the comet will skim a mere 115,000 miles (186,000 km) above the solar surface, putting it into the special classification of a "Kreutz Sungrazer."<br /><br />"I'm still quite stunned by the fact that W3 is a Kreutz Sungrazing comet," Lovejoy said. "This is a very special discovery to me as I have long been fascinated by the Kreutz Sungrazing comets; it has been over four years since my last discovery and I do hope the next one comes a lot sooner!"<br /><br />Lovejoy's discovery is rather special since it marks the first time that a Kreutz Sungrazer has been discovered from a ground-based telescope in over 40 years. Usually, such comets are discovered only within a few days of their closest approach to the sun, from satellite imagery.<br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Kreutz</span><br /><br />In the year 1888, astronomer Heinrich Kreutz (1854-1907) noted that sungrazing comets all followed along approximately the same orbit.<br /><br />Astronomers now think they were once all bits of a single giant comet that fragmented in the distant past. And it's quite probable that these fragments have themselves broken up repeatedly as they've orbited the sun, resulting in different comets at periods ranging from about 500 to 800 years.<br /><br />In honor of Kreutz's work, this special group of comets is named the Kreutz Sungrazers.<br /><br />Two of these sungrazers (seen in 1843 and 1882) not only developed very long tails but also achieved the rare distinction of having been bright enough to be seen in broad daylight with the unaided eye.<br /><br />And the brightest comet of the 20th century appeared in the autumn of 1965: Comet Ikeya-Seki. On Oct. 21, 1965, many could easily view this comet with the naked eye if the sun was hidden behind the side of a house or just an outstretched hand. In Japan the comet was described as appearing about 10 times brighter than the full moon.<br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Tiny grazers </span><br /><br />Until 1978, only about a dozen sungrazing comets had been positively identified.<br /><br />Beginning in 1979, orbiting space observatories began to detect sungrazing comets using instruments called coronagraphs. A coronagraph is designed to look at the solar atmosphere by blocking out the bright disk of the sun. Tiny sungrazing comets, which normally would be too faint and too near to the glare of the sun, can be picked up using a coronagraph.<br /><br />In fact, sungrazers are now routinely being discovered using the Large Angle Spectrometric Coronagraph on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) satellite. In fact, SOHO is the most successful comet discoverer in history, having found 2,110 comets over 16 years of operation - an average of one about every three days.<br /><br />What's even more impressive is that the majority of these comets have been found by amateur astronomers and enthusiasts from all over the world, scouring the SOHO images for likely comet candidates from the comfort of their own homes.<br /><br />Absolutely anyone can join this project - all you need is an Internet connection and some free time. If you want to join the hunt, go to <a href="http://sungrazer.nrl.navy.mil/index.php?p=cometform" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><br />Some of these are probably just a few meters across; none have survived their sweep around the sun.<br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">The fate of Comet Lovejoy</span><br /><br />In a way, Kreutz comets are like trains of all sizes moving along the same railroad track while passing our station (Earth) in space. And like impatient commuters, we can only watch and wonder what awaits us up the track. As we noted earlier, literally thousands of sungrazers have flicked past the sun as tiny objects briefly visible via satellite imagery.<br /><br />Some Kreutz comets are very bright and spectacular.<br /><br />Given that at least 10 have reached naked-eye visibility over the last 200 years, another could be just around the corner. The last Kreutz Sungrazer to become bright was Comet White-Ortiz-Bolelli in May 1970. Before that was the dazzling Comet Ikeya-Seki in 1965.<br /><br />Since Comet Lovejoy is the first sungrazer in over-40 years to be discovered en route to the sun with an Earth-based telescope, one might wonder if it will evolve into a memorable spectacle.<br /><br />Unfortunately, while Lovejoy is probably many times larger than the vast majority of the Kreutz Sungrazers that sweep to their ultimate solar demise, it is likely many times smaller than the spectacular Kreutz comets of the past. In fact, when at the same distance from the sun that Comet Lovejoy is now, Comet Ikeya-Seki appeared over-1,000-times brighter.<br /><br />Ikeya-Seki and the nine other naked-eye sungrazers that have appeared over the last two centuries managed to survive their close shaves with the sun because they were physically large as well as moving with tremendous speed. Indeed, at perihelion, sungrazing comets literally describe a hairpin turn around the sun at over-a-million miles per hour.<br /><br />But even those larger Kreutz specimens sometimes emerge from their solar meetings in shambles. The nucleus of Ikeya-Seki fractured into at least three pieces; the Great Comet of 1882 may have broken into six or eight pieces.<br /><br />According to John Bortle of Stormville, N.Y., who has observed several hundred comets in his more-than-50 years as an assiduous amateur astronomer, Comet Lovejoy, "appears to be only modestly condensed, at best, and lacking in any obvious stellar nucleus, even a very faint one. In my mind this does not bode particularly well for this diminutive object. If it already may be seriously depleted in its meager reserves of volatiles, how much will be left available for its final death plunge into the solar corona?"<br /><br />Bortle adds that another comet (du Toit in 1945) reportedly exhibited a similar physical appearance to Comet Lovejoy en route to the sun and was of a similar brightness.<br /><br />Ultimately, du Toit totally faded away before ever reaching the sun. Is this Comet Lovejoy's future? "I hope not, but I really have to wonder," Bortle said.<br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Death of a comet . . . on your computer!</span><br /><br />To get a good view of Comet Lovejoy, reserve a seat next to your computer and stay tuned to the SOHO <a href="http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=ApWrP6UqxWVMs2uvm9gqAhJussB_;_ylu=X3oDMTFqZTJrMXNoBG1pdANBcnRpY2xlIEJvZHkEcG9zAzgEc2VjA01lZGlhQXJ0aWNsZUJvZHlBc3NlbWJseQ--;_ylg=X3oDMTA1bmkzZDc4BHRlc3QD;_ylv=0/SIG=12882m4sd/EXP=1324401226/**http%3A//sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/c3/512/" target="_blank">website</a>.<br /><br />Comet Lovejoy (if it hasn't faded completely away) is expected to enter camera range beginning next Monday (Dec. 12), appearing to move rapidly up from the south, then rapidly curve up and around the sun in what may prove to be a fiery demise Dec. 16.<br /><br />There is also the ever-so-slight chance that this comet might briefly become visible in broad daylight around that time as well.<br /><br />But that's only assuming the comet somehow survives its close brush with the sun, which doesn't look very likely. Then again, you never know.<br /><br /><em>Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for </em>The New York Times <em>and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for News 12 Westchester, New York.<br /><br /><br /></em><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/pickoftheweek/old/03dec2011/">The Great "Birthday Comet" of 2011</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">SOHO<br />Sat, 03 Dec 2011 02:05 CST</div><br /> </div> </div> <div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/88500/full/C2011W32Dec2011compc_med.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© SOHO"><img src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/88500/large/C2011W32Dec2011compc_med.jpg" alt="Comet Lovejoy" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© SOHO</span></div></div><br />SOHO's 16th Birthday gift is on it's way, and the tracking number states delivery by midnight on December 15th!<br /><br />On December 2nd, 2011, newly discovered Kreutz-group comet C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy) was announced. SOHO discovers these objects on average every three days, but this one is different... it was found from a ground based telescope, and marks the first such discovery in over 40yrs. It also marks a significant achievement for Australian astronomer Terry Lovejoy, who as an early pioneer of discovering SOHO comets over the internet, can now claim to be the first person to discover a Sungrazer from both ground and space-based telescopes!<br /><br />Traditionally, and with little exception, ground-discovered Kreutz-group comets have gotten bright. Very bright! In 1965, Kreutz-comet Ikeya-Seki was so bright, it could be seen by the naked eye by blocking the Sun out with your hand. We do not expect C/2011 W3 to get this bright, so reserve your seat next to your computer and stay tuned to the SOHO, STEREO and Sungrazer websites as we prepare for this rare and potentially spectacular object to enter our cameras around Dec 12, meeting its fiery demise late on Dec 15.<br /><br />We will have more information on this site over the coming week. In the meantime, updates will occasionally be posted at the <a href="http://sungrazer.nrl.navy.mil/index.php?p=news/birthday_comet" target="_blank">Sungrazer site.</a><br /><br />Stay tuned! <br /><br /></div><br /><h2> <a href="http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Science%2Band%2BTech/Story/A1Story20111204-314240.html">Super Fireball Lights Up Night Sky in Northern China</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Sun Chi<br />China Daily/Asia News Network<br />Sat, 03 Dec 2011 23:59 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> China's Xinhua News Agency reported a golden UFO appeared in the northwestern sky and was seen by some citizens in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei on the evening of Nov 30. Astronomers said it was a super fireball that is rarely seen.<br /><br />Ma Qiang is an amateur astronomer living in Tianjin who witnessed the flying fireball.<br /><br />He said the fireball glittered and flew from northwest to the west around 5:25 pm and disappeared after two seconds.<br /><br />Its golden lights were brighter than the moon.<br /><br />Some citizens in Beijing also saw the fireball and reported the incident.<br /><br />Director of Beijing Planetarium Zhu Jin said the glittering object is a super bright fireball that is rarely seen, according to descriptions given by the witnesses.<br /><br />Astronomers say a fireball is a kind of meteor that has seldom been observed.<br /><br />Flying in the aerosphere, the fireball sometimes sounds like a pen scratching on paper. It is brighter than Venus at night. <br /><br /><br /><div class="article-header"><h2><a href="http://www.wkyt.com/wymtnews/headlines/Still_no_explanation_for_apparent_explosion_in_Perry_Co_135475083.html">US: Mysterious Explosion and Fireballs Seen as Homes Shaken in Rural Kentucky</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Katie Roach<br />WYMT TV News<br />Mon, 12 Dec 2011 23:36 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> There are still no answers as to what caused an apparent explosion in Perry County Sunday night.<br /><br /><div align="center"><script type="text/javascript" src="http://ww2.wkyt.com/global/video/videoplayer.js?rnd=618119;hostDomain=ww2.wkyt.com;playerWidth=300;playerHeight=257;isShowIcon=true;clipId=6541350;flvUri=;partnerclipid=;adTag=News%2520-%2520Hard%2520News;advertisingZone=;enableAds=true;landingPage=;islandingPageoverride=false;playerType=MINI_EMBEDDEDscript;controlsType=fixed"></script></div><br /><br />Crews spent hours searching Sunday night after initial reports of a possible plane crash, but they gave up the search around 1:00 a.m. and said it was probably an explosion at an abandoned mine.<br /><br />Now officials with the Division of Abandoned Mine Lands are saying there is no evidence at the mine that would support an explosion.<br /><br />Some say they felt their homes shaking, others say they saw a fireball, but as of now no one can say for sure what happened in Perry County Sunday night.<br /><br />Preliminary reports of possible plane crash were ruled out after searching for hours and finding no crash scene, that led officials to this explanation. <br /><br /> "There is a mine break up there. It happens in eastern Kentucky with a lot with old abandoned mines. They catch fire, smoke real bad, and sometimes they flame up. It does kill the trees around and that is possibly what could be seen from the air," said Lotts Creek Fire Chief Chris Engle.<br /><br />Officials from the Division of Abandoned Mine Lands were called Monday to investigate and found that there is a coal seam fire that is causing the smoke and the burned trees, but that's all they are able to confirm.<br /><br />"My investigators found no evidence of an explosion or a fire ball. There was no crater no debris that they could ascertain," said the Director of the Division of Abandoned Mine Lands Steve Hohmann.<br /><br />So until more information can be found, that leaves no explanation for the shaking houses and what appeared to be a fireball in the sky, but some in the area have their own explanation for what happened.<br /><br />"If there is no plane missing I think it probably could be a U.F.O. If there is no debris, it probably burned before it hit the ground," said Perry County resident Kathy Collins.<br /><br />For now, it remains a mystery.<br /><br />Officials with the Division of Abandoned Mine Lands say they are planning to go back up to the mine site on Wednesday.<br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=13&month=12&year=2011">Significant Comet Plunges in the Sun</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">Space Weather<br />Tue, 13 Dec 2011 10:34 CST</div><br /> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> A comet nearly as wide as two football fields (200m) is plunging toward the sun where it will most likely be destroyed in a spectacular light show on Dec. 15/16. Although Comet Lovejoy (C/2011 W3) could become as bright as Jupiter or Venus when it "flames out," the glare of the sun will hide the event from human eyes. Solar observatories in space, however, will have a grand view. Yesterday the brightening comet entered the field of view of NASA's STEREO-B spacecraft.<br /><br /><div align="center"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/U5Q5eX632lg" allowfullscreen="" width="400" frameborder="0" height="309"></iframe></div><br /><br />"You can clearly see the comet heading diagonally through the images," says Karl Battams of the Naval Research Lab who prepared the animation. "During the 16-hour sequence, the comet brightens from magnitude +8 to +6.5, approximately."<br /><br />It will soon grow much brighter. "This comet is a true sungrazer, and will skim approximately 140,000 km (1.2 solar radii) above the solar surface on Dec. 15/16," notes Battams. At such close range, solar heating will almost certainly destroy the icy interloper,creating a cloud of vapor and comet dust that will reflect lots of sunlight. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) will have a particularly good view. <br /><br /> Discovered on Dec. 2nd by amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy of Australia, the comet is an unusually large member of the Kreutz family. Kreutz sungrazers are fragments of a single giant comet (probably the Great Comet of 1106) that broke apart back in the 12th century. SOHO sees one plunging into the sun every few days, but most are small, no more than 10 meters wide. Comet Lovejoy is at least ten times larger than usual.<br /><br />Click <a href="http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=13&month=12&year=2011" target="_blank">here</a> for animation:<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/89208/full/ff.gif" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© SOHO"><img style="width: 433px; height: 204px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/89208/large/ff.gif" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© SOHO<br /><br /></span><br /><div class="article-header"><h2> <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/91816/meteorite-alert-remote-cameras-capture-slow-moving-fireball-near-toronto/">Canada: Meteorite Alert! Remote Cameras Capture Slow-Moving Fireball near Toronto</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Nancy Atkinson<br />Universe Today<br />Wed, 14 Dec 2011 12:02 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/89315/full/580x435xwestern_fireball_580x4.png" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© University of Western Ontario"><img style="width: 390px; height: 296px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/89315/large/580x435xwestern_fireball_580x4.png" alt="Canadian Fireball" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© University of Western Ontario</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">The huge fireball event as seen from a remote camera in Orangeville, Ontario. </span></div></div>In newly released footage from the University of Western Ontario, a bright, slow-moving fireball was captured in the skies near Toronto, Canada on December 12, 2011 by remote cameras watching for meteors. Although this meteor looks huge as it burns up in Earth's atmosphere, astronomers estimate the rock to have been no bigger than a basketball. Footage reveals it entered the atmosphere at a shallow angle of 25 degrees, moving about 14 km per second. It first became visible over Lake Erie then moved toward the north-northeast.<br /><br />See below for the video.<br /><br />But in a meteorite-hunter alert, Peter Brown, the Director of Western's Centre for Planetary & Space Exploration said that data garnered from the remote cameras suggest that surviving fragments of the rock are likely, with a mass that may total as much as a few kilograms, likely in the form of many fragments in one gram to hundreds of a gram size range.<br /><br /><div align="center"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/myICl2d2Bik" allowfullscreen="" width="400" frameborder="0" height="315"></iframe></div> <br /><br /> "Finding a meteorite from a fireball captured by video is equivalent to a planetary sample return mission," said Brown. "We know where the object comes from in our solar system and can study it in the lab. Only about a dozen previous meteorite falls have had their orbits measured by cameras so each new event adds significantly to our understanding of the small bodies in the solar system. In essence, each new recovered meteorite is adding to our understanding of the formation and evolution of our own solar system."<br /><br />Brown and his team are interested in hearing from anyone who may have witnessed or recorded this event, or who may have found fragments of the freshly fallen meteorite. See UWO's website for contact information.<br /><br />Another camera view of the meteor:<br /><br /><div align="center"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rJZ5PexrIiE" allowfullscreen="" width="400" frameborder="0" height="315"></iframe></div><br /><br />Western Meteor Group's Southern Ontario Meteor Network sensor suite has seven all-sky video systems designed to automatically detect bright fireballs.<br /><br />At 6:04 p.m. on December 12, six of the seven cameras of Western's Southern Ontario Meteor Network recorded this meteor. In a press release, UWO said the fireball's burned out at an altitude of 31 km just south of the town of Selwyn, Ontario. It is likely to have dropped small meteorites in a region to the east of Selwyn near the eastern end of Upper Stony Lake. See the map of the projected path below.<br /><br />Although this bright fireball occurred near the peak of the annual Geminid meteor shower, the astronomers say it is unrelated to that shower.<br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/89316/full/580x499xflight_path_580x499_pa.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© University of Western Ontario"><img style="width: 382px; height: 330px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/89316/large/580x499xflight_path_580x499_pa.jpg" alt="Fireball Path" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© University of Western Ontario</span><br /><span class="caption">Estimated flight path of the Dec. 12, 2011 meteor seen near Toronto, Canada.</span></div></div> </div><br /></div></div> </div><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PADuyZOcjA">Comet Lovejoy update - will it miss the sun?</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">MrCometwatch<br />YouTube<br />Thu, 15 Dec 2011 09:53 CST</div> </div> </div> <br /><br /><br /></div> </div> </div> <strong></strong><br /><div align="center"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1PADuyZOcjA" allowfullscreen="" width="400" frameborder="0" height="309"></iframe><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div style="text-align: left;" class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=15&month=12&year=2011">Geminid Fireballs</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">Space Weather<br />Thu, 15 Dec 2011 12:51 CST</div><br /> </div> </div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;" class="article-body"> On the night of Dec. 13/14, NASA's <a href="http://fireballs.ndc.nasa.gov/" target="_blank">All-Sky Meteor Network</a> recorded 35 fireballs streaking over the southern USA. Twenty-two of them had remarkably similar orbits:<br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/89413/full/orbits.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA"><img style="width: 384px; height: 222px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/89413/large/orbits.jpg" alt="Fireball Orbits" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA<br /><br /></span></div></div>The clustered green orbits match the trajectory of near-Earth asteroid 3200 Phaethon, source of the annual Geminid meteor shower. The Geminids have been active this week as Earth passes through the asteroid's <a href="http://science1.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/13dec_geminids/" target="_blank">mysterious</a> debris stream. The other, non-Geminid orbits correspond to random meteoroids. Not belonging to any organized debris stream, random meteoroids litter the inner solar system and produce a daily drizzle of "sporadic" fireballs.<br /><br />NASA's fireball network, which connects multiple cameras in New Mexico, Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee, is a "smart" system. It rapidly and autonomously calculates meteoroid orbits from the fireballs it records. Another orbit diagram is just hours away; stay tuned. <br /><br /> <span class="BoldGrey">More Images:</span><br />From <a href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Fredrik-Broms-SW_20111214_1122_1323899585.jpg" target="_blank">Fredrik Broms</a> of Kvaløya, Norway; from <a href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Paul-Martin-Geminids1fb_1323919718.jpg" target="_blank">Paul Martin</a> of Omagh, Co Tyrone N.Ireland; from <a href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Salvador-Aguirre-j20111214_084921_992_1323905112.jpg" target="_blank">Salvador Aguirre</a> of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico; from <a href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Mike-Hankey-geminid-2011-meteor-composite_1323895926.jpg" target="_blank">Mike Hankey</a> of Freeland, Maryland; from <a href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Ugur-Ikizler-2011_12_14_0129_aa_1323908620.jpg" target="_blank">Ugur Ikizler</a> of Kirazlı - Uludag - Bursa / Turkey<br /><br /><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;"> <a href="http://sungrazer.nrl.navy.mil/index.php?p=news/birthday_comet">Comet Lovejoy Has a Friend!</a> </h2><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;" class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Karl Battams<br />Sungrazer Blog<br />Thu, 15 Dec 2011 12:58 CST</div> <div class="article-print"><br /></div> </div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;" class="article-image to-left"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/89414/full/lovejoy_companion.gif" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Sungrazer Blog"><img src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/89414/medium/lovejoy_companion.gif" alt="Another Comet" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Sungrazer Blog</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">Click <a href="http://sungrazer.nrl.navy.mil/index.php?p=images/lovejoy/lovejoy_companion.gif" target="_blank">here</a> to see animation.</span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;">This is too cute: Comet Lovejoy has a friend! Look in the upper-half of the animation opposite, starting at center and moving diagonally up and to the left, perfectly in step with Lovejoy... It's another Kreutz-group comet! (if you can't see it, here's a <a href="http://sungrazer.nrl.navy.mil/index.php?p=images/lovejoy/lovejoy_companion.jpg" target="_blank">hint</a>)<br /><br />As nice as this is, I am not in the least surprised. SOHO's Kreutz-group comets are very "clumpy", for want of a better word. We frequently see them arrive in pairs or sometimes trios, and the big bright ones in particular will often have a companion comet. I suspected we would get at least one with Comet Lovejoy and indeed we do. It's much more typical of the size and brightness of Kreutz comets we see, and offers a wonderful comparison to highlight just how special Comet Lovejoy is.<br /><br />So what is this new comet called? Is it another "Comet Lovejoy"? Sadly not. It looks to me like it was actually spotted in the LASCO C3 images by seasoned comet hunter Zhijian Xu at <a href="http://sungrazer.nrl.navy.mil/index.php?p=recent" target="_blank">Dec 14 2011 11:48:48.</a> So will it be Comet Xu?? No again. It will be Comet SOHO, number 2190-something, I think. Oh, and notice how it's orbit is obviously slightly different from Lovejoy's? That's also something we see all the time; the companion comets are frequently in slightly different orbits. They are obviously closely related though and the smaller one must have fragmented from Lovejoy some significant time ago, and with some slight (non-gravitational) force between them to "push" them apart like this. These kinds of break-ups are theorized to happen decades before they reach the Sun in order for them to have this kind of separation in space, though this process is not well-known or well-understood at all. It one reason that studying these Kreutz comets is so important, as this knowledge can be applied to all comets and solar system bodies, and give a broader understanding of their orbital and physical evolution. <br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=16&month=12&year=2011">Comet Lovejoy Survives</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">Space Weather<br />Fri, 16 Dec 2011 12:36 CST</div><br /> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> Incredibly, sungrazing Comet Lovejoy appears to have survived its close encounter with the sun. Lovejoy flew only 140,000 km over the stellar surface during the early hours of Dec. 16th. Experts expected the icy sundiver to be destroyed. Instead, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory caught the comet emerging from perihelion (closest approach) at least partially intact:<br /><br /><div align="center"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/K13cEr6ngq8" allowfullscreen="" width="400" frameborder="0" height="315"></iframe></div><br /><br />SDO also recorded Comet Lovejoy's entry into the sun's atmosphere: <a href="http://www.spaceweather.com/images2011/16dec11/ipad/comet_whoosh.m4v?PHPSESSID=kmv9cmjci97a4utrb2voo6u1n3" target="_blank">movie.</a><br /><br />Comet Lovejoy began the week as a chunk of dusty, rocky ice some 200 meters in diameter. No one can say how much of the comet's core remains intact or how long it will hang together after the searing heat of perihelion. <br /><br /> New images received on Dec. 16th from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory confirm that Comet Lovejoy survived perihelion and is now receding from the sun:<br /><br /><div align="center"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/lNuUevtgfn8" allowfullscreen="" width="400" frameborder="0" height="309"></iframe></div><br /><br />Curiously, the comet seems to have lost its tail in transit through the sun's hot corona. A decapitated remnant tail can still be seen tracing Comet Lovejoy's path into the sun, but the exiting comet has no obvious trail of dust behind it. One possibility has to do with geometry: The comet's tail might be pointing away from Earth, temporarily invisible due to foreshortening. Another possibility: The comet's store of volatile materials was "baked-out" by the fiery transit and now the comet is not jetting much dust and gas into space.<br /><br /><a href="http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/comets-ml/message/18445" target="_blank">Discovered</a> on Dec. 2nd by amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy of Australia, the comet is an unusually large member of the Kreutz family. Kreutz sungrazers are fragments of a single giant comet (probably the Great Comet of 1106) that broke apart back in the 12th century. SOHO sees one plunging into the sun every few days, but most are small, no more than 10 meters wide. Comet Lovejoy is at least ten times larger than usual. </div><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=17&month=12&year=2011">Continued Adventures of Comet Lovejoy</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">Space Weather<br />Sat, 17 Dec 2011 14:27 CST</div><br /> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> The <a href="http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/16dec_cometlovejoy/" target="_blank">scorched core</a> of sungrazing Comet Lovejoy is still intact as it recedes from the sun. Even the comet's flamboyant tail, temporarily lost in transit through the solar corona, has regrown. Click <a href="http://www.spaceweather.com/images2011/17dec11/lovejoy_c3_anim.gif?PHPSESSID=ss5tuite5lka4vh2hb1movoeq1" target="_blank">here to view</a> the last 24 hours of coronagraph images from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO).<br /><br /><div align="center"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/JXRH4gTUgRo" allowfullscreen="" width="400" frameborder="0" height="309"></iframe></div><br /><br />SOHO images show two tails: the ion tail and the dust tail. The ion tail is made of gas and is blown directly away from the sun by the solar wind. The heavier dust tail is curved and more closely traces the comet's orbit.<br /><br />Now that the comet is more than five degrees from the sun, it is possible (albeit still not easy) for amateur astronomers to photograph it just before sunrise. A team led by Czech astronomer Jan Ebr captured this image at sunrise on Dec. 17th: <br /><br /> <div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/89554/full/ebr.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Jakub Cerny, Jan Ebr, Martin Jelinek, Petr Kubanek, Michael Prouza, Michal Ringes"><img style="width: 373px; height: 237px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/89554/large/ebr.jpg" alt="Comet Lovejoy" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Jakub Cerny, Jan Ebr, Martin Jelinek, Petr Kubanek, Michael Prouza, Michal Ringes<br /><br /></span></div></div>"We used a remotely-controlled 12-inch telescope in Malargue, Argentina," says Ebr. "The sun was below horizon at the time we took the picture, but just barely. There was only a 30 minute window between the rise of the comet and that of the sun " </div><br /><br /><div class="article-header"><h2> <a href="http://ca.news.yahoo.com/russias-failed-mars-probe-come-crashing-down-earth-102300675.html">Russia's Failed Mars Probe Will Come Crashing Down to Earth Next Month, Space Agency Says</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Vladimir Isachenkov<br />The Associated Press<br />Fri, 16 Dec 2011 00:00 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image to-left"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/89572/full/MOSB106_1216_2011_123008_high.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© The Associated Press/The Canadian Press/Russian Roscosmos space agency/HO"><img src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/89572/medium/MOSB106_1216_2011_123008_high.jpg" alt="Russian Space Probe" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© The Associated Press/The Canadian Press/Russian Roscosmos space agency/HO</span><br /><span class="caption">In this Nov.2, 2011 file photo distributed by Russian Roscosmos space agency shows technicians working on the <em>Phobos-Ground</em> probe.<br /><br /></span></div></div>A Russian spacecraft bound for a moon of Mars and stuck in Earth's orbit will come crashing back next month, but its toxic fuel and radioactive material on board will pose no danger of contamination, the Russian space agency said Friday.<br /><br />Between 20 and 30 fragments of the probe with a total weight of up to 200 kilograms (440 pounds) will survive the fiery plunge and shower the Earth's surface, Roscosmos warned in a statement.<br /><br />The agency said the unmanned <em>Phobos-Ground</em> spacecraft will plummet to Earth between Jan. 6 and Jan. 19, and the rough area of where the fragments could fall could only be calculated a few days ahead of its plunge.<br /><br />As of now, it said only that the probe's fragments could rain down anywhere along a broad swath between 51.4 degrees north to 51.4 degrees south, which would include most of land surface.<br /><br />While the agency had lost contact with the probe following its launch on Nov. 9, this was the first time acknowledged that the $170-million craft has been lost and will come crashing down.<br /><br />Since its November launch the engineers in Russia and at the European Space Agency have attempted unsuccessfully to propel it away from Earths orbit and toward its target. <br /><br /> <em>Phobos-Ground</em> weighs 13.2 metric tons (14.6 tons), which includes 11 metric tons (12 tons) of highly toxic fuel. Experts had warned that if the fuel has frozen, some could survive entry into Earth and pose a serious threat if it falls over populated areas.<br /><br />But Roscosmos said it is sure that all fuel will burn on re-entry some 100 kilometres (330,000 feet) above the ground and pose no danger. It said that 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of Cobalt-57, a radioactive metal contained in one of the craft's instruments, will not pose a threat of radioactive contamination.<br /><br />The <em>Phobos-Ground</em> was Russia's first interplanetary mission since a botched 1996 robotic mission to Mars, which failed when the probe crashed shortly after the launch due to an engine failure. Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos, and the latest spacecraft aimed to take ground samples on Phobos.<br /><br />It was one of the most challenging unmanned interplanetary mission ever. Scientists had hoped that studies of Phobos' surface could help solve the mystery of its origin and shed more light on the genesis of the solar system. Some believe the crater-dented moon is an asteroid captured by Mars' gravity, while others think it's a piece of debris from when Mars collided with another celestial object.<br /><br />The failed mission was the latest in a series of recent Russian launch failures that have raised concerns about the condition of the country's space industries. Officials have blamed the failures on obsolete equipment and an aging workforce.<br /><br /><em>Source: The Canadian Press</em> </div> <br /><strong>Comment: </strong>SOTT wonders what is UP with all the recent alleged man-made space objects falling out of the sky? We've gone for years and years without this repeated showering of space-junk and now, all of a sudden, in just the past year, there have been at least three, and now four raining debris down on our heads? Is it possible that it is not really man-made and these explanations are being offered to cover up the fact that the planet is already being subjected to cometary fragment bombardment? Just asking.<br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=20&month=12&year=2011">Update: Comet Lovejoy in the morning</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">Space Weather<br />Tue, 20 Dec 2011 12:00 CST</div><br /> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> Noted astronomer John Bortle urges observers (especially in the southern hemisphere) to "begin searching for Comet Lovejoy's bright tail projecting up out of the morning twilight beginning at dawn. The tails of some of the major sungrazing comets have been extraordinarily bright. Comet Lovejoy's apparition has been so bizarre up to this point that it is difficult to anticipate just what might happen next ... [including] the exact sort of tail it might unfurl in the morning sky."<br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">UPDATE: </span>This morning in New Zealand, Minoru Yoneto photographed the ghostly tail of Comet Lovejoy shining through the twilight:<br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/89758/full/ff.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Minoru Yoneto"><img style="width: 387px; height: 350px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/89758/large/ff.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Minoru Yoneto</span></div></div><br />"I couldn't see the comet with my naked eye, but a 1.3 sec exposure with my Canon Kiss X2 digital camera revealed Lovejoy's long tail." In the clearer skies of Devonport, Tasmania, amateur astronomer Peter Sayers did see the tail with his unaided eyes--"but just barely," he says. "The tail was just naked-eye and perhaps a degree long in our Tasmanian summer early morning twilight." [<a href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Peter-Sayers-IMGP7047_1324320135.jpg" target="_blank">image</a>] <br /><br /> The visibility of the tail could improve in the days ahead as the comet moves away from the sun and the background sky darkens accordingly. Early-rising sky watchers should be alert for this rare apparition. [<a href="http://nightskyonline.info/?p=2853" target="_blank">finder chart</a>]<br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/89757/full/ff.png" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Canberra"><img style="width: 392px; height: 299px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/89757/large/ff.png" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Canberra</span></div></div> </div><br /><br /><div class="article-header"><h2> <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/91957/surprising-comet-lovejoy-now-becoming-merry-and-bright/">Surprising Comet Lovejoy Now Becoming Merry and Bright</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Nancy Atkinson<br />Universe Today<br />Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:36 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/89708/full/lovejoy1.png" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© kommet.cz"><img style="width: 371px; height: 236px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/89708/large/lovejoy1.png" alt="Lovejoy_1" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© kommet.cz</span><br /><span class="caption">Comet Lovejoy photographed remotely with the FRAM telescope in Argentina on Dec. 17 by a Czech team of Jakub Cerny, Jan Ebr, Martin Jelinek, Petr Kubanek, Michael Prouza and Michal Ringes. </span></div></div><br />It was almost a pre-holiday miracle that Comet Lovejoy survived its close encounter with the Sun on Dec. 15, 2011. But now, the feisty comet is making a 'merry and bright' comeback, re-sprouting its tail and showing up brilliantly with binoculars and in telescopic images from southern hemisphere skywatchers.<br /><br />"It was a big surprise that after going through the solar atmosphere it re-emerged with a beautiful tail," Karl Battams told Universe Today. Battams is with Naval Research Laboratory and has been detailing the Comet Lovejoy's incredible journey on the <a href="http://sungrazer.nrl.navy.mil/index.php?p=news/birthday_comet" target="_blank">Sungrazing Comets website.</a> "And basically within a day it was as bright after the encounter as it was before."<br /><br />The beautiful image above was taken on Dec. 17, 2011, clearly showing two gorgeous tails on Comet Lovejoy. See more from the Czech team that took the image at their website, <a href="http://www.kommet.cz/page.php?al=prvni_snimky_komety_lovejoy_ze_zeme" target="_blank">Kommet.cz.</a><br /><br />As much as this comet has surprised everyone, no one is going out on a limb and predicting it will become visible with the naked eye. But who knows? The comet's discoverer, Austrailian amateur astronomer <a href="http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showpost.php?s=31c59a570a89e0b8c315123103eff328&p=798668&postcount=38" target="_blank">Terry Lovejoy was able to image the comet in the day time! </a>" I am hopeful of a nice binocular comet low in the dawn around Christmas time," Lovejoy said on the Ice in Space website. <br /><br /> <div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/89710/full/lovejoy2.png" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Ian Musgrave, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia"><img style="width: 394px; height: 299px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/89710/large/lovejoy2.png" alt="Lovejoy_2" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Ian Musgrave, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia</span><br /><span class="caption">Comet Lovejoy in the early morning hours of Dec. 20, 2011.</span></div></div><br />"Southern hemisphere viewers can see it now early in the morning," Battams said via phone this morning. "It is going to become increasingly easy for them to see as it moves away from the Sun. I'm not sure it will increase in brightness anymore, as it has leveled off a little bit now. Odds are stacked in the favor of a nice nighttime show for southern viewers, and gradually it will fade away."<br /><br />Of course, Comet Lovejoy isn't the only comet that has survived a close encounter with the Sun; in fact, some comets have even brightened to naked eye visibility after surviving a scorching from the Sun. The "Great Comets" of 1843 and 1882, and Comet Ikeya-Seki of 1965 were all Kreutz sungrazers - like Comet Lovejoy - and they all became brilliant after their solar encounters, with extraordinarily long tails.<br /><br />Normally these comets don't survive and are completely obliterated by the Sun. But the few that do - only 2 or 3 a century - can be very bright.<br /><br /><div align="center"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/jtJ3p6YBmBI" allowfullscreen="" width="400" frameborder="0" height="309"></iframe></div><br /><br />I had asked Battams on Friday - just after the comet emerged from behind the Sun - his thoughts on Comet Lovejoy and if it might follow the example of those previous surviving sungrazers.<br /><br />"All bets are off as far as I'm concerned," he wrote via email. "We thought this was a relatively small one - maybe a hundred or two meters in diameter. Clearly it can't be. I did not expect it to survive perihelion as anything more than a diffuse blob that would rapidly dissipate. Instead it is pretty much as bright as it was before, just with less of a tail now."<br /><br />So keep a lookout for the holiday comet of 2011, the merry and bright Comet Lovejoy! </div><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=21&month=12&year=2011">The Amazing Tail of Comet Lovejoy</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">Space Weather<br />Wed, 21 Dec 2011 14:28 CST</div><br /> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div style="text-align: left;" class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/89868/full/Colin_Legg1_strip.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Colin Legg of Mandurah, Western Australia."><img style="width: 394px; height: 411px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/89868/large/Colin_Legg1_strip.jpg" alt="Lovejoy's Tail" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Colin Legg of Mandurah, Western Australia.<br /><br /></span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;">Widespread reports of <a href="http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/16dec_cometlovejoy/" target="_blank">Comet Lovejoy's</a> tail are being received from around the southern hemisphere. The ghostly plume emerges just before sunrise, jutting vertically upward into the eastern sky ahead of the sun.<br /><br />"I observed the comet with my unaided eye for 55 minutes this morning," says Colin Legg of Mandurah, Western Australia. "I also captured a timelapse sequence of the comet rising as twilight progressed."<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/34007626?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen="" width="400" frameborder="0" height="225"></iframe><br /><br /><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://vimeo.com/34007626">Comet Lovejoy (2011 W3) rising over Western Australia</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user2471272">Colin Legg</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.</div></div><br /><br />"In the image you can see 2 tails," notes Clegg. These are the dust and ion tails. The gaseous ion tail is blow almost directly away from the sun by the solar wind, while the heavier, brighter dust tail more closely follows the comet's orbit.<br /><br />The visibility of both tails could improve in the days ahead as the comet moves away from the sun and the background sky darkens accordingly. Early-rising sky watchers should be alert for this rare apparition. [<a href="http://nightskyonline.info/?p=2853" target="_blank">finder chart</a>] <br /><br /> <span class="BoldGrey">More Images:</span><br />From <a href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Steve-Chadwick-Comet--Lovejoy_1324481773.jpg" target="_blank">Steve Chadwick</a> of Himatangi Beach, New Zealand; from <a href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Chris-Picking-lovejoy1_1324485528.jpg" target="_blank">Chris Picking</a> of Wellington, New Zealand; from <a href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Paulo-Morales-Valdebenito-IMG_0026_ED_1324460370.jpg" target="_blank">Paulo Morales Valdebenito</a> of San Francisco de Mostazal, Chile; from <a href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Kosma-Coronaios-Picture-003_1_4_1324438235.jpg" target="_blank">Kosma Coronaios</a> of Louis Trichardt, Limpopo Province, South Africa; from <a href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Willian-Souza-c2011w3_web_1324467971.jpg" target="_blank">Willian Souza</a> of Sao Paulo, Brazil; from <a href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Grahame-Kelaher-IMG_2650_web_1324414183.jpg" target="_blank">Grahame Kelaher</a> of Perth, Western Australia; from <a href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=MInoru-Yoneto-2601_1324412773.jpg" target="_blank">Minoru Yoneto</a> of Queenstown, New Zealand; </div><br /><br /><div class="article-header"><h2> <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/92046/another-stunning-image-of-comet-lovejoy-by-colin-legg/">Another Stunning Image of Comet Lovejoy</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Fraser Cain<br />Universe Today<br />Thu, 22 Dec 2011 12:23 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> It's been one more day since Colin Legg posted his previous amazing photos and videos of Comet Legg. This new version is even better, especially with it reflecting off the water.<br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/89930/full/ff.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Colin Legg"><img style="width: 385px; height: 575px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/89930/large/ff.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Colin Legg</span><br /><span class="caption">Comet Lovejoy</span></div></div> <br /><br /> Here's what Colin had to say about it on <a href="http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showpost.php?p=800696&postcount=149" target="_blank">IceinSpace</a>: <blockquote class="typ1"> Had another lovely view of the comet last night wandering the shore of the Estuary. It's quite unique down there. The Perth and Mandurah sky domes light up the northern half of the sky, while the east and south east are pitch black (except for a couple of small towns). The north glow is enough to walk by once dark adapted.<br /><br />Anyway, while wandering I came across a small embayment with still water and nice reflections of the comet. Used the same settings as last night to get the attached shot. </blockquote> Check out some of <a href="http://vimeo.com/user2471272" target="_blank">Colin's videos</a> over on Vimeo.<br /><br /><br /><h2> <a href="http://news.discovery.com/space/astronaut-photographs-comet-lovejoy-from-space-111222.html">Astronaut Photographs Comet Lovejoy - from Space</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Ian O'Neill<br />Discovery News<br />Thu, 22 Dec 2011 15:19 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> <div class="article-body"> Images of space observations from the Hubble Space Telescope often leave me speechless. Pictures taken by amateur astronomers in their backyards also leave me speechless. Space, in general, has that effect -- peering deep into alien space-scapes, views that are very rarely experienced by our terrestrial existence, can be an incredible eye-opener.<br /><br />However, if you put an astronaut into space, with a camera, often those photographs have the most profound impact. Sometimes you just need a human to compose the best pictures.<br /><br />Take this beautiful view of the "sungrazing" Comet Lovejoy for example.<br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/89950/full/ff.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA/Dan Burbank."><img style="width: 391px; height: 321px;" src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/89950/large/ff.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA/Dan Burbank.</span><br /><span class="caption">Comet Lovejoy<br /><br /></span></div></div>NASA astronaut and Expedition 30 Commander Dan Burbank photographed the dazzling comet as it hung above the Earth's horizon yesterday (Dec. 21). The green haze is known as "airglow."<br /><br />Wow. <br /><br /> Comet Lovejoy became quickly famous when it skimmed above the sun's surface last week, diving deep into the the corona. It was assumed the icy body would vaporize. This in itself is a great discovery -- it was the first time a sungrazer had been spotted by a ground observer before a space observatory. But against all the odds, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory spotted the tenacious comet zoom behind the sun after swinging through the solar atmosphere.<br /><br />It has since put on a wonderful cometary show for astronomers as it flies back into deep space.<br /><br />Fortunately, the show wasn't just for ground-based observers, it just so happened that Burbank had the best (off-world) seat in the house.<br /><br />Special thanks to Carolyn Porco, Cassini imaging science team leader, for directing me to this incredible photograph. <a href="http://spaceflight1.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-30/html/iss030e014350.html" target="_blank">Download hi-res version</a>. </div><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16131686">Failed Mars Probe To Crash Back To Earth Mid January 2012</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">Sky News<br />Fri, 16 Dec 2011 15:19 CST</div><br /> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image to-left"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/90197/full/16131684.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Sky News"><img src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/90197/medium/16131684.jpg" alt="Phobos Grunt" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Sky News</span><br /><span class="caption">The £105m Phobos-Grunt would have been Russia's first interplanetary mission since Soviet times<br /><br /></span></div></div>A Russian space probe that failed in its attempt to reach one of Mars' moons will crash back to Earth next month, officials have said.<br /><br />The unmanned Phobos-Grunt craft was <a href="http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16106526" target="_blank">successfully</a> launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in November.<br /><br />However, the probe got stuck in Earth's orbit after its engines failed to fire up - quickly ending its planned journey toward the Red Planet.<br /><br />Russia's space agency said it expects the Phobos-Grunt to plummet back through our atmosphere between January 6 and 19.<br /><br />Toxic fuel from the craft will burn on its fiery re-entry, but several dozen fragments weighing up to 200kg (440lbs) will crash into the Earth's surface, officials said. <br /><br /> Where it will all land is not yet known however - with the agency explaining that the rough area where the probe's fragments will fall can only be calculated a few days ahead of its plunge.<br /><br />The embarrassing failure of the probe was the latest in a series of problems that have raised concerns about the condition of Russia's space industries.<br /><br />The £105m Phobos-Grunt would have been the country's first interplanetary mission since Soviet times.<br /><br />It was originally set to blast off in October 2009, but its launch was postponed because the craft was not ready.<br /><br />Scientists had hoped that studies of the moon's soil could help solve the mystery of its origin and shed more light on the genesis of the solar system. </div> <br /><strong>Comment: </strong>There has been an alarming number of alleged defunct space debris falling to earth of late. See <a href="http://ca.news.yahoo.com/another-dead-satellite-fall-space-november-002001124.html">Here We Go Again! Another Dead Satellite to Fall From Space in November</a><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mbGCL12XELY">Unidentified comet inbound towards the Sun</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">yamkin1<br />YouTube<br />Tue, 27 Dec 2011 09:33 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> With thanks and gratitude for Suspicious0bservers's dedicated time and effort in producing this video.<br /><br /><br /><br /> <em></em> </div> <strong></strong><br /><br /></div></div></div><br /><br /><div align="center"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/mbGCL12XELY" allowfullscreen="" width="400" frameborder="0" height="315"></iframe></div><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div><div class="article-header"><h2> <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/92193/5-hours-of-beautiful-comet-lovejoy-in-30-seconds/">5 Hours of Beautiful Comet Lovejoy in 30 Seconds</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Nancy Atkinson<br />Universe Today<br />Thu, 29 Dec 2011 15:15 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <br /><br /><div align="center"><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/34314682?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen="" width="400" frameborder="0" height="225"></iframe><br /><a href="http://vimeo.com/34314682">Comet Lovejoy (C/2011 W3) Esperance WA (27-12-2012)</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user2471272">Colin Legg</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.<br /></div><br />Colin Legg from Esperance, Australia has been documenting Comet Lovejoy's holiday gift to the southern hemisphere, and this is his latest - and possibly last - timelapse, as the comet has started to fade. This one covers almost 5 hours of Legg's Comet Lovejoy views as seen during the early morning hours of December 27, 2011. "I used a tracking device to track in azimuth only to maximize coverage," Legg said. "If you look closely at the head in the 2nd half you can see it moving against the stars." <br /><br /><br /><div class="article-header"><h2> <a href="http://www.kold.com/story/16424673/green-light-streaks-across-arizona-night-sky">US: Green Light Streaks Across Arizona Night Sky</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">KOLD News 13<br />Sat, 31 Dec 2011 23:35 CST</div><br /> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> Tucson, Arizona - A streaking green light across the Arizona sky Saturday night created a stir among KOLD News 13 viewers and Facebook friends.<br /><br />Around 8:15 p.m., viewers called to ask about the light, wondering if it were a meteor, an asteroid or fireworks.<br /><br />"I would guess it's a meteor, but that's only a guess without actually seeing it," said Stephen Pompea, public information officer for Kitt Peak Observatory.<br /><br />Pompea, who was traveling this weekend in Colorado, said a meteor shower will be visible in the Southern Arizona sky Wednesday morning,<br /><br />"The Quadrantid meteor shower, one of the best displays of 'shooting stars' all year, will<br />peak in the hours before dawn," Pompea said. "If you get up early, bundle up warmly, and find dark site with a wide-open view of the clear sky, you might see 1 or 2 meteors per minute during the shower's brief but intense performance."<br /><br />The light could be seen as far northwest as Prescott in Yavapai County and as far southeast as Douglas in Cochise County, according to News 13 Facebook friends. <br /><br /> "Thought I was seeing things at first, it was amazing!" Suzanne Pickering wrote.<br /><br />Denise Goldman wrote: "My family and I were enjoying camp fire in Sahuarita. Meteor went from east to west. Very big ... and a beautiful green."<br /><br /></div><br /><br /><div align="center"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/AtJUPP1K5E4" allowfullscreen="" width="400" frameborder="0" height="315">&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;</iframe><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><br /><h2> <a href="http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com/2011/12/italia-meteor-fireball-27dec2011.html">Italy: Meteor Fireball Photographed 27 December 2011</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com<br />Tue, 27 Dec 2011 12:26 CST</div><br /> </div> <div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/90809/full/Italia_MeteorFireball_27DEC201.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Maurizio Eltri"><img src="https://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/90809/large/Italia_MeteorFireball_27DEC201.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Maurizio Eltri<br /></span></div></div>This is a photo of the fireball that Maurizio Eltri captured from Lido, Venice, Italy on 27 December 2011 at 02:24.<br /><br />The fireball was very low in the east. <br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div><div class="article-header"><h2> <a href="http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com/2011/12/japan-bolide-meteor-fireball-27dec2011.html">Japan: Bolide Meteor Fireball, 27 December 2011</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com<br />Wed, 28 Dec 2011 12:45 CST</div><br /> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <br /><br /><div align="center"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/bQO_YZ1YlSc" allowfullscreen="" width="400" frameborder="0" height="309"></iframe></div><br /><br /> Uploaded to YouTube by <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/Sheilaaliens" target="_blank">Sheilaaliens</a> 2011/12/28<br />Source: <a href="http://sonotaco.jp/" target="_blank">sonotaco.jp</a> </div><br /><br /><div class="article-header"><h2> <a href="http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com/2011/12/japan-bolide-meteor-fireballs-11dec.html">Japan, 11 - 15 December 2011: Bolide Meteor Fireballs Captured on Video</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com<br />Thu, 29 Dec 2011 12:37 CST</div><br /> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <br /><br /><div align="center"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/o45fEWeA96Q" allowfullscreen="" width="400" frameborder="0" height="309"></iframe></div> <br /><br /><div align="center"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Fe0xrg4WHt8" allowfullscreen="" width="400" frameborder="0" height="309"></iframe></div> <br /><br />Uploaded to YouTube by <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/Sheilaaliens" target="_blank">Sheilaaliens</a> 2011/12/15<br />Recorded from Japan. Source: <a href="http://www.sonotaco.jp/" target="_blank">sonotaco.jp</a> </div></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">A Service of <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">Signs of the Times</a>: The most comprehensive, objective and reliable Alternative News Source on the Web. If you aren't reading <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">SOTT</a>, you don't know what's REALLY happening!</div>Keithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06011086310017706847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385115091808825739.post-9963707943993920512011-11-14T15:35:00.002+00:002011-12-06T16:28:58.975+00:00November 2011<div class="article-header"><h2> <a href="http://www.dailyhome.com/view/full_story/16239230/article-Did-meteor-fall-from-sky-in-Pell-City-?instance=home_lead_story" target="_blank">US: Did Meteor Fall from Sky in Pell City, Alabama?</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">David Atchison<br />The Daily Home<br />Tue, 01 Nov 2011 13:51 CDT</div> <div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/237036-US-Did-Meteor-Fall-from-Sky-in-Pell-City-Alabama-#"><br /></a></div> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image to-right"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/85804/full/3GFI_Metorite_1.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/85804/medium/3GFI_Metorite_1.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><br /><span class="caption">Bill Watts is shown at a possible meteor impact site in his backyard.</span></div></div>Where are FBI special agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully when you need them?<br /><br />The two <em>X-Files</em> characters would come in handy helping a local man figure out what in the world, or maybe out of this world, caused a large, black hole to appear in his backyard, setting nearby woods on fire.<br /><br />"I think it was a meteor," Bill Watts, 54, of Pell City said as he moved the wooden plywood board lying on the ground, revealing a dark, black crater at the edge of some woods on his property.<br /><br />Watts admits he doesn't know exactly what made the large, round crater and caused a fire Friday at about 8 p.m.<br /><br />"It had to be so hot and moving so fast to do that," he said. "This ground is pretty hard."<br /><br />He gripped a post hole digger with both hands and drove it into the ground.<br /><br />"See," he said.<br /><br />The post hole digger barely made a mark on the hard ground.<br /><br />The walls inside the crater are charred, obviously burned. A fine ash covers the bottom of the hole.<br /><br />Watts took the post hole digger and carefully removed some of the burnt ashes from the bottom of the hole. <br /><br /> He piled the ashes next to the hole and knelt down, gently scooping up a handful.<br /><br />"It's all burnt up," Watts said.<br /><br />He said if a meteorite made the crater it is possible it is buried at the bottom of the hole.<br /><br />Right now, Watts is careful not to disturb the site too much so an expert can take a look at it and explain to him exactly what it is and how it got there.<br /><br />Henry Graves, Watts' brother-in-law who lives next door, may have witnessed the impact.<br /><br />"All at once flames shot up 5 to 6 feet into the air," Graves said. "The flames went higher than the fence."<br /><br />Watts' wooden fence is about 6 feet tall.<br /><br />Graves was standing on the porch of his home, waiting for his daughter and grandchild to arrive for a visit, when he saw flames shooting up into the air.<br /><br />He said the fire lit the entire back area behind the wooden partition.<br /><br />"It was like daylight," Graves said. "It was like someone throwing gas on a brush pile. ... You wouldn't believe the light it put out."<br /><br />Graves said he did not hear any type of explosion or see a shooting flame across the sky. He just saw the flames shooting up from the ground and into the sky.<br /><br />He watched the fire for a few minutes and decided to call his neighbors.<br /><br />"I said, 'What in the world are ya'll burning up there?'" Graves recalled.<br /><br />His neighbors told him they weren't burning anything.<br /><br />"We first thought our boats blew up. Then we thought someone built a big fire," Watts said. "All sorts of things go through your head."<br /><br />He said they went out to the site "expecting to see someone fooling around."<br /><br />There was nobody on the property, just a small fire that was burning fallen leaves and, of course, the charred crater.<br /><br />Watts said they were able to stomp out the ground fire.<br /><br />He said the fire appeared to have originated from the crater. A burned path led from the hole to the woods.<br /><br />The crater is about 3 feet deep and measures 13-15 inches across. There are a couple of smaller, softball or football size holes next to the bigger hole, measuring 5-6 inches across.<br /><br />Watts hopes a geologist or someone with expertise in meteorites will take a closer look at what he thinks is a meteor impact site, and dig up a meteor that is possibly buried beneath the crater.<br /><br />But until then, the black hole on Watts' property remains a mystery.<br /><br /><br /><br /><h2> <a href="http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-11-quarter-mile-wide-asteroid-earth.html" target="_blank">Quarter-mile-wide asteroid coming close to Earth</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">Physorg<br />Sat, 05 Nov 2011 17:48 CDT</div><br /> </div> <div class="article-body"> <em>An asteroid bigger than an aircraft carrier will dart between the Earth and moon on Tuesday - the closest encounter by such a huge rock in 35 years.</em><br /><br />But scientists say not to worry. It won't hit.<br /><br />"We're extremely confident, 100 percent confident, that this is not a threat," said the manager of NASA's Near Earth Object Program, Don Yeomans. "But it is an opportunity."<br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/86227/full/quartermilew.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA/Cornell/Arecibo"><img style="width: 392px; height: 294px;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/86227/large/quartermilew.jpg" alt="Huge Ateroid aproaching" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA/Cornell/Arecibo</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">This image made from radar data taken in April 2010 by the Arecibo Radar Telescope in Puerto Rico and provided by NASA/Cornell/Arecibo shows asteroid 2005 YU55. </span></div></div>The asteroid named 2005 YU55 is being watched by ground antennas as it approaches from the direction of the sun. The last time it came within so-called shouting distance was 200 years ago.<br /><br />Closest approach will occur at 6:28 p.m. EST Tuesday when the asteroid passes within 202,000 miles of Earth. That's closer than the roughly 240,000 miles between the Earth and the moon. <br /><br /> The moon will be just under 150,000 miles from the asteroid at the time of closest approach.<br /><br />Both the Earth and moon are safe - "this time," said Jay Melosh, professor of Earth and atmospheric sciences at Purdue University.<br /><br />If 2005 YU55 were to plow into the home planet, it would blast out a crater four miles across and 1,700 feet deep, according to Melosh's calculations. Think a magnitude-7 earthquake and 70-foot-high tsunami waves.<br /><br />Scientists have been tracking the slowly spinning, spherical, dark-colored object since its discovery in 2005, and are positive it won't do any damage.<br /><br />"We know the orbit of this object very well," Yeomans said.<br /><br />The asteroid stretches a quarter-mile across. Smaller objects come close all the time, Yeomans noted, but nothing this big will have ventured so close since 1976. And nothing this large will again until 2028.<br /><br />Radar observations from California and Puerto Rico will help scientists ascertain whether the asteroid is pockmarked with craters and holds any water-bearing minerals or even frozen water.<br /><br />Amateur astronomers would need a 6-inch-or-bigger telescope and know exactly where to look to spot it.<br /><br />Astronomers consider 2005 YU55 a C-type asteroid - one containing carbon-based materials. "It's not just a whirling rock like most of them," Yeomans said.<br /><br />Such objects are believed to have brought carbon-based materials and water to the early Earth, planting the seeds for life. The discovery of water-bearing minerals or ice would support that theory, Yeomans said.<br /><br />This is the type of asteroid that NASA would want to aim for, with astronauts, Yeomans said, especially if frozen water is found. Such asteroids could serve as watering holes and fueling stations for future explorers, he said.<br /><br /><div align="center"><script type="text/javascript" src="http://cdn-akm.vmixcore.com/vmixcore/js?auto_play=0&cc_default_off=1&player_name=uvp&width=400&height=332&player_id=1aa0b90d7d31305a75d7fa03bc403f5a&t=V0JsG3aAg8nebChJUj6kuqlSw5iXtxGLef"></script></div><br /><br />An asteroid is actually on NASA's short list for destinations.<br /><br />President Barack Obama wants astronauts headed to an asteroid and then Mars in the coming decades. That's why the 30-year space shuttle program ceased this summer - so NASA could have enough money to get cracking on these new destinations.<br /><br />As for an actual strike by an asteroid this size, that's estimated to occur once every 100,000 years or so.<br /><br />An asteroid named Apophis - estimated to be 885 feet across - will venture extremely close on April 13, 2029 - but will not strike. It has a remote chance of hitting Earth when it comes around again on April 13, 2036.<br /><br />Scientists said information gleaned from 2005 YU55, as well as other asteroids, will prove useful if and when it becomes necessary to deflect an incoming Armageddon-style rock.<br /><br />Source: AP </div><br /><br /><br /><br /><h2> <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/deflecting-killer-asteroids-away-earth-could-150029398.html;_ylt=Aky9WhHfesbSm36oDU35vZys0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNtOXYwbWFzBG1pdANUb3BTdG9yeSBGUARwa2cDMmI2MTkyYjUtN2Y3My0zMjM5LTk2NTgtMjJhMzg3YjUzZDJlBHBvcwMyMQRzZWMDdG9wX3N0b3J5BHZlcgMzYmNiNW" target="_blank">Deflecting Killer Asteroids Away From Earth: How We Could Do It</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Mike Wall<br />Space.com<br />Mon, 07 Nov 2011 15:52 CST</div> <div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/237351-Deflecting-Killer-Asteroids-Away-From-Earth-How-We-Could-Do-It#"><br /></a></div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/86384/full/asteroid_sizes_100831_02.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Emily Lakdawalla/Ted Stryk"><img style="width: 395px; height: 285px;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/86384/large/asteroid_sizes_100831_02.jpg" alt="Asteroids" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Emily Lakdawalla/Ted Stryk</span><br /><span class="caption">Asteroids Visited by Spacecraft<br /><br /></span></div></div>A huge asteroid's close approach to Earth tomorrow (Nov. 8) reinforces that we live in a cosmic shooting gallery, and we can't just sit around waiting to get hit again, experts say.<br /><br /><a href="http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=AlsFgurzwS.7f_z2etn0KqobANEA;_ylu=X3oDMTFqMDgxZXM0BG1pdANBcnRpY2xlIEJvZHkEcG9zAzEEc2VjA01lZGlhQXJ0aWNsZUJvZHlBc3NlbWJseQ--;_ylv=0/SIG=12ue2g36p/EXP=1321912324/**http%3A//www.space.com/13474-asteroid-2005yu55-close-approach-earth-faq.html" target="_blank">Asteroid 2005 YU55</a>, which is the size of an aircraft carrier, will zip within the moon's orbit tomorrow, but it poses no danger of hitting us for the foreseeable future. Eventually, however, one of its big space rock cousins will barrel straight toward Earth, <strong>as asteroids have done millions of times throughout our planet's history.</strong><br /><br />If we want to avoid going the way of the dinosaurs, which were wiped out by an <a href="http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=AuZA8uZ8VpNkv7wZW.lOvv8bANEA;_ylu=X3oDMTFqaWd2Ymg3BG1pdANBcnRpY2xlIEJvZHkEcG9zAzIEc2VjA01lZGlhQXJ0aWNsZUJvZHlBc3NlbWJseQ--;_ylv=0/SIG=12qnpupcl/EXP=1321912324/**http%3A//www.space.com/13008-dinosaur-killing-asteroid-mystery-nasa.html" target="_blank">asteroid strike</a> 65 million years ago, we're going to have to deflect a killer space rock someday, researchers say. Fortunately, we know how to do it.<br /><br />"We have the capability - physically, technically - to protect the Earth from asteroid impacts," said former astronaut Rusty Schweickart, chairman of the B612 Foundation, a group dedicated to predicting and preventing catastrophic asteroid strikes. "We are now able to very slightly and subtly reshape the solar system in order to enhance human survival."<br /><br />In fact, we have several different techniques at our disposal to nudge killer asteroids away from Earth. Here's a brief rundown of the possible arrows in our planetary defense quiver. <br /><br /> <span class="BoldGrey">The Gravity Tractor</span><br /><br />If researchers detect a potentially dangerous space rock in plenty of time, the best option may be to send a robotic probe out to rendezvous and ride along with it.<br /><br />The spacecraft's modest gravity would exert a tug on the asteroid as the two cruise through space together. Over months or years, this "gravity tractor" method would pull the asteroid into a different, more benign orbit.<br /><br />"You can get a very precise change in the orbit for the final part of the deflection using a technology of this kind," Schweickart said in late September, during a presentation at Caltech in Pasadena, Calif., called "Moving an Asteroid."<br /><br />Humanity has already demonstrated the know-how to pull off such a mission. Multiple probes have met up with faraway asteroids in deep space, including NASA's <a href="http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=AjtuLUsP88RCY9OxPs9acugbANEA;_ylu=X3oDMTFqc2Fobm1zBG1pdANBcnRpY2xlIEJvZHkEcG9zAzQEc2VjA01lZGlhQXJ0aWNsZUJvZHlBc3NlbWJseQ--;_ylv=0/SIG=12jqsq6cj/EXP=1321912324/**http%3A//www.space.com/11540-photos-asteroid-vesta-nasa-dawn.html" target="_blank"><em>Dawn</em> spacecraft</a>, which is currently orbiting the huge space rock Vesta.<br /><br />And in 2005, the Japanese <a href="http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=AnzTLH9dN5RTJEat70wifqcbANEA;_ylu=X3oDMTFqaGFmbHBnBG1pdANBcnRpY2xlIEJvZHkEcG9zAzUEc2VjA01lZGlhQXJ0aWNsZUJvZHlBc3NlbWJseQ--;_ylv=0/SIG=13fh1rerb/EXP=1321912324/**http%3A//www.space.com/77-asteroid-explorer-hayabusa-how-japan-s-asteroid-mission-worked.html" target="_blank"><em>Hayabusa</em> probe</a> even plucked some pieces off the asteroid Itokawa, sending them back to Earth for analysis.<br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Smash 'Em Up</span><br /><br />We could also be more aggressive with our asteroid rendezvous craft, relying on brute force rather than a gentle gravitational tug. That is, we could simply slam a robotic probe into the threatening space rock to change its orbit.<br /><br />We know how to do this, too. In 2005, for example, NASA sent an impactor barreling into the <a href="http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=AjTHhVMWUikBOwUmfSr7Z4MbANEA;_ylu=X3oDMTFqY2dxYjVxBG1pdANBcnRpY2xlIEJvZHkEcG9zAzYEc2VjA01lZGlhQXJ0aWNsZUJvZHlBc3NlbWJseQ--;_ylv=0/SIG=12pd2rdnt/EXP=1321912324/**http%3A//www.space.com/10814-comet-tempel-1-photos-nasa-spacecraft.html" target="_blank">comet Tempel 1</a> to determine the icy object's composition.<br /><br />The impactor approach would not be as precise as the gravity tractor technique, Schweickart said, but it could still do the job.<br /><br />There's also the possibility of blowing the asteroid to smithereens with a <a href="http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=AgorQ_DjZrWjJUseP_PSbGsbANEA;_ylu=X3oDMTFqZG1vZW1rBG1pdANBcnRpY2xlIEJvZHkEcG9zAzcEc2VjA01lZGlhQXJ0aWNsZUJvZHlBc3NlbWJseQ--;_ylv=0/SIG=12s65sboi/EXP=1321912324/**http%3A//www.space.com/10489-nuke-asteroid-idea-revived-protect-earth.html" target="_blank">nuclear weapon</a>. The nuclear option could come into play if the dangerous space rock is too big to knock around with a kinetic impactor, but it would likely be a weapon of last resort.<br /><br />For one thing, blasting an asteroid to bits might end up doing more harm than good, said fellow presentation panelist Bill Nye, executive director of the Planetary Society.<br /><br />"Momentum is conserved," Nye said. "If you blow it up, then the whole giant spray of rocks is coming at the Earth instead of one."<br /><br />The politics involved in mobilizing use of a nuke could also be a cause for concern, Schweickart said. It will likely be hard enough to convince the world to mount any sort of <a href="http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=AvjfJJ0H3.uZRhg7O94RnBQbANEA;_ylu=X3oDMTFqZTJrMXNoBG1pdANBcnRpY2xlIEJvZHkEcG9zAzgEc2VjA01lZGlhQXJ0aWNsZUJvZHlBc3NlbWJseQ--;_ylv=0/SIG=134rfgrup/EXP=1321912324/**http%3A//www.space.com/13164-killer-asteroids-deflection-humanity-cooperation.html" target="_blank">asteroid-deflection mission</a> in time, and adding nuclear missiles to the equation would make things much stickier.<br /><br />"The potential use of nuclear explosives for deflection cannot currently be ruled out," Schweickart said. "But it is an extremely low probability that they will be needed."<br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">'Mirror Bees' and Foil Wrap</span><br /><br />While we're pretty sure that gravity tractors and kinetic impactor probes would work, researchers are also looking into several other ideas.<br /><br />There's the "mirror bee" concept, for example, which would launch a swarm of small, mirror-bearing spacecraft to a dangerous asteroid. These mini-probes would aim reflected sunlight at one spot on the space rock, heating it up so much that rock is vaporized, creating propulsive jets.<br /><br />"The reaction of that gas or material being ejected from the asteroid would nudge it off-course," Nye said.<br /><br />The Planetary Society is helping fund research into mirror bees, Nye said. And while he said the concept isn't yet ready for deployment or demonstration, he stressed that it's not too far off, either.<br /><br />"Maybe five years," Nye told SPACE.com. "It's not 30 years."<br /><br />Nye also floated another, more speculative idea. It might be possible to move an asteroid, he said, by wrapping it in reflective foil, like a giant baked potato. Photons from the sun might then nudge the space rock away from Earth, in much the same way they propel spacecraft equipped with solar sails.<br /><br />"This might work, even if the thing is rotating," Nye said. "OK, make no promises. But it's something to invest in."<br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Passing the Intelligent Life Test</span><br /><br />The biggest key to deflecting dangerous asteroids, researchers say, is detecting them with plenty of lead time to take appropriate action. We'd like to have a least a decade of notice, NASA scientists have said.<br /><br />It'll take awhile, after all, to mobilize and launch a deflection mission, and for that mission to do its job, especially if we go the gravity tractor route.<br /><br />We need to make sure we can rise to the challenge when a big, threatening asteroid shows up on our radar, Schweickart and Nye said. Civilization's very survival depends on it.<br /><br />"If there is a community of intelligent life out in the universe ... those intelligent beings will have already conquered this challenge," Schweickart said. "Our entrance exam to that community of intelligent life is to pass this test." </div><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <div class="article-icon"> <br /></div> <h2> <a href="http://www.pkim.org/?q=pl/node/1691" target="_blank">Two fireballs seen over Poland on successive nights, including very bright one observed from Berlin to Czech Republic</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Translated by SOTT.net<br />Polish Fireball Network<br />Tue, 08 Nov 2011 07:31 CST</div> <div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/237486-Two-fireballs-seen-over-Poland-on-successive-nights-including-very-bright-one-observed-from-Berlin-to-Czech-Republic#"><br /></a></div> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image to-right"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/86619/full/2_mapa.png" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© PKiM"><img src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/86619/medium/2_mapa.png" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© PKiM</span><br /><span class="caption">Trajectory<br /><br /></span></div></div>On Sunday a record-breaking fireball appeared over Poland. Its visible trail was as long as 254 km, reports the Polish Fireball Network (PFN - PKiM in Polish).<br /><br />This phenomenon took place on 6 November at 5:38:19 p.m. local time. The fireball flew nearly directly south from the region of Poznan toward the Czech Republic. It reached its maximum brightness over a village of Lukova in the Czech Republic. Average brightness was of -3 magnitude and in outbursts it reached up to -5.5. The meteor appeared at an altitude of 130 km and burnt up at 95 km. Its flight lasted almost 4 seconds.<br /><br />It was a sporadic meteor of cometary origin and was travelling very fast. Its velocity was up to 65 km/sec.<br /><br />The phenomenon was registered by the Polish Fireball Network in Chelm, Otwock, Twardogora, Urzedowo and Krakow.<br /><br /><div class="article-image to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/86618/full/m20111106_163819_pfn38_44p.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© PKiM"><img src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/86618/medium/m20111106_163819_pfn38_44p.jpg" alt="fireball" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© PKiM</span><br /><span class="caption">Nov 6, 16:38:19 UT, first report came from Tomasz Krzyzanowski, observatory station Podgorzyn, PFN 38</span></div></div> <br /><br /> <blockquote class="typ1"> A comment left on the PKiN website:<br /><br /><strong>Confirmed in Berlin</strong><br />Submitted by amoeller on wt., 2011-11-08 09:19.<br /><br />Hi guys,<br /><br />I can confirm a seeing this from Berlin (Germany).<br /><br />My exact location was: Motorway A10 - East Berlin ring (direction south).<br /><br />Excactly at 16:38 UT a fireball dived the earth from south to north. It passed the moon from the right site.<br /><br />Greetings from Germany,<br /><br />Andreas </blockquote> <div class="article-image to-left"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/86620/full/small20111108.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© PKiM"><img src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/86620/medium/small20111108.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© PKiM</span></div></div>The following day, 7 November, saw another interesting phenomenon picked up by the <a href="http://www.pkim.org/?q=pl/node/1692" target="_blank">Polish Fireball Network</a>.<br /><br />Due to its early timing, some cameras were not yet working, however three stations (PFN20, PFN24 and PFN37) registered the visitor. The fireball was not travelling very fast and had an initial velocity of 25.1 km/s, flying between Lodz and Warsaw. The length of the fireball track was 75 km, with the maximum brightness reached over Zyrardow.<br /><br />The phenomenon was somewhat unusual. A number of flashes indicates its cometary nature, the orbit was clearly elliptical with aphelion between Jupiter and Saturn. On the other hand, its initial and final altitudes (87 km and 57 km) indicate a body of a slightly bigger density. It could have been a carbonaceous chondrite.<br /><br />More pictures can be seen on the PKiM website:<br /><a href="http://www.pkim.org/?q=pl/node/1691" target="_blank"> Meteor of November 6</a><br /><a href="http://www.pkim.org/?q=pl/node/1692" target="_blank">Meteor of November 7</a> </div><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <div class="article-icon"> <br /></div> <h2> <a href="http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/08/8704993-passing-asteroid-puts-on-a-show" target="_blank">Passing asteroid 2005 YU55 puts on a show</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Alan Boyle<br />Cosmic Log / MSNBC<br />Wed, 09 Nov 2011 08:24 CST</div> <div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/237430-Passing-asteroid-2005-YU55-puts-on-a-show#"><br /></a></div> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> Astronomers watched the asteroid 2005 YU55 spin as it zoomed harmlessly past Earth, and everybody else was looking over their shoulders. You can expect to see a huge pile of pictures now that the coal-dark space rock has passed by.<br /><br />Even before the closest pass, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory provided a six-frame "movie" based on radar data acquired by the Goldstone radio telescope on Monday. This sequence was captured from a distance of 860,000 miles (1.38 million kilometers).<br /><br /><div align="center"><object id="msnbc3eb81f" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=10,0,0,0" height="245" width="400"><param name="movie" value="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640"><param name="FlashVars" value="launch=45214672&width=400&height=245"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed name="msnbc3eb81f" src="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640" flashvars="launch=45214672&width=420&height=245" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash" height="245" width="400"></embed></object></div><br /><br />The closest approach to Earth came at 6:28 p.m. ET Tuesday, when the quarter-mile-wide (400-meter-wide) asteroid slipped just barely within the orbit of the moon at a distance of 198,000 miles (319,000 kilometers). YU55 is due to come closest to the moon at 2:14 a.m. ET Wednesday, NASA said.<br /><br />Neither the moon nor Earth was at risk during this flyby, but the information gathered this time around could help astronomers know what they're dealing with during potentially riskier encounters.<br /><br />Here's a parting shot of YU55 from the 25-inch telescope at the Clay Center Observatory in Massachusetts, which tracked the asteroid as it swept past at 29,000 mph:<br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/86518/full/ff.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Clay Center Observatory"><img style="width: 394px; height: 341px;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/86518/large/ff.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Clay Center Observatory</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">The speck near the center of this image is 2005 YU55 at the time of closest approach. The bright streaks are background stars.</span></div></div>In a Twitter update, NASA said that YU55 will make its next Earth flyby in 2015, "but at a greater distance than today." Today's encounter wasn't close enough to perturb the near-Earth asteroid's orbit, but experts are wondering whether a close flyby of Venus in 2029 will change its orbital path slightly.<br /><br />Even if that Venus encounter does cause a change, Earth is in no danger from this particular space rock, at least for the next 100 years or so. Which is a good thing. If an object the size of YU55 were to hit land, experts say it would blast a 4-mile-wide, 1,700-foot-deep crater and set off a 7.0 earthquake. If it hit at sea, it would create a catastrophic tsunami with 70-foot-high waves.<br /><br /><div align="center"><object id="msnbc143684" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=10,0,0,0" height="245" width="400"><param name="movie" value="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640"><param name="FlashVars" value="launch=45215197&width=400&height=245"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed name="msnbc143684" src="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640" flashvars="launch=45215197&width=420&height=245" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash" height="245" width="400"></embed></object></div><br /><br />The last time an asteroid as big as YU55 came this close was in 1976, and the next time will be in 2028 - or could it be sooner? Scientists recently estimated that thousands of asteroids around the size of YU55 remain to be discovered, so learning about this rock's composition and motion could help us deal with many other rocks to come.<br /><br />YU55 is particularly interesting because it has a high carbon content, which makes it coal-black. Such carbonaceous chondrites have been found to contain amino acids, and may have played a role in the origin of life on Earth. NASA's Osiris-Rex mission, due for launch in 2016, will target a carbonaceous asteroid called 1999 RQ36 and try to bring a sample back to Earth for study.<br /><br />NASA's current space vision calls for sending astronauts to a near-Earth asteroid sometime in the mid-2020s, and the head of NASA's Near Earth Object Program, Don Yeomans, said that if he got the chance to decide the destination, he'd pick a carbon-bearing rock like YU55.<br /><br />"This would be an ideal object," he told The Associated Press.<br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <br /> <h2> <a href="http://www.newschannel9.com/news/earthquake-1006409-dalton-one.html" target="_blank">US: Dalton, Georgia Reacts to 2.7 'Tremor' - 'explosion, came from the air'</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Natalie Jenereski<br />News Channel 9<br />Wed, 09 Nov 2011 15:46 CST</div> <div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/237508-US-Dalton-Georgia-Reacts-to-2-7-Tremor-explosion-came-from-the-air-#"><br /></a></div> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> A 2.7 magnitude quake rocked the Dalton area just before noon Wednesday. While some people in Dalton were pretty sure the rumble was an earthquake, others were convinced it was something else.<br /><br /><div align="center"><object id="flashObj" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,47,0" height="240" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1"><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF"><param name="flashVars" value="videoId=1266807106001&linkBaseURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newschannel9.com%2Fnews%2Fearthquake-1006409-dalton-one.html&playerID=23319445001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAADqBmLk~,HCwX87cl3TFWu3dtGynWMu-FxUJyFhTZ&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true"><param name="base" value="http://admin.brightcove.com"><param name="seamlesstabbing" value="false"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="swLiveConnect" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashvars="videoId=1266807106001&linkBaseURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newschannel9.com%2Fnews%2Fearthquake-1006409-dalton-one.html&playerID=23319445001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAADqBmLk~,HCwX87cl3TFWu3dtGynWMu-FxUJyFhTZ&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="flashObj" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" swliveconnect="true" allowscriptaccess="always" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash" height="240" width="320"></embed></object></div><br /><br />"Chances are it might have been an earthquake, but maybe it was some big monster outside that's coming to get us all," Jonathan Marks jokes about the magnitude 2.7 quake, but he wasn't the only one who was curious about what caused the ground to shake beneath his feet. The US Geological Survey didn't officially deem the shake, a quake until 2 hours after people say they felt the ground rattle and heard a loud boom in the air.<br /><br />"I thought it was kind of like a huge explosion or a sonic boom because there was a little noise at first and then a loud explosion and I felt it right between my shoulders it was like it came from the air," said Mary Ellen Gurley, an employee at Dalton State College. <br /><br /> The USGS says Northwest Georgia is not an area prone to quakes. The largest earthquake in our seismic zone was on April 29th, 2003. It was a 4.6 magnitude near Fort Payne, Alabama. So if you had never felt one until Wednesday, you probably wouldn't have known what it was.<br /><br />"I lived in North Carolina several years ago and felt one there. I guess it's not that different from a sonic boom or an explosion or something but to me, I thought this one was an earthquake, I guess having felt it before," said Mike Brown from Dalton.<br /><br />Though the Dalton Police Department was flooded with calls, luckily no one was injured in the quake.<br /><br />According to the USGS, the closest, most recent earthquake besides this one, happened Tuesday. A 2.0 magnitude earthquake hit Maryville, Tennessee around 8:30 p.m.<br /><br />Listen to 911 calls placed immediately following the quake:<br /><br /><div align="center"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/l6qgBAgevXM" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="309" width="400"></iframe></div><br /></div> <br /><strong>Comment: </strong>Sounds more like another meteorite exploding in the atmosphere overhead.<br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://hamptonroads.com/2011/11/another-mystery-rumble-felt-hampton-roads" target="_blank">US: Another mystery rumble felt in Hampton Roads, Virginia</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Mike Hixenbaugh<br />The Virginian-Pilot<br />Thu, 10 Nov 2011 16:47 CST</div> <div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/237510-US-Another-mystery-rumble-felt-in-Hampton-Roads-Virginia#"><br /></a></div> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image to-right"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/86650/full/Picture_12.png" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/86650/medium/Picture_12.png" alt="Virginia Beach map" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a></div>Boom, it happened again.<br /><br />Residents at the Oceanfront reported hearing a strange explosion around 9 p.m. Wednesday that rattled windows, shook foundations and startled babies out of their sleep.<br /><br />It was the second time this year coastal residents have flooded emergency lines and online social networking sites after hearing and feeling ... well, something.<br /><br />As with a previous mystery disturbance in May, nobody seems to know what happened, yet theories abound.<br /><br />It wasn't another earthquake like the one that shook the East Coast in August, according to geologists. A NASA scientist said it could have been caused by <strong>a meteor crashing through the atmosphere</strong>, but there's no way of knowing without photographic proof. And military officials said don't blame them. <br /><br /> Oceana Naval Air Station spokeswoman Kelly Sterling felt and heard the boom at her home in Virginia Beach but said in an email it had nothing to do with jet noise or off-shore military exercises.<br /><br />Beach middle school students made headlines last spring when they theorized the boom felt in May was a curious and little-understood phenomenon known as Seneca Guns. But the term was invented centuries ago to describe mysterious coastal sounds and offers no actual explanation.<br /><br />On Facebook, several Beach residents wondered if the disturbance had anything to do with alien invaders. Others blamed Congress or chalked it up to a top-secret government operation.<br /><br />"There's no easy way of knowing," said NASA scientist Joe Zawodny, who heard the boom at his home in Poquoson. "There are a million things you could blame this on." </div> <br /><strong>Comment: </strong>Sounds like <em>yet another</em> meteor exploding overhead.<br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <div class="article-icon"> <br /><br /> </div> <h2> <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15572634" target="_blank">Scientists spot strange structures surface of asteroid as it passes by</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">BBC<br />Thu, 10 Nov 2011 16:43 CST</div> </div> </div><br /><br /><div align="center"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/mLL8Nqk3Akg" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="309" width="400"></iframe></div><br /><br /><div class="article-body"> An asteroid that is 400m (1,300ft) wide has passed by Earth, much to the delight of astronomers.<br /><br />Although invisible to the naked eye, scientists said they spotted strange structures on its surface as it spun past at 30,000mph (48 280.32 km/h).<br /><br />Asteroid 2005 YU55's was the closest an asteroid has been to Earth in 200 years, according to Nasa.<br /><br />It is also the largest space rock fly-by Earth has seen since 1976; the next visit by a large asteroid will be 2028.<br /><br />The aircraft-carrier-sized asteroid was darkly coloured in visible wavelengths and nearly spherical, lazily spinning about once every 20 hours as it raced through our neighbourhood of the Solar System. <br /><br /> Ron Dantowitz, the director of the Clay Centre Observatory in Massachusetts, followed the asteroid through a telescope.<br /><br />"We're tracking the asteroid itself, so the stars are moving by in the background and the asteroid is actually streaking by at about 30,000mph," he said.<br /><br />"As we track it, it looks like the stars are moving in the background and the asteroid is locked on in the centre view.<br /><br />"It's not so much that we can see it tumbling like a rock in space, we're examining it for the brightness and colour."<br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">'Closest approach'</span><br /><br />Nasa said it had been no closer than 201,700 miles (324,600km), as measured from the centre of the Earth. The rock reached its closest point to Earth at 23:28 GMT on Tuesday.<br /><br />It will now trace a path across the whole sky through to Thursday.<br /><br />The asteroid often travels in the vicinity of Earth, Mars and Venus, but Nasa said this fly-by had been the closest the asteroid had come to Earth in at least 200 years.<br /><br />"This is the closest approach by an asteroid that large that we've ever known about in advance," said Lance Benner of Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.<br /><br />But he stressed that there had been no chance that the pass would be anything other than a close encounter.<br /><br />"2005 YU55 cannot hit Earth, at least over the interval that we can compute the motion reliably - which extends for several hundred years," he said.<br /><br />Instead, the pass gave astronomers a rare opportunity to study the asteroid in detail.<br /><br />In particular, two radio telescopes - the Goldstone Observatory in California, US and the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, US - tracked radio echoes off it in a bid to understand better what it is made of and how it is shaped.<br /><br />The precise details of the asteroid's path will also help scientists to predict where it will go much further into the future.<br /><br />Earth has several regular visitors like 2005 YU55 - most famously <a href="http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/apophis/" target="_blank">the Apophis asteroid</a>. Apophis has in the past been claimed as a possible future impactor when it returns to our neighbourhood in 2029 and again in 2036.<br /><br />There is, according to the latest calculations, no danger from Apophis either. However, it will pass much closer to Earth on 13 April 2029 - at a distance of 18,300 miles (29,500km). </div> <br /><strong>Comment: </strong>The above video is not the BBC's of course, it's taken from <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLL8Nqk3Akg" target="_blank">this</a> YouTube channel.<br /><br />We think that image is far too grainy to tell if we're looking at 'a structure' (in the sense that it's 'unnatural').<br /><br />The narrator does make a good point however about the poor quality images they made available to the public. They can take fabulous photographs of other galaxies, but can't do better than this for "the closest asteroid fly-by in 200 years"?<br /><br />It could be that by "strange structures", they meant naturally occurring structures they weren't expecting to see, such as the clear signs of electrical arc discharges on comets Wild 2 and Tempel 1 (which completely discounted the 'dirty snowball' theory of comets, by the way).<br /><br />Then there's this:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/236243-Asteroid-Vesta-Has-Mountain-Three-Times-as-Tall-as-Everest" target="_blank">Asteroid Vesta Has Mountain Three Times as Tall as Everest</a><br /><br />And then, if we put our conspiracy-minded hats on for a minute, it could be that they're deliberately feeding the 'comets and space rocks as UFOs and motherships' disinformation.<br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <br /> <h2> <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/90920/asteroid-lutetia-a-piece-of-earth/" target="_blank">Asteroid Lutetia... A Piece Of Earth?</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Tammy Plotner<br />Universe Today<br />Sat, 12 Nov 2011 21:07 CST</div> <div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/237579-Asteroid-Lutetia-A-Piece-Of-Earth-#"><br /></a></div> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image to-right"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/86804/full/g.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© ESA 2010 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA"><img src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/86804/medium/g.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© ESA 2010 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA</span><br /><span class="caption">This image of the unusual asteroid Lutetia was taken by ESA’s Rosetta probe during its closest approach in July 2010. Lutetia, which is about 100 kilometres across, seems to be a leftover fragment of the same original material that formed the Earth, Venus and Mercury. It is now part of the main asteroid belt, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, but its composition suggests that it was originally much closer to the Sun. Credit:<br /></span></div></div>According to data received from ESA's Rosetta spacecraft, ESO's New Technology Telescope, and NASA telescopes, strange asteroid Lutetia could be a real piece of the rock... the original material that formed the Earth, Venus and Mercury! By examining precious meteors which may have formed at the time of the inner Solar System, scientists have found matching properties which indicate a relationship. Independent Lutetia must have just moved its way out to join in the main asteroid belt...<br /><br />A team of astronomers from French and North American universities have been hard at work studying asteroid Lutetia spectroscopically. Data sets from the OSIRIS camera on ESA's Rosetta spacecraft, ESO's New Technology Telescope (NTT) at the La Silla Observatory in Chile, and NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility in Hawaii and Spitzer Space Telescope have been combined to give us a multi-wavelength look at this very different space rock. What they found was a very specific type of meteorite called an enstatite chondrite displayed similar content which matched Lutetia... and what is theorized as the material which dates back to the early Solar System. Chances are very good that enstatite chondrites are the same "stuff" which formed the rocky planets - Earth, Mars and Venus.<br /><br />"But how did Lutetia escape from the inner Solar System and reach the main asteroid belt?" asks Pierre Vernazza (ESO), the lead author of the paper. <br /><br /> It's a very good question considering that an estimated less than 2% of the material which formed in the same region of Earth migrated to the main asteroid belt. Within a few million years of formation, this type of "debris" had either been incorporated into the gelling planets or else larger pieces had escaped to a safer, more distant orbit from the Sun. At about 100 kilometers across, Lutetia may have been gravitationally influenced by a close pass to the rocky planets and then further affected by a young Jupiter.<br /><br />"We think that such an ejection must have happened to Lutetia. It ended up as an interloper in the main asteroid belt and it has been preserved there for four billion years," continues Pierre Vernazza.<br /><br />Asteroid Lutetia is a "real looker" and has long been a source of speculation due to its unusual color and surface properties. Only 1% of the asteroids located in the main belt share its rare characteristics.<br /><br />"Lutetia seems to be the largest, and one of the very few, remnants of such material in the main asteroid belt. For this reason, asteroids like Lutetia represent ideal targets for future sample return missions. We could then study in detail the origin of the rocky planets, including our Earth," concludes Pierre Vernazza.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45294642/ns/technology_and_science-space/" target="_blank">How I Missed the Great Leonid Meteor Shower of 1966</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Joe Rao<br />msnbc.com<br />Tue, 15 Nov 2011 14:20 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <em>Clouds ruined the party for this young boy, but for some the show was utterly spectacular.</em><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/87018/full/leonids.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Koen Miskotte"><img style="width: 399px; height: 273px;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/87018/large/leonids.jpg" alt="Leonids" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Koen Miskotte</span><br /><span class="caption">This image is a composition of 33 Leonids captured overnight from Nov. 18 to 19, 2001.<br /><br /></span></div></div>The annual Leonid meteor shower will peak this week, and every year, skywatchers hope to catch stunning displays of ultrafast meteors streak across the sky. This year is no different, but it comes on a special anniversary - the 45th anniversary of the Great Leonid Meteor Storm of 1966.<br /><br />Forty-five years have come and gone and it still hurts.<br /><br />In 1966, one of the most stupendous <a href="http://www.space.com/13506-november-meteor-showers-bright-moon.html" target="_blank">Leonid meteor displays</a> ever witnessed took place over central and western North America. The Leonids occur every year on or around Nov. 18, when Earth glides through a diaphanous trail of dust <a href="http://www.space.com/9376-comets-meteor-showers.html" target="_blank">left behind by the comet Tempel-Tuttle</a>. Each year, stargazers are tempted with a drizzle of maybe a dozen ultrafast meteors streaking across the sky every hour.<br /><br />But, every 33 years or so, a rare and dazzling Leonid storm can occur after the <a href="http://www.space.com/13386-comet-tail-ripped-sun-fury.html" target="_blank">comet swoops near the sun</a>, closely followed by thicker concentrations of dusty, icy particles no larger than the size of Rice Krispies. Earth then plows straight through the comet's refreshed wake, producing a stupendous meteor display.<br /><br />1966 was one of those special years. And I missed it! <br /><br /> There I was forty-five Novembers ago, standing in my backyard late on a Wednesday night in the Throggs Neck section of The Bronx, cursing the heavens. My grandfather stood at my side, just shaking his head and murmuring two words over and over: "Too bad."<br /><br />Clouds covered the midnight sky like a fresh coat of plaster, smearing my view of the Leonids. My mom, sister and grandmother, as well as my neighbors had long since trudged to bed, leaving only Grandpa and I to gaze at a charcoal gray sky totally devoid of stars.<br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Excitement turns to crushing disappointment</span><br /><br />The previous weekend, we had visited the Hayden Planetarium in New York where Dr. <a href="http://www.haydenplanetarium.org/staff/former/hess" target="_blank">Fred C. Hess</a>, an astronomer, who was also a powerful orator, urged us to be sure to look skyward after midnight on Wednesday for - potentially - a spectacular display of "shooting stars."<br /><br />In the "pretend universe" of the planetarium's domed sky theater, we were told that given reasonably clear skies, we might see hundreds, or maybe even thousands, of meteors per hour. We then were treated, using Hayden's famous Zeiss star projector, to a re-enactment of the stupendous <a href="http://www.space.com/9517-leonid-meteor-shower-revealed-shooting-star-show-brilliant-history.html" target="_blank">1833 Leonid storm</a>, where in the span of a single night over North America, an estimated 250,000 meteors rained down from the sky.<br /><br />Needless to say, I couldn't wait for Wednesday to come; I was "wired" for the Leonids.<br /><br />So, after coming home from school that afternoon, I did all of my homework, had an early dinner and then, before getting a few hours of sleep, watched the local TV weather reports, which were all promising no worse than "partly cloudy" weather for prospective skywatchers.<br /><br />When my alarm clock rang at the stroke of midnight, I bundled up and, with my grandfather in tow, anxiously ran outside to watch the promised celestial pyrotechnics display. But, I was met instead with cloud-filled skies and not a star to be seen. After a few minutes, I sobbed to my grandfather, "But they promised it was only going to be partly cloudy tonight." To which he sadly replied, "I guess the party is over."<br /><br />That night at Central Park, at a midnight meteor watch, an estimated 10,000 people were looking at the same cloud cover.<br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">False alarm?</span><br /><br />Grandpa and I trudged back inside. He went to straight to bed, but I stayed up for the rest of the night, hoping for a break in the clouds that never came. I was 10 years old and it was the first time I had ever pulled an all-nighter.<br /><br />I went back to my room and tuned in WNBC radio, where an all-night talk show, hosted by a chap named Long John Nebel, was in progress. Nebel was immensely popular, with millions of regular listeners and a fanatically loyal following to his nightly program, which dealt mainly with anomalous phenomena, UFOs and other offbeat topics.<br /><br />It was announced in the newspapers that on the night of the Leonid shower, Nebel would be talking to the chief astronomer at New York's Hayden Planetarium, Dr. <a href="http://www.haydenplanetarium.org/staff/former/franklin" target="_blank">Kenneth Franklin</a>, who had the foresight to be above the clouds in an aircraft. Franklin planned to report on the Leonids to a New York radio audience. But, as the hours passed, it appeared that even from the plane, the Leonids were not very active.<br /><br />Finally, around 4 a.m., Dr. Franklin announced that his plane was returning to La Guardia Airport and that he was calling it a night. And so did I.<br /><br />Ironically, right after that, the fireworks began! Eyewitness accounts can be found <a href="http://leonid.arc.nasa.gov/1966.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Dozens, then hundreds, then thousands</span><br /><br />Beginning at around 5 a.m. Eastern Time, Leonid activity suddenly began to ramp up. Along the Eastern Seaboard, the dawn sky was brightening, and where clear skies prevailed, viewers were able to see Leonids falling at rates of up to six per minute before it finally became too bright to see the stars.<br /><br />Farther west, where it still dark, Leonids were falling at a rate described by many as "too numerous to count." One observer stationed north of Mission, Texas, said that meteors falling in all directions gave the impression of a "gigantic umbrella," appearing to "waterfall" out of the head of Leo.<br /><br />Perhaps the best views were from California and Arizona. At the Table Mountain Observatory, near Wrightwood, California, one resident astronomer commented that he and a colleague, "... watched a rain of meteors turn into a hail of meteors and finally a storm of meteors, too numerous to count by 3:50 a.m. Pacific Time. Instinctively, we sought to shield our upturned faces from imagined celestial debris."<br /><br />From 6,850-foot Kitt Peak in southern Arizona, 13 amateur astronomers were trying to guess how many could be seen by a sweep of their heads in one second. The consensus of the group was that the peak occurred at 4:54 a.m. Mountain Time, when the staggering rate of 40 per second (144,000 per hour) was reached!<br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">What happened?</span><br /><br />Today, we know that a dusty trail of debris shed by <a href="http://www.space.com/53-comets-formation-discovery-and-exploration.html" target="_blank">comet Tempel-Tuttle</a> back in 1899 was what caused the Great 1966 Leonid Storm. The dusty material had made two revolutions around the sun before colliding head-on with the Earth on that memorable night 45 years ago.<br /><br />Because such a trail of cosmic flotsam and jetsam is invisible until it enters our atmosphere, astronomers were, in essence, playing a game of blind man's bluff, not knowing exactly if or when we might encounter it.<br /><br />Today, with computer technology, it's a much different situation: Now, astronomers can readily locate the position of Leonid dust trails from the distant past or far into the future. Indeed, the Leonids will periodically shower our planet in the years to come; in the year 2034, Earth is forecast to move through several clouds of dusty debris shed by comet Tempel-Tuttle from the years 1699, 1767, 1866 and 1932. If we're lucky, we might see Leonids fall at the rate of hundreds per hour, perhaps briefly reaching "storm" rates of 1,000 per hour, experts have estimated.<br /><br />But sadly, in the year 2028, Jupiter is expected to throw comet Tempel-Tuttle off from its current path through space, making it all but impossible - at least through the beginning of the 22nd century - to see a repeat of the <a href="http://www.space.com/5200-mother-meteor-storms.html" target="_blank">Great Leonid Storm of 1966</a>.<br /><br /><em>Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for </em>The New York Times<em> and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for News 12 Westchester, N.Y.<br /><br /><br /><br /></em><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <h2> <a href="http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/southeast-queensland-dazzled-by-large-fiery-object-in-the-sky/story-e6freoof-1226201496902" target="_blank">Australia: Large Shooting Star Dazzles Southeast Queensland</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Suzanne Dorfield<br />Courier Mail, Australia<br />Sun, 20 Nov 2011 23:11 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image to-left"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/85137/full/spacepress_102511_002_430x300.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© redOrbit"><img src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/85137/medium/spacepress_102511_002_430x300.jpg" alt="Meteor" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© redOrbit</span></div></div>A blazing object blasted through the Earth's atmosphere over Queensland on Sunday night, leaving some witnesses startled by its size.<br /><br />Reports of a slow-moving double-headed meteor with an orange tail have been reported from Redcliffe to the Gold Coast on an <a href="http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">astronomy blog.</a><br /><br />But others think it was more likely man-made space junk.<br /><br />Donna O'Kearney had been driving north from Canungra on the Gold Coast when about 7:37pm she saw a huge flaming object soaring through the sky.<br /><br />"I thought it was a plane coming down and I couldn't understand why there was no noise," she said, saying it looked as big as a 747.<br /><br />"All I could see was a blinding white light at the front going back to orange.<br /><br />"You just couldn't take your eyes off it, it was a once-in-a-lifetime thing."<br /><br />She said it took as long as 10 seconds to make its way across the sky before burning out in the distance.<br /><br />Meteors are not uncommon sights in Australia, with more than 500 being found on our soil in the past 40 years and even more passing overhead, but the massive size of last night's one was an unusual sight for many. <br /><br /> <a href="http://www.seqas.org/" target="_blank">South East Queensland Astronomical Society</a> vice-president Julie Straayer said her club had been observing the object from Bracken Ridge last night.<br /><br />"It's more than likely a piece of space junk because of the colour, but it was a sizeable piece and it took a long time to move," she said.<br /><br />"Most meteors that you see in the sky are only about the size of your fingernail.<br /><br />"More than likely it would've burned up before it hit the ground, if it did land it would go in the ocean anyway."<br /><br />She added that it was likely a single piece of junk that had fallen from the heavens, rather than two.<br /><br />"Because it was low in the sky you get atmospheric effects with it, that's why it looked like it had two heads. If it were two paths it would've had two trains," she said.<br /><br />"It's like how the moon looks bigger when it's rising, the atmosphere can do funny things like that." </div><br /><br /><div class="article-top"> <span class="atop-l"></span> <span class="atop-r"></span> </div> <div class="article-header"> <div class="article-icon"> <br /> </div> <h2> <a href="http://astrobob.areavoices.com/2011/11/23/comet-garradd-still-going-strong-russian-mars-probe-contacted/" target="_blank">Comet Garradd Still Going Strong</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">astrobob<br />Astro Bob<br />Wed, 23 Nov 2011 18:20 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/87808/full/Garrad_Jaeger_Nov19_1024x747.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Michael Jaeger"><img style="width: 400px; height: 291px;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/87808/large/Garrad_Jaeger_Nov19_1024x747.jpg" alt="Comet Garradd on November 19" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Michael Jaeger</span><br /><span class="caption">Comet Garradd on November 19 shows a classic dual tail. The longer, blue streak is the ion tail. The dust tail is shorter and glows pale yellow from reflected sunlight.<br /><br /></span></div></div>Remember Comet Elenin? Hopes were high it would become the best comet of 2011, but instead it dissolved into a cloud of dust. Amateur astronomers are still tracking its fading remnants as the comet passes the Pleiades star cluster in Taurus this week.<br /><br />The brightest comet of the year never received the dire publicity that stuck with Elenin to the end. Comet Garradd was well-placed and easily visible in binoculars this summer as it crossed the Milky Way en route to its current residence in the sprawling constellation Hercules. Underdog Garradd remains a 7th magnitude fuzzball in binoculars this month. I looked it up recently on one of the few clear nights we've had in November and was thrilled to see two tails sticking out of the comet's bright, fuzzy head or coma. Both show wonderfully in Michael Jaeger's photo and were just as pretty in my 15-inch scope though much more subtle. <br /><br /> Comet Garradd is 195 million miles away or about twice our Earth's distance from the sun. That gap will close to 118 million miles by early next March, when the comet will brighten by a magnitude, placing it within naked-eye range from the countryside. Take a look now before it drops too low in the western sky and the moon returns. The best viewing time is right at the end of evening twilight as soon as the sky gets dark.<br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/87809/full/Garradd_Nov_Dec2011_1024x638.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© AstroBob/Created with Chris Marriott's SkyMap software"><img style="width: 389px; height: 242px;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/87809/large/Garradd_Nov_Dec2011_1024x638.jpg" alt="finder chart to track down Comet Garradd" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© AstroBob/Created with Chris Marriott's SkyMap software<br /><br /></span><span class="caption">Use this finder chart to track down Comet Garradd. It inches slowly northward only a few degrees in the coming month. The map shows Hercules at around 6 p.m. at the end of evening twilight in the western sky. M13 is a bright globular cluster and stars are shown to 7th magnitude.<br /><br /></span></div></div>Binoculars still show a soft, puffy glow and perhaps a hint of a tail. A modest-sized telescope will show the dust tail and maybe even a hint of the ion tail. Dust tails are formed of smoke-sized particles of dust embedded in cometary ice. Heat from the sun vaporizes the ice and releases the particles which fall behind the comet in the form of a tail measuring between 600,000 and 6 million miles long. Comet dust reflects light just like good old house dust or cigarette smoke. Ion tails fluoresce blue when ultraviolet light in sunlight breaks down carbon monoxide jetted by the comet and are often much longer - up to 100 million miles. </div><br /><br /><br /><h2> <a href="http://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/article/20111124/NEWS01/111240310" target="_blank">US: Baffling fireball reported overhead in Richland County, Ohio</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Jami Kinton<br />Mansfield News Journal<br />Thu, 24 Nov 2011 15:28 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image to-right"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/87866/full/Meteor31.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/87866/medium/Meteor31.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><br /><span class="caption">[File image]<br /><br /></span></div></div>A bright fireball in the sky got Rick Beverly's attention at 1:30 a.m. Wednesday.<br /><br />"I was headed north on Graham Road and was right about in front of my house when it happened," said the 1431 Graham Road, Lexington, man. "I was looking toward the east and noticed a big ball of fire fall from the sky. It was cruising."<br /><br />Beverly said a red glow lit up a large section of woods behind his home. He thinks the fireball may have landed there.<br /><br />Lt. Michael Vinson, of the Mansfield post of the Ohio Highway Patrol, said several agencies, including the Lexington Police Department, Troy Township Fire Department, the Richland County Sheriff's Office and the Air National Guard, responded. <br /><br /> "We were told that it may have been a plane crash," Vinson said. "But there was no evidence of any plane. We checked with Cleveland and Columbus FAA, and there were no flights in the area at the time."<br /><br />The highway patrol orchestrated a fly-over to doublecheck the area that afternoon. Again, nothing was found.<br /><br />Vinson said authorities believe the fireball may have been a meteor.<br /><br /><strong>"It burned for about 45 minutes to an hour,"</strong> Beverly said. The woods are about a quarter of a mile behind his home.<br /><br />Beverly's father, Don, said his son pointed the strange phenomenon out to him.<br /><br />"You could see the woods all lit up," he said. "When that first deputy arrived, we could see still the red embers and he took off for it, but it was like it suddenly just disappeared. There was no tree damage, not even a burnt spot.<br /><br />"I'm thankful it wasn't a plane. I can tell you our adrenaline was flowing." </div><br /><br /><br /><h2> <a href="http://www.thunderbolts.info/wp/2011/11/23/where-do-asteroids-come-from/" target="_blank">Electric Universe: Where Do Asteroids Come From?</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Mel Acheson<br />thunderbolts.info<br />Thu, 24 Nov 2011 21:52 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image to-left"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/88054/full/110530osiris.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA/GSFC/The University of Arizona"><img src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/88054/medium/110530osiris.jpg" alt="Artist's drawing of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. " title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA/GSFC/The University of Arizona</span><br /><span class="caption">Artist's drawing of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. </span></div></div><br />Are carbonaceous asteroids the precursors of life <strong>or the wreckage of life</strong>?<br /><br />NASA plans to launch the Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer mission, also known as OSIRIS-REx, in 2016. The spacecraft will orbit the Near Earth Object (NEO) 1999RQ36. After a year in close orbit, the probe will gather a sample of material from the object's surface and bring the sample back to Earth.<br /><br />1999RQ36 is over 500 meters in diameter, about a third of a mile. Its orbital period around the Sun is 1.2 years. Observations indicate that its surface contains quite a bit of carbon, so astronomers classify it as a carbonaceous asteroid. Its orbit crosses the Earth's orbit, and it will come close to the Earth - a few times the Moon's distance - several times during the rest of this century. Mission scientists are hoping to gain some insight into how to deflect it if it should threaten to collide with the Earth. <br /><br /> The primary goal of the mission is to get a sample of "asteroid dust" and to examine it in a lab. According to presently accepted theory, asteroids were the leftovers when planets condensed out of the solar accretion disk that formed the Solar System a few billions of years ago. Astronomers expect to find "pristine organic material that ... might have seeded the sterile early Earth with the building blocks that led to life."<br /><br />Judging from previous missions, what the astronomers find will "surprise" them and send them "back to the drawing board." They will not have collected a sample of "pristine material" but a sample of unquestioned presumptions from an obsolete theory. The nebular theory of planet formation never worked; astronomers abandoned it at one time; but they resurrected it because they could think of nothing better.<br /><br /><strong>So they ignore the contradictions and spend their time - and taxpayers' money - following their faith in their textbooks, much as the Medieval priest-scholars did, albeit with a different textbook.</strong> Their work at the drawing board will be an ad hoc addition to the unwieldy contraption that is presently accepted theory. It will enable them to interpret the surprising new data in an acceptable way, or at least in a way that will excuse attention to unorthodox ideas.<br /><br />If they had more confidence in the scientific method than they do in textbooks and peer pressure, they would consider the evidence left by ancient astronomers. People around the world at the dawn of history were obsessed with observing and recording the movements of bodies in the sky. Modern astronomers accept the ancient astronomers' identifications of those bodies as planets when remarking on their observational skills. When the <a href="http://www.mikamar.biz/book-info/sas-a.htm" target="_blank">content of the observations reveals</a> a sky and movements that contradict the textbooks, the ancient evidence is dismissed out of hand as fantasies about gods.<br /><br /><strong>If astronomers treated historical data with the same rigor and attention to detail with which they treat present data, they would consider that that evidence indicates the occurrence of events only a few thousands of years ago that reorganized the Solar System and resurfaced the Earth. Instead of taking for granted their speculation that 1999RQ36 is a pristine sample of billion-year-old proto-life, they would consider that it might be a space-fried fragment of life recently blasted from the ruins of the Earth.</strong> </div><br /><br /><br /><h2> <a href="http://blogs.fayobserver.com/backyarduniverse/November-2011/A-Thanksgiving-predawn-meteor-" target="_blank">US: A Thanksgiving predawn meteor over North Carolina?</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar">Johnny Horne<br />Fay Observer<br />Thu, 24 Nov 2011 15:41 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> At least one person was watching the sky before dawn on Thanksgiving morning. And..he had a view to be thankful for.<br /><br />Around 4:30 AM today Ty in Grimesland, NC between Greenville and Washington saw a bright meteor low in the sky...heading south to north.<br /><br />He writes, "It appeared to be really low, bright and with a long tail lasted for about 3 sec".<br /><br />Did anyone else catch this bright but brief visitor? <br /><br /><br /><br /><h2> <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Extra-terrestrial-matter-sent-for-tests/articleshow/10911706.cms" target="_blank">Incoming! Shower of micro-meteorites sets fire to household items in India</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar"><br />Times of India<br />Tue, 29 Nov 2011 16:30 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> <div class="article-body"> New Delhi - Experts are yet to ascertain the composition of the mysterious "celestial" objects that fell on Chand Mohalla colony in Gandhi Nagar in east Delhi. Police sources said the material resembled a meteorite even as they were not ruling out the possibility of a prank. The incident took place on Sunday evening.<br /><br />Police sources said incidents of meteorites falling on earth are rare. "It is too soon to arrive at a conclusion. The objects have been sent to FSL for examination and we will have to wait for the expert's take on the incident," said a police source. The incident, however, has had an impact on those who witnessed it.<br /><br /><strong>"A strange black fireball first hit a cricket bat and then a towel. Both caught fire. Even the bike caught fire because of the fireball,'' said Indrapal Singh, whose household items were set on fire by the "celestial" objects.</strong><br /><br />Indrapal was watching television with his family when they heard a sound and rushed out. Moments later, several items - including a cricket bat and a towel - were on fire. "We brought out buckets and tried to douse the fire with water. However, it took us a while to bring it under control," he said. Police sources said they have collected the material from the site. <br /><br /> A meteorite is a natural object originating in outer space that survives impact with the earth's surface. Most meteorites, whether big or small, are derived from meteoroids, but they are also sometimes produced by the impact of asteroids. When a meteoroid enters the atmosphere, pressure causes the body to heat up and emit light, thus forming a fireball, also known as a meteor or shooting star. The term bolide refers to either an extraterrestrial body that collides with the earth, or to an exceptionally bright, fireball-like meteor regardless of whether it ultimately impacts the surface.<br /><br />A meteorite on the surface of any celestial body is a natural object that has come from elsewhere in space.<br /><br />Meteorites have been found on the moon and the Mars. Meteorites that are recovered after being observed as they travelled through the atmosphere or fell on earth are called falls. All other meteorites are known as finds. <strong>As of February 2010, there has been approximately 1,086 incidents of falls. In contrast, there have been over 38,660 well-documented meteorite finds.</strong> </div><br /><br /><br /><h2> <a href="http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com/2011/11/mahad-maharashtra-india-meteor.html" target="_blank">Mahad, Maharashtra, India Meteor - Nov.25, 2011</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"> <div class="m-bar"><br />The Latest Worldwide Meteor/Meteorite News<br />Fri, 25 Nov 2011 00:00 CST</div> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span> </div> Nearly at 22:50 there was a flash light falling all over illuminating the dark sky. I don't know what it was but it was extremely bright, leaving a shiny trail behind it which lasted for few seconds. I am in Mahad, Maharashtra, India.-feelipkd Thank you! <br /><br /><br /><br /><h2> <a href="http://www.mysteriousnewzealand.com/featurearticles/featart_meteorites.html" target="_blank">Science Debunked Meteorites</a> </h2> <div class="article-info"><div class="m-bar">Mysterious New Zealand<br />Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:00 CST</div><br /> </div> <div class="article-body"> <div class="article-image to-left"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/88205/full/meterorites_hugerock.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© unknown"><img src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/88205/medium/meterorites_hugerock.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© unknown</span><br /><span class="caption">A Rock from the sky...</span></div></div> <blockquote> "The Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them"<br /><em>Joshua 10:11</em> </blockquote> Rocks that fell from the sky were often venerated in ancient times and even became objects of worship. Visitors to the temple of Apollo at Delphi, for example, reported that a stone, reputed to have fallen from the sky, was on display there and each day was anointed by the resident priests.<br /><br />So the ancient Greeks knew that stones could, and did, fall from the sky. They used observation, common sense and the genuine power of reason to establish this. Rocks and stones that fell to the ground were not really falling stars they reasoned, because the celestial population of stars remained the same.<br /><br />Aristotle, however, the great Greek philosopher, was one who at first wholeheartedly debunked this concept. He thought that rocks could not fall from the sky because the heavens were perfect and could not possibly have loose pieces floating around to fall to Earth. Aristotle was forced to change his position somewhat after a meteorite fell at Thrace near Aegospotami. He reasoned that strong winds had lifted an earth rock into the sky, then dropped it. Other learned men of the time favoured an alternate theory. They held that meteorites somehow formed in the sky during violent thunderstorms, suggesting that particles inside the clouds consolidated because of the heat during a lighting flash. For this reason the rocks were sometimes referred to as thunderstones.<br /><br />Despite the varying views, a consensus was somehow arrived at. Being a temporary phenomenon, it was agreed, shooting stars had to be something within the atmosphere. These objects were therefore named Meteors meaning 'things in the air'. <br /><br /> <div class="article-image to-right"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/88206/full/meterorites_coin.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© unknown"><img src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/88206/medium/meterorites_coin.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© unknown</span><br /><span class="caption">Ancient Roman coin from the time of Augustus, depicting sacred Meteorite</span></div></div>'Age of Reason' and 'The Enlightenment', roughly within the 18th century, were terms used and cherished by those who believed in the power of mind to liberate and improve. Reviewing the experience in 1784, Immanuel Kant saw emancipation from superstition and ignorance as having been the essential characteristic of these times. Philosophers and scientists alike pursued these ideals with enthusiasm and vigour and especially so the Académie Française des Sciences, Europe's leading rational authority. To them may be attributed a strange anomaly that exists in the world today - in museums and collections there is scarcely a single specimen of meteorite that predates the year 1790.<br /><br />The idea that stones can fall out of the sky was scornfully denounced by the Académie as an unscientific absurdity. Antoine Lavoisier, for example, the father of modern chemistry, told his fellow Academicians, "Stones cannot fall from the sky, because there are no stones in the sky!" The concept of meteorites was thus condemned as nothing but medieval illusions and old wives' tales. Embarrassed museums all over Europe, wishing to be seen to be part of this enlightened 'Age of Reason', hurriedly threw out their cherished meteorite collections with the garbage as humiliating anachronisms from a superstitious past.<br /><br />Although the last two decades of the eighteenth century saw scientists such as Peter Pallas and Ernst Florens Chladni, risking ridicule by the scientific community through the serious investigation of meteorites, most scientists shared Isaac Newton's view that that no small objects could exist in the interplanetary space. An assumption that left no room for rocks or stones falling from the sky.<br /><br />Farmers who came to the Académie with samples of meteorites were laughingly shown to the door and denounced as superstitious ignorant peasants. On the night of the 26th of April 1803 however, perceptions started to change. On that night the people of L'Aigle were rudely awoken from their dreams by the thunderous noise of more than 2000 rocks falling from the sky. This undeniable display of meteorites also woke up the Académie Française who were compelled to take notice. They appointed a commission to investigate the event, the result of which was finally a reluctant admission that stones could indeed fall from the sky. Museums, freed from the stigma of non-conformity , started creating meteorite collections once again.<br /><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/88207/full/meteorites_laigle.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© unknown"><img src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/88207/medium/meteorites_laigle.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© unknown</span><br /><span class="caption">Contemporary map of the L'Aigle strewnfield...</span></div></div>Strangely perhaps, American science did not wholeheartedly accept the Académie's findings until many years later. When, for example, in 1807, two Connecticut Scholars (one of them the chemist Benjamin Silliman) reported having witnessed a fall, President Thomas Jefferson (who had studied natural sciences) made a memorable statement. "I would sooner believe that two Yankee professors would lie than that stones would fall from heaven!" As in Europe it took a dramatic heavenly display, the 1833 Leonid Meteor Shower, before the American Astronomers turned to the subject of meteors and meteorites with any seriousness.<br /><br />So science eventually learned to accept the idea that rocks, sometimes very very big rocks - could fall from space. The notion of thunderstones forming within the earth's atmosphere was relegated to the rubbish can of folklore. But not quite, because even in recent times reports of stones falling to the ground during heavy thunderstorms still occasionally occur as this report from the March 14, 1920 issue of <em>Nature</em> indicates: <blockquote class="typ1"> "During a heavy thunderstorm which ensued on Monday, March 4, between 2:30 p.m. and 4.15 p.m., an aerolite was observed to fall at Conleny Heath, near St. Albans. The observed who has placed the specimen in my hands for examination, stated that the stone fell within a few feet from where he was standing, and that it entered the ground for a distance of about 3 feet. Its fall was accompanied by an unusually heavy clap of thunder. The example weighs 5 pounds 14 1/2 ounces and measures 6 3/4 inches by 5-5/8 inches at its great length and breadth respectively. The mass is irregularly ovate on the one side, and broken in outline on the other. The actual surface throughout is fairly deeply pitted, and under magnification exhibits the usual chondritic structure of the crystalline matter with interspersed particles of what appears to be nickeliferous iron." </blockquote> The author of the report, G.E. Bullen, submitted the stone to the British Museum where it was examined and astonishingly, determined not to be of meteorite origin. Did they mean that thunderstones really do exist then? Science once ridiculed the concept of meteorites. Perhaps sometime in the future they may prove to be wrong about thunderstones also. That's not very likely though.<br /><br />There are many strange things in the world today that ordinary and credible people in their millions report on a daily basis, only to be denounced as lies and illusions by our equivalents of the "Age of Reason's' Académie Française. Denouncements without genuine scientific investigation are indicative of vested interest and closed minds. <br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/88208/full/meteorites_shower.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© unknown"><img src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/88208/large/meteorites_shower.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© unknown</span></div></div> <blockquote> "A man is wise with the wisdom of his time only, and ignorant with its ignorance." - <em>Henry David Thoreau</em>. </blockquote> <span class="BoldGrey">The Ellerslie Meteorite</span><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/88209/full/meteorites_ellerslie1.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© unknown"><img src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/88209/large/meteorites_ellerslie1.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© unknown</span><br /><span class="caption">The Ellerslie Meteorite was chipped where it hit the roof...</span></div></div><br />At 9.30 am on 12 June 2004 a meteorite smashed into the roof of the Archer family home in Elleslie, Auckland. After punching a hole through the roof the meteorite penetrated the family's couch bouncing around the living room before coming to rest.<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/88210/full/meterorites_couch.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© unknown"><img src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/88210/large/meterorites_couch.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© unknown</span><br /><span class="caption">The Ellerslie Meteorite was chipped where it hit the roof...</span></div></div><br />The 1.3kg, 4600 million-year-old meteorite, identified as a Eucrite - a class of stone meteorite, must have travelled hundreds of millions of kilometres to reach Earth. A journey that would have begun millions of years ago. It now can be viewed in the Auckland museum.<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/88211/full/meteorites_barcher.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© unknown"><img src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/88211/large/meteorites_barcher.jpg" alt="" title="Click to enlarge" border="0" /></a><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© unknown</span><br /><span class="caption">Brenda Archer with the meteorite that smashed into her house...</span></div></div><br /><a href="http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/meteorites/2/4" target="_blank">Click here</a> to view a video clip of Brenda Archer talking about the experience (link will open in a new window).<br /></div> </div></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">A Service of <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">Signs of the Times</a>: The most comprehensive, objective and reliable Alternative News Source on the Web. If you aren't reading <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">SOTT</a>, you don't know what's REALLY happening!</div>Keithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06011086310017706847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385115091808825739.post-72652936183701619232011-11-10T16:18:00.001+00:002011-11-10T16:25:36.408+00:00Three for the Show: Assessing the Potential Effects of Comets Elenin, Levy and Honda<div class="m-bar">
<br />
<a href="http://tmgnow.com/TMG1/2011/08/16/three-for-the-show/" target="_blank">The Millennium Group</a><br />
Sun, 16 Oct 2011 00:00 CDT</div>
<div class="article-print">
<b><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/236828-Three-for-the-Show-Assessing-the-Potential-Effects-of-Comets-Elenin-Levy-and-Honda#"><br /></a></b></div>
<b><span class="BoldGrey">Three For The Show Pt.1</span></b>
<br />
<br />
August 16, 2011
<br />
<br />
<b><i>Intro</i></b>
<br />
<br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84732/full/elenin1.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84732/large/elenin1.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
I
sat down today with the full intention of writing about the comet
Elenin. I started my research, first speaking with my very close friend
and associate, Raymond Ward. He's incredibly informed and talented. I
went through page after page on the Internet. The comments and the
conclusions about these three comets that are coming put me over the
top. I know, I know... We have published some pretty over the top kind
of material ourselves. But we were really one of the first sites to
challenge the <i>status quo</i> on the Internet. So what. Anyway...
<br />
<br />
One site was very slick, cool looking and had a lot of opinions; a
beautifully designed and organized page. Another belonged to a former
TMG friend/member, not very well done. But... well... I was going to
write something very crass and very nasty... But I'll keep my boundaries
intact! I'll let his design and conclusion stand for themselves and
like we always say, 'you decide for yourself'! Anyway...
<br />
<br />
If you're reading this page, you are more likely than not going to be a
return visitor. So you know more than the usual reader concerning comets
and astronomy (but if you're new, welcome! read on!). But let me cut to
the chase, save you some time, give you the facts and let you deal with
what I've got to say. Here are the particulars we have seen:
<br />
<blockquote>
<span class="BoldGrey">1.</span> Comets Elenin
<br />
<span class="BoldGrey">2.</span> Dramatic increase in the number of earthquakes
<br />
<span class="BoldGrey">3.</span> Dramatic increase in the number of strong earthquakes
<br />
<span class="BoldGrey">4.</span> Elenin positions and EQ dates coincide
<br />
<span class="BoldGrey">5.</span> We have been documenting clashes in our upper atmosphere
<br />
<span class="BoldGrey">6.</span> There has been some evidence larger ships have been over EQ sites
<br />
<span class="BoldGrey">7.</span> It now appears that there are three comets coming into a "conjunction" in the very near future
</blockquote>
<i><b>Part One: Comet Number One: Elenin</b></i>
<br />
<br />
As you likely know by now, Elenin's relative position to the earth
coincided strongly with disastrous events on our planet; the massive
Chilean earthquake; the massive New Zealand earthquake; and the
destructive earthquake and following tsunami in Japan.
<br />
<br />
Just to recap a bit of our position on the nature of comets, we strongly
believe In the theories put forth by James McCanney on the nature of
comets. He proposed that comets are electrical in nature. Time after
time, NASA has found comets to be nothing more than asteroids in makeup.
In fact it has been shown more times than not that comets are dry and
have no ice or water on them. The theory proposing that comets are dirty
snowballs has fallen flat on it's face and in fact we believe that in
the next few decades or even only years we will see the NASA theorists
moving toward the electric comet theory and away from this tired old
belief. That has always been the way they work!
<br />
<br />
<div class="article-image to-right">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84733/full/aurora.gif" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84733/medium/aurora.gif" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<br />
<span class="caption">The Electric Earth</span><br />
<br /></div>
</div>
Back
to the meat.... Everything in our universe, simply put, has a charge,
an electrical charge. Even your body depends upon electrical charges, no
matter how minute, to make your bodily systems work! Your heart beats
because an electrical charge passes through it from your brain. The
Earth has a charge. The resulting <i>aurora borealis</i> is a
displayed charge of particles, effected by the sun's output. These are
only two examples of millions. Everything has an electrical charge. It
is a powerful entity in our universe. More powerful than gravity.
<br />
<br />
And with electrical charge, there is usually a positive and negative
side of the charge (electrical engineers, please forgive me and bear
with my simplistic explanation). Comets are only different from
asteroids, AND PLANETS, because they are traveling at very high rates of
speed through the solar wind. When you pass an object through a charged
field at a high rate it draws a charge and is itself then charged, or
that is a node of charge. Not unlike passing a wire through the flame of
an acetylene torch (a different force, but the reference is visually
similar). This is the main reason that we support McCanney's argument. I
would also recommend that you take a good look at holoscience.com for
more insight.
<br />
<br />
<div class="article-image to-left">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84734/full/fig1.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84734/medium/fig1.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
When
a comet comes in through the galaxy, it usually travels, again, at
great speeds, but it also is usually hitting the solar wind (which, on
the plane of the planets, goes in one direction). It hits that solar
wind, or plasma at a higher than usual angle as compared to the planets
and asteroids. This "friction" in addition to the great power of the
solar wind, causes these usually smaller than planet-like objects to
become charged and display, not only one tail to their rear, but another
tail out their nose toward the sun. I say sun, because that is usually
the target of this negatively (or positively) charged 'horn' (please
forgive my adjective, some of you will understand) attached to the head
of the comet. Comets have even been known to discharge x-rays.
<br />
<br />
These two charges, positive and negative, just like your reading lamp,
one positive wire going toward the plug and one wire coming away from
the plug - negative - connect to the source, the sun. They don't run
side by side, but in a great circle or arc generally to and from the
sun. Unfortunately, these forces can become more complex, duplicating
and/or multiplying themselves, due to being attracted (or diverted) by
other sources or causes. In our case, we are concerned with these
charges connecting with our planet earth. Just like being out in a
lightening storm, lightening may divert from one target and shift to
another, or hit them both! They say when you have to be out in bad
weather and you feel that tingling sensation, indicating a lightening
strike coming your way, you should curl up in a ball as close to the
ground as possible to avoid it hitting you. Unfortunately the earth has
no where else to go! When that charge comes our way, we take it. And I
mean, we take it! If it's large enough, and it comes our way, it usually
does great harm. It may result in increased weather extremes, or it may
result in a deeper effect, earthquakes. We receive a usually normal
charge from the solar wind constantly. It can fluctuate, of course.
However, when there's an additional charge, the charge must be
dissipated someway, somehow. These charges from comets only come our way
when certain conditions occur. One of these conditions is "angle". This
is the issue presented by some on the Internet concerning the position
of Elenin and the three earthquakes and tsunami mentioned above.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="article-image to-right">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84737/full/ampo173.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84737/medium/ampo173.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<br />
<span class="caption">An electric comet (not Elenin!)</span><br />
<br />
Now
to the specifics on Elenin. First let me say, in light of what I've
written above, that the effects of comets are not merely based on their
size and gravity (I would cautiously direct you to <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/comet_elenin.html" target="_blank">a NASA website</a>
- but please come back! - where Don Yeomans talks about Elenin. He
basically "pooh poohs" anyone's thoughts but his own). If we only
considered the effects of comets based on their gravity, the only reason
to be concerned would be if the trajectory was aimed at our nose. Even
if a comet were planet size (and some are!), the effect of gravity would
be tolerable. But there's more! Gravity is NOT the sole force in the
universe! Again let me say, electromagnetic forces are the greatest
forces in the universe besides God himself, and honestly, He uses those
EMFs a lot! No, comets cause problems because of the incredible electric
charges they pass through and effect in our solar system. And of
course, not all comets reach this electrical potential. On one end of
the spectrum we call them comets, very highly charged. On the other end
of the spectrum we call them asteroids, hardly charged at all.
</div>
</div>
<br />
Elenin is highly charged, and has immense electrical potential.
<br />
<br />
I am always suspicious. Maybe it's in my nature or something. Maybe it's
because this has happened before. The discoverer of Elenin wasn't a big
telescope setting on top of some mountains somewhere. It was discovered
by an amateur Russian astronomer, in Russia, but using a remote
telescope (International Scientific Optical Network's Robotic
Observatory) from New Mexico! Now... Would you like to interview this
guy? Good luck! What about a plain amateur astronomer here in the U.S.?
Too easy to access. No, we have a guy thousands of miles away, so no one
will question him. My guess, Elenin, or whatever they called it several
years ago, has been on the radar for a long time. Which is even more
frightening.
<br />
<br />
As I was pointing out above that angle has a large part to do with the
comet's behavior, effect and power. There have been many associated
earthquakes and weather effects that could be related to this comet.
Here are a few earthquakes:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
<div class="article-image to-right">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84738/full/Chile_Earthquake.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84738/medium/Chile_Earthquake.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a></div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote>
Elenin - Earth - Sun. Feb 20 2008 Indonesia 7.4
<br />
Elenin - Earth - Sun. Feb 25 2008 Indonesia 7.2
<br />
Elenin - Earth - Neptune May 12 2008 China 7.9
<br />
Elenin - Earth - Sun Feb 18 2009 Kermadec 7.0
<br />
Elenin - Mercury- Earth July 15 2009 New Zealand 7.8
<br />
Elenin - Mercury - Earth Aug 09 2009 Japan 7.1
<br />
Elenin - Sun - Earth. Sept 09 2009 Sunola 8.1
<br />
Elenin - Earth - Venus Feb 18 2010 China 6.9
<br />
Elenin - Earth-Sun Feb 25 2010 China 5.2
</blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote>
<div class="article-image to-right">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84739/full/New_Zealand_quake.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84739/medium/New_Zealand_quake.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a></div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote>
<div class="article-image to-right">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84739/full/New_Zealand_quake.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"></a></div>
Elenin - Earth-Sun Feb 26 2010 Japan 7.0
<br />
Elenin - Earth- Sun Feb 27 2010 Chile 8.8
<br />
Elenin - Earth- Sun Feb 27 2010 Argentina 6.3
<br />
Elenin - Earth - Mercury Mar 04 2010 Taiwan 6.3
<br />
Elenin - Earth - Mercury Mar 04 2010 Vanuatu 6.5
<br />
Elenin - Earth - Mercury Mar 05 2010 Chile 6.6
<br />
Elenin - Earth - Mercury Mar 05 2010 Indonesia 6.3
<br />
Elenin - Earth - Mercury Mar 08 2010 Turkey 6.1
</blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote>
<div class="article-image to-right">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84740/full/japanese_tsunami.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84740/medium/japanese_tsunami.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a></div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote>
<div class="article-image to-right">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84740/full/japanese_tsunami.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"></a></div>
Elenin - Earth - Neptune May 05 2010 Indonesia 6.6
<br />
Elenin - Earth - Neptune May 06 2010 Chile 6.2
<br />
Elenin - Earth - Neptune May 09 2010 Indonesia 7.2
<br />
Elenin - Earth - Neptune May 14 2010 Algeria 5.2
<br />
Elenin - Earth - Jupiter Jan 03 2011 Chile 7.0
<br />
*April 2011 tornadoes in the U.S. Hit a record 753 tornadoes
<br />
Elenin - Earth - Sun Mar 11 2011 Japan 9.0
</blockquote>
<br />
I mention only one weather related incident above, but there are many
that have been happening. And likely many more earthquakes that I
haven't added in here.
<br />
<br />
On October 20th Elenin will be in the position seen below. This is a "looking down" on the solar system view.
<br />
<br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84742/full/elenin2.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" height="174" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84742/large/elenin2.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Four
days earlier, on October 16th, Elenin will be at it's closest to earth
at 22 million miles (hey folks, that's close for a comet!). The moon
averages about 400,000 miles from the earth. I put this image up because
it shows that Elenin will pass in front of us, just before we get
there, in our own plane. Which means that there is a very good chance
that we will pass through it's tail, or at least the debris of it's
tail. Could be a nice light show, but not likely dangerous.
<br />
<br />
Again the most dangerous thing about Elenin is that it is highly charged and that charge is dangerous to us.
<br />
<br />
So that's Elenin. But as you know, there's more! So come back! You're going to want to see where this story goes!
<br />
<b><br /></b><br />
<b><span class="BoldGrey">Three For The Show Pt.2</span></b>
<br />
<br />
August 23, 2011
<br />
<br />
<i><b>Intro</b></i>
<br />
<br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84743/full/honda08052011.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84743/large/honda08052011.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Well
I thought today would be a good day to get this post out on the "wire'!
(If you haven't read my last post, you should read it first as I will
be referring to it quite a bit). Why today? Have you heard any news
today yet? And I'm not talking about the overthrow of Qaddafi!
<br />
<br />
There are two things relative to this story that I am going to talk
about here to help show that the evidence and power of the force that
even comets which are "claimed" to be small, have on our earth and on
our existence. The first, since it just happened, are two earthquakes;
one in Colorado last night at 10:46 their time (8/22/2011) and the other
earthquake today in Virginia (8/23/2011), which was felt up and down
the Eastern Seaboard. And then second, the new hurricane Irene, which
for all intents and purposes appears to be preparing to cause a whole
lot of damage.
<br />
<br />
<i><b>Part Two: Comet Number Two: Honda</b></i>
<br />
<br />
In the meantime, did you know that on August 15th, about a week ago, our
Number Two comet, Honda (actually Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova), passed very
close to the earth. In fact it passed at .06 AU from the earth!
Considering our last discussion on comets, what do you think the chances
are that Honda is dangerous? Let's recap a little. Comets are
electrically powerful because they are passing through the solar wind,
which is plasma. Sprite or AuroraPlasma is nothing but electrically
charged hydrogen atoms. Because electrical charges are positive and
negative they seek to neutralize themselves by grounding. Just like
lightening connects the positively charged clouds above with the
negatively charged ground below. Thus we have lightening (of course,
there is so much more to that). And as was explained in the last
article, electrical charges are everywhere in the universe. It's fuel
that feeds and sustains life. So comets passing at great speeds through
the plasma create more and more charges. And these growing charges
naturally seek to be equalized or discharged.
<br />
<br />
<div class="article-image to-left">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84744/full/pixie.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84744/medium/pixie.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
The plasma in the solar wind that hits the earth, causes the <i>Aurora Borealis</i>,
and in fact naturally causes the weather that we experience here on the
surface of the earth. The charges find their way down to the surface
first via "sprites" from the upper atmosphere. This can not only cause
weather (and sometimes severe weather and storms) but it can also cause
the earth to groan and shift, otherwise known as earthquakes. This
dissipation of the charge from the upper atmosphere can actually take a
few days, depending upon the circumstances and the conditions.
<br />
<br />
Last night at 10:46 there was an earthquake in Colorado! It was a 5.3.
earthquake... in Colorado? Well... yes, they've of course had them
before. But just like we learned from Velikovsky, we must look at the
whole picture. The area where it occurred, the depth, the strength and
the time period. This morning the next one occurred. And again, in a
very rare area for earthquakes. A hundred miles from Washington, D.C.;
shallow, but felt up and down the Eastern Seaboard and even into Canada.
Why not the San Andreas? Why not the New Madrid Fault? The Virginia
quake was only half a mile deep which probably contributed to it's
strength. So the question is, why did these two earthquakes occur and
why did they occur in the areas they occurred? Meanwhile, earthquakes
are still happening around the world. Vanuatu has had numerous strong
earthquakes over the last week up to a 7.1, and the earthquakes in Japan
continue; a 6.2 near the nuclear plant in Fukushima. Also a 6.0 in
Fiji. And there are more, in strange places; Oklahoma City and New York.
<br />
<br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84746/full/coloradoEQ.png" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84746/large/coloradoEQ.png" title="Click to enlarge" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
I
need to make one more point about the Virginia earthquake that affected
such a large area. Although there wasn't a significant amount of
physical damage, there was a huge amount of emotional and psychological
damage. This earthquake scared people. The long term effects of this
particular earthquake are very significant. The Pentagon was evacuated,
Union Station was evacuated, two nuclear reactors were said to have
cracks, concern mentioned about the D.C. subway, cell phones wouldn't
work, the Attorney general was rushed out of the area, the Capitol was
evacuated, there was even a report that the Washington Monument was
tilting! And now... all of these people, unaccustomed to feeling
earthquakes are in the sights of another monster...<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84747/full/virginiaEQ.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84747/large/virginiaEQ.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
So
if you've been isolated and haven't heard, the first hurricane of the
season is coming! She's called IRENE. And believe me... this one's a
monster! This image (below) was taken earlier today. And it appears that
it's going to move up the East Coast. Can you begin to see a connection
here? <b>These monster storms are fed by immense charges sent down through the atmosphere.</b>
This storm has pumped up to a category two and it's just getting
started! The eye is forming and more and more power is being added to it
hour by hour due to the powerful charges reaching down to it from the
upper atmosphere. The only thing that can stop it now is more
dissipation of the charge. That may mean more earthquakes or other
destructive discharges in other venues.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84748/full/irene.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" height="274" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84748/large/irene.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<br />
<span class="caption">Hurricane Irene</span><br />
<br /></div>
</div>
Around
the Internet there are all kinds of stories and ideas concerning these
comets. Let's talk about some of these. No names, and I don't intend to
be unfair. But there are folks talking about dates relating to 911,
alignments with planets that have certain power and have been arranged
by "someone", or the Creator. A lot of talk about the "Hopi Blue Star".
This doesn't mean that I don't believe in the Spirit of humans, or that I
don't believe in the power of the planets and stars on us, or the Hopi
religion. But I do know what it means to need an answer so bad that
you'll believe anything. But the sometimes rationality in these folks is
lost with the desire to please others or to be recognized. <b>This
is a root problem with the paranormal and UFO community and this
behavior leaves space for folks with serious mental health problems to
have their craziness empowered</b>, and those individuals not
empowered as people. It may be a desire borne out of genetic memory to
find and know the Origin, the Creator that has been lost in our ever
narcissistically and hedonistically growing society. We have lost the
true spirit of ourselves and can't seem to find our way back. END OF
RANT.
<br />
<br />
This first map of Honda shows that it came every close to the earth on
August 15th. You can't read the label for the earth, because the comet
and it's name are covering it up!
<br />
<br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84750/full/Honda15082011.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" height="174" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84750/large/Honda15082011.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
This
next map (below), shows the relative position of Honda on October 20th,
when Elenin will be passing in front of us in our orbit. It will
actually be a little closer to us a few days before October 20th, so
that entire time period will definitely be touch and go. Maybe it's a
good time to get a few supplies put away, some drinking water, and just
maybe some first aid supplies?<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84751/full/Honda20102011.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" height="174" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84751/large/Honda20102011.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
I
want to leave you with one more picture. I have tried to stay away from
the philosophical discussion of these issues, although I have touched
on it a bit. In part 3, which will follow, I will try and stay true to
this approach. However, I can't make any promises; my own emotions get
the best of me too at times! This picture, and others like it, have done
this to me! I am very overwhelmed by the power and strength of our
universe. We have been taught in school that lightening comes from
clouds, that clouds come from condensation. <b>These are lies.</b>
My colleagues and I have seriously tried to effect change back to the
"olden ways". "Many are called, but few are chosen." This image below,
if you choose to accept it, represents a return to those "olden beliefs
and ways". Gods or not, power comes from above. It is given to the
people below, for their strength... or for their destruction. This
apparition in the image below is what scientists have lovingly called a
sprite. It lives above the clouds and in the upper atmosphere. This is a
very rare image of this phenomenon shared with us "cattle and sheep". I
hope it helps compel you to believe in the things I have shared with
you.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84755/full/Dancing.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" height="173" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84755/large/Dancing.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
But there is more to share....
<br />
<br />
<b><span class="BoldGrey">Three For The Show Pt.3</span></b>
<br />
<br />
<i><b>Intro</b></i>
<br />
<br />
If you're interested in this article, I'm sure that you've been
following this mess at other sites. It's incredible the ideas that
people are coming up with! I have heard that <b>in some of the seminars, presenters are spreading all kinds of wild ideas; spaceships and what not</b>.
Not that I automatically dismiss every idea. I don't. I did see the
images of Elenin and the right angle features in the picture, and there
has been increased activity. No doubt, you know that this third article
will focus on Comet Levy. As the year passes, and we are on the brink of
2012, we are surely already in the middle of the s--- .
<br />
<br />
<i><b>Part Three: Three's The Charm</b></i>
<br />
<br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84756/full/levy102006.png" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84756/large/levy102006.png" title="Click to enlarge" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
But
before I talk a bit about Levy, give me a minute to do some recapping.
At the writing of this entry, we have seen a recent history of
incredible destruction in our world. Do you really doubt what I have
said? The critics can have their say and the powers that be can have
their moment, but in the end, what has been said on this site will stand
the test of time.
<br />
<br />
Hurricane Irene's destruction has rivaled the cost of even Katrina. And
may I remind you, it's only the first of the season. Tropical Storm Lee
has drenched the east coast (like they needed anymore), Katia and
Ophelia... there will be more to come. Typhoon Talas ripped through
Japan. Seas heaving their bounds. Earthquakes in "diverse" places; more
6.0 plus earthquakes than we have witnessed in a long time. Solar
activity is starting to rise beyond all expectations. Weather patterns
all over the world are severe and challenging old patterns of
expectation. <b>But you won't see much of any of these newsworthy stories on television. John Q will just be kept in the dark... Once again.</b>
<br />
<blockquote class="typ2">
"Americans are a race of convicts and ought to be thankful for anything we allow them short of hanging." - Samuel Johnson
</blockquote>
These happenings are surely indicative of what I have been saying. But
what has impressed me more than these events, if there is anything that
could, are the wild statements, and what I am calling disinformation. <b>I
just saw where one fellow is calling Elenin a ship. While I have no
doubt about the existence of aliens within our solar system, this claim
has the flavor of disinformation.</b> It is a fact that Elenin was
hit by a Solar Coronal Mass Ejection, which only further supports the
EMF idea of comets. The only way that it was hit was by drawing in the
charge or at the very least, being a part of this huge electrical
system/field. The immediate claim was that it disintegrated the comet.
This is not true. If anything it empowered the comet to even greater
heights. It also supports the seeming collaboration of all three comets
in a power house of EMF. Comets do come apart. This has been well
documented, but only comets that have a high eccentricity or angle to
the ecliptic; like a car slamming into a block wall. It was also
reported that when the comet passed Jupiter, a bolt of charge reached
out from the planet to the comet. Again, more support for the EMF model.
Dirty snowballs? What? No, <b>highly charged planetesimals gaining electrical charge from the plasma field</b>.
And sometimes not so small. Maybe "Planet-sized" would be the better
adjective. Isn't it amazing what you can do with a big rock? Let's move
on...
<br />
<br />
Do you know what a capacitor is? In layman's terms (because I'm a
layman!), it's something between two charges that keeps them from
connecting until a certain power or voltage, or a reduced distance, is
reached. Such as a positive charge that is trying to equalize itself by
seeking out and jumping to a negative area of charge. Capacitors are
quite often used in electronics. A piece of a particular type of
material is placed between two conductive metals (or whatever is doing
the conducting). The material in-between keeps the charge from jumping
until a certain voltage is reached. Too small of a charge and it won't
jump. When it hits optimum voltage and distance, "BAM" it jumps! Just
about anything can act as a capacitor, even air. So these charges are
all around us but usually they're just too small for us to notice,
until...
<br />
<br />
Until it affects us in someway. One comet, connected with the sun and
one or more of the planets, can cause a lot of very serious damage to
the earth and it's residents. Two comets cutting through the solar
plasma bouncing charges back and forth increase the charges
exponentially. Anyone want to contemplate the combination of three
comets in the inner solar system?
<br />
<br />
But it's not just three comets in the inner solar system at once... If
we think there is anything to this electrical model of comets, we must
consider and be aware of the capacitant affect of these bodies. (Is
'capacitant' a word?) Have you ever touched a car battery wire or jumper
cables to the body of the car or other metal. It's a shocking
experience! Right now, my friends, we are in a washing machine of
charges. These three comets are tugging charges from the sun back and
forth and through us. And it will only get worse through the end of the
year.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84757/full/three10202011.png" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" height="228" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84757/large/three10202011.png" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
I want you to go to <a href="http://elenin.org/honda-levy.php" target="_blank">this URL</a>
and take a look at the orbital diagram of these three comets. I will
make it so it opens a separate window. But when you get the diagram up,
take the slider on the right, the up and down one, and pull it
completely to the bottom. This will give you a view from the top of the
solar system. Then take the horizontal slider and as you move it to the
right watch the yellow line in the middle of the diagram. As you move it
to the right it will become a straight flat line. This is where you
want it. In this configuration we are at "Zero point" and we have a
reference to be able to talk about and see the relation of the comets to
each other and to the earth. Forgive me for being wordy here. Now
before you go further take the right up and down slider and move it to
the center. In this position you can see the "eccentricity" of the
comet's orbits. Note that Levy is above the ecliptic at the present, but
is diving down into it as time passes. Elenin is traveling from
slightly under the solar system to above the solar system.
<br />
<br />
Now note the date at the bottom of the diagram. There are also switches
there you can hit to make the dates go forward and backward. If you hit
the forward control you can see how one comet passes one direction and
another the other way! Now I want you to think about that discussion
above concerning capacitance. These comets are charged! The sea of
plasma they are passing through, like us, is charged! The sun is the hub
and is producing massive amounts of plasma itself.
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://elenin.org/honda-levy.php" target="_blank">Orbital Diagram</a></b>
<br />
<br />
Sure, of course I am concerned about Elenin passing in front of us on
October 19th or 20th. But the effects of these tremendous charges on the
earth and the simple fact that everything we know, the weather,
earthquakes, our bodies, and more are EMF based, makes me extremely
concerned. Further... I know many have suggested that position is an
important predictor of future effects, but when you have this many
points of power, for this long, position of the planets relative to the
comets is no longer as important. Effects can occur at ANY TIME and the
degree can still be enormous! And DO NOT be fooled by the comments of
others... Elenin has not dissipated or come apart because it has passed
through perihelion!
<br />
<br />
The comet Hale Bopp and Comet Lee among others caused substantial
effects, just like the ones mentioned above. And although these current
comets may not have the size of Hale Bopp, Comet Lee was also a
relatively smaller comet, but caused incredible destruction to the
earth. But further, Elenin is not that small of a comet. She is huge, my
friends, and drawing and sending enormous voltages. The other two
comets then added into the mix, which are also highly charged, are
making this an historical event. We are in a washing machine, being
tugged and pulled this way and that way with these enormous charges,
slipping back and forth between the three comets, the sun and inner
solar system planets! We can not ignore the incredibly destructive
events that have occurred over the last few months. The escalation has
statistically been out of the park!
<br />
<br />
Report from Ray Ward:
<br />
<blockquote class="typ1">
I was getting a lot of degraded signal yesterday and whether by design or interference, it matters not.
<br />
<br />
I noticed over the weekend that the SOHO C3 was down for 48 hrs. I
would imagine Elenin is within "eyeshot" of the camera, well past
perihelion.
<br />
<br />
There were solar flares over the weekend, strong, though just below M levels, except one.
<br />
<br />
I kept looking at the orbits until I was blue in the face last
night. I have a few general suggestions concerning possible critical
points in their orbits.
<br />
<br />
First of all, as you know, weather conditions continue to
deteriorate and in addition, this set of conditions is spreading to an
ever larger area of the earth in order for more of these drastically
increased charges to be dissipated more evenly throughout the crust of
the earth.
<br />
<br />
In January, 2012, Levy may cause problems when it crosses through the ecliptic.
<br />
<br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84761/full/three01262012.png" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" height="227" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84761/large/three01262012.png" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a></div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="typ1">
Honda
crossed through the ecliptic once already (back in March?) and will do
so again, about now. Japan has now admitted that Reactors 1, 2,and 3 had
Total Meltdowns within the first few hours of the 9.0 earthquake when
their cooling systems were destroyed. The hydrogen blasts that occurred
were evidence of that at all three plants.
<br />
<br />
In the Honda orbit, which is supposed to come within 6 million miles
or so of earth, I noticed no gap between earth and Honda. As in the
Lulin/Mars encounter, I would suggest Honda was no further out than 3
million miles away, due to my experience but this does not prove that
fact. It's just my opinion.
<br />
<br />
Elenin was supposed to cross the ecliptic on 9/12 (right around
9/11?). Which is bizarre timing but we have no visual record of these
events.
<br />
<br />
Honda seems to come within Elenin at a distance I estimate to be
0.25 AU but that does not seem to be a major problem for those two
bodies.
<br />
<br />
2005 YU55 does not seem to be any more of a problem than it normally
would be given all the interactions. It could cause problems just in
and of itself since it will come in at 1 lunar distance.
<br />
<br />
One final note. I have yet to get a specific size on Elenin. My
personal observations I doubt but if true, then Elenin is large. I
really do not see how it cannot be. One reason I cite for this lack of
ability on my part in this is the widespread lack of photos of Elenin. I
am also aware of the luminosity charts NASA has and for their singular
lack of accuracy on the size of the comets.
<br />
<br />
One more thing haunts this investigation of Elenin. In late November
of last year, as in the days of Hale Bopp, two astronomers have died
under mysterious circumstances. The two workers died in the San Diego
area just 5 days apart of something akin to encephalitis . One
astronomer worked at Palomar with the NEAT telescope and the other
individual has had disagreements in the past with Don Yeomans (recognize
that name?). I don't need to tell you how important these men were to
the program. The blogger Rajatan says they were assassinated.
<br />
<br />
I think that this is all I have for now that I can think of. I will keep looking and digging for more facts.
</blockquote>
This brings me to another way of looking at this entire issue.
<br />
<br />
We all, as human beings, are cast in our understanding of our reality by
our history, both genetically and, of course, environmentally. The
variety of experiences and physiological history are endless in nature.
Pertaining to this experience, we are left with views that are far and
wide. Some believe that the power of comets is only gravitational; some
believe that they are signs of religious events; some say they are
harboring spaceships from alien worlds; and some may believe that they
can hitch a ride with them to other planes of reality (after committing
suicide). I cannot speak for any of them, nor for you. All that is left
for myself is to share my beliefs based upon my own understanding. I am
not given access to the scientific equipment that our tax dollars have
been spent on. <b>You and I are left to depend upon the governmental scientists that have absolutely different priorities than you and I have! </b>We
are left to the whims of evolutionists, big bang theorists,
uniformitarians, people who deny that men and women are any more than
bags of skin, that we are without spirit, to be controlled and worse
yet, to be used for production of taxes and economy. The Matrix -
science "fiction"? Hardly.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84763/full/MatrixHive.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" height="150" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84763/large/MatrixHive.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<br />
<span class="caption">The Matrix Hive</span><br />
<br /></div>
</div>
Think
of the profits! Think of the politics! How many benefit from the
whoring of humanity? An incredible machine! Stepping on, stepping over
people.
<br />
<br />
But we do have another tool in our repertoire! We have the experience of
millennia of human experience. This isn't a tool that you can pick up
and use. This tool is not already sharp; the edge of this axe is dulled
from human frailty. Contemporary science would have you believe that
it's not worthy of your hands. But what are we to do? Scientists have
created a clandestine society; a "mannerbund" so to speak. They have
assassins that are chosen to criticize and curtail any clear
examinations of the universe from history. Control of the public is
priority.<b> If the Galileos of our day, or the Velikovskis, were
allowed to spread their ideas, society would crumble and this mechanized
monster would fall from grace. </b>Their comfortable six and seven
figure lifestyles would be lost. The story never really changes, does
it? We are the pigs in the cage and "they" are the keepers. The
Mannerbund holds the scepter over our heads, keeping us full of fear,
most never willing to approach the truth.
<br />
<blockquote class="typ2">
"The cause of liberty becomes a mockery if the price to be paid is
the wholesale destruction of those who are to enjoy liberty." - Gandhi
</blockquote>
So the earth swims in the plasma of the warm sun, as three comets swirl
around her head like wasps carrying with them the sting of electrical
force. A balance set in motion by God, but now toyed with, by a simple
wave of his mighty finger.
<br />
<br />
So what will the critics say after the comets are gone on their way?
They'll say the same thing that they've said after every article and
every time we've reported on a comet: "The comet came and went and there
was no disaster, it didn't hit the earth!"
<br />
<br />
Can you just accept the fact that these people are simply fools? They
are on the wrong side of the equation. They have abandoned Truth for
self-serving reasons.
<br />
<br />
In the end they will have to accept the truth. Why? Because their empire
will fall. All that they have built up and all that they have tried to
control will escape their wicked plans.
<br />
<blockquote class="typ2">
"People of privilege will always risk their complete destruction
rather than surrender any material part of their advantage." - John
Kenneth Galbraith
</blockquote>
It took me a long time to get these three articles out. I was attacked
repeatedly by weapons only guessed about by the unknowing public. My
health is damaged, my life has been wounded, my family has suffered. But
I have something greater and more terrible than those that control
humankind will ever have.
<br />
<br />
So as these three comets do their worst, move on their way, what will be
our witness to all of this? Will our day and age be the beginning of
another "Age of Man"? Our culture suffers because of their hubris. Our
society is stunted because of the punishment of the Human Spirit and
Ingenuity. Freedom is absent, Liberty is almost an unknown quantity in
our country - The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. How much
punishment will it take before their hearts are softened?
<br />
<br />
The answer to that question is... destruction is mercy.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/236828-Three-for-the-Show-Assessing-the-Potential-Effects-of-Comets-Elenin-Levy-and-Honda" target="_blank">Read comments on SOTT.net </a><div class="blogger-post-footer">A Service of <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">Signs of the Times</a>: The most comprehensive, objective and reliable Alternative News Source on the Web. If you aren't reading <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">SOTT</a>, you don't know what's REALLY happening!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385115091808825739.post-38191284209971487722011-10-09T20:21:00.022+00:002011-11-10T19:22:35.170+00:00October 2011<div class="tr_bq">
<br /></div>
<b><a href="http://www.irishweatheronline.com/news/space/asteroids/400-metre-asteroid-flyby-due-in-early-november/32083.html" target="_blank">400-Metre Asteroid Flyby Due In Early November</a></b>
<br />
Mark Dunphy<br />
Irish Weather Online<br />
Sat, 01 Oct 2011 08:17 CDT <br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/82670/full/42_21781704.jpg" target="_blank" title="© Unknown"><img border="0" height="97" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/82670/full/42_21781704.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="96" /></a><br />
© Unknown <br />
<br />
A 1300-foot-wide (400 metres) asteroid, which is more than one and a half times the length of a soccer pitch, will pass within 0.85 lunar distances of the Earth on November 8/9, 2011.<br />
<br />
Discovered on December 28, 2005 by Robert McMillan of the Spacewatch Program near Tucson, Arizona, 2005 YU55 is believed to be a very dark, nearly spherical object.<br />
<br />
According to NASA's Near Earth Object Program: "Although classified as a potentially hazardous object, 2005 YU55 poses no threat of an Earth collision over at least the next 100 years. However, this will be the closest approach to date by an object this large that we know about in advance and an event of this type will not happen again until 2028 when asteroid (153814) 2001 WN5 will pass to within 0.6 lunar distances."<br />
<br />
<i>Click <a href="http://www.irishweatheronline.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/2005_YU55_approach_movie.gif" target="_blank">here</a> to watch the trajectory of Asteroid 2005 YU55 - November 8-9, 2011. </i><br />
<br />
While neither the European Space Agency (ESA) nor NASA has suggested that YU55 poses a threat to Earth, plans to develop a mission to counteract a potential asteroid collision in the future are already underway.<br />
<br />
The ESA is planning to fire an 'impactor' satellite into a 'test' asteroid in 2015 to see if the object's trajectory can be altered. The Agency is conducting the test mission in light of the minimal threat posed by the 700-1100-foot-wide 99942 Apophis asteroid, which has a one in 250,000 chance of impacting Earth in 2036.<br />
<br />
Other Recent Asteroid Encounters<br />
<br />
In late June 2011, earth experienced one of its closest encounters with an asteroid in recent years. But as NASA indicated in the days ahead of the 'cosmic close call', the encounter was so close that Earth's gravity sharply altered the asteroid's trajectory and prevented the space rock from impacting the planet.<br />
<br />
2011MD, a newly discovered asteroid passed within 12,000 kilometres (7,500 miles) of Earth. The asteroid was only sighted for the first time on 22 June by a robotic telescope in New Mexico, USA. The International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center in Massachusetts, USA, put out an alert Thursday.<br />
<br />
It was daylight in the UK and Ireland (12.30 GMT) when the asteroid passed over the southern Atlantic Ocean, near the coast of Antarctica. The event was observable from South Africa and parts of Antarctica. It also was visible in the hours leading up to the closest approach across Australia, New Zealand, southern and eastern Asia, and the western Pacific.<br />
<br />
Some media outlets proclaimed the asteroid to be as big as New York's Empire State Building'. In fact, 2011 MD measured about 16 feet to 35 feet.<br />
<br />
According to Minor Planet Center's ranking charts 2011 MD's trip was the fifth-closest recorded Asteroid event. The last asteroid to impact earth was '2008 TC3' which was detected on 7 October 2008, just 19 hours before it burned up in the atmosphere over northern Sudan.<br />
<br />
On 2 June, a 10-metre wide asteroid passed between the earth and moon.<br />
<br />
Asteroid 2009 BD, which was first observed on 16 January 2009 passed approximately within 0.9 lunar distances (the distance between Earth and the Moon) of earth. Astronomers believe the rock is a rare "co-orbital asteroid" which follows the orbit of the Earth, not receding more than 0.1 AU (15 million km) away.<br />
<br />
Two asteroids, several meters in diameter and in unrelated orbits, passed within the moon's distance of Earth on September 8 2010. In April 2010 an asteroid roughly as long as a tennis court zoomed past Earth at about the distance of the moon. The space rock to pass at or within lunar distance previous to this was 2009 JL2, an asteroid about 17 to 37 metres across, in May 2009.<br />
<br />
There is a roughly 50 percent chance of a 30-metre-wide plus asteroid striking Earth each century, according to Clark Chapman, a space scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, USA.<br />
<br />
NASA Asteroid Research<br />
<br />
Earlier this week, NASA announced it has discovered more than 90 percent of the largest near-Earth asteroids, meeting a goal agreed to with the United States Congress in 1998. The Agency also believes that all near-Earth asteroids approximately 6 miles (10 kilometres) across, as big as the one thought to have wiped out the dinosaurs, have been found.<br />
<br />
New observations by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, indicate have allowed astronomers now estimate there are roughly 19,500 - not 35,000 - mid-size near-Earth asteroids. Scientists say this improved understanding of the population may indicate the hazard to Earth could be somewhat less than previously thought.<br />
<br />
However, the majority of these mid-size asteroids remain to be discovered. More research also is needed to determine if fewer mid-size objects (between 330 and 3,300-feet wide) also mean fewer potentially hazardous asteroids, those that come closest to Earth.<br />
<br />
The results come from the most accurate census to date of near-Earth asteroids, the space rocks that orbit within 120 million miles (195 million kilometres) of the sun into Earth's orbital vicinity.<br />
<br />
WISE scanned the entire celestial sky twice in infrared light between January 2010 and February 2011, continuously snapping pictures of everything from distant galaxies to near-Earth asteroids and comets. NEOWISE observed more than 100 thousand asteroids in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter, in addition to at least 585 near Earth.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/82672/full/592714main_neo20110929_full.jpg" target="_blank" title="© NASA/JPL-Caltech "><img border="0" height="229" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/82672/full/592714main_neo20110929_full.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="395" /></a><br />
© NASA/JPL-Caltech <br />
<br />
NEOWISE observations indicate that there are at least 40 percent fewer near-Earth asteroids in total that are larger than 330 feet, or 100 meters. Our solar system's four inner planets are shown in green, and our sun is in the center. Each red dot represents one asteroid. Object sizes are not to scale. <br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/82673/full/592689main_pia14732_43_946_710.jpg" target="_blank" title="© NASA/JPL-Caltech "><img border="0" height="297" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/82673/full/592689main_pia14732_43_946_710.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="390" /></a><br />
© NASA/JPL-Caltech <br />
<br />
This chart illustrates why infrared-sensing telescopes are more suited to finding small, dark asteroids than telescopes that detect visible light. <br />
<br />
Though the WISE data reveal only a small decline in the estimated numbers for the largest near-Earth asteroids, which are 3,300 feet (1 kilometre) and larger, they show 93 percent of the estimated population have been found. These large asteroids are about the size of a small mountain and would have global consequences if they were to strike Earth. The new data revise their total numbers from about 1,000 down to 981, of which 911 already have been found. None of them represents a threat to Earth in the next few centuries.<br />
<br />
"The risk of a really large asteroid impacting the Earth before we could find and warn of it has been substantially reduced," said Tim Spahr, the director of the Minor Planet Center at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass.<br />
<br />
The situation is different for the mid-size asteroids, which could destroy a metropolitan area if they were to impact in the wrong place. The NEOWISE results find a larger decline in the estimated population for these bodies than what was observed for the largest asteroids. So far, the Spaceguard effort has found and is tracking more than 5,200 near-Earth asteroids 330 feet or larger, leaving more than an estimated 15,000 still to discover. In addition, scientists estimate there are more than a million unknown smaller near-Earth asteroids that could cause damage if they were to impact Earth.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/82675/full/592665main_pia14734_43_946_710.jpg" target="_blank" title="© NASA/JPL-Caltech"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/82675/full/592665main_pia14734_43_946_710.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="393" /></a><br />
© NASA/JPL-Caltech <br />
<br />
This chart shows how data from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, has led to revisions in the estimated population of near-Earth asteroids. The infrared-sensing telescope performed the most accurate survey to date of a slice of this population as part of project called NEOWISE. This allowed the science team to make new estimates of the total numbers of the objects in different size categories. NEOWISE observed more than 500 objects larger than 100-meters (330-feet) wide - what can be thought of as medium to large-size asteroids. Near-Earth asteroids smaller than this size range were not studied, and near-Earth comets will be analyzed at a later time. Asteroid sizes are not drawn to scale in the chart.<br />
<br />
Each asteroid image represents about 100 actual objects. Near-Earth asteroids that have already been found are filled in and appear brown. An entire row of asteroid images through the blue outlines shows how many total objects were thought to exist before the NEOWISE survey. The green outlines show the reduced new estimates based on the NEOWISE data.<br />
<br />
As the graphic reveals, only a small difference was observed in the estimated total numbers of the largest asteroids - the ones with the potential for global consequences should they impact Earth. For the medium-sized asteroids, which could still destroy a metropolitan area, new estimates predict fewer space rocks than previously thought. Details are listed below.<br />
<br />
- For the largest asteroids, larger than 1,000 meters (3,300 feet), NEOWISE data revises the total population down to 981 from a prior estimate of about 1,000. While this is not a dramatic difference, the findings show that NASA has met an initial near-Earth asteroid goal agreed to with Congress in 1998, calling for at least 90 percent of the largest objects to be found. There are an estimated 911 objects of this size range known, which means that NASA has found 93 percent. That leaves roughly 70 of these bodies left to find.<br />
<br />
- The NEOWISE data reveals an approximately 44 percent decline in the estimated numbers of medium-sized asteroids, which are defined as those objects between 100 meters and 1,000 meters (330 and 3,300 feet). Estimates now indicate about 19,500, where as 35,000 were thought to exist before.<br />
<br />
- The study does not apply to objects smaller than 100 meters (330 feet), but it is estimated that there are more than a million in this size range based on previous studies. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://times-news.com/latest_news/x1190858668/Possible-meteorite-brings-calls-to-911-center" target="_blank">Maryland, US: Possible Meteorite Brings Calls to 911 Center</a></b> <br />
<br />
Cumberland Times-News<br />
Tue, 04 Oct 2011 10:16 CDT <br />
<br />
Cumberland - Numerous 911 calls in Allegany and Mineral counties at 4:22 a.m., Tuesday apparently stemmed from a "meteorite passing through the area," according to Roger Bennett, acting director of Allegany County 's 911 center.<br />
<br />
"We checked camera footage from schools at Mount Savage, Westmar, Oldtown, Westernport and other locations that showed a flash of light that brightened the whole sky," said Bennett, who reviewed the video footage. He said no objects were visible in any of the videos.<br />
<br />
The Allegany County 911 center received about a dozen calls inquiring about the sound of an explosion. Calls were were also reportedly made to the Mineral County 911 center from the Keyser area. However, apparently no calls were made at that time to emergency centers in Garrett, Washington, Bedford and Fayette counties among other locations.<br />
<br />
A check of various agencies including the Federal Aviation Administration, Maryland Emergency Management Administration and the Maryland Institute of Emergency Medical Systems Services Statewide Communications Systems produced no information relative to the local 911 calls, according to Bennett.<br />
<br />
Bennett also said some unofficial information about the possible meteorite sighting was posted on some websites. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-10-draconid-meteor-outburst.html" target="_blank">Draconid meteor outburst due October 8th from Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner</a></b><b></b><br />
<br />
Tony Phillips<br />
Physorg<br />
Wed, 05 Oct 2011 10:11 CDT <br />
<br />
<br />
On October 8th Earth is going to plow through a stream of dust from Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner, and the result could be an outburst of Draconid meteors.<br />
<br />
"We're predicting as many as 750 meteors per hour," says Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. "The timing of the shower favors observers in the Middle East, north Africa and parts of Europe."<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83119/full/1_draconidmete.jpg" target="_blank" title="© N.A.Sharp/NOAO/AURA/NSF "><img border="0" height="392" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83119/full/1_draconidmete.jpg" target="_blank" title="© N.A.Sharp/NOAO/AURA/NSF " width="392" /></a><br />
© N.A.Sharp/NOAO/AURA/NSF <br />
<br />
Comet Giacobini-Zinner, a fairly frequent visitor to the inner solar system, was captured by the Kitt Peak 0.9-meter telescope on Halloween Night 1998 (UT November 1st, from 02:07 to 03:40). North is up with east to the left. Since the comet was moving across the sky fairly quickly, and since color images are made by combining successive exposures through three different filters, a conventional combination would have either a streaked comet or a set of colored dots for each star. To avoid this, the complete sequence of images, lasting over ninety minutes, was specially processed. <br />
<br />
Every 6.6 years Comet Giacobini-Zinner swings through the inner solar system. With each visit, it lays down a narrow filament of dust, over time forming a network of filaments that Earth encounters every year in early October.<br />
<br />
"Most years, we pass through gaps between filaments, maybe just grazing one or two as we go by," says Cooke. "Occasionally, though, we hit one nearly head on--and the fireworks begin."<br />
<br />
2011 could be such a year. Forecasters at NASA and elsewhere agree that Earth is heading for three or more filaments on October 8th. Multiple encounters should produce a series of variable outbursts beginning around 1600 Universal Time (noon EDT) with the strongest activity between 1900 and 2100 UT (3:00 pm - 5:00 pm EDT).<br />
<br />
Forecasters aren't sure how strong the display will be, mainly because the comet had a close encounter with Jupiter in the late 1880s. At that time, the giant planet's gravitational pull altered the comet's orbit and introduced some uncertainty into the location of filaments it has shed since then. Competing models place the filaments in slightly different spots; as a result, estimated meteor rates range from dozens to hundreds per hour.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83120/full/1_image_full.jpg" target="_blank" title="© MSFC/Meteoroid Environment Office."><img border="0" height="91" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83120/full/1_image_full.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="260" /></a><br />
© MSFC/Meteoroid Environment Office. <br />
<br />
Comet dust stream models suggest a succession of peaks in meteor rate between 1600 and 2100 UT on Oct. 9th. <br />
<br />
One respected forecaster, Paul Wiegert of the University of Western Ontario, says the meteor rate could go as high as 1000 per hour -- the definition of a meteor storm. It wouldn't be the first time. Close encounters with dusty filaments produced storms of more than 10,000 Draconids per hour in 1933 and 1946 and lesser outbursts in 1985, 1998, and 2005.<br />
<br />
Meteors from Comet Giacobini-Zinner stream out of the northern constellation Draco--hence their name. Draconids are among the slowest of all meteors, hitting the atmosphere at a relatively leisurely 20 km/s. The slow pace of Draconid meteors minimizes their danger to satellites and spacecraft and makes them visually distinctive. "A Draconid gliding leisurely across the sky is a beautiful sight," says Cooke.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, many of this year's Draconids will go unseen. Draconids are faint to begin with, and this year they have to complete with an almost-full Moon. Lunar glare will reduce the number of meteors visible from Europe, Africa and the Middle East by 2- to 10-fold. The situation is even worse in North America where the shower occurs in broad daylight - completely obliterating the display.<br />
<br />
That isn't stopping a group1 of middle school and high school students from Bishop, California, however. They plan to observe the shower from the stratosphere where the sky is dark even at noontime.<br />
<br />
Led by Science@NASA's Tony Phillips, the 15 students have been launching helium balloons to the edge of space since May of 2011. With more than 95% of Earth's atmosphere below the balloon, the sky above looks almost as black as it would from a spacecraft - perfect for astronomy.<br />
<br />
"The students are going to attempt to fly one of our low-light meteor cameras in the payload of their balloon," says Cooke. "I hope they catch some Draconid fireballs for us to analyze. They could be the only ones we get."<br />
<br />
Stay tuned for results after Oct. 8th. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15181123" target="_blank">Did Comet-Born Oceans Hit Earth?</a></b><b></b><br />
<br />
Jason Palmer<br />
BBC<br />
Wed, 05 Oct 2011 01:00 CDT <br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83202/full/_55873767_55870508.jpg" target="_blank"><img 83202="" _55873767_55870508.jpg"="" alt="Comets Water" border="0" full="" height="220" http:="" image="" s4="" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83202/full/_55873767_55870508.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="392" www.sott.net="" /></a><br />
<br />
Comet Hartley 2 was also the subject of the Deep Impact probe study <br />
<br />
<i>Comet Hartley 2 contains water more like that found on Earth than all the comets we know about, researchers say.</i><br />
<br />
A study using the Herschel space telescope aimed to measure the fraction of deuterium, a rare type of hydrogen, present in the comet's water.<br />
<br />
Like our oceans, it had half the amount of deuterium seen from other comets.<br />
<br />
The result, published in <i>Nature</i>, hints at the idea that <b>much of the Earth's water could have initially come from cometary impacts.</b><br />
<br />
Just a few million years after its formation, the early Earth was rocky and dry; most likely, something brought the water that covers most of the planet today.<br />
<br />
Water has something of a molecular fingerprint in the amount of deuterium it contains, and only about half a dozen comets have been measured in this way - and all of them have exhibited a deuterium fraction twice as high as the oceans.<br />
<br />
Asteroids, by contrast, give rise to the meteors and meteorites that arrive on Earth, making their deuterium fraction more well-established.<br />
<br />
Meteoritic material has roughly the same proportion of deuterium that the Earth's oceans contain, and so the assumption has been that if water arrived from elsewhere, it came from asteroids.<br />
<br />
Clouded Measure<br />
<br />
Until now, all of the comets that have been measured have been so-called Oort Cloud objects, believed to have been formed early in the Solar System's history in the region of the giant planets Neptune and Uranus and kicked out to a great distance as they bumped into the planets and each other.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83203/full/_65854435_55854434.jpg" target="_blank" title="© SPL"><img 83203="" _65854435_55854434.jpg"="" alt="Water in comets" border="0" full="" height="400" http:="" image="" s4="" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83203/full/_65854435_55854434.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="300" www.sott.net="" /></a><br />
© SPL <br />
<br />
Comets carry much more water than asteroids, but it may or may not be like the water found on Earth <br />
<br />
Comet Hartley 2 is the first "Kuiper Belt" object to undergo the deuterium analysis. Kuiper belt objects formed not far outside our Solar System, and comets that originate there have much shorter orbits than those from the Oort Cloud.<br />
<br />
An international team using the Herschel telescope to peer at the comet, they found it had a deuterium fraction much closer to that of our oceans.<br />
<br />
Report co-author Ted Bergin of the University of Michigan said that opened up the possibility that comets at least contributed to our water supply.<br />
<br />
"The reservoir of Earth ocean-like material is much larger than we thought, and it encompasses cometary material, which we hadn't recognised," he told BBC News.<br />
<br />
"We have to think really hard and try to get a better understanding of what is going in our Solar System, and whether you can really rule out comets as the source of Earth's water."<br />
<br />
They might not be ruled out, but they are not the definitive answer either; much of what we believe happened in the early Solar System is based on computer models.<br />
<br />
James Greenwood of Wesleyan University in the US said such models may need adjusting in light of the new evidence - and that more such studies are needed to assess whether many Kuiper Belt objects are like Hartley 2.<br />
<br />
<b>"If the short-period comets are all like this one comet, then this could be a significant source of our early water," he told BBC News.</b><br />
<br />
<b>"It opens up a new can of worms for us."</b><br />
<br />
Alessandro Morbidelli of the Observatory of Cote d'Azur argues that the result shows that the distinction between the potential water sources may need to be called into question.<br />
<br />
"In the past, scientists thought that these asteroids and comets were completely different classes of bodies. Now, several new results show that primitive asteroids and comets are brothers and sisters," he told BBC News.<br />
<br />
"This new view changes at least the semantics of the question on the origin of the Earth's water. The question becomes more technical: 'from which region of the disc and by which dynamical mechanism came the (objects) that delivered the water to the Earth?'"<br />
<br />
Herschel has some time left to address the question, but what all the researchers agree is that the Atacama Large Millimeter Array of telescopes in Chile - which has just shown <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15107254" target="_blank">off its first results</a> - will soon be able to resolve these questions with never-before-seen sensitivity. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.sanduskyregister.com/sandusky/news/2011/oct/05/locals-ufo-over-sandusky-tuesday-night-was-chart-topper" target="_blank">US, Ohio: Fireball over Sandusky Tuesday night was 'chart-topper'</a></b> <br />
<br />
Sandusky Register<br />
Thu, 06 Oct 2011 16:22 CDT <br />
<br />
<i>A gigantic UFO silently burned its way across the Sandusky sky Tuesday night.</i><br />
<br />
That's the story from three Camp Street men who happened to look up just as the object tore through the dark yonder at about 10 p.m.<br />
<br />
Robert Lowery, a clerk at the 7-11 store on Camp Street, said he was lugging a pile of cardboard boxes to the Dumpster when a bright object in the sky caught his attention.<br />
<br />
"It was about the size of a dinner plate," Lowery said. "You could see the heat coming off it."<br />
<br />
At the same time, about two blocks down Camp Street, Montee Prieur and Daniel Harpst were shooting the breeze next to the Camp Street Bar.<br />
<br />
"I looked up and this huge fireball went right over us," Harpst said. "It was on fire and had a long streaming tail ... I yelled at my buddy Montee who was sitting right next to me, 'Hey man, check that out.'"<br />
<br />
Prieur said he looked up in time to see it.<br />
<br />
From their vantage point, the great ball of fire raced overhead for brief seconds before dropping out of sight.<br />
<br />
"All I can tell you is it was a UFO," Prieur said. "I've only seen one other thing like it, and that was up in Michigan."<br />
<br />
It's anyone's guess how many people saw the mysterious object.<br />
<br />
Lowery, in fact, wasn't going to tell anyone about it.<br />
<br />
"I was just kinda like, 'That was weird,' but I didn't think much about it," Lowery said. "That's one of those things - if there's nobody else around to see it, you don't go around talking about it. People will think you're crazy."<br />
<br />
But when Harpst came in the store all worked up about the sighting, he asked Lowery about it.<br />
<br />
Both men agreed on this much: The object came from the southwest, headed northeast and disappeared somewhere over the lake.<br />
<br />
"It was really moving, whatever it was," Lowery said. "It looked like it went down somewhere around Johnson Island - that would've been the main stage. I wonder if anybody over there saw it."<br />
<br />
The whole show lasted about four seconds.<br />
<br />
"God, I wish I had a camera," Harpst said.<br />
<br />
Elizabeth Cory, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration's Great Lakes Region, said radars didn't show anything extraordinary Tuesday night.<br />
<br />
"There was no report of anything unusual last night in that area, or any area for that matter," Cory said Wednesday.<br />
<br />
But local astronomers weren't surprised at the sighting.<br />
<br />
Lois Wolf, director of the Sidney Frohman Planetarium in Sandusky, said it was probably a meteor that survived upper-atmospheric friction.<br />
<br />
"They do go by very fast and would burn white," Wolf said. "It's not uncommon."<br />
<br />
Retired planetarium director Dick Speir agreed.<br />
<br />
"Some meteors don't burn up in the upper atmosphere, and those that reach the lower levels would produce quite a bit of light," Speir said. "You'd be able to see it for a long ways - there should be other sightings in Erie County at least."<br />
<br />
Harpst still isn't convinced of any particular explanation.<br />
<br />
"I've seen a lot of strange things in my life, but this was a chart-topper," he said. "And I'll tell you one thing - it wasn't no airplane." <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=07&month=10&year=2011" target="_blank">Draconid Meteor Outburst October 8th</a></b> <br />
<br />
Space Weather<br />
Fri, 07 Oct 2011 12:09 CDT <br />
<br />
On October 8th, Earth will pass through a network of dusty filaments shed by Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner. Forecasters expect the encounter to produce anywhere from a few dozen to a thousand meteors per hour visible mainly over Europe, northern Africa and the Middle East. The meteors will stream from the northern constellation Draco--hence their name, the "Draconids."<br />
<br />
Peak rates should occur between 1600 UT and 2200 UT (noon - 6 pm EDT) as Earth grazes a series of filaments nearly intersecting our planet's orbit. Analysts at the NASA Meteoroid Environment Office prepared this plot showing how the meteor rate is likely to vary:<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83305/full/ff.gif" target="_blank" title="© NASA Meteoroid Environment Office"><img border="0" height="248" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83305/full/ff.gif" title="Click to enlarge" width="395" /></a><br />
© NASA Meteoroid Environment Office <br />
<br />
If the maximum around 1900 UT reaches 1000 meteors per hour, the 2011 Draconids will be classified as a full-fledged meteor storm. The question is, will anyone see it? Bright moonlight over Europe, Africa and the Middle East will reduce the number of visible meteors 2- to 10-fold. The situation is even worse in North America where the shower occurs in broad daylight.<br />
<br />
One way to enjoy the Draconids, no matter where you live, is to <a href="http://spaceweatherradio.com/" target="_blank">listen to them</a>. The Air Force Space Surveillance Radar will be scanning the skies over the USA during the shower. When a Draconid passes through the radar beam--ping!--there will be an echo. Tune in to Space Weather Radio for live audio.<br />
<br />
In Europe, an international team of scientists plans to observe the shower from airplanes flying at ~30,000 feet where the thin air reduces the impact of lunar glare. In Bishop, California, a team of high school students will launch an <a href="http://www.space.com/13210-draconid-meteor-shower-student-balloon-skywatching.html" target="_blank">experimental helium balloon</a> to higher altitudes, 100,000 feet or more, where the sky is black even at noon. Cameras in the balloon's payload might catch some Draconid fireballs during the peak hours of the outburst.<br />
<br />
Stay tuned for updates as Earth approaches the debris zone.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: 100%;"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/236100-Draconid-Meteor-Update">Draconid Meteor Update</a></span></b><br />
<a href="http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=09&month=10&year=2011" target="_blank">Space Weather</a> <br />
09 Oct 2011<br />
<br />
According to worldwide observers reporting to the International Meteor Organization, there was indeed an outburst of Draconid meteors on October 8th. <a href="http://www.imo.net/live/draconids2011/">Preliminary counts</a> suggest a peak rate of 660 meteors per hour at 2010 UT (4:10 pm EDT).
Most Draconids in the outburst were faint, but not all. Göran Fredriksson photographed this fireball splitting the evening twilight over Örnsköldsvik, Sweden:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83581/full/GApran_Fredriksson_Draconid_20.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83581/full/GApran_Fredriksson_Draconid_20.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 272px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 403px;" /></a>
<br />
The meteor rate and overall faintness of the display was in good accord with predictions by leading forecasters such as Jeremie Vaubaillon of the Institute for Celestial Mechanics in France and analysts at NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.space.com/13215-triple-asteroid-collision-sudan-meteorites.html" target="_blank">Triple Asteroid Crash Created Sudan Meteorites</a></b> <br />
<br />
Space.com<br />
Fri, 07 Oct 2011 09:18 CDT <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83317/full/almahata_sitta_meteorite_sudan.jpg" target="_blank" title="© Peter Jenniskens (SETI Institute/NASA Ames)"><img alt="Meteorite" border="0" height="264" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83317/full/almahata_sitta_meteorite_sudan.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="395" /></a><br />
© Peter Jenniskens (SETI Institute/NASA Ames) <br />
<br />
The black fragment of Almahata Sitta meteorite number 15 shows up black against the lighter coloured rocks of the Nubian desert in northern Sudan. <br />
<br />
Meteorites that fell over Sudan in 2008 could have come from a space rock that was formed by a triple-asteroid pileup - a collision between three different types of space rocks, a new study finds.<br />
<br />
Scientists analyzed meteorite fragments that fell to Earth exactly three years ago today, on Oct. 7, 2008, and found that they contain an unusual mix of material from both primitive and evolved types of asteroids.<br />
<br />
"Because falls of meteorites of different types are rare, the question of the origin of an asteroid harboring both primitive and evolved characteristics is a challenging and intriguing problem," study leader Julie Gayon-Markt, of the Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur in France, said in a statement.<br />
<br />
The meteorites came from <a href="http://www.space.com/10498-life-building-blocks-surprising-meteorite.html" target="_blank">asteroid 2008 TC3,</a> which impacted the Earth and rained more than 600 fragments across the Nubian Desert in Sudan. The meteorite fragments are collectively known as Almahata Sitta, which is Arabic for "Station Six," a train station between the Sudanese cities of Wadi Halfa and Khartoum, near where the fragments were found.<br />
<br />
"Our recent studies of the dynamics and spectroscopy of asteroids in the main asteroid belt shed light on the origin of the Almahata Sitta fragments," Gayon-Markt said. "We show that the Nysa-Polana asteroid family, located in the inner main belt is a very good candidate for the origin of 2008 TC3."<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83319/full/091008_Asteroid_2008_TC3_02.jpg" target="_blank" title="© P. Jenniskens/P. Scheirich"><img alt="Asteroid 2008 TC3" border="0" height="276" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83319/full/091008_Asteroid_2008_TC3_02.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="398" /></a><br />
© P. Jenniskens/P. Scheirich <br />
<br />
The shape of Asteroid 2008 TC3, a small space rock that hit the Earth in Sudan in October 2008, has been revealed to be something akin to a loaf of bread. <br />
<br />
Sifting through the asteroid belt<br />
<br />
The <a href="http://www.space.com/6491-space-rosetta-stone.html" target="_blank">Almahata Sitta meteorites</a> were historic because it was the first time that an asteroid was observed in space and tracked as it descended through the Earth's atmosphere, the researchers said. In fact, a weather satellite called Metrosat 8 tracked the path of the asteroid's path using infrared technology.<br />
<br />
Primitive asteroids are so called because they are survivors from the tumultuous <a href="http://www.space.com/8352-ancient-meteorites-pack-secrets-solar-system.html" target="_blank">birth of the solar system</a> and have remained relatively unchanged. These asteroids contain high proportions of hydrated minerals and organic materials, the researchers said.<br />
<br />
On the other hand, many other asteroids have undergone intense heating, most likely through the decay of radioactive materials, and the molten magma has separated into an iron core surrounded by a rocky mantle, the scientists explained.<br />
<br />
The research was presented today (Oct. 7) at a joint meeting of the European Planetary Science Congress and the American Astronomical Society's Division of Planetary Science in Nantes, France.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83320/full/asteroid_2008tc3.jpg" target="_blank" title="© EUMESTAT "><img alt="Asteroid 2008 TC3 in Infrared" border="0" height="277" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83320/full/asteroid_2008tc3.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="397" /></a><br />
© EUMESTAT <br />
<br />
Infrared image taken by the Meteosat 8 satellite of asteroid 2008 TC3 exploding. The path of the asteroid is shown with a yellow arrow; red-yellow blob on arrow is infrared from the explosion. <br />
<br />
Three asteroid flavors<br />
<br />
The Nysa-Polana family of asteroids, located in the inner main asteroid belt, is divided into three different types: the primitive B-type asteroids, which are relatively rare, stony S-type asteroids, and intermediate X-type asteroids. Both S-type and X-type asteroids have undergone some kind of thermal evolution in their past.<br />
<br />
Gayon-Markt and her colleagues found materials from all three Nysa-Polana asteroid types in the Almahata Sitta fragments. Their findings suggest that asteroid 2008 TC3 formed from the <a href="http://www.space.com/11218-asteroid-collisions-wrecking-balls-experiment.html" target="_blank">impact of an S-type object</a> in the inner main asteroid belt with a B-type object from the Nysa-Polana family. This was followed by a second impact with an X-type asteroid also from the Nysa-Polana family.<br />
<br />
"Around seventy to eighty percent of the Almahata Sitta fragments are what we call ureilites," Gayon-Markt said. "Although ureilites show both primitive and evolved characteristics, their spectra in visible light are very similar to B-type primitive objects. The remaining 20 to 30 percent of the Almahata Sitta fragments gather two other kinds of meteorites which are linked to S-type and X-type asteroids. A workable explanation for how asteroid 2008 TC3 could have formed involves low velocity collisions between these asteroid fragments of very different mineralogies." <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.nationaljournal.com/tech/watch-a-meteor-breaks-up-in-earth-s-atmosphere-video-20111007" target="_blank">A Meteor Breaks Up in Earth's Atmosphere</a></b> <br />
<br />
National Journal<br />
Fri, 07 Oct 2011 09:35 CDT <br />
<br />
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center recorded a meteor breaking up in Earth's atmosphere on Sept. 30 at 8:37 p.m. EDT. Watch below.<br />
<br />
Also, notice the star-like object moving slowly toward the upper middle of the screen. Orbiting 500 miles above Earth, it's the booster rocket that launched the Russian Cosmos 2219 intelligence satellite in 1992. The empty rocket body can get bright enough to be seen with the naked eye.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.examiner.com/ufo-in-national/four-fireballs-cross-michigan-skies-at-a-steady-pace" target="_blank">US: Four Orange Fireballs Cross Michigan Skies 'at a steady pace'</a></b><b></b><br />
<br />
Roger Marsh<br />
Examiner.com<br />
Sun, 02 Oct 2011 00:00 CDT <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83360/full/800px_Michigan_1718_2.jpg" target="_blank" title="© Wikipedia."><img border="0" height="186" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83360/full/800px_Michigan_1718_2.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="300" /></a><br />
© Wikipedia. <br />
<br />
As reported recently in New Jersey, four fireballs crossed Michigan skies on October 1, 2011, and the witness was able to capture all four on video. <br />
<br />
A Michigan couple report "four consecutive fireballs" crossed the sky "traveling straight at a steady pace," according to October 2, 2011, testimony from the Mutual UFO Network (<a href="http://mufon.com/" target="_blank">MUFON</a>) witness reporting database.<br />
<br />
The couple was driving home from dinner when they noticed the first "orange fireball rising up from the horizon."<br />
<br />
"It was travelling almost perfectly from north to south," the witness stated. "All you could really see was the v-shaped plume of fire behind it."<br />
<br />
The witness described the size of the object.and its path.<br />
<br />
"If you extended your arm fully out in front of you, the plume appeared the size of your pinky fingernail. It was travelling straight, at a steady pace."<br />
<br />
But then more fireballs were seen.<br />
<br />
"What was really odd was that after it traversed the sky and went out of site, about 20 seconds later, another one appeared from the same origin, travelling the exact same path-pace as the first one. Even stranger, this happened a total of four times."<br />
<br />
The witness was able to take video of all four fireballs. <a href="http://www.mufoncms.com/files/32277_submitter_file1__Produce.mpg" target="_blank">One piece of video was included with the MUFON report</a>, which was filed on October 2 ,2011. The events occurred on October 1, 2011. No town name was mentioned in the public portion of the report. The above quotes were edited for clarity.<br />
<br />
We recently reported on fireballs September 26, 2011, for cases in Oregon and New Jersey - and the New Jersey witness also reported a series of four moving overhead.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.examiner.com/ufo-in-national/fireballs-over-oregon-seem-controlled-as-one-crashes" target="_blank">Fireballs over Oregon seem controlled as one 'crashes'</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.examiner.com/ufo-in-national/new-jersey-witness-reports-four-fireballs-moved-like-aircraft" target="_blank">New Jersey witness reports four fireballs moved 'like aircraft'</a><br />
<br />
Also in Michigan on October 1, "about 20 to 30 lights" were reported by five witnesses moving north toward Canada in <a href="http://mufoncms.com/cgi-bin/report_handler.pl?req=view_long_desc&id=32278&rnd=" target="_blank">MUFON Case # 32278</a>. "The more I looked, I could see clusters moving in the same direction," the reporting witness stated.<br />
<br />
Michigan is a current <a href="http://www.examiner.com/ufo-in-national/national-ufo-alert-sighting-averages-drop-across-country" target="_blank">UFO ALERT</a> 3 rating, with a high number of UFO sightings nationally. Michigan had 40 reports in September 2011 - the 3rd highest reporting state - while California had 86 UFO reports - the highest reporting state in the nation.<br />
<br />
You can read more details about other recently reported cases at the <a href="http://www.examiner.com/ufo-in-national/roger-marsh" target="_blank">UFO Examiner home page</a>.<br />
<br />
<i>The following is the unedited and as yet uninvestigated report filed</i><i> <i>with MUFON. Please keep in mind that most UFO reports can be explained</i> <i>as something natural or manmade.<a href="http://mufon.com/MapPages/MI.html" target="_blank"> If Michigan MUFON State Director William J. Konkolesky</a> investigates and reports back on this case, I will release an update. Please report UFO activity to MUFON.com.</i></i><br />
<br />
MI, October 1, 2011 - four consecutive fireballs. MUFON Case # 32277.<br />
<br />
My wife and I were driving home from dinner and I noticed an orange fireball rising up from the horizon. It was travelling almost perfectly from north to south. All you could really see was the v-shaped plume of fire behind it.<br />
<br />
If you extended your arm fully out in front of you, the plume appeared the size of your pinky fingernail.<br />
<br />
It was travelling straight, at a steady pace. What was really odd was that after it traversed the sky and went out of site, about 20 seconds later, another one appeared from the same origin, travelling the exact same path / pace as the first one.<br />
<br />
Even stranger, this happened a total of four times!<br />
<br />
I have separate videos of each, but attached is a small sample of some of the steadiest video i have, with a good point of reference (tree / streetlight) so you can get an idea of the pace it was moving at. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/236102-Electric-Universe-Comet-Elenin-the-Debate-that-Never-Happened" target="_blank">Electric Universe: Comet Elenin - the Debate that Never Happened</a></b><br />
<br />
David Talbott<br />
thunderbolts.info<br />
Thu, 06 Oct 2011 22:01 CDT<br />
<br />
The comet Elenin, a subject of intense Internet discussion for
several months, seems to have disappointed everyone. I speak here not
just of the doomsayers, who were awaiting a frightful specter in recent
weeks. You might think these folks would be happy that the celebrated
intruder faded fast just when it was supposed to be reaching maximum
activity. But in these strange times, Doomsday seems a lot more fun than
a minor distraction in our cosmic neighborhood.
<br />
<br />
Also disappointed are the many scientists who expected a more impressive
display from Elenin. That expectation seemed well founded based on the
growing coma of Elenin in the months following its discovery in
December, 2010. And prior space probes sent to comets helped to feed an
illusion about the comet's size. The estimates appear to have missed
the mark completely.
<br />
<br />
Strangely, the popular scientific media, insofar as they've shown any interest in Elenin, are satisfied to simply expose<a href="http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/nasa-shoots-down-comet-elenin-doom-and-gloom-" target="_blank"> the lunacy</a>
of Internet fear-mongering. But is that really all we should be
discussing here? Elenin has only one connection to "Doomsday." Like
every comet, it reminds us of ancient memories of a truly terrifying and
destructive Great Comet, the true source of comet fears and Doomsday
anxiety - a verifiable cultural conditioning that has persisted for
thousands of years. With every appearance of a comet the ancient fear
resurfaces, but this fact adds nothing to scientific discussion of
Elenin and its fate.<br />
<br />
Visions of Nibiru
<br />
<br />
The little wisp of a comet has no relationship to ancient Babylonian
references to "Nibiru," a subject misrepresented up to a cosmic level by
the originator of a Nibiru doomsday fantasy - Zecharia Sitchin. From
the beginning, the Nibiru concept promoted by Sitchin was a meaningless
fiction. A few meager examples of the word exist in Babylonian
literature. Nothing in the language suggests either a comet or the rogue
planet claimed by Sitchin.
<br />
<br />
Of course the spokesmen for "good science," a phrase that too often
means official dogma, delight in mocking Doomsday musings. But that
response can only distract from what should be discussed -<a href="http://www.thunderbolts.info/thunderblogs/archives/goodspeed08/110629_NASAs_elephant.htm" target="_blank"> the failure of standard comet theory</a>
to describe or predict comet behavior over the past 25 years. The
ignored fact is that Elenin has only added to the list of comet
"misbehavior" - throwing a spotlight once again on mistaken theoretical
assumptions.
<br />
<br />
Just when theory said the comet should have exhibited its greatest
activity, it almost disappeared. One would assume from the media
silence that the comet's denouement poses no mystery to science. But to
those who have come to understand the<a href="http://www.thunderbolts.info/thunderblogs/archives/special_edition/100116_se_teu1.htm" target="_blank"> electrical nature of comets</a>,
there is something particularly noteworthy in the fading of Elenin. It
is now clear that the original guesses about Elenin's mass were
overstated to a spectacular degree. It will certainly not serve the
interests of scientific progress to ignore the question posed or turn
away from an essential reconsideration of theory.
<br />
<br />
<span class="BoldGrey">Explosive brightening </span>
<br />
<br />
Just a few months ago, Elenin was claimed to be an "<a href="http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/highlights/119704774.html" target="_blank">average sized long-period comet</a>," with a diameter "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/2010_X1" target="_blank">between 3 and 4 km</a>."
<br />
<br />
This opinion was formulated as the comet approached the asteroid belt in
its rapid fall toward the Sun. Astronomers observed that Elenin was
brightening faster than expected. Between April and August, the dusty
coma grew from 80,000 km in diameter to 200,000 km. Applying standard
reasoning, observers agreed that Elenin, which seemed rather weak when
discovered, was a "typical"-sized comet.
<br />
<br />
Elenin "looked like it was going to put on a good show," reported <a href="http://www.space.com/13045-comet-elenin-skywatching-curiosity-nasa.html" target="_blank">Space.com</a>. "Even as recently as Aug. 19, the comet was brighter than predicted."
<br />
<br />
Then something unexpected happened when, on August 19, the charged
particles of a coronal mass ejection struck the comet. In response, the
comet flared up dramatically, as seen in the image on the left below.
This image was recorded by amateur astronomer Michael Mattiazzo, and
cited on the website <a href="http://astroblogger.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Astroblog</a>.<br />
<br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83579/full/Elenin_1.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Michael Mattiazzo"><img alt="images of comet Elenin" border="0" height="217" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83579/large/Elenin_1.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© Michael Mattiazzo</span> - Amateur
astronomer Michael Mattiazzo (Castlemaine, Australia) captured images
of comet Elenin on Aug. 19 (left) after the nucleus was struck by a CME.
The greatly diminished display on the right was captured on Sept. 6,
2011. Astronomers view the second image as an indication of
disintegration. </div>
</div>
<br />
Ian Musgrave writes, "Shortly after the coronal mass ejection the
comet flared up and you could see some beautiful details in the tail,
with the tail was twisting about in the solar wind." But over the next
few days observers reported a huge decrease in the intensity of the
comet, and it appeared that the comet was falling apart.
<br />
<br />
The electric comet responds
<br />
<br />
It seems that charged particles from the Sun did what the Sun's heat
couldn't do. But did the specialists see a clue in this electrical
event? Did anyone remember how, in October 2007, comet Holmes began
discharging explosively, brightening by a factor of a million after it
was subjected to a huge spike in the solar wind, eventually producing a
spectacular coma larger than the diameter of the Sun. The event occurred
as Holmes moved away from the Sun, leaving stunned astronomers to offer
wild guesses about the cause. No mention of any connection to the
surge of charged particles from the Sun, since electrical causes are so
clearly outside the astronomers' field of view.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83580/full/Elenin_2.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Ivan Eder"><img alt="Comet Holmes on November 4, 2007" border="0" height="208" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83580/large/Elenin_2.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© Ivan Eder</span> - <span class="caption">Comet Holmes on November 4, 2007, showing the blue ion tail on the right,taken from Hungary. </span></div>
</div>
<br />
Least of all did the the scientific media recall how, in 1991, <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v353/n6343/abs/353407a0.html" target="_blank">comet Halley</a>
flared up to 300 times its normal brightness while on its long journey
away from the Sun, in the distant realm between the orbits of Saturn and
Uranus. Here, a surface temperature of -200 ˚C would categorically
exclude all "cometary" activity" under standard assumptions. Was it a
coincidence that this occurred in the wake of near-record solar
outbursts?
<br />
<br />
As for Elenin, there's apparently little or nothing left of the puny
object. We'll know shortly when it, or its residue, emerges from behind
the Sun. But consider the implications of Elenin's fate. If
astronomers are correct in viewing comets as chunks of icy material
moving through an electrically neutral domain of the Sun, imagine the
absurdity of thinking that "warming" from the Sun - starting in the icy
region beyond the asteroid belt! - could have caused Elenin to evaporate
completely within a few months later, while only spending a few weeks
inside Earth's orbit. This is the one issue on which the standard model
and the electric model deliver the same message: Elenin's size was
greatly overestimated.
<br />
<br />
<span class="BoldGrey">The underachieving comet</span>
<br />
<br />
If the comet was much smaller than originally supposed, what caused its
noticeable display in the first place, while it was still in the icy
region beyond the asteroid belt? At that distance from the Sun, where
any appreciable effect of sublimation is doubtful, how did it create the
illusion of a respectable size?
<br />
<br />
The answer - apparently the only plausible answer - is given by the
electric comet model. In electrical terms, when a comet drifts in from
the outermost regions of the solar system, it is not reasonable to base
size estimates on observation of comets with much shorter, less
elliptical orbits. Some comets we can visit because they have short
periods and we know where they are. But when seen electrically these
comets cannot give us an accurate picture of comets as a whole.
Electric comets imply that the Sun is the center of an electric field.
It is the most positively charged body in the solar system. A comet
approaching the Sun from a much more distant region will carry far more
negative charge than those orbiting closer to the Sun. And this is why
comparisons based on size or strength of cometary activity alone,
without reference to orbital characteristics, have never held up and
never will.
<br />
<br />
The negatively charged comet nucleus of Elenin, arriving from the most
remote regions of the Sun's influence, was very likely just a small
rock, perhaps a hundred meters or less. Moving through the Sun's radial
electric field, it began discharging under the electrical stress from
rapid entry into a more positively charged environment. As electric arcs
to the surface excavated material, accelerating it into a highly
diffuse dust cloud, Elenin began to display a coma. That, not any
imagined "thermal effects," was why Leonid Elenin detected the tiny
comet in December 2010, when it was well beyond the asteroid belt.
<br />
<br />
Then, on August 19, when the comet was much closer to the Sun, it was
struck by the proton-bearing cloud of a CME. Electrical breakdown
occurred and the nucleus shattered like an exploding capacitor - just as
we've seen in the case of other "inexplicable," <a href="http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/2005/arch05/050520linear.htm" target="_blank">exploding comets</a>.
<br />
<br />
<span class="BoldGrey">Seeing the obvious</span>
<br />
<br />
A "3 or 4 km-wide" chunk of ice and dirt could not just disappear at
Elenin's distances from the Sun, even with disintegration. Elenin is not
a "<a href="http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/2009/arch09/090422sungrazers.htm" target="_blank">sun grazer</a>."
Its perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) was outside the orbit of
Mercury. But what if Elenin was, in truth, a tiny comet, but a strongly
charged body for its size? As noted above, since Elenin arrived from a
very remote region, electrically-provoked brightening would be expected
as it entered a more positively charged region of the heliosphere. For
the same reasons, under the impact of a CME, disintegration by
electrical breakdown is the obvious interpretation of what occurred.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83582/full/Elenin_3.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA"><img alt="elenin 3" border="0" height="320" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83582/large/Elenin_3.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="287" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© NASA</span> - <span class="caption">The
upper frame of this Hubble Space Telescope image captures the explosive
disintegration of two separate fragments of Comet Schwassman-Wachmann 3
in April, 2006. The relationship of these two fragments to two other
fragments from earlier break-up is evident in the lower Hubble image.</span></div>
</div>
<br />
Would a larger comet have disintegrated so completely following the
electrical explosion? For comparison purposes, the progressive
disintegration of the unpredictable Comet <a href="http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/2006/arch06/060505cometbreakup.htm" target="_blank">Schwassmann-Wachmann 3</a>
is worth noting. In the image above, the Hubble Space Telescope
captured the disintegration of Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 in progress, when
it was still out beyond Earth's orbit. Apparently, in this case a comet
of more "respectable" size than Elenin exploded into fragments through
phases, in the course of two or three orbits, leading to sudden, rapid
disintegration of at least two larger fragments in April, 2006.
<br />
<br />
It seems that when a comet of a more "typical" size disintegrates, it
puts on a more lasting and spectacular display. The prolonged
disintegration of Comet Schwassman-Wachmann simply underscores the point
noted above, that Elenin's disintegration in a bright flash, followed
by rapid disappearance of the residue, is the confirmation of a tiny
nucleus.
<br />
<br />
<span class="BoldGrey">Elenin's predecessor - Comet Linear</span>
<br />
<br />
A 21st century illustration of this point was the disintegration and disappearance of <a href="http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/2005/arch05/050520linear.htm" target="_blank">Comet Linear</a>
in 2000. Indeed, Linear's entry into the inner solar system from the
outermost regions, its highly eccentric orbit, its brightening, and its
demise appear to have anticipated very well the story of Elenin.
Compare the two images below to the "before and after" images of Elenin
given earlier in this article.
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83584/full/Elenin_4.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" height="204" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83584/large/Elenin_4.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
Comet Linear on July 23, 2000, in its "brightest moment" before complete
disintegration. http://www.ing.iac.es/PR/AR2000/high_2000.html
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83585/full/Elenin_5.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" height="203" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83585/large/Elenin_5.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
Comet Linear on August 2, 2000 after fragmentation of the nucleus<br />
<br />
Comet Linear also provided one other clue to the electric comet.
Rocky pebbles and grains of dust can quickly adjust to their electrical
environment. With complete disintegration, discharge activity will
quickly end. That's what happened to Linear, and very likely what
happened to Elenin. Linear was neither a dirty snowball, nor an icy
dirtball. With its disintegration, the only appreciable residue was dry
dust. In other words, though occasional water ice or other volatiles
on a comet cannot be categorically excluded, there is good reason to
anticipate that the remains of Comet Elenin will be almost entirely
dust. (This will most likely mean that the only "water" in the dust
cloud will be the consequence of negatively charged oxygen atoms from
the comet combining with hydrogen ions from the solar wind.)
<br />
<br />
For more than a quarter century now, on every major issue confronting
comet science, the record is remarkably clear. No "standard" model has
withstood the surprises of the space age. When <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg18725161.300-comet-tails-of-the-unexpected.html" target="_blank">Donald Brownlee</a>,
head of NASA's stardust mission, confessed, "It's a mystery to me how
comets work at all," he was simply speaking with the candor that all
comet specialists owe to the tax-paying public. Today, in the face of
growing public disinterest, this candor is needed more than ever.
<br />
<br />
A comet holding its integrity year after year, then suddenly shattering
at considerable distances from the Sun, was never expected. But what
better way to move science forward than to ask: Why? And what better
way to re-inspire the space age than to discuss openly and publicly the
sweeping evidence for electricity in space?<br />
<br />
Source: <a href="http://www.thunderbolts.info/wp/2011/10/06/comet-elenin%E2%80%94the-debate-that-never-happened/">Comet Elenin—the Debate that Never Happened</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/236115-October-6-2011-50-reports-of-fireball-sightings-over-Southeastern-USA" target="_blank">October 6, 2011: 50 reports of fireball sightings over Southeastern USA</a></b><br />
<br />
Robert Lunsford<br />
<a href="http://www.amsmeteors.org/2011/10/october-6-2011-fireball-over-southeastern-usa/">American Meteor Society</a><br />
Thu, 06 Oct 2011 06:32 CDT<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83613/full/fireball.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83613/medium/fireball.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
Huge fireball spotted over Southeastern US on January 12 this year.<br />
<br />
The American Meteor Society has so far received approximately <b>50 reports of a dazzling fireball over the southeastern USA including Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi.</b>
This event occurred near 8:40pm EDT (7:40pm CDT) Thursday evening
October 6th. Of the reports received so far, green is the by far the
most mentioned color. Vivid green fireballs are not unusual and in the
case of slow meteors, such as this one, are usually caused by a
particular element such as nickel or copper present in the meteor. The
green color observed in swift fireballs are more likely caused by
ionized oxygen caused by the passage of the meteor through the
atmosphere. The average brightness reported by witnesses was near the
light produced by a full moon.
<br />
<br />
A fireball is a meteor that is larger than normal. Most meteors are only
the size of small pebbles. A meteor the size of a softball can produce
light equivalent to the full moon for a short instant. The reason for
this is the extreme velocity at which these objects strike the
atmosphere. Even the slowest meteors are still traveling at 10 miles per
SECOND, which is much faster than a speeding bullet. Fireballs occur
every day over some parts of the Earth. It is rare though for an
individual to see more than one or two per lifetime as they can also
occur during the day or on a cloudy night. Observing during one of the
major annual meteor showers can increase your chance of seeing another
bright meteor.<br />
<br />
Fireballs often appear much closer than they really are. The
AMS receives countless reports that an object landed just over the hill
when in fact it was several hundred miles away and was witnessed over
several states. It is your perspective that makes meteors appear to
strike the horizon when in fact they are still high in the atmosphere.
This is much like a jetliner seen low in your sky. It appears low to you
but for someone located many miles away in that direction, the jetliner
is passing high overhead. Meteors become visible at approximately 50
miles above the Earth's surface. Friction slows these objects down until
they fall below the velocity necessary to produce light. At this point
they still lie at least 5 miles high in the sky. They are invisible
below this altitude and cannot be seen as they basically freefalling to
the ground at 200mph. Very few meteors actually reach the ground as
99.99% completely disintegrate while still 10-20 miles up in the
atmosphere.
<br />
<br />
In the AMS fireball table, refer to event #1137 for 2011.
<br />
<br />
Clear Skies!<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/235984-Double-Whammy-Knocked-Uranus-to-Its-Side" target="_blank">Double-Whammy Knocked Uranus to Its Side</a></b><br />
<br />
Irene Klotz<br />
Discovery News<br />
Fri, 07 Oct 2011 08:56 CDT
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83324/full/uranus_zoom.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Lawrence Sromovsky, (Univ. Wisconsin-Madison), Keck Observatory"><img alt="Uranus" border="0" height="245" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83324/large/uranus_zoom.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
© Lawrence Sromovsky, (Univ. Wisconsin-Madison), Keck Observatory<br />
Near-infrared views of Uranus reveal the extent to which it is tilted.<br />
<br />
What toppled giant Uranus, the seventh planet from the sun, to its
tilt is a long-standing puzzle. Scientists suspect it was left spinning
on its side after a collision with an object about twice the size of
Earth.
<br />
<br />
But that doesn't explain why Uranus's moons spin sideways, relative to
their orbital planes, matching almost exactly their parent planet's
98-degree tilt.
<br />
<br />
Jupiter's spin axis, by comparison is tilted 3 degrees; Earth's, 23 degrees; Saturn and Neptune, 29 degrees.
<br />
<br />
The answer, suggests a team of scientists, is that Uranus was pummeled
more than once. Computer models show a series of impacts by Earth-sized
objects could have left Uranus on its side before its moons formed.
<br />
<br />
A single crash, the researchers say, would have left any moons
accumulating from a cloud of materials surrounding Uranus spinning in
the opposite direction from how they appear today.
<br />
<br />
The research has implications for understanding how the solar system --
and other planetary families beyond our solar system -- formed and
evolved.<br />
<br />
"The formation history of Uranus and Neptune is one of the most
important open problems in planetary science. Having shown that giant
collisions had to happen frequently on these planets is an important
piece of information on the way to understanding their origin," lead
author Alessandro Morbidelli, with the Observatory of Cote d'Azur in
Nice, France, wrote in an email to Discovery News.
<br />
<br />
Better images of Uranus's moons probably would provide more clues about how the bodies formed, Morbidelli added.
<br />
<br />
The idea that Uranus was toppled by a double-whammy raises the question
about where the impacting objects came from, points out astronomer
Steven Desch, with Arizona State University.
<br />
<br />
Previous studies show that if the cores of Uranus and Neptune formed
closer to the sun than where the planets are today, there would have
been enough time for one object about twice the mass of Earth to form
just beyond them. But Desch is skeptical there would have been enough
time for more than one object to form and then batter Uranus.
<br />
<br />
"Is it possible to grow more than one object this large though? It seems unlikely," Desch told Discovery News.
<br />
<br />
Uranus currently orbits about 19 times farther from the sun than Earth.
In Desch's model, it and Neptune would have needed to form about 50 to
75 percent closer to the sun to allow for the formation of the impacting
body.
<br />
<br />
Morbidelli's research was presented this week at a planetary sciences meeting in Nantes, France.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://news.discovery.com/space/uranus-knocked-on-side-111007.html" target="_blank">Source</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.universetoday.com/89715/impact-on-asteroid-scheila/" target="_blank">Impact On Asteroid Scheila?</a></b><br />
<br />
Tammy Plotner<br />
Universe Today<br />
Sun, 09 Oct 2011 22:33 CDT<br />
>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83583/full/moreno_580x365.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Fernando Moreno"><img alt="Asteroid Impact" border="0" height="205" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83583/large/moreno_580x365.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
© Fernando Moreno<br />
Left to right): images of (596) Scheila corresponding to 2010 December 13,
14, 17, and 29. The upper row corresponds to the observations, while the
lower row to the models. The tails clearly show a bifid pattern with a
central spike in the sunward direction, although it is not detectable in
the December 29 image. Except for this latter case, the modeled images
are rendered using the same color code for the intensities as the
corresponding observed images in the top row.
<br />
<br />
On December 12, 2010, something very unusual happened to asteroid
Scheila. For a short period of time, its appearance changed dramatically
and it even developed a comet-like tail. Now a group of international
scientists headed by Fernando Moreno of the Instituto de Astrofísica de
Andalucía in Granada, Spain have created a computer model which may
explain this weird activity... an impact.
<br />
<br />
In results revealed October 7th in Nantes, France at the joint meeting
of the European Planetary Science Congress and the American Astronomical
Society's Division for Planetary Sciences, the team explained their
theory of how this innocent asteroid may have been crashed into by a
smaller object. Moreno and his team plotted the brightness curve of
Scheila's newly developed "tail" - watching how it declined over a
period of weeks. Their conclusion was that Scheila was either
responsible for bumping into an uncatalogued object - or the object
bumped into it causing a debris trail.
<br />
<br />
"The model we used involves a very large number of particles ejected
from Scheila." explains Moreno. "We took into account gravity from the
Sun, pressure radiation on the ejected particles, and Scheila´s gravity,
which has a strong effect on the particles in its vicinity owing to its
large mass."
<br />
<br />
Just when did this crash occur? The first indications placed
the "asteroid accident" at a period of somewhere between November 11 and
December 3, 2001. But, thanks to refined studies the team has placed
the smash-up to on - or within - three days of November 27, 2010.
With a size of about 110 kilometers across, Scheila isn't very large and
the impactor was estimated to be anywhere from 60 to 180 meters in
diameter. That's quite enough to send visible pieces flying into space!
<br />
<br />
"We applied a scaling law that uses impact velocity to indicate the mass
of the impactor and ejected material." concludes Moreno. "We know the
impact should be about 5 kilometres per second because that's the
average velocity of asteroids in the Main Belt. Using this number we
predicted both the ejection velocity of the particles (50 to 80 meters
per second) and the size of the impactor."
<br />
<br />
As for asteroid Scheila, she's also a step off the beaten path, too. It
belongs to a class known Main-Belt Comets - objects which have orbital
characteristics of Main-Belt Asteroids - but sometimes behave like a
comet. The reason why they have outbursts still isn't clear. While these
new modeling techniques may lend credence to the impact theory, there's
also a strong possibility of gaseous emissions. However, astronomers
from the University of Maryland and Institute for Astronomy, University
of Hawaii have ruled out venting in Scheila's case.
<br />
<br />
Source: <a href="http://www.europlanet-eu.org/outreach/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1" target="_blank">EuroPlanet News.</a><br />
Read on <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/236101-Impact-On-Asteroid-Scheila-">SOTT.net</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b> <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/236140-First-comet-found-with-ocean-water-" target="_blank">First comet found with 'ocean water'</a></b><br />
<br />
Nicole Casal Moore-Michigan<br />
<a href="http://www.futurity.org/top-stories/first-comet-found-with-%E2%80%98ocean-water%E2%80%99/">Futurity</a><br />
Mon, 10 Oct 2011 14:54 CDT<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83660/full/comet_1.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA"><img alt="Comet Hartley" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83660/medium/comet_1.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
© NASA - Comet Hartley, as imaged by NASA's EPOXI spacecraft.<br />
<br />
For the first time, researchers have detected ocean-like water in a comet -
new evidence supporting the theory comets delivered a significant
portion of Earth's oceans.
<br />
<br />
"Life would not exist on Earth without liquid water, and so the
questions of how and when the oceans got here is a fundamental one,"
says Ted Bergin, an astronomy professor at the <a href="http://ns.umich.edu/htdocs/releases/story.php?id=8593" target="_blank">University of Michigan</a>. "It's a big puzzle and these new findings are an important piece."
<br />
<br />
The findings are reported in the journal <i><a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature10519.html" target="_blank">Nature</a></i>.
<br />
<br />
Bergin is a co-investigator on HiFi, the Heterodyne Instrument for the
Infrared on the Hershel Space Observatory. With measurements from HiFi,
the researchers found that the ice on a comet called Hartley 2 has the
same chemical composition as our oceans. Both have similar D/H ratios.
The D/H ratio is the proportion of deuterium, or heavy hydrogen, in the
water. A deuterium atom is a hydrogen with an extra neutron in its
nucleus.
<br />
<br />
"We were all surprised," Bergin says.
<br />
<br />
Six other comets HiFi measured in recent years had a much different D/H
ratio than our oceans, meaning similar comets could not have been
responsible for more than 10 percent of Earth's water.
<br />
<br />
The astronomers hypothesize that Hartley 2 was born in a different part
of the solar system than the other six. Hartley most likely formed in
the Kuiper belt, which starts near Pluto at about 30 times farther from
the Sun than the Earth is. The other six hail from the Oort Cloud more
than 5,000 times farther out.
<br />
<br />
The source of earth's oceans has been a subject for debate among
astronomers for decades. Until now, asteroids were thought to have
provided most of the water. Now, however, Herschel has shown that at
least one comet does have ocean-like water.
<br />
<br />
"The results show that the amount of material out there that could have
contributed to Earth's oceans is perhaps larger than we thought," Bergin
says.
<br />
<br />
Herschel, a European Space Agency mission with NASA participation, is an
orbiting telescope that allows astronomers to observe at the
far-infrared wavelengths where organic molecules and water emit their
chemical signatures.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b> <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/236130-France-Meteorite-believed-to-be-more-than-4bn-years-old-smashes-through-roof-of-home-on-outskirts-of-Paris" target="_blank">France: Meteorite believed to be more than 4bn years old smashes through roof of home on outskirts of Paris</a></b><br />
<br />
Kim Willsher<br />
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/10/comette-family-home-damaged-meteorite">The Guardian</a><br />
Mon, 10 Oct 2011 12:46 CDT<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83631/full/Leonid_meteor_shower_007.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Nasa/EPA"><img alt="" border="0" height="198" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83631/large/Leonid_meteor_shower_007.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© Nasa/EPA</span> - <span class="caption">The meteorite which hit the Comette family home is thought to have come from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.</span></div>
<br />
<br />
When your name is Comette you may get used to jokes about rockets and space
and planets. But French schoolboy Hugo Comette, 11, had the last laugh
when of all the places, in all the countries on Earth, a piece of rock
from outer space landed on his home.
<br />
<br />
An egg-sized meteorite believed to be 4.57bn years old smashed through
the roof of the Comette family home on the outskirts of Paris some time
over the summer when everyone was away on holiday.
<br />
<br />
And there the rock, blackened by its journey through Earth's atmosphere
stayed, buried in the roof insulation, until Hugo's mother, civil
servant Martine Comette, 32, noticed the roof was leaking and called out
someone to fix it.
<br />
<br />
The roofer took one look at the broken tile and told the
Comettes that whatever had smashed their roof tile must have come from
the sky. "It would have had to be superman to break a tile in this way,"
he said. It was only then that the meteorite, weighing 88g (3.5oz), was
discovered.
<br />
<br />
Curious to know exactly what it was, Mrs Comette called out scientist
Alain Carion, a mineral expert, who declared it an "exceptional"
discovery.
<br />
<br />
"It's extremely rare. We have had only 50 or so meteorite falls in
France over four centuries," Carion told journalists. "We have never
found anything like it within an 80km radius of Paris before."
<br />
<br />
He said the Comettes' meteorite was a piece of chondrite that had come
from the belt of asteroids between Mars and Jupiter. Most meteorites
recovered on Earth are chondrites. They were formed when dust and small
grains present in the early solar system created primitive asteroids.
Chondrite meteors include dust believed to predate the formation of our
solar system and to have come from elsewhere in the galaxy.
<br />
<br />
Although they have been told some meteorites sell for up to €1,000
(£860) a gramme, the Comettes say selling theirs is out of the question.
"A piece of the history of space of which we know nothing, but which is
fascinating, has fallen on us," Mrs Comette, an accountant at the
French ministry of finance, told <i>Le Parisien</i> newspaper. "It's like a fairytale, and less likely than winning the lottery, we're told."
<br />
<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
<b>Comment: </b>Actually, the odd are <a href="http://fireballs-meteorites.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">much higher</a> than this. The chances are also fairly high for the <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228862-From-Where-I-Sit-Raindrops-Keep-Fallin-On-My-Head" target="_blank">"raindrops"</a> to morph into a downpour. In this case, the fairytale could turn into a potential nightmare.</blockquote>
<br />
<br />
Not that the lump of rare chondrite Hugo Comette has been proudly
showing off at school has convinced everyone. "I took it to school in a
piece of kitchen roll in my satchel, but one friend said he only half
believed me when I told him what it was," Hugo said. "He thought it
looked like a piece of concrete."<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/236174-A-Meteorite-Visits-the-Comettes" target="_blank">A Meteorite Visits the Comettes</a></b><br />
<br />
Jason Major<br />
<a href="http://www.universetoday.com/89750/a-meteorite-visits-the-comettes/">Universe Today</a><br />
Mon, 10 Oct 2011 22:42 CDT<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83725/full/meteorite_draveil_1.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Universe Today"><img alt="Meteorite" border="0" height="230" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83725/large/meteorite_draveil_1.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
© Universe Today - This egg-sized meteorite broke through the roof of the Comette family.<br />
<br />
When your last name is Comette, I'm sure the occasional
astronomy-themed joke is never far away. But it's no joke that the
Comette family living in Draveil, a suburb south of Paris, was paid a
visit by a real extraterrestrial a couple of weeks ago - in the form
of an 88-gram (3.5 oz.) meteorite that broke through their roof!
<br />
<br />
The Comettes were on vacation at the time, so didn't realize their house
had been struck by a space rock until they noticed a leak in the roof.
When they called in a roofer it was discovered that a thick tile had
been completely broken through.
<br />
<br />
The meteorite was found wedged in insulation.
<br />
<br />
Mineral scientist Alain Carion investigated the meteorite and determined
that it's an iron-rich chondrite, a 4.57-billion-year-old remnant of
the early Solar System that most likely came from the main asteroid belt
between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. About 3/4 of all meteorites
that have been observed landing on Earth are chondrites.
<br />
<br />
While obviously not impossible, the odds of your home being hit
my a meteorite are incredibly slim. Only 145 meteorites have been
documented landing in the US in the past 200 years. On March 26, 2003,
just before midnight, hundreds of fragments of a large meteorite fell in
the Park Forest area of Chicago. Several fell through roofs of houses
and one punched a hole in the roof of the fire station. One large piece
weighing about 2.5 kg (5.5 lb) crashed into a bedroom, narrowly missing a
boy who was asleep in his bed! On September 23, 2003, a 20 kg (44 lb)
stone meteorite tore straight through a two-storey house in New Orleans
and came to rest in the basement. (Source: <a href="http://epswww.unm.edu/meteoritemuseum/virtualtour/world.htm" target="_blank">University of New Mexico Institute of Meteoritics.</a>)
<br />
<br />
Only about 50 meteorites have been found in France over the past four
centuries, and none has ever before been discovered less than 80 km (50
miles) from Paris.
<br />
<br />
While they could attempt to sell the meteorite that struck their home,
possibly fetching several hundred euros for it, the Comettes have
decided to keep their otherworldly visitor.
<br />
<br />
"A piece of the history of space of which we know nothing, but which is fascinating, has fallen on us," Mrs. Comette told the <i>Le Parisien</i> newspaper. "It's like a fairytale, and less likely than winning the lottery, we're told."<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/236198-Saturn-s-rings-tell-a-comet-s-tale" target="_blank">Saturn's rings tell a comet's tale</a></b><br />
<br />
Nadia Drake<br />
<a href="http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/335059/title/Saturns_rings_tell_a_comets_tale">ScienceNews.org</a><br />
Tue, 11 Oct 2011 14:15 CDT<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83753/full/ff.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83753/medium/ff.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
© NASA<br />
<br />
<i>Ripples testify to 14th century collision</i>
<br />
<br />
During the 1300s, the Black Death was savaging Europe, England and
France were locked in the Hundred Years' War and Chaucer was penning his
Canterbury Tales. Meanwhile, more than a billion kilometers away, a
comet careened toward Saturn and disintegrated, dropping dusty clouds of
debris on the giant planet's iconic rings, creating rippled cometary
footprints.
<br />
<br />
The ripples from that cataclysmic event can still be detected today,
electrical engineer Essam Marouf reported October 4 during the joint
meeting of the European Planetary Science Congress and the American
Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences.
<br />
<br />
Marouf, a professor at San Jose State University in California and a
member of the Cassini science team, described how the probe beamed radio
waves back to Earth through the innermost part of Saturn's C ring, a
tenuous inner band in the planet's ring system. The radio waves revealed
what Marouf calls a "very unusual kind of addition" to the normal ring
structure. "There were highly regular little wiggles that rippled over
hundreds of kilometers in a very specific pattern," Marouf says.
<br />
<br />
The rippling region contains two different waves, one that
repeats every 1.2 kilometers and another that repeats every 1.3
kilometers. Though curious, similar wiggles do appear elsewhere in the
outer solar system. Scientists traced a similar structure in Jupiter's
rings - spied by the Galileo probe - to debris littered by comet
Shoemaker-Levy 9 as it crashed into the solar system's largest planet in
1994.
<br />
<br />
Saturn's C ring also features a longer rippling structure imaged by
Cassini and reported earlier this year. Scientists think these longer
undulations - between 30 and 50 kilometers - were caused by an
impact event in 1983.
<br />
<br />
Using that information, Marouf and his team were able to determine how
long ago the ripples were created, since wavelengths shrink predictably
and elderly ripples are more closely packed together.
<br />
<br />
Rewinding that shrinking process revealed that the newly observed
ripples are 600 years older than those born in the early 1980s. "They
date back to about the late 1300s," Marouf says. "And there is very
clear evidence for two events, not one, separated by about 50 years."
<br />
<br />
"This is such an amazing result," says Mark Showalter of the SETI
Institute in Mountain View, Calif., who recently linked the Jovian
ripples with the comet. "Two events is really a hint that this is a
cometary kind of thing. Some object got captured into orbit, made two
close passages. Survived the first, not totally damaged - then 50
years later it came back in and that was the end of it."<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b> <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/236208-Did-A-Comet-Cause-Solar-Explosion-Hardly-Ignorant-Experts-Say" target="_blank">Did A Comet Cause Solar Explosion? Hardly, Ignorant Experts Say</a></b><br />
<br />
Mike Wall<br />
<a href="http://ca.news.yahoo.com/did-comet-cause-solar-explosion-hardly-experts-121802906.html">SPACE.com</a><br />
Tue, 11 Oct 2011 15:47 CDT<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83774/full/ff.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© SOHO"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83774/medium/ff.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
© SOHO<br />
<br />
A huge solar eruption that occurred right after a comet plunged into the sun was likely a coincidence, experts say.
<br />
<br />
The so-called "sungrazing" comet streaked toward the sun Saturday (Oct.
1) and disintegrated after getting too close. The sun then unleashed a
massive eruption of solar plasma known as a coronal mass ejection, which
can rocket through space at 3 million mph (5 million kph). But there's
no reason to think the two dramatic events were related, scientists
said.
<br />
<br />
"There still remains zero evidence for a link between sungrazing comets
and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that can't be better explained than by
simple coincidence," Karl Battams of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
<a href="http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=AudkLmBRZnuUvj3XjgCUGIxussB_;_ylu=X3oDMTFqaWd2Ymg3BG1pdANBcnRpY2xlIEJvZHkEcG9zAzIEc2VjA01lZGlhQXJ0aWNsZUJvZHlBc3NlbWJseQ--;_ylv=0/SIG=12gg7l9go/EXP=1319575617/**http%3A//sungrazer.nrl.navy.mil/index.php%3Fp=news/comets_cmes" target="_blank">wrote in a blog post</a> Tuesday (Oct. 4). [<a href="http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=AuMPRGr_pg1ZwgGQ067PiwlussB_;_ylu=X3oDMTFqaTNjbzlmBG1pdANBcnRpY2xlIEJvZHkEcG9zAzMEc2VjA01lZGlhQXJ0aWNsZUJvZHlBc3NlbWJseQ--;_ylv=0/SIG=1337kaf79/EXP=1319575617/**http%3A//www.space.com/12581-stunning-photos-solar-storms-flares-sun-weather.html" target="_blank">Stunning Photos of Solar Flares & Sun Storms</a>]
<br />
<br />
Solar astronomers with the sun-watching Solar and Heliospheric Observatory agreed.
<br />
<br />
"The question of whether a sungrazing comet can somehow trigger a
coronal mass ejection is an intriguing one," SOHO scientists wrote in a
website update this week. "So far, the feeling is that [the] apparent
relationship between some comets and some mass ejections is simply one
of coincidence."
<br />
<br />
<span class="BoldGrey">No mechanism known</span>
<br />
<br />
CMEs and other solar storms are magnetically driven, erupting after magnetic field lines on the sun twist, break and reconnect.
<br />
<br />
Scientists don't know how a comet could spur such a process, wrote
Battams, who does computer processing for SOHO and runs the sun
observatory's comet-sighting website for the Naval Research Lab.
<br />
<br />
The likelihood seems more remote when you consider that death-diving
comets rarely actually reach the sun's surface. Instead, they generally
break up after veering too close.
<br />
<br />
And sungrazing comets tend to be small.
<br />
<br />
The comets spotted by SOHO have cores about 330 feet (100 meters) wide
at most, according to Battams. The sun, on the other hand, is about
865,000 miles (1.39 million kilometers) across.
<br />
<br />
"I'm lucky enough to be surrounded by some of the best solar physicists
in the world, and none of them can think of a reasonable mechanism in
which physics would allow this event to be initiated by any comet, let
alone such a tiny one," Battams wrote.
<br />
<br />
Researchers also have a pretty good idea of where Saturday's CME
originated, he added, and it looks like the death-diving comet didn't
come anywhere close to that spot.
<br />
<br />
Finally, Battams has gone through the SOHO data and found many sundiving
comets whose death plunge was not followed by a CME. But the times when
the two dramatic events occur one after the other tend to stick out in
people's minds, he added.
<br />
<br />
<span class="BoldGrey">An active sun</span>
<br />
<br />
The most reasonable explanation, Battams and other scientists say, is
that when sungrazing comets and solar storms coincide, that's all it is:
mere coincidence. [<a href="http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=Ap567rFMvKEMZee_YPEwfXVussB_;_ylu=X3oDMTFqaGFmbHBnBG1pdANBcnRpY2xlIEJvZHkEcG9zAzUEc2VjA01lZGlhQXJ0aWNsZUJvZHlBc3NlbWJseQ--;_ylv=0/SIG=12pjhjnbc/EXP=1319575617/**http%3A//www.space.com/12584-worst-solar-storms-sun-flares-history.html" target="_blank">The Sun's Wrath: Worst Solar Storms in History</a>]
<br />
<br />
When the sun is active, it can unleash a dozen or so CMEs per day, and
perhaps even more, Battams wrote. And sungrazing comets aren't all that
rare, either. During a 10-day stretch in December 2010, for example, at
least 25 comets hurled themselves into the sun.
<br />
<br />
So it would be surprising if at least some CMEs didn't occur shortly
after a comet plunge, just by chance alone. And that could start
happening more and more, because the sun is in an active phase right
now, researchers said.
<br />
<br />
"At this stage of the solar cycle, the sun is producing many mass
ejections - in fact there were several earlier in the day [Saturday] -
and it probably just happened by chance that one of them was around
the same time as the approach of the comet," researchers with SOHO,
which is a joint effort of NASA and the European Space Agency, wrote in
an update Monday (Oct. 3).
<br />
<br />
"Some researchers have been looking for a more direct relationship, but
nothing as yet has come out of these efforts," they added.
<br />
<br />
Activity in the current cycle, known as Solar Cycle 24, should peak around 2013, experts say.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/236243-Asteroid-Vesta-Has-Mountain-Three-Times-as-Tall-as-Everest" target="_blank">Asteroid Vesta Has Mountain Three Times as Tall as Everest</a></b><br />
<br />
Victoria Jaggard<br />
<a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/10/111012-asteroid-vesta-mountain-everest-nasa-dawn-space-science/">National Geographic News</a><br />
Wed, 12 Oct 2011 00:00 CDT<br />
<br />
<i>New view shows huge peak on Vesta's south polar region.</i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83846/full/ff.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA/NASA"><img alt="" border="0" height="160" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83846/large/ff.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
© Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA/NASA - Vesta's south polar region, as seen in a digital model based on NASA images.<br />
<br />
The asteroid 4 Vesta hosts a mountain three times as high as Mount Everest, seen in a new picture from NASA's <i>Dawn</i> spacecraft.
<br />
<br />
The unexpected peak rises from the center of a crater in the asteroid's
south polar region. The mountain is about 13 miles (22 kilometers) high
and spreads about 112 miles (180 kilometers) at its base.
<br />
<br />
By contrast, the biggest known mountain in the solar system, Mars's
Olympus Mons, stands 16 miles (25 kilometers) high and spreads 374 miles
(624 kilometers).
<br />
<br />
"Vesta is full of surprises, and no more so than in the
southern polar region," Paul Schenk, a Dawn participating scientist at
the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Texas, said today during a press
briefing.
<br />
<br />
"We had indications before arrival that the south polar region was going
to be interesting," Schenk added. For instance, "Hubble pictures show a
dimple there, but at [the space telescope's] resolution it's hard to
tell what's going on."
<br />
<br />
With the new, higher-resolution data from <i>Dawn</i>, scientists can
see the "dimple" is really an impact crater - dubbed the Rheasilvia
Basin - that's about 295 miles (475 kilometers) wide and that's
dominated by the massive central mound.
<br />
<br />
"Vesta is really a small world that is quite unique and has exceeded our expectations," Carol Raymond, <i>Dawn's</i> deputy principal investigator at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said at the briefing.
<br />
<br />
<span class="BoldGrey">Flattening an Asteroid</span>
<br />
<br />
At about 330 miles (529 kilometers) wide, Vesta is the second largest
body in the main asteroid belt, a ring of solar system "leftovers" that
lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
<br />
<br />
<i>Dawn</i> entered orbit around Vesta in July and will spend a full
year collecting data before moving on to the dwarf planet Ceres, the
largest body in the main belt.
<br />
<br />
Using some of the high-resolution pictures of Vesta taken so far, JPL
scientists created an image that gives an angled view of Vesta's south
polar region, to highlight its three-dimensional topography.
<br />
<br />
Like straightening out an orange peel, this view of Vesta's surface has
been digitally flattened so that features such as the high mountain
don't disappear over the horizon of the nearly round asteroid.
<br />
<br />
<span class="BoldGrey">Vesta a Peek at Baby Earth?</span>
<br />
<br />
Studying features such as the giant polar mountain on Vesta should help
scientists trace the asteroid's geologic history, possibly giving a
glimpse at how our solar system formed.
<br />
<br />
Previous studies of meteorites from Vesta showed that the space rock's
pitted surface was once coated by basaltic lava flows, hinting that
Vesta hosted a global magma ocean similar to the one that likely existed
on Earth's moon.
<br />
<br />
In fact, Vesta is thought to be a protoplanet - a baby world whose
growth was stunted by gravitational interactions from Jupiter, as that
planet grew to become the massive gas giant we see today.
<br />
<br />
The results of the <i>Dawn</i> mission, according to NASA, can
therefore offer clues to what rocky planets such as Earth and Mars might
have looked like in the early days of the solar system.
<br />
<br />
"We are finding - and expect to further document - that Vesta has undergone planetary processes," JPL's Raymond said.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b> <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/236267-Time-lapse-trifecta-Photo-captures-meteor-Milky-way-and-Northern-Lights" target="_blank">Time-lapse trifecta! Photo captures meteor, Milky way and Northern Lights</a></b><br />
<br />
Jonathan Woods<br />
<a href="http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/10/13/8301983-time-lapse-trifecta-photog-captures-meteor-milky-way-and-northern-lights">MSNBC</a><br />
Thu, 13 Oct 2011 12:45 CDT<br />
<br />
A meteor, the Milky Way and the Northern Lights. Capturing just one
of these natural beauties in a photo is a feat many photographers would
be proud of.
<br />
<br />
Amateur photographer Tommy Eliassen struck photo gold in this beautifully composed image he shot in Ifjord, Finnmark, Norway.
<br />
<br />
Eliassen made the photo on Sept. 25 using a Nikon D700 with a wide angle lens and long exposures between 25-30 seconds.
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83897/full/ff.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Tommy Eliassen/Caters News Agency"><img alt="" border="0" height="204" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83897/large/ff.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
© Tommy Eliassen/Caters News Agency - A meteor streaks across the Milky Way adjacent to a display of the Northern Lights in Finland.
<br />
<br />
In an interview with Caters News, The 33-year-old, who
capitalized on a narrow window of clear skies, talked about the
experience.
<br />
<blockquote class="typ1">
"I quickly went and took some pictures in a regular spot of mine, and
thought to myself that I had got some good aurora shots and also some
separate good milky way shots. But just as the clouds started to come in
over the mountains I noticed this faint aurora lining up perfectly
beside the milky way. Normally the lights from the aurora is much, much
stronger than the lights from the stars, so getting the right exposure
on both is difficult. But it was ideal conditions - almost once in a
lifetime".
</blockquote>
He was able to snap seven images of the scene before clouds moved back in.
<br />
<blockquote class="typ1">
"I was so focused on getting it right that I didn't think about it at
the time. But afterwards I realised that this was something special and
that it might be years before I get an opportunity like it again," he
said.
</blockquote>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/236268-Asteroid-Near-Earth-Discovered-by-Amateur-Astronomers" target="_blank">Asteroid Near Earth Discovered by Amateur Astronomers</a></b><br />
Mike Wall<br />
<a href="http://www.space.com/13272-asteroid-discovery-amateur-astronomers-2011-sf108.html">Space.com</a><br />
Thu, 13 Oct 2011 08:46 CDT<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83900/full/esa_amateur_asteroid.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© ESA/TOTAS Survey Team"><img alt="New Asteroid" border="0" height="213" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83900/large/esa_amateur_asteroid.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
© ESA/TOTAS Survey Team - Observations coordinated by ESA's Space Situational Awareness programme have led to the discovery of a previously unknown near-Earth object, asteroid 2011 SF108 in September 2011. The asteroid orbits the sun in a path that brings it within about 18 million miles (30 million km) of Earth.<br />
<br />
<br />
A team of amateur astronomers has discovered a previously unknown
asteroid in orbit that brings it near the Earth, highlighting the
contributions regular folks can make to planetary defense, scientists
announced Wednesday (Oct. 12).
<br />
<br />
The skywatchers spotted the asteroid, which is known as 2011 SF108, in
September using a telescope in the Canary Islands. While 2011 SF108's
orbit appears to bring it no closer to Earth than about 18 million miles
(30 million kilometers), it still qualifies as a near-Earth object -
the class of space rocks that could pose a <a href="http://www.space.com/13164-killer-asteroids-deflection-humanity-cooperation.html" target="_blank">danger to our planet.</a>
<br />
<br />
The team took advantage of an observation slot sponsored by the European
Space Agency's Space Situational Awareness (SSA) program to make the
find, according to an ESA announcement.
<br />
<br />
"As volunteer work, it is very rewarding," said Detlef Koschny, head of
near-Earth object activity for SSA, in a statement. "When you do spot
something, you contribute to Europe's efforts in defending against
asteroid hazards."
<br />
<br />
<span class="BoldGrey">Amateurs make a find</span>
<br />
<br />
Asteroid 2011 SF108 was discovered by the Teide Observatory Tenerife
Asteroid Survey (TOTAS) team, a group of 20 skywatching volunteers. They
used the 1-meter telescope at the European Space Agency's Optical
Ground Station on Tenerife in the Canary Islands.
<br />
<br />
Specifics on the asteroid's estimated size were not detailed in the ESA announcement.
<br />
<br />
The telescope observed for four nights, running automated <a href="http://www.space.com/13130-dangerous-asteroids-earth-nasa-telescope-results.html" target="_blank">asteroid surveys</a>
using software developed by amateur astronomer and computer scientist
Matthias Busch from the Starkenburg Amateur Observatory in Heppenheim,
Germany.
<br />
<br />
Busch's software flags potential space rocks, but the finds must be
confirmed by human eyes. The software scored a hit during the observing
session of Sept. 28 and 29, researchers said.
<br />
<br />
"Images are distributed to the entire team for review, and any one of
them could be the discoverer of a new asteroid," Koschny said. "This
time, the luck of the draw fell to Rainer Kracht."
<br />
<br />
Kracht, a retired schoolteacher who lives in Elmshorn, Germany, is
therefore 2011 SF108's official discoverer. He now has found 46
asteroids, researchers said.
<br />
<br />
To date, about 8,000 <a href="http://www.space.com/10154-asteroid-comet-census-wise.html" target="_blank">near-Earth objects</a>
have been discovered worldwide, but many thousands more are suspected
to exist. Astronomers are keen to find as many of them as possible, so
they can better assess the chance that a big, dangerous space rock will
slam into Earth sometime soon.
<br />
<br />
Since starting their SSA-sponsored survey work in January 2010, the TOTAS <a href="http://www.space.com/11393-amateur-astronomer-spots-winking-asteroid.html" target="_blank">amateur astronomers</a> have identified nearly 400 candidate asteroids, 20 of which have been confirmed and named, researchers said.
<br />
<br />
<span class="BoldGrey">Determing the orbit</span>
<br />
<br />
After examining telescope images from three separate nights, the TOTAS
team was able to determine 2011 SF108's orbit well enough to declare it a
near-Earth object.
<br />
<br />
The team sent news of its find to the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge,
Mass., the worldwide clearinghouse of information about comets and
asteroids.
<br />
<br />
While 2011 SF108 appears not to pose much risk to Earth for the
foreseeable future, further observations could help refine its orbit and
our assessment of just how dangerous it might be, researchers said. But
for now, the team can bask in the glow of discovery for a spell.
<br />
<br />
"It was really an exciting moment when I saw 'our' asteroid appearing on
my computer screen," Koschny said. "It confirms the excellent quality
of work done by the entire TOTAS team."<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/236316-Debris-of-Doomsday-comet-to-swing-by-Earth-on-Sunday" target="_blank">Debris of "Doomsday" comet to swing by Earth on Sunday</a></b><br />
<br />
Mike Wall<br />
<a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/10/14/scitech/main20120573.shtml">CBS News / SPACE.com</a><br />
Fri, 14 Oct 2011 13:21 CDT<br />
<br />
The moment long feared by conspiracy theorists is nearly upon us: The
"doomsday comet" Elenin will make its closest approach to Earth Sunday
(Oct. 16). Or what's left of it will, anyway.
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83996/full/ff.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA/JPL-Caltech"><img alt="" border="0" height="187" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83996/large/ff.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
© NASA/JPL-Caltech - Trajectory of comet Elenin<br />
<br />
Comet Elenin started breaking up in August after being blasted by a huge
solar storm, and a close pass by the sun on Sept. 10 apparently finished
it off, astronomers say. So what will cruise within 22 million miles
(35.4 million kilometers) of our planet Sunday is likely to be a stream
of debris rather than a completely intact comet.
<br />
<br />
And the leftovers of Elenin won't return for 12,000 years, astronomers say.
<br />
<br />
"Folks are having trouble finding it, so I think it's probably dead and
gone," said astronomer Don Yeomans of the Near-Earth Object Program
Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
<br />
<br />
That means it probably won't present much of a skywatching show Sunday, scientists have said.
<br />
<br />
<span class="BoldGrey">The doomsday comet</span>
<br />
<br />
Elenin's apparent demise may come as a relief to some folks, since
apocalyptic rumors circulating on the Internet portrayed the comet as a
major threat to Earth.
<br />
<br />
One theory claimed Elenin would set off havoc on Earth after aligning
with other heavenly bodies, spurring massive earthquakes and tsunamis.
Another held that Elenin was not a comet at all, but in fact a rogue
planet called Nibiru that would bring about the end times on Earth.
After all, the comet's name could be taken as a spooky acronym:
"Extinction-Level Event: Nibiru Is Nigh."
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83997/full/ff.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Michael Mattiazzo/Space.com"><img alt="" border="0" height="187" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/83997/large/ff.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
© Michael Mattiazzo/Space.com - Two images of comet Elenin taken on Aug. 19 (left) and Sept. 6, 2011. The images show a rapid dimming in the comet<br />
<br />
Those ideas were pure nonsense, Yeomans said.
<br />
<br />
"Elenin was a second-rate, wimpy little comet that never should have
been noted for anything, really," he told SPACE.com. "It was not even a
bright one."
<br />
<br />
Elenin's remains will not be the only objects about to make their
closest pass of Earth. One day after the Elenin flyby, the small
asteroid 2009 TM8 will zip close by. Like Elenin, it poses no risk of
striking our home planet.
<br />
<br />
Asteroid 2009 TM8 is about 21 feet (6.4 meters) wide and the size of a
schoolbus. It will come within 212,000 miles of Earth - just inside
the orbit of the moon - when it zips by on Monday morning (Oct. 17).
<br />
<br />
<span class="BoldGrey">Say goodbye to Elenin</span>
<br />
<br />
Elenin was named after its discoverer, Russian amateur astronomer Leonid
Elenin, who spotted it in December 2010. Before the icy wanderer broke
up, its nucleus was likely 2 to 3 miles (3 to 5 km) in diameter,
scientists say.
<br />
<br />
Elenin never posed any threat to life on Earth, Yeomans said. It was far
too small to exert any appreciable influence on our planet unless it
managed to hit us.
<br />
<br />
"Just driving to work every day in my subcompact car is going to have
far more of a gravitational effect on Earth than this comet ever will,"
Yeomans said.
<br />
<br />
Elenin's supposed connection to earthquakes was just a correlation, and a
weak one at that, he added. Relatively strong earthquakes occur every
day somewhere on Earth, so it's easy -- but not statistically valid --
to blame some of them on the comet's changing position.
<br />
<br />
Yeomans views the frenzy over Elenin as a product of the Internet age,
which allows loud and often uninformed voices to drown out the rather
more prosaic results that scientists publish in peer-reviewed journals.
<br />
<br />
"It's a snowball effect on the Web," Yeomans said. "You get one or two
folks who make an outrageous claim, and a bunch of others pile on. Some
folks are actually making a living this way."
<br />
<br />
Elenin's crumbs will soon leave Earth in the rear-view mirror, speeding
out on a long journey to the outer solar system. But Yeomans doesn't
think the departure will keep the conspiracy theorists down for long.
<br />
<br />
"It's time to move on to the next armageddon," he said.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/236331-Was-the-First-Photographed-UFO-a-Comet-" target="_blank">Was the "First Photographed UFO" a Comet?</a></b><br />
<br />
Jon Voisey<br />
<a href="http://www.universetoday.com/89911/was-the-first-photographed-ufo-a-comet/">Universe Today</a><br />
Fri, 14 Oct 2011 20:01 CDT<br />
<br />
On August 12th, 1883, Mexican astronomer José Bonilla was preparing
to study the Sun at the recently opened Zacatecas Observatory. However,
the Sun's surface was marred by numerous objects quickly travelling
across its disk. Over the course of the day and the next, Bonilla
exposed several wet plates to take images of the 447 objects he would
observe. They weren't released publicly until January 1st, 1886 when
they were published in the magazine <i>L'Astronomie</i>. Since then, UFOlogists have crowed these photographs as the first photographic evidence of UFOs. The chief editor of <i>L'Astronomie </i>passed the observations off as migrating animals, but a <a href="http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1110/1110.2798.pdf" target="_blank">new study</a> proposes the observation was <b>due to the breakup of a comet that nearly hit us</b>.
<br />
<br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84033/full/ff.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Jose Bonilla"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84033/large/ff.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="caption">© Jose Bonilla - First photograph of a UFO sighting, taken 12 August 1883 by Jose Bonilla.</span></div>
</div>
<br />
<br />
The only piece of evidence the authors, led by Hector Manterola
at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, use to suggest that
this was a comet in the process of breaking up, was the descriptions of
the objects as being "fuzzy" in nature and leaving dark trails behind
them. Assuming this were the case, the authors consider how close the
object would have been. Since astronomers at observatories in Mexico
City, or Puebla had not reported the objects, this would imply that they
did not cross the disc of the Sun from these locations due to parallax.
As such, the maximum distance the object could have been is roughly
80,000 km, roughly 1/5th the distance to the moon.
<br />
<br />
But the team suggests the fragments may have passed even closer. By the
time comets reach the inner solar system, they have a significant
velocity of some tens of kilometers per second. In such a case, to
transverse the disc of the Sun in the time reported by Bonilla (a third
to a full second), the object would have been, at most, at a distance of
~8,000km.
<br />
<br />
At such distances, the overall size of the fragments would be in rough
agreement of sizes of other fragmented comets such as
73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, which gave off several fragments in 2006.
Based on the number of fragments, estimated sizes, and density of an
average comet, the authors estimate that the mass may be anywhere
between 2 x 1012 and 8 x 1015 kg. While this is a very large range
(three orders of magnitude), it roughly brackets the range of known
comets, again making it plausible. The upper range of this mass estimate
is on par with Mars' moon Deimos, which is generally held to be similar
in mass to the progenitor of the impact that killed the dinosaurs.
<br />
<br />
One oddity is that one would likely expect such a close breakup to
result in a meteor storm. The timing of these events is just before the
annual Perseid meteor shower, but reports for that year, such as <a href="http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1883Obs.....6..338C" target="_blank">this one</a>,
do not depict it as being exceptional, or having a different radiant
than should be expected. Instead, it notes that 157 of the 186 meteors
observed on the 11th were definitively Perseids, and that the "year's
display cannot be reckoned as a fine one by any means." Meanwhile, the
Leonid meteor shower (peaking in November), was exceptional that year,
generating an estimated 1,000 meteors an hour, but again, no records
seem to indicate an unusual origin.
<br />
<br />
In total, I find the characterization of Bonilla's observation as a
compet plausible, but generally unconvincing. However, if it were a
fragmented comet, we're very lucky it wasn't any closer.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/236332-Halley-s-Comet-to-Put-on-Meteor-Show-Next-Week" target="_blank">Halley's Comet to Put on Meteor Show Next Week</a></b><br />
<br />
Joe Rao<br />
<a href="http://www.space.com/13288-halleys-comet-orionids-meteor-shower-observing-tips.html">SPACE.com</a><br />
Fri, 14 Oct 2011 20:13 CDT<br />
<br />
If you step outside before dawn during the next week or so, you might
try to catch a view of some "cosmic litter" that has been left behind
in space by Halley's Comet: the Orionid meteor shower.
<br />
<br />
The Orionids can best be described as a junior version of the famous
Perseid meteor shower. This year's Orionids show is scheduled to reach
its maximum before sunrise on the morning of Oct. 22. The meteors are
known as "Orionids" because the fireballs seem to fan out from a region
to the north of Orion's second brightest star, ruddy Betelgeuse.
<br />
<br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84038/full/ff.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA courtesy of Meteor Physics Group, University of Western Ontario"><img alt="" border="0" height="244" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84038/large/ff.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© NASA courtesy of Meteor Physics Group, University of Western Ontario</span><br />
<span class="caption">A 2010 Orionid meteor, seen over Western Ontario, Canada. A waxing gibbous moon shines brightly at the left side of the image.</span></div>
</div>
<br />
<br />
Currently, Orion appears ahead of us in our journey around the
sun. The constellation does not completely rise above the eastern
horizon until after 11 p.m. local daylight time. At its best, several
hours later around 5 a.m., Orion will be highest in the sky toward the
south. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/236366-US-Maryland-Residents-surprised-by-sonic-boom" target="_blank">US: Maryland Residents surprised by sonic boom</a></b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20111014/NEWS01/111014008/BERLIN-Residents-surprised-by-sonic-boom">Delmarva Now</a><br />
Fri, 14 Oct 2011 17:29 CDT<br />
<br />
Berlin, Maryland - According to the Worcester County Fire Marshal's
Office, the loud noise heard throughout the north end of the county
this morning was a sonic boom.
<br />
<br />
The noise heard from at least West Ocean City to Bishopville was a sonic
boom, according to Worcester County Public Information Officer Kim
Moses, but officials don't know what agency the associated aircraft was
from.
<br />
<br />
Shortly after the roughly 9:30 a.m. sound, Maryland State Police said a
variety of agencies sent officers out to investigate the loud sound that
shook roofs but no one was able to determine the cause.
<br />
<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
<b>Comment: </b>Another <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/235850-Maryland-US-Possible-Meteorite-Brings-Calls-to-911-Center" target="_blank">meteorite exploding</a> in the atmosphere perhaps?
</blockquote>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/236456-Billion-Tonne-Comet-May-Have-Missed-Earth-By-A-Few-Hundred-Kilometres-in-1883" target="_blank">Billion Tonne Comet May Have Missed Earth By A Few Hundred Kilometres in 1883</a></b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/27264/">Technology Review</a><br />
Tue, 18 Oct 2011 14:53 CDT<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84367/full/ff.png" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Unknown"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84367/medium/ff.png" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
<span class="tiny">© Unknown</span> - <span class="caption">Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 comet which broke apart as it re-entered the inner Solar System in 2006</span><br />
<br />
<i>A re-analysis of historical observations suggest Earth narrowly avoided an extinction event just over a hundred years ago</i>
<br />
<br />
On 12th and 13th August 1883, an astronomer at a small observatory in
Zacatecas in Mexico made an extraordinary observation. José Bonilla
counted some 450 objects, each surrounded by a kind of mist, passing
across the face of the Sun.
<br />
<br />
Bonilla published his account of this event in a French journal called <i>L'Astronomie</i>
in 1886. Unable to account for the phenomenon, the editor of the
journal suggested, rather incredulously, that it must have been caused
by birds, insects or dust passing front of the Bonilla's telescope.
(Since then, others have adopted Bonilla's observations as the first
evidence of UFOs.)
<br />
<br />
Today, Hector Manterola at the National Autonomous University of Mexico
in Mexico City, and a couple of pals, give a different interpretation.
They think that Bonilla must have been seeing fragments of a comet that
had recently broken up. This explains the 'misty' appearance of the
pieces and why they were so close together.
<br />
<br />
But there's much more that Manterola and co have deduced. They point out
that nobody else on the planet seems to have seen this comet passing in
front of the Sun, even though the nearest observatories in those days
were just a few hundred kilometres away.
<br />
<br />
That can be explained using parallax. If the fragments were
close to Earth, parallax would have ensured that they would not have
been in line with the Sun even for observers nearby. And since Mexico is
at the same latitude as the Sahara, northern India and south-east Asia,
it's not hard to imagine that nobody else was looking.
<br />
<br />
Manterola and pals have used this to place limits on how close the
fragments must have been: between 600 km and 8000 km of Earth. That's
just a hair's breadth.
<br />
<br />
What's more, Manterola and co estimate that these objects must have
ranged in size from 50 to 800 metres across and that the parent comet
must originally have tipped the scales at a billion tonnes or more,
that's huge, approaching the size of Halley's comet.
<br />
<br />
That's an eye opening re-examination of the data. Astronomers have seen a
number of other comets fragment. The image above shows the
Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 comet which broke apart as it re-entered the
inner Solar System in 2006. There's no reason why such fragments
couldn't pass close by Earth.
<br />
<br />
One puzzle is why nobody else saw this comet. It must have been
particularly dull to have escaped observation before and after its close
approach. However, Manterola and co suggest that it may have been a
comet called Pons-Brooks seen that same year by American astronomers.
<br />
<br />
Manterola and co end their paper by spelling out just how close Earth
may have come to catastrophe that day. They point out that Bonilla
observed these objects for about three and a half hours over two days.
This implies an average of 131 objects per hour and a total of 3275
objects in the time between observations.
<br />
<br />
Each fragment was at least as big as the one thought to have hit
Tunguska. Manterola and co end with this: "So if they had collided with
Earth we would have had 3275 Tunguska events in two days, <b>probably an extinction event</b>."
<br />
<br />
A sobering thought.
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/arxiv.org/abs/1110.2798" target="_blank">Ref</a>: <i>Interpretation Of The Observations Made In 1883 In Zacatecas (Mexico): A Fragmented Comet That Nearly Hits The Earth </i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/gas-blast-from-meteorite-strike-resembled-volcanic-eruption-2121/" target="_blank">Ancient Meteorite Blast Resembled Volcanic Eruption</a></b><br />
<br />
OurAmazingPlanet<br />
Tue, 18 Oct 2011 11:36 CDT<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84345/full/meteorite_ejecta_111018.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Branney and Brown 2011 (Journal of Geology 199, 275-292)"><img alt="Impact Ejecta" border="0" height="256" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84345/large/meteorite_ejecta_111018.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
© Branney and Brown 2011 (Journal of Geology 199, 275-292)><br />
Meteorite impact ejecta (left) compared with volcanic deposits (right) showing
closely similar structures made of dust particles. The top two photos
show accretionary lapilli in density current deposits, whereas bottom
two photos show pellets that formed when dust in the atmosphere clumped
together and simply fell onto the land surface. <br />
<br />
<br />
A billion years ago, a meteorite slammed into the Earth along the
coast of what is now Scotland. A forensic investigation by a team of
volcanologists has pieced together exactly how the debris from the
impact devastated the surrounding region.
<br />
<br />
The new research shows that some aspects of giant meteorite impacts may mimic the behavior of <a href="http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/whats-the-biggest-volcanic-eruption-ever-1148/" target="_blank">large volcanic eruptions.</a>
<br />
<br />
Meteorite impacts are more common than most people realize, but what
happens when the meteorite hits? Direct observation is understandably
difficult, but researchers can pick through impact debris that hasn't
eroded away and then forensically reconstruct these <a href="http://www.livescience.com/4927-worst-natural-disasters.html" target="_blank">catastrophic events.</a>
<br />
<br />
The volcanologists say that an improved understanding of what happens
when large objects hit the Earth will help us understand how such events
affect life on the planet.
<br />
<br />
Volcanologists analyzed a layer of ejected debris from this
huge meteorite impact and discovered that much of the debris moved
across the ground as rapid, dense, ground-hugging currents of gas and
debris, remarkably similar to the pyroclastic density currents -
fast-traveling streams of hot ash and rock - that flow outward from
explosive volcanoes.
<br />
<br />
"In particular, the way that ash and dust stick together seems
identical," said study team member Mike Branney of the University of
Leicester in England. "Moist ash from explosive volcanoes sticks
together in the atmosphere to fall out as millimeter-sized pellets.
Where these drop back into a hot pyroclastic density current, they grow
into larger layered structures, known as accretionary lapilli."
<br />
<br />
The researchers studied the finely preserved deposit in northwest
Scotland from the ancient impact. It shows both types of these
'volcanic' particles - pellets and lapilli - are produced.
<br />
<br />
"This reveals that that the 10 meter-thick [33 feet] layer, which has
been traced for over 50 km [31 miles] along the Scottish coast, was
almost entirely emplaced as a devastating density current that sped
outwards from the point of impact - just like a density current from a
volcano. Only the uppermost few centimeters actually fell out through
the atmosphere," said study team member Richard Brown of the University
of Durham.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/236484-US-California-Numerous-meteors-seen-falling-Tuesday-morning-" target="_blank">US: California - Numerous meteors seen falling Tuesday morning?</a></b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/temecula/article_6b4b162c-3c36-5e60-8540-c4586826bef2.html">NC Times</a><br />
Tue, 18 Oct 2011 08:48 CDT<br />
<br />
Temecula - A spray of objects racing across the sky about 6:30 a.m.
Tuesday east of Temecula was photographed by Chaparral High School
student Karina Reyes.
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84460/full/ff.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Karina Reyes"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84460/large/ff.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
<br />
© Karina Reyes<br />
<br />
Don Yeomans of NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena said <b>at least one</b>
of the objects could be part of the annual Orionid meteor shower --
meteors left behind by Halley's Comet. The meteors became noticeable on
Monday and should peak on Saturday morning. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b> <a href="http://www.kfgo.com/regional-news.php?ID=16045" target="_blank">US: Bright Flash Lights Up Sky</a></b><br />
<br />
KFGO Studio<br />
Wed, 19 Oct 2011 10:31 CDT<br />
<br />
Truckers and at least one law officer all reported seeing a very
brief but very bright flash in the sky just before 3:30 a.m. Wednesday
morning. Trucker Klye Moulds was on U.S. Highway 2 east of Devils Lake,
N.D. when he saw what looked like lightning. It was colored with red,
blue and green.
<br />
<br />
Another trucker near Oriska, N.D. says it was so bright he should have had sunglasses on.
<br />
<br />
A Walsh County deputy sheriff also saw the flash, which was described as a red orb.
<br />
<br />
The best guess is that the bright light was part of the Orionid meteor
shower which will peak this weekend. The meteor shower occurs each
October as the earth passes through a trail of dust left by Halley's
comet.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/236515-Comet-Armageddon-Detected-in-Nearby-Star-System" target="_blank">Comet Armageddon Detected in Nearby Star System</a></b><br />
<br />
Ian O'Neill<br />
<a href="http://news.discovery.com/space/comet-armageddon-detected-in-nearby-star-system-111019.html">Discovery News</a><br />
Wed, 19 Oct 2011 17:14 CDT<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84522/full/ff.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA/JPL/Cal-Tech"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84522/medium/ff.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a>
<br />
<div class="image-caption">
<span class="tiny">© NASA/JPL/Cal-Tech</span><br />
<span class="caption">A
nearby star system is currently going through hell, as hinted at by
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Through its infrared eye, Spitzer has
detected the dusty remains of comet impacts around the star Eta Corvi --
reminding us what it must have been like during the early evolution of
our own solar system.</span></div>
<br />
During our solar system's "Late Heavy Bombardment" (LHB) some four billion years ago, the inner planets
were constantly peppered with massive comets impacting their surfaces.
Earth would have been unrecognizable -- the planet's surface was a
burning, molten mess; young atmosphere constantly punctuated by incoming
cometary fragments.
<br />
<br />
Devoid of any eroding atmosphere, the moon's surface bears the scars of
this epic cometary onslaught -- huge impact craters providing a reminder
of how violent the "early years" of our solar system really was.
<br />
<br />
Despite the continuous cycle of cataclysmic impact events generating a
hellish cauldron on Earth, the LHB has been linked with the genesis of
life -- evidence points to a cometary source for the organic
ingredients. Needless to say, the growing pains inflicted by the LHB on
our planet is of huge importance to scientists.
<br />
<br />
Therefore, to spot the signs of similar cometary bombardments in other
star systems would be pretty awesome. Not only would that help us
understand the evolution of planetary systems orbiting other stars, it
would provide a "time capsule" for us to have a glimpse of the early
life of our own solar system. Of course, it would also give us an idea
of how many other stars could be "ripe" for life (as we know it).
<br />
<br />
Now, scientists using observations by Spitzer <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/news/spitzer20111019.html" target="_blank">have detected</a> cometary Armageddon around Eta Corvi, a star some 50 light-years away in the constellation Corvus.
<br />
<br />
A ring of warm dust closely surrounds Eta Corvi, and after
analysis of the dust, it appears to have the same chemistry as
pulverized comets -- water ice, rock and organics. This provides the
hint that the star may be going through a similar phase as the early
solar system -- comets are careening inward, colliding with as-yet to be
detected planetary bodies.
<br />
<br />
The star is approximately a billion years old, an age that scientists
estimate is "just right" for a cometary hailstorm to occur.
<br />
<br />
"We believe we have direct evidence for an ongoing Late Heavy
Bombardment in the nearby star system Eta Corvi, occurring about the
same time as in our solar system," said Carey Lisse, senior research
scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in
Laurel, Md.
<br />
<br />
Not only does the chemical fingerprint of the debris surrounding Eta
Corvi demonstrate active impacts from a huge reservoir of comets, the
dust's chemistry resembles that of the Almahata Sitta meteorite,
fragments of which fell to Earth in Sudan in 2008. This suggests ancient
material floating around in the solar system may have a common
formation process as the material getting bashed up in Eta Corvi.
<br />
<br />
The similarities don't end there. There is evidence of another, cooler
dusty ring further away from the star than the cometary impact debris,
approximately 150 AU (150 times the Earth-sun distance) from Eta Corvi.
The ring was detected in 2005 and could be the location of cometary
nuclei, asteroids and other debris. The solar system has a region at
roughly the same distance -- the Kuiper Belt.
<br />
<br />
Could this outer, cool ring be the source of the comets currently smashing through the inner Eta Corvi system? Possibly.
<br />
<br />
This is a fascinating study as Spitzer has gleaned an insight to the
nature of a star system, possibly containing several planetary bodies --
after all, it was the migration of Jupiter and Saturn in the early
history of the solar system that kick-started the LHB in the first
place. Perhaps Eta Corvi is currently undergoing a similar process.
<br />
<br />
"We think the Eta Corvi system should be studied in detail to learn more
about the rain of impacting comets and other objects that may have
started life on our own planet," said Lisse.
<br />
<br />
These findings have been accepted for publication in <i>The Astrophysical Journal</i> and were presented at the Signposts of Planets meeting at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., on Wednesday.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/236578-New-Comet-Discovered-P-2010-TO20-LINEAR-GRAUER-" target="_blank">New Comet Discovered: P/2010 TO20 (LINEAR-GRAUER)</a></b><br />
<br />
Giovanni Sostero, Ernesto Guido & Nick Howes<br />
<a href="http://remanzacco.blogspot.com/2011/10/new-comet-p2010-to20-linear-grauer.html">Remanzacco Observatory</a><br />
Fri, 21 Oct 2011 14:28 CDT<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84703/full/picture.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Remanzacco Observatory"><img alt="Linear-Grauer" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84703/large/picture.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
© Remanzacco Observatory<br />
<br />
Cbet nr.2867, issued on 2011, October 21, announces the discovery of
a new comet (discovery magnitude 19.1) by A. D. Grauer on CCD images
obtained on September 19, 2011 with the Mount Lemmon 1.5-m reflector.
<br />
<br />
According to the CBET: "After two nights of observations of Grauer's
comet had been received at the Minor Planet Center, T. Spahr realized
that this object was identical with an object discovered a year ago by
the LINEAR project (discovery observation tabulated below; cf. MPS
351583) that appeared to be a Jupiter Trojan minor planet."
<br />
<br />
The new comet has been designated P/2010 TO20 (LINEAR-GRAUER).
<br />
<br />
We performed follow-up measurements of this object on 2 different nights, while it was still on the neocp.
<br />
<br />
Stacking of 6 R-filtered exposures, 60-sec each, obtained remotely, from the <a href="http://www.faulkes-telescope.com/" target="_blank">Siding Spring-Faulkes Telescope South</a>
by G. Sostero, I. Melville, A. Kasprzyk, N. Howes, E. Guido on 2011,
Oct. 19.6, through a 2.0-m f/10.0 Ritchey-Chretien + CCD under good
seeing conditions, shows that this object is a comet: sharp central
condensation, compact coma about 5" in diameter, and a wide, fan-shaped
tail, at least 45" long toward PA 250
<br />
<br />
Stacking of 5 R-filtered exposures, 60-sec each, obtained remotely, from the <a href="http://www.faulkes-telescope.com/" target="_blank">Haleakala-Faulkes Telescope North</a>
by G. Sostero, N. Howes, E. Guido on 2011, Oct. 20.4, through a 2.0-m
f/10.0 Ritchey-Chretien + CCD, confirms that this object is a comet: we
found again a sharp central condensation, a compact coma about 6" in
diameter, and a tail, at least 30" long, toward PA 247.
<br />
<br />
M.P.E.C. <a href="http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K11/K11U41.html" target="_blank">2011-U41</a>
assigns the following very preliminary orbital elements to comet P/2010
TO20: T 2008 Aug. 27.9; e= 0.09; Peri. = 250.17; q = 5.06 AU; Incl.=
2.65<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b> <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/236579-Comets-are-raining-down-water-on-neighbouring-Eta-Corvi-solar-system" target="_blank">Comets are raining down water on neighbouring Eta Corvi solar system</a></b><br />
<br />
Alisdair Wilkins<br />
<a href="http://io9.com/5851639/comets-are-raining-down-water-on-a-faraway-planet">io9.com</a><br />
Thu, 20 Oct 2011 14:41 CDT<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84707/full/cometstorm.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA/JPL-Caltech"><img alt="" border="0" height="180" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84707/large/cometstorm.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
© NASA/JPL-Caltech<br />
<br />
The Eta Corvi solar system is like a window into how our own solar system
looked billions of years ago. All of Eta Corvi is being bombarded by
giant comets - the exact same process that created Earth's oceans.
<br />
<br />
What's more, observations by NASA's Spitzer telescope show signs of huge
dust clouds close to the system's star. The most obvious way to create
dust clouds like that is if a huge comet collided with a planet near the
star. Analysis of the light coming from the dust suggests it's composed
of water ice, organic compounds, and rock, all of which points very
strongly to a big comet.
<br />
<br />
We can't be sure, but it's certainly possible that this comet actually
hit a planet located in Eta Corvi's habitable zone. If that's the case,
then we're witnessing what is essentially a reenactment of the formation
of our planet's oceans. Earth got huge amounts of its water and
carbon-based organic compounds during an epoch known as the Late Heavy
Bombardment, in which comets from the Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune began
hurtling towards the inner solar system due to gravitational
disturbances from Jupiter and Saturn.
<br />
<br />
We probably owe the existence of life as we know it to a bunch
of comets, and now the Eta Corvi system is in the middle of the exact
same process. The Eta Corvi system even has its very own answer for the
Kuiper Belt, as astronomers had previously discovered the existence of a
massive ring of cold dust located about 150 astronomical units from the
star, meaning the distance is 150 times that between the Sun and Earth.
<br />
<br />
Lead researcher Carey Lisse explains the potential of studying what's going on in the Eta Corvi system:
<br />
<blockquote class="typ1">
"We believe we have direct evidence for an ongoing Late Heavy
Bombardment in the nearby star system Eta Corvi, occurring about the
same time as in our solar system. We think the Eta Corvi system should
be studied in detail to learn more about the rain of impacting comets
and other objects that may have started life on our own planet."
</blockquote>
Because a lot of what's going on in the Eta Corvi system is too dim for
our telescopes to see, we can't be sure of everything that's going on
there. But it does appear that we're witnessing something very close to
what happened in our own solar system more than 3.8 billion years ago,
which is an exciting thought. Indeed, as we get better and better at
observing alien solar systems, each in different phases of development,
we may be essentially able to reconstruct our solar system's entire past
and future. Eta Corvi is just one pretty crucial piece of that cosmic
reenactment.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/236577-Mainstream-Science-catching-up-Most-Planets-Oceans-are-Probably-Seeded-by-Comets" target="_blank">Mainstream Science catching up: Most Planets' Oceans are Probably Seeded by Comets</a></b><br />
<br />
Mike Wall<br />
<a href="http://www.space.com/13341-alien-planets-comets-oceans-water.html">SPACE.com</a><br />
Fri, 21 Oct 2011 14:29 CDT<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84704/full/tw_hydrae_alien_solar_system_w.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA/JPL-Caltech"><img alt="" border="0" height="256" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84704/large/tw_hydrae_alien_solar_system_w.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
© NASA/JPL-Caltech<br />
Artist's concept illustrating an icy planet-forming disk around the star TW
Hydrae, located about 175 light-years away in the constellation Hydra.
Astronomers found huge stores of cool water vapor (illustrated in blue)
in the frigid outer regions of the star system, where comets will take
shape.<br />
<br />
A still-forming alien solar system has enough
water in its outer reaches to fill Earth's oceans several thousand times
over, a new study finds.
<br />
<br />
The discovery marks the first time astronomers have detected water in a
dusty planet-forming disk so far from its central star, in the frigid
region where comets are born.<b> Scientists think comet impacts delivered most of Earth's water, and the new study hints that <a href="http://www.space.com/12983-tatooine-alien-planets-2-suns-common.html" target="_blank">alien planets</a> may commonly acquire oceans in the same way.</b>
<br />
<br />
"We now know that large amounts of water ice are available in
planet-forming disks, ready to be incorporated in comets," said Michiel
Hogerheijde, of Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands, the study's lead
author. "Ultimately, some of this water may end up on Earth-like planets
that form completely dry but this way may end up with life-supporting
oceans."
<br />
<br />
<span class="BoldGrey">A nearby star</span>
<br />
<br />
Hogerheijde and his team made the find using the European Space Agency's
Herschel Space Observatory. They trained Herschel on the appropriately
named young star TW Hydrae, which is located about 175 light-years away
in the constellation Hydra (the Sea Serpent).
<br />
<br />
TW Hydrae is an orange dwarf star, slightly smaller and dimmer than our
sun. It's only about 10 million years old, and is still surrounded by a
disk of dust and gas that should one day coalesce to form planets,
researchers said.
<br />
<br />
Herschel detected huge amounts of water - thousands of times more
water than is found on Earth - in the freezing-cold outer reaches of
this disk, far from TW Hydrae itself. The water out there is likely ice
coating the innumerable tiny dust grains that swirl around in the disk,
researchers said.
<br />
<br />
Ultraviolet radiation from TW Hydrae knocks some water molecules free
from these icy grains, allowing Herschel to spot the light signature
from the resulting vapor.
<br />
<br />
Astronomers have found water vapor in the warmer, interior regions of other <a href="http://www.space.com/12978-alien-planets-rocky-gas-giants.html" target="_blank">planet-forming disks</a> before. So Hogerheijde's team wasn't shocked to find evidence of water farther out.
<br />
<br />
"We had actually always suspected that this much water was hiding out in
the cold reaches of disks like these," Hogerheijde told SPACE.com in an
email. Thanks to Herschel, he added, "we can now for the first time
detect the water vapor, and infer the presence and size of the hidden
ice reservoir."
<br />
<br />
The team reports its results in the Oct. 21 issue of the journal <i>Science</i>.
<br />
<br />
<span class="BoldGrey">Alien comets, alien oceans?</span>
<br />
<br />
The TW Hydrae find suggests that <a href="http://www.space.com/11307-comet-samples-liquid-water-stardust.html" target="_blank">ice-bearing comets</a>
may form commonly around other stars. The icy wanderers might thus have
seeded oceans on many alien planets throughout the cosmos over the
years, researchers said.
<br />
<br />
"It does seem likely that life-supporting environments can form easily
around other stars, now that we have found sufficient water ice to seed
Earth-like planets with oceans," Hogerheijde said.
<br />
<br />
The discovery could also help astronomers better understand solar system
evolution and planet formation in a general sense, he added.
<br />
<br />
For example, large quantities of ice in a protoplanetary disk could
serve as a sort of glue, Hogerheijde said, helping dust grains stick
together and grow into planetesimals, the building blocks of planets.
<br />
<br />
Also, analysis of TW Hydrae's far-flung ice shows that it's
significantly different than that found on comets in our solar system.
This suggests that comets' ice comes from several different regions in
the dusty disk, not just the freezer on its outer edge.
<br />
<br />
"We actually think that comets in our own solar system contain mixtures
of ices from across the solar nebula, hinting at the presence of
long-range transportation of material through planet-forming disks,"
Hogerheijde said. "This is a much more 'dynamic' picture of planet
formation than previously imagined."<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b> <a href="http://www.kcautv.com/story/15746016/meteor-lights-up-night-sky" target="_blank">US: Bright Meteor Lights Up Night Sky From Minnesota to Nebraska</a></b>
<br />
kcautv.com<br />
Fri, 21 Oct 2011 14:49 CDT<br />
<br />
Wednesday there were reports from people across the region who saw a bright flash of light in the sky about 3:30 am.
<br />
<br />
That bright flash was seen as far north as Minnesota and as far south as Lincoln, Nebraska.
<br />
<br />
Now we've learned it was a meteor streaking through the sky.
<br />
<br />
A security camera at the Lincoln airport caught the flash in action.
<br />
<br />
If you'd like your chance to see some meteors streaking across the
night sky your best chance is Friday night starting at 10pm until
Saturday 3am.<br />
<br />
Watch video <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/236580-US-Bright-Meteor-Lights-Up-Night-Sky-From-Minnesota-to-Nebraska" target="_blank">here</a>. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b> <a href="http://www.argusleader.com/article/20111020/NEWS/110200322/-1/NLETTER01/UFO-over-Sioux-Falls?-Experts-think-it-was-a-meteor&source=nletter-news" target="_blank">UFO over Sioux Falls? Experts think it was a meteor</a></b><br />
<br />
Brenda Wade Schmidt<br />
Argus Leader<br />
Fri, 21 Oct 2011 15:16 CDT<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84712/full/meteor_1_2_1.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© File Photo"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84712/medium/meteor_1_2_1.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
© File Photo<br />
<br />
Amie Neustrom doesn't have a good explanation for what she saw in the night sky near her Renner home early Wednesday.
<br />
<br />
It surprised her and happened so fast that she isn't sure whether it was a meteor or a UFO.
<br />
<br />
"I really honestly don't know what to think," she said.
<br />
<br />
It was about 3:30 a.m., and she was on her deck smoking a cigarette when
the deck lit up and an orange-and-blue object streaked off, leaving a
trail of smoke behind.
<br />
<br />
"It was quick ...," she said. "I've never seen anything like it. I've
seen shooting stars out here. Nothing like this. It was so bright."
<br />
<br />
Several other Sioux Falls area residents also reported seeing
an unusual flash of light in the sky about that time, as well.
<br />
<br />
At least two people called Metro Communications and five law enforcement
officers said they, too, saw the bright light, according to emergency
officials. Their locations ranged from Hartford to Brandon and north of
Sioux Falls to 57th Street and Western Avenue.
<br />
<br />
The National Weather Service in Sioux Falls received calls from people
near Brandon who saw the unexplained object, said Tim Masters, a
technician with the weather service.
<br />
<br />
But there is an explanation, he said.
<br />
<br />
"It wasn't a UFO. It was a meteor," he said. "It lit up the sky pretty bright."
<br />
<br />
There were no reports of an object hitting the ground, he said.
<br />
<br />
"We just know that it's probably just a little rock that fell through
the atmosphere and probably burned up when it fell down," Masters said.
<br />
<br />
The incident was a random event and not part of a meteor shower, he said.
<br />
<br />
Neustrom, 38, reported what she saw to Peter Davenport, director of the
nonprofit National UFO Reporting Center in eastern Washington state.
<br />
<br />
People who are unfamiliar with the UFO phenomenon will default to the
explanation being a meteor, Davenport said, though the bright light is
consistent with a meteor, he said. The only way to tell for sure would
be to interview in detail the people who saw it, he said.
<br />
<br />
"There are many, many events that occur which, when we get into the fine
detail ... it seems obviously it could have not been a meteor,"
Davenport said.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.universetoday.com/90153/faulkes-team-images-trojan-jupiter-comet/#more-90153" target="_blank">Faulkes Team Images Trojan Jupiter Comet</a><br />
Adrian West<br />
Universe Today<br />
Fri, 21 Oct 2011 21:54 CDT<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84771/full/SUBB5ED_2011Oct20_F65_580x428.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Universe Today"><img alt="New Comet" border="0" height="239" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84771/large/SUBB5ED_2011Oct20_F65_580x428.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
© Universe Today<br />
<br />
<span class="BoldGrey">Jupiter Comet</span>
<br />
<br />
Based on an observation posted on the Near Earth Object confirmation
page from an image taken by A. D. Grauer using the mount Lemmon
observatory, Faulkes telescope team members Nick Howes, Giovanni Sostero
and Ernesto Guido along with University of Glamorgan student Antos
Kasprzyk and amateur astronomer Iain Melville, imaged what is
potentially some of the first direct evidence for a Trojan Jupiter
Comet.
<br />
<br />
Comet P/2010 TO20 (LINEAR-GRAUER) was immediately recognised by the team
from looking at the orbit to be a highly unusual object, but it was
only when the images came through from the Faulkes observations that the
true nature of the object became clear.
<br />
<br />
The observations showed a distinct cometary appearance, with a sharp
central condensation, compact coma and a wide, fan-shaped tail.
<br />
<br />
This is no ordinary comet, and supports the theory and initial spectral
observation work by a team using the keck telescope in Hawaii. Closer
analysis of their object (part of a binary known as the Patroclus pair)
showed that it was made of water ice and a thin layer of dust, but at
the time of writing, no direct images of a Jupiter Trojan showing
evidence of a coma and tail had been taken.
<br />
<br />
The Faulkes teams above image, combined with the original observations
by Grauer clearly show a cometary object, thus confirming the Keck
team's hypothesis.
<br />
<br />
According to the CBET released today "After two nights of
observations of Grauer's comet had been received at the Minor Planet
Center.
<br />
<br />
Spahr realized that this object was identical with an object discovered a
year ago by the LINEAR project (discovery observation tabulated below;
cf. MPS 351583) that appeared to be a Jupiter Trojan minor planet."
<br />
<br />
The observations have now proved it is not a minor planet, but a comet.
<br />
<br />
This discovery could provide new clues about the evolution of the Solar
System, suggesting that the Gas Giants formed closer to the Sun and as
they moved further away, they caused massive perturbations with Kuiper
Belt objects, trapping some in their own orbits.
<br />
<br />
Nick Howes on the Faulkes team said "When we first saw the preliminary
orbit, we knew it was a quite remarkable object" Howes also added "To
have a University Student also involved is terrific for the degree
program at Glamorgan and also for the Faulkes project. We'd like to
extend our congratulations to Al Grauer" for his detection of this
groundbreaking new comet" and we're immensely proud to be part of the
CBET released by the IAU confirming its nature.
<br />
<br />
<span class="BoldGrey">References:</span>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://spaceisace-nickastronomer.blogspot.com/2011/10/faulkes-team-images-trojan-jupiter.html" target="_blank">Space Is Ace</a>
<br />
<a href="http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Jupiter_Trojan_Asteroid_Binary_Ma%20y_Be_Icy_Comets_From_Solar_Systems_Infancy.html" target="_blank">Spacedaily.com</a>
<br />
<a href="http://remanzacco.blogspot.com/2011/10/new-comet-p2010-to20-linear-grauer.html?spref=tw" target="_blank">Remanzacco Observatory</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b> <a href="http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kentonline/news/2011/october/21-1/meteorite_crashes_into_sea.aspx" target="_blank">UK: Meteorite crashes into sea</a></b><br />
<br />
Lynn Cox<br />
KentOnline<br />
Sat, 22 Oct 2011 08:57 CDT<br />
<br />
A
meteorite falling into the sea sparked a search and rescue mission last
night after two people reported they saw a plane crash into the water
off the coast of Whitstable.
<br />
<br />
Kent Fire and Rescue Service were called out after a pilot and another
person both reported they saw what the thought was an aircraft crashing
into the sea.
<br />
<br />
However, after firefighters from Whitstable and nearby Herne Bay scoured the area, no trace of the aircraft could be found.
<br />
<br />
Air traffic controllers, reported they didn't have any planes missing,
so eventually the search was called off, and put down to a meteorite
falling to Earth.
<br />
<br />
Hundreds of meteorites are expected to streak across the sky this
weekend as the Earth passes through a cloud of dust left by behind by a
comet called Giacobini-Zinner.
<br />
<br />
A spokesman for Kent Fire and Rescue Service said: "Two independent calls came in reporting a plane had crashed off the coast.
<br />
<br />
"Even a pilot who was looking out of his window reported a plane was in distress and had gone into the sea.
<br />
<br />
"Fishermen in the area also reported seeing something, but in
the end nothing was found and it was put down to a meteorite falling to
Earth."<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/236598-UK-Meteorite-crashes-into-sea">SOTT archive</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b> <a href="http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=24&month=10&year=2011" target="_blank">Comet Elenin cloud corpse spotted in space</a></b><br />
<br />
Space Weather<br />
Mon, 24 Oct 2011 11:45 CDT<br />
>
<br />
"Doomsday Comet" Elenin was briefly famous for inaccurate predictions
that it might hit Earth. Instead it disintegrated as it approached the
sun last month. (Doomsday canceled.) Over the weekend, Italian
astronomer Rolando Ligustri spotted the comet's remains. It's the
elongated cloud in this Oct. 22nd photo of the star field where Elenin
would have appeared if it were still intact:
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84969/full/ff.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Rolando Ligustri"><img alt="" border="0" height="246" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/84969/large/ff.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
© Rolando Ligustri<br />
<br />
Another team of astronomers--Ernesto Guido, Giovanni Sostero and Nick
Howes--spotted the cloud on the same night. At first they were
skeptical. "The cloud was extremely faint and diffuse," says Guido. "We
wondered if it might be scattered moonlight or some other transient
artifact." But when the team looked again on Oct. 23, the cloud was
still there. A two-night <a href="http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w189/walcom77/animation-4.gif" target="_blank">blink animation</a>
shows that the cloud is moving just as the original comet would have.
Note: Some readers have noticed a fast-moving streak to the to the lower
right of the debris cloud. That is an unrelated asteroid, 2000 OJ8
(magnitude 14), which happened to be in the field of view at the same
time as the cloud of Elenin.
<br />
<br />
More information about this discovery and continued tracking of
the "comet corpse" may be found at the Remanzacco Observatory Astronomy
<a href="http://remanzacco.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Blog</a>. <br />
<br />
<br />
Read on <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/236657-Comet-Elenin-cloud-corpse-spotted-in-space">SOTT.net</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b> <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/236714-Video-Captures-Draconid-Meteor" target="_blank">Video Captures Draconid Meteor</a></b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1112407894/video-captures-draconid-meteor/index.html">redOrbit</a><br />
Tue, 25 Oct 2011 00:39 CDT<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/85137/full/spacepress_102511_002_430x300.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© redOrbit"><img alt="Meteor" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/85137/medium/spacepress_102511_002_430x300.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
© redOrbit<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.redorbit.com/news/video/space_2/1112407890/draconid-meteor/index.html" target="_blank">This video</a>
catches the moment when a Draconid meteor exploded in Earth's
atmosphere earlier this month. The dramatic footage comes from a
campaign to observe this important meteor shower using aircraft to beat
the clouds.
<br />
<br />
On the evening of Saturday 8 October, Earth plunged through a stream of
dust and rocks that had been expelled into space by the comet Giacobini -
Zinner. The resultant meteor shower lit the skies over Europe with
shooting stars.
<br />
<br />
The display radiates from the constellation of Draco, The Dragon, giving
the name of "Draconids" to this shower which occurs at the same time
every year as the Earth passes through the debris trail. In 2011,
however, there was a difference. Astronomers had predicted an unusually
high numbers of meteors as Earth was due to encounter particularly dense
patches of the cometary detritus.
<br />
<br />
Detlef Koschny, leader of the Meteor Research Group at ESA, led the
Agency's involvement in a project to find out if the prediction was
right.
<br />
<br />
With cameras and other equipment packed into two Falcon-20 research
planes, Detlef's colleagues took to the skies over Europe to rise above
the clouds and watch for meteors.
<br />
<br />
"The Draconids peaked as predicted. A small peak at 17:30 GMT and then a larger one at 20:05 GMT," says Detlef.
<br />
<br />
The two planes flew on parallel tracks roughly 100 km apart as the
researchers pointed their cameras at the same volume of Earth's
atmosphere. The data they collected will allow each meteor to be
triangulated, to determine its altitude and trajectory. Typically,
meteors burn up between 80-120 km above the ground, well above the
cruising altitude of an airliner. This will give updated information
about the meteor stream itself, and the way the comet ejected the
material.
<br />
<br />
It has been calculated that most of the meteors hitting Earth that night
were ejected by comet Giacobini - Zinner in 1900 and have been circling
the Sun ever since.
<br />
<br />
The team also recorded the spectrum of at least one meteor, which will reveal its chemical composition.
<br />
<br />
The Draconid meteor stream is important to understand because, like
other streams, it can pose a danger to orbiting spacecraft. The tiny
impacts can damage solar panels or sensitive optics.
<br />
<br />
The Draconids tend to be overlooked in favor of more visible displays
such as the Leonids in November. This could be a mistake according to
Detlef: "The Draconids move more slowly relative to Earth, so we don't
see all of the smaller ones burning up. But they are still there,
probably as many in number as the Leonids, only it's harder to find
them."
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.redorbit.com/news/video/space_2/1112407890/draconid-meteor/index.html" target="_blank">Watch the Video.</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/236759-Discovery-Cosmic-Dust-Contains-Organic-Matter-from-Stars" target="_blank">Discovery: Cosmic Dust Contains Organic Matter from Stars</a></b><br />
<br />
Denise Chow<br />
<a href="http://www.space.com/13401-cosmic-star-dust-complex-organic-compounds.html">Space.com</a><br />
Thu, 27 Oct 2011 01:32 CDT<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/85258/full/cosmic_dust_complex_organic_co.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA, C.R. O'Dell, S.K. Wong (Rice University) "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/85258/large/cosmic_dust_complex_organic_co.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="297" /></a><br />
© NASA, C.R. O'Dell, S.K. Wong (Rice University)<br />
A spectrum from the European Space Agency's Infrared Space Observator
superimposed on an image of the Orion nebula, where these complex
organics are found.<br />
<br />
A new look at the interstellar dust permeating
the universe has revealed hints of organic matter that could be created
naturally by stars, scientists say.
<br />
<br />
Researchers at the University of Hong Kong observed stars at different
evolutionary phases and found that they are able to produce complex
organic compounds and eject them into space, filling the regions between
stars. The compounds are so complex that their chemical structures
resemble the makeup of coal and petroleum, the study's lead author Sun
Kwok, of the University of Hong Kong, said.
<br />
<br />
Such chemical complexity was thought to arise only from living organisms, but <b>the
results of the new study show that these organic compounds can be
created in space even when no life forms are present. In fact, such
complex organics could be produced naturally by stars, and at an
extremely rapid pace</b>.
<br />
<br />
"What impressed me most is that complex organics are easily formed by
stars, they are everywhere in our own galaxy and in other galaxies,"
Kwok told SPACE.com in an email interview. "Nature is much more clever
than we had imagined."
<br />
<br />
The findings of the new study were published online today (Oct. 26) by the journal <i>Nature</i>.
<br />
<br />
<span class="BoldGrey">Scanning the cosmos in infrared</span>
<br />
<br />
Kwok and his colleague Yong Zhang, also of the University of Hong Kong,
studied a set of well-known but mysterious infrared emissions found in
stars, interstellar space and galaxies. These phenomena, which are
collectively called Unidentified Infrared Emission (UIE) features, have
been known for 30 years, but the exact source of the emissions has not
been pinned down, and remains a broad assumption.
<br />
<br />
"In the astronomy community, it has been commonly assumed that the UIE
features are emitted by [polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, or PAH]
molecules, which are simple, purely aromatic, molecules made of carbon
and hydrogen," Kwok said. "Our paper suggests that the PAH hypothesis is
not correct."
<br />
<br />
Kwok and Zhang analyzed data from the European Space Agency's Infrared
Space Observatory and NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope to show that the
Unidentified Infrared Emission features are not emitted by PAH molecules
because the emissions have chemical structures that are far more
complex.
<br />
<br />
"I have been suspecting this for many years," Kwok said. "Now we think we have the evidence."
<br />
<br />
The researchers observed stars at different phases of stellar evolution
- first low- to medium-mass stars, then stars in the protoplanetary
nebula phase, which is a short-lived episode during a star's rapid
evolution, and finally stars in the planetary nebula phase, which is
characterized by an expanding shell of ionized gas that is ejected by
certain types of stars late in their life.
<br />
<br />
Kwok and his colleague found that characteristics of the Unidentified
Infrared Emission features could not be detected in low- to medium-mass
stars. But, the astronomers found that the emissions began to appear in
stars in the protoplanetary nebula stage and grew stronger as the stars
matured into the planetary nebula phase.
<br />
<br />
"We therefore know that these organics are being made in the circumstellar stellar environment," Kwok said.
<br />
<br />
<span class="BoldGrey">More surprises</span>
<br />
<br />
Another surprising thing they found was just how quickly stars were
generating complex organic compounds and ejecting the dusty material
into their surrounding environment.
<br />
<br />
"Since we know their dynamical and evolutionary ages of these objects
(dynamical age is how fast the nebula will disperse, and evolutionary
age is how fast the star is evolving), we can put constraints on the
chemical time scales," Kwok said. "Since the dynamical/evolution ages
are of the order of thousands of years, the appearance of the spectral
features suggests that the organic compounds are made on time scales
shorter than thousands of years."
<br />
<br />
The researchers also studied emissions from exploding stars and found
that these dynamic cosmic events produced dust even more rapidly.
<br />
<br />
"Their spectra changed from a pure gas spectrum to a dust spectrum on a
matter of days or weeks," Kwok said. "The sudden appearance of the
features suggests that organic dust can be made extremely quickly."
<br />
<br />
But, the findings throw a wrench into existing theories that posit that
stars cannot produce such complex organic compounds in the near-vacuum
environment of space.
<br />
<br />
"Theoretically, it is very difficult to understand because of the very
low density of the circumstellar environment," Kwok said. "But,
observationally, there is no doubt as we see these spectral features
appearing and changing on very short time scales. This means that these
organic solids are condensing directly from the gas phase."
<br />
<br />
<b>Star dust and the early solar system</b>
<br />
<br />
The scientists also found that <b>the chemical structure of organic star dust is similar to complex organics found in meteorites</b>.
Since meteorites originate from space rocks that are remnants of the
early solar system, the results of the study suggest that stars could
have enriched the early solar system with organic compounds, Kwok said.
<br />
<br />
"It is quite possible that the organics in meteorites are remnants of
star dust in the solar nebula," he explained. "The star dust [was]
ejected by nearby planetary nebula[s] and survived the journey across
the galaxy."
<br />
<br />
Early in the Earth's formation history, the planet was pummeled in a
shower of meteorites and comets during a period known as the Late Heavy
Bombardment. Since the organic compounds in meteorites are similar to
what was found in stellar dust, the results of this new study show that
the barrage of meteorites that fell to Earth during the Late Heavy
Bombardment could have carried organic star dust.
<br />
<br />
<b>While it may be too soon to determine whether these organic
compounds played a role in kick-starting the development of life on
Earth</b>,<b style="color: #cc0000;"><span class="BoldRed"> it certainly is a possibility</span></b>, Kwok said.
<br />
<br />
"If this is the case, life on Earth may have had an easier time getting
started as these organics can serve as basic ingredients for life," he
said.
<br />
<br />
Further research in this area will be necessary, and Kwok intends to
continue analyzing additional infrared observations to better pin down
the chemical structure of organic star dust. He is also interested in
studying more about how and why stars are able to produce complex
organics as quickly as they seem to.
<br />
<br />
"Coal and kerogen are products of life and it took a long time for them
to form," Kwok said. "How do stars make such complicated organics under
seemingly unfavorable conditions and [do] it so rapidly?"<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>
<a href="http://www.cbs8.com/story/15885834/mystery-lights-interrupt-news-8-live-shot" target="_blank">US, California: Mystery Lights Interrupt News 8 Live Shot</a></b>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b> <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/236926-Fireball-Recorded-Entering-Atmosphere-over-Japan-on-October-19" target="_blank">Fireball Recorded Entering Atmosphere over Japan on October 19</a></b><br />
<br />
Sheilaaliens<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIv2FlgOp84">YouTube</a><br />
Sun, 30 Oct 2011 11:29 CDT<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/85604/full/m20111019_025426_kagawa1_01p_1.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" height="240" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/85604/large/m20111019_025426_kagawa1_01p_1.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a>
<a href="http://sonotaco.jp/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2620" target="_blank">Source</a>
<br />
<br />
While you're there, check out the "etc." section for what they have <a href="http://sonotaco.com/sample/etc/index.html" target="_blank">captured</a>... Very interesting!
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/AIv2FlgOp84?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/85605/full/b20111019_025426gmap_341.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" height="259" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/85605/large/b20111019_025426gmap_341.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<br />
The various vantage points of different witnesses place the fireball's
trajectory in the yellow line, running Southwest to Northeast (left to
right).<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b> <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/236928-Comets-Not-What-We-Expected" target="_blank">Comets - Not What We Expected</a></b><br />
<br />
Michael Suede<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=A028C644C0911272" target="_blank">YouTube</a><br />
Sun, 30 Oct 2011 03:28 CDT<br />
<br />
This video highlights recent discoveries about comets that shatter existing theories in favour of the Electric Comet Theory.
<br />
<br />
Supporting documentation and links to all the NASA quotes, web sites, and papers used in the video can be found <a href="http://sites.google.com/site/cosmologyquest/the-editor-s-musings/comets" target="_blank">here</a>.
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dotIv6bJemE" target="_blank">Part 1</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=r67WrRgrGP4" target="_blank">Part 2</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=r67WrRgrGP4" target="_blank">Part 3</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RJ3Fqpkumro" target="_blank">Part 4</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=M350P2FKOm4" target="_blank">Part 5</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wjHIO1CVBv0" target="_blank">Part 6</a><br />
<br />
<br />
The narrator's <a href="http://sites.google.com/site/cosmologyquest/default" target="_blank">website</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=31&month=10&year=2011" target="_blank">Sun Diving Comet, October 30th</a></b><br />
<br />
Space Weather<br />
Mon, 31 Oct 2011 01:28 CDT<br />
<br />
A small comet dove into the sun during the late hours of Oct. 30th.
Blasted by intense solar heat, the 'dirty snowball' disintegrated in
plain view of the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). Watch the
movie below and note how the comet shrinks to a pinprick just before it
vanishes.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S64EEXPobpY&list=PL0766DC72D7B8E93F&feature=plpp_play_allhttp://www.youtube.com/user/Mr2Tuff2?feature=mheehttp://sohodata.nascom.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/soho_movie_theater" target="_blank">Watch video on YouTube</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/236970-Asteroid-s-Near-Miss-Reminder-Of-Doomsday-Threat" target="_blank">Asteroid's Near-Miss Reminder Of Doomsday Threat</a></b> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.theindychannel.com/news/29638823/detail.html">The Indy Channel</a><br />
Mon, 31 Oct 2011 13:58 CDT<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/85699/full/29638816_640X480.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/85699/medium/29638816_640X480.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
© NASA - YU55 will pass near Earth on Nov. 8, scientists say<br />
<br />
<i>Purdue Scientist Estimates Impact Of Large Object.</i>
<br />
<br />
Though there's no threat that it will strike Earth, a large asteroid
that will pass close to the planet on Nov. 8 would have had a
devastating effect if it were to hit the planet, experts said.
<br />
<br />
The aircraft carrier-sized asteroid, known as YU55, was discovered in
2005. At its closest approach, scientists project it will be 201,000
from Earth.
<br />
<br />
The near-miss is a reminder of how fragile the planet is.
<br />
<br />
Jay Melosh, a professor of earth and atmospheric sciences at Purdue
University, said the impact of an object of similar size would be
catastrophic, producing an earthquake of magnitude 7.0, prospects of a
70-foot tsunami and worse.
<br />
<br />
"What is unique about this asteroid flyby is that we were aware of it
well in advance," Melosh said. "Before about 1980 we wouldn't know about
an asteroid of this size until it was already making a close pass, but
now it is unlikely that such an asteroid will approach the Earth without
our knowledge."
<br />
<br />
NASA and Spacewatch monitor near-Earth objects that are 0.6
mile or larger in diameter. The close approach of the asteroid has been
expected since 2005, when it was discovered.
<br />
<br />
Scientists at Purdue put together a calculator, called Impact Earth to
estimate the impact of an object striking Earth, approximating the type
of damage it could cause.
<br />
<br />
The calculator estimated that if YU55 hit Earth, a 1,700-foot-deep
crater four miles in diameter would be created and that humans would
endure extensive first-degree burns 60 miles away from the point of
impact.
<br />
<br />
An object the size of YU55 would destroy a large city if it took a direct hit.
<br />
<br />
NASA said the last time an asteroid of a similar size came close to
hitting Earth was in 1976, and that a known large asteroid will be near
the planet in 2028.
<br />
<br />
Earth is scarred by craters scientists believe were created by
similar-sized objects, including craters in Alabama and Wisconsin,
Melosh said.
<br />
<br />
"Impacts from asteroids of this size are very rare," he said. "They
occur about once every 100,000 years, so the chances of an actual
collision with an asteroid like YU55 is about 1 percent in the next
thousand years."
<br />
<br />
Scientists believe that an asteroid that is about a third of a mile wide has a small chance of hitting Earth in 2036.
<br />
<br />
Read also: <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/237248-Large-Asteroid-to-Pass-by-Earth-Nov-8-2011-But-What-If-It-Didn-t-" target="_blank">Large Asteroid to Pass by Earth Nov. 8, 2011 But What If It Didn't?</a>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/236974-Continent-Killer-Asteroid-On-Possible-Collision-Course-With-Earth" target="_blank">'Continent Killer' Asteroid On Possible Collision Course With Earth</a></b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1112411326/continent-killer-asteroid-on-possible-collision-course-with-earth/index.html">redOrbit</a><br />
Mon, 31 Oct 2011 14:34 CDT<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/85713/full/space_103111_002_617x416.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© redOrbit"><img alt="Giant Asteroid Impact" border="0" height="219" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/85713/large/space_103111_002_617x416.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="320" /></a><br />
© redOrbit<br />
<br />
On the heels of the return to Earth of a pair of satellites - NASA's
Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) and the German-built
Röntgensatellit (ROSAT) - over the past two months comes a report of
another object set to collide with our planet.
<br />
<br />
Only this one is a 20 million ton asteroid that is currently heading
towards us at 23,000 miles per hour, and could collide with our planet
in approximately 25 years, Alex Hannaford of the <i>Telegraph</i>
wrote on Sunday. The asteroid in question, Apophis, is more than 800
feet wide, comprised of a mixture of rock, ice, and dust, and has been
dubbed "the continent killer."
<br />
<br />
"There are two scenarios," Hannaford writes. "The first, and thankfully
most likely, is that Apophis will fly by in April 2029, the year it is
due to make its first 'close approach', and that's the last we'll see or
hear of it. The second is that during that approach, it'll pass through
what scientists refer to as a 'keyhole' - a small area of space that
can alter the asteroid's course due to Earth's gravity."
<br />
<br />
"If this happens, it'll be on a massive collision course with
us seven years later, likely to be April 13, 2036 - Easter Sunday,"
the <i>Telegraph</i> reported added, noting that experts with NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California claim that it is "too far away"
to predict which of the two possibilities is most likely, but that they
should be able to know more in the near future.
<br />
<br />
"We don't know precisely where Apophis is headed but we will soon, when
it becomes observable again, probably in 2012 or 2013," Paul Chodas of
the U.S. space agency's Near Earth Object (NEO) said. "Once we get radar
on it we will be able to nail down its orbit and we will know the
chances of it going through the keyhole and hitting in 2036. By that
time, it could be a four in a million chance, and that could very well
go down to zero."
<br />
<br />
That might not be the end of it, though, as Chodas told Hannaford that
the asteroid could find another one of those "keyholes" - small
regions of space that can alter the course of a passing asteroid, due to
a planet's gravity - meaning that even if it misses the planet the
first time, it could theoretically return and collide with the Earth's
surface later on.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">A Service of <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">Signs of the Times</a>: The most comprehensive, objective and reliable Alternative News Source on the Web. If you aren't reading <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">SOTT</a>, you don't know what's REALLY happening!</div>Keithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06011086310017706847noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385115091808825739.post-87608162089029882652011-10-09T20:06:00.003+00:002011-11-10T12:22:14.999+00:00That ain't no satellite! Meteorite impacts Buenos Aires, Argentina<div class="article-header">
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/235470-That-ain-t-no-satellite-Meteorite-impacts-Buenos-Aires-Argentina" target="_blank">That ain't no satellite! Meteorite impacts Buenos Aires, Argentina</a></b><br />
<div class="article-info">
<div class="l-bar">
</div>
<br />
<div class="m-bar">
Sott Editors<br />
Sott.net<br />
Mon, 26 Sep 2011 18:00 CDT</div>
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<div class="article-body">
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<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/82229/full/fireball_2.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" height="277" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/82229/large/fireball_2.jpg" style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px;" title="Click to enlarge" width="391" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<br />
<br />
<span class="caption">An Argentinian official investigates the impact site in the Monte Grande suburb of Buenos Aires</span></div>
</div>
<br />
A bright blue fireball fell out of the sky and smashed into a suburban neighbourhood in Buenos Aires today, killing one woman and injuring six others. In other news, the Russian prime minister is set to become the president again and again.... no, wait, back up a second. WHAT just happened in a major capital city in Latin America??<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/235442-Argentina-One-woman-killed-and-six-injured-as-meteorite-smashes-into-Buenos-Aires" target="_blank">Argentina: One woman killed and six injured as meteorite smashes into Buenos Aires</a><br />
<br />
Believe it or not, incoming cometary debris may actually have killed someone today. The space debris also destroyed a house and some cars. People reported seeing a fireball descending followed by an explosion. One witness told local TV news that prior to the explosion the sky lit up and windows began to vibrate strongly. They had no idea what was happening as 'the thing' just appeared... within a few seconds somebody's home was obliterated.<br />
<br />
An Argentinian SOTT reader reported:<br />
<blockquote class="typ1">
The laughable thing is that the program hosts of local TV news, although<br />
considering the possibility of a meteorite being to blame, kept telling<br />
people about the satellites rubbish, that a "gas explosion in<br />
combination with street electricity cables" was to blame, and other<br />
things like that... they gave those hypotheses equal or even more<br />
credibility than the meteorite one.</blockquote>
<br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/82230/full/fireball_1.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" height="262" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/82230/large/fireball_1.jpg" style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px;" title="Click to enlarge" width="393" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<br />
<br />
<span class="caption">Stunned onlookers cannot believe what they've just experienced</span></div>
<br /></div>
<br />
The "satellites rubbish" our local witness is referring to is of course that AWOL NASA satellite <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/234918-NASA-Warns-of-Fresh-Risk-from-468m-Satellite-Falling-from-Space" target="_blank">we've been told for weeks</a> is due to plummet to earth.<br />
<br />
<br />
Check out this YouTube video which appears to be the trail left by the incoming fireball:<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div>
<iframe frameborder="0" height="385" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6bSl0YE6A_Q" width="400"></iframe></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
Apparently the man who filmed it can be heard saying: "Did you see it fall? What a strange thing, man!" Earlier he said, "It's like it caught on fire." He finished by saying, "And it's still on fire".<br />
<br />
<br />
Just imagine a whole bunch of those falling at the same time and the unbearable shock people would experience. Then again, people can be told anything, like a fireball crashing into a capital city is 'part of a satellite that broke off', or just a 'once-in-a-life-time' event. Nothing to see here folks, move along please!<br />
<br />
<br />
It reminds us of the intense programming about the no-plane at the Pentagon immediately after 9/11. Give people a story about a fictional airplane, Islamic terrorists or broken satellites, repeat them over and over, then hope for the best that most will accept it. And most DO! But who can blame them really? The truth is just too much to bear.<br />
<br />
<br />
It's kinda funny that the current flurry of meteor sightings and impacts should happen right when SOTT is being labelled by the French police as "apocalyptic" in their witch hunt based on a ridiculous cult accusation. If you just <i>talk</i> about comets and meteors, simply from <a href="http://fireballs-meteorites.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">observing DATA</a> , <i>not </i>imagining 'End of the World' scenarios, then you are immediately labelled an "apocalyptic cult". The police clearly don't spend much time observing the sky...<br />
<br />
<br />
But then why would they? The sky is where their invisible god on a stick lives and they don't want to anger him...<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="article-image-large to-center">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/82228/full/montegrande_comet.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" height="167" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/82228/large/montegrande_comet.jpg" style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px;" title="Click to enlarge" width="393" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<br />
<br />
<span class="caption">A photograph of the incoming meteor taken by a witness who was later arrested and forced to recant, saying that the image was hoaxed. That may well have been the case, but it's important to realise that incoming fireballs can cycle through every colour of the rainbow as they burn through the Earth's atmosphere. This explains the apparent discrepancies between witness testimonies of the fireball being both bright blue and dark red, as shown above.</span></div>
<br /></div>
<br />
So here we are. It's 2011 and something SOTT has been saying foryears would happen has happened. And still, it's amazing to us howeasily people's minds can be primed into buying a cooked-up version ofevents. We've all been hearing about falling satellites in the lead-upto this event... therefore this incident must be a falling satellite too! Never mind that they had previously claimed the 'NASA satellite' <a href="http://www.kabc.com/rssItem.asp?feedid=118&itemid=29730073" target="_blank">fell into the Pacific Ocean</a>. Can't leave any room for alternative explanations, now can we?<br />
<br />
What you're supposed to think is all prefabricated by the media. It's diabolically clever, efficient mind-programming.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/235462-Is-Another-Disabled-Satellite-Headed-for-Earth-" target="_blank">Is Another Disabled Satellite Headed for Earth?</a><br />
<br />
<br />
We strongly suspect that the meme about falling satellites indicates that the Powers That Be <i>knew</i><br />
we'd have incoming objects during this time frame, which means they can track some of them (even though they supposedly "lost the satellite".) Things will get really interesting when the ones they can't track start hitting the ground.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/235446-US-Texas-Residents-Report-Something-Fell-From-Sky-Then-Fire" target="_blank">Here's a report</a> of another impact starting a fire in Texas on Sunday.<br />
<br />
Raindrops keep fallin' on our heads.... and Nero fiddles while Rome burns.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
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<b>Comment: </b><span class="BoldGrey">Update 27 September 2011</span><br />
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It turns out that far more than a single home was destroyed. The <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku7NmTh0eY0&feature=player_embedded#%21" target="_blank">following video</a> from local Argentinian media reveals the true scale of the destruction from this meteorite impact:<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="385" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Ku7NmTh0eY0" width="400"></iframe></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">A Service of <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">Signs of the Times</a>: The most comprehensive, objective and reliable Alternative News Source on the Web. If you aren't reading <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">SOTT</a>, you don't know what's REALLY happening!</div>Keithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06011086310017706847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385115091808825739.post-35228012160218028042011-09-05T07:54:00.005+00:002011-11-13T19:46:29.727+00:00September 2011<b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/sep/01/space-junk-rising-exponentially-earth" target="_blank">Space junk rising exponentially (and no, it's not manmade)</a></b><br />
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Ian Sample<br />
The Guardian<br />
Thu, 01 Sep 2011 14:02 CDT</div>
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<span class="caption">Forget manmade space junk, the real threat is coming from further out in our solar system.</span></div>
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The amount of junk in space is rising exponentially, with continuous collisions between abandoned equipment, spent rockets and other debris creating ever growing clouds of dangerous fragments, an influential report warned on Thursday.<br />
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The report, commissioned by Nasa, says the quantity of hazardous material circling the Earth has reached a "tipping point" and poses a real and increasing danger to satellites and the International Space Station.<br />
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It suggests developing a clean-up strategy, which could include catching debris with nets, magnets or giant umbrellas.<br />
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<b><span style="color: #c00000;"><span class="BoldRed">The US National Research Council was asked to review the space agency's meteoroid and orbital debris programmes last April following a request from the White House.</span> Meteoroids are particles or larger lumps of rock in the solar system.</span></b><br />
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<b>"The current space environment is growing increasingly hazardous to spacecraft and astronauts,"</b> said Donald Kessler, chair of the committee responsible for the report and a retired head of Nasa's orbital debris programme.<br />
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"Nasa needs to determine the best path forward for tackling the multifaceted problems caused by meteoroids and orbital debris that put human and robotic space operations at risk."<br />
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While the report, <a href="http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13244" target="_blank">Limiting future collision risk to spacecraft</a>, found Nasa had used available resources wisely, the authors raised concerns that the agency's programmes had no overall management or<br />
budget and that most programmes were run by one person, making them vulnerable to staff changes.<br />
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Objects in space ranging from the huge upper stages of Russian rockets to tiny particles of liquid coolant are tracked by ground based radars operated by Nasa and other space agencies. <b>About half a million fragments and objects larger than a centimetre are in low orbit around Earth. There are tens of millions of particles larger than a millimetre.</b><br />
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<b>Comment: </b>What NASA won't tell you is that these are the result of exponentially increasing quantities of comet debris in our immediate space environment.</div>
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Even minuscule specks of debris can cause serious damage to spacecraft and satellites because of the immense speeds at which they travel.<br />
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"The average impact velocity is 10km per second," Kessler told the <i>Guardian</i>. "And at 2km per second, the energy of the collision is equivalent to the particle's mass in TNT."<br />
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The potential threat from space debris became more pressing after <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/jan/20/spaceexploration.china1" target="_blank">China destroyed an orbiting weather satellite with a missile in 2007</a> as part of an anti-satellite test, and <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/12/nasa-alert-as-satellites-collide" target="_blank">two satellites collided over Siberia in 2009</a>.<br />
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These events more than doubled the amount of catalogued fragmentation debris in space, which had remained almost constant for the previous 20 years.<br />
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The report adds that Nasa may have to launch operations to remove space junk from orbit, or find other ways to reduce the dangers posed by debris.<br />
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Since the Nasa space shuttle was retired, there are no tried and tested means to remove defunct satellites and other space junk from orbit.<br />
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Several companies and agencies are exploring ways to clean up the space environment, with techniques that range from capturing the junk in lightweight nets to launching probes that latch on to debris and steer it into the atmosphere, where it will burn up.<br />
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Any programme aimed at removing space junk is likely to face serious legal hurdles, because current principles restrict countries to salvaging only their own objects. Nasa estimates that about 30% of space junk can be attributed to the United States.<br />
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In anticipation of future clean-up operations, 12 countries, including the UK, set up the Inter-Agency Space Debris Co-ordination Committee in 1993 to oversee the programme.<br />
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"The cold war is over, but the acute sensitivity regarding satellite technology remains," <a href="http://www.colorado.edu/engineering/deaa/cgi-bin/display.pl?id=149" target="_blank">said George Gleghorn</a>, the report's co-author and chief engineer for the TRW Space and Technology Group.<br />
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<b>Comment: </b>The Cold War is over, so the Powers That Be came up with the War on Terror and manmade global warming to distract us from waking up to the fact that <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/142651-Something-Wicked-This-Way-Comes" target="_blank">Something Wicked This Way Comes</a>.</div>
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Although Nasa had identified the need for removing debris, the agency and US government had not fully examined the economic, technological, political and legal considerations, the report added.<br />
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"The longer you wait to do this the more expensive it's going to be. Given the economy, we'll probably end up putting it off, but that's really not very wise. <b>This scenario of increasing space debris will play out even if we don't put anything else in orbit</b>," Kessler said.<br />
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Satellite and spacecraft manufacturers routinely build additional shields to protect against debris strikes, but there is a trade-off between safety and weight.<br />
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The International Space Station (ISS) has shields designed to withstand strikes from centimetre-sized objects, but satellites are less well protected.<br />
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Mission controllers can alter the orbits of the ISS and some satellites to avoid collisions, but this is not always effective.<br />
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In 2009, satellite operators might have been able to prevent the satellite collision over Siberia, but the defunct Russian Cosmos satellite involved was ranked 16th on a list of objects the US Iridium satellite was most likely to strike.<br />
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<b>"Any avoidance move would have been to avoid something else,"</b> Kessler said.<br />
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<b><a href="http://spaceobs.org/en/2011/09/03/comet-elenin-the-final-prospect/" target="_blank">Comet Elenin - the Final Prospect</a></b><br />
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Leonid Elenin<br />
SpaceObs<br />
Sat, 03 Sep 2011 23:37 CDT</div>
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As many readers already know, Comet Elenin has begun the irreversible process of breaking up. We spoke earlier about the probablility of such an outcome, but I considered it less than 50%. On the graph at left you can see a selection of ten comets that approach the Sun closer than 0.5 a.u. The red line shows the boundary, to the left of which, derived from J. Bortle's formula, is the safe zone, but to the right is the zone of disintegration. The yellow color shows Comet Elenin, with absolute magnitude obtained by visual observations, and the blue is from JPL-NASA data. As we see, Bortle's formula, all-in-all, doesn't work too badly. Although there is a bright exception - the green triangle belongs to the unique comet 96P/Machholtz, about which I will speak next time.<br />
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Now it is absolutely clear that the comet's drop in brightness, first noted by Michael Mattiazzo on Aug. 20th, was not coincidental - the decay process had already begun, and over the course of the next several days the comet changed greatly. Its pseudo-nucleus became diffuse and extended, and later vanished completely. On images from Sept. 1st in the comet's coma there was no condensation visible, and that meant the comet had already broken up into fairly small pieces, with a maximum size of not more than a hundred meters.<br />
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Such a breakup of small comets passing near the Sun is not rare, and in that is nothing surprising. I note that this is a breakup, not an explosion. All the pieces continue to move on the comet's trajectory. The large fragments are likely to continue to disintegrate into smaller ones. It is possible that in October when the comet moves into the morning sky, we will no longer be able to see what once was Comet Elenin. It is possible that something will be visible to large earth-based telescopes. The breakup of a long-period comet fairly close to the Earth (on a Solar System scale) is a rather rare event. During such a breakup we can see the interior of the comet to better understand its construction and composition.<br />
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Overall, the most scientifically interesting thing is the breakup scenario, but unfortunately right now the comet is not visible to the largest telescopes or even the Hubble Space Telescope because of its close angular distance from the Sun (small elongation). On the other hand, amateur astronomers, awaiting this comet which might have been visible to the unaided eye, will now not see it, at least visually in their telescopes and binoculars.<br />
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We will wait for Sept. 23rd when the comet is due to appear in the field of view of the SOHO space coronagraph. Any result will tell us what we can expect at the beginning of October when the comet once again should appear in the pre-dawn sky. We will wait. The end of this story is near...</div>
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<b><a href="http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/208447/" target="_blank">US: That unidentified flaming object in Northland skies? It was a fireball, experts say</a></b><br />
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Duluth News Tribune<br />
Sun, 04 Sep 2011 00:18 CDT</div>
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<i>That object seen in the skies over the Northland last Saturday afternoon was a meteor bright enough to be seen during the day, according to the website of the American Meteor Society. The term for that is a daylight fireball.</i><br />
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It was a fireball.<br />
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That object seen in the skies over the Northland last Saturday afternoon was a meteor bright enough to be seen during the day, according to the website of the American Meteor Society. The term for that is a daylight fireball.<br />
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After Saturday's Eh? column reported someone seeing a "large object with flames coming from the back of it" over Lake County about 5:20 p.m. Aug. 27, several readers called and e-mailed with their observations.<br />
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Rita O'Connell said she and her mother, Millicent O'Connell, saw it about 5:23 p.m. when they were at the Moose Lake exit on Interstate 35. "In the sky high in front of us, about due north, we saw a flaming object falling at about an 80 degree angle from high left to lower right," she wrote.<br />
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Robert LaCosse said he saw it in the eastern sky while sailing in the Apostle Islands area.<br />
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Callers reported seeing it from Cook County on Caribou Trail about eight miles in from Lutsen; while driving eastbound on Minnesota Highway 210; and while driving north on Woodland Avenue in Duluth.<br />
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Jim Graham said he was one of six people on a pontoon boat on Birch Lake, and five of them saw it. "My father-in-law almost knocked me off the captain's chair, he hit me so hard," Graham said.<br />
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"It was just awesome," another caller said. "Just the brightest light in the sky I've ever seen."<br />
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The American Meteor Society said reports about the fireball came in from southern Manitoba and western Ontario as well as Minnesota.</div>
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<b><a href="http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/129312598.html" target="_blank">Kenya's Rain of Meteorites</a></b><br />
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Kelly Beatty<br />
Sky and Telescope<br />
Tue, 06 Sep 2011 15:59 CDT</div>
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<span class="caption">Meteorite hunter Michael Farmer poses with Rose Kamande, who found this 7.7-pound (3.5-kg) stone on July 17, 2011 — one day after meteorites fell from the sky in the villages surrounding Thika, Kenya.</span></div>
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Statistically, every year roughly 1,400 meteorites of pebble size and larger fall somewhere on Earth's lands. But few of these are ever found - and even fewer (about 3%) are actually seen as they arrive. Because they're rare, these <a href="http://www.galactic-stone.com/pages/falls" target="_blank">witnessed falls </a>are especially prized both by scientists (because the stones are fresh and unweathered) and by meteorite collectors (they command higher prices).<br />
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As it happens, a bunch of meteorites fell from the sky over east-central Africa on July 16th, and only now are details of this extraterrestrial special delivery coming to light.<br />
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On that morning, residents in villages near Thika, Kenya, heard a loud explosion but didn't know what to make of the strange stones that fell around them. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsXtZpGTvok" target="_blank">Local police were called</a> to investigate a sizable one that dropped into a cornfield and carted it off for further study.<br />
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This is a desperately poor region, and it didn't take long for local villagers to realize that these plain-looking rocks might be worth something. Word of the event soon reached meteorite hunters, and within hours the chase was on.<br />
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Michael Farmer wasted no time traveling from his Tucson home to Kenya. By the morning of July 21st, just five days after the fall, he'd acquired more than 2 pounds of fragments. By then hundreds of locals had fanned out in the hope of finding some cosmic gold.<br />
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<span class="caption">A 70-g "hammer" meteorite punched through the corrugated-metal roof of a housing complex in the village of Muguga, Kenya, on July 16, 2011.<br /><br /><br />"Upon arriving at the fall location," he reports, "I met a guy who knew a girl who saw a stone land only 5 feet from her in a coffee field while working at 10:30 a.m. when the explosions rocked the sky." Farmer returned to Kenya again just a week later, this time accompanied by Florda dealer Greg Hupé.</span><br />
<span class="caption"><br />All told, meteorites fell in four different villages. The fall will likely be known officially as Kihum Wiri, the place where the largest pieces were found. An analysis by researcher Laurence Garvie at Arizona State University indicates that these are ordinary chondrites, the most common meteorite type.</span><br />
<span class="caption"><br />So far, more than 30 pounds (14 kg) have been scooped up. "I paid either for stones or for workers and supervisors to monitor the workers, money none of them could refuse," Farmer explains. "Most of them got a year or years of salary for stones worthless to them. It changed their lives."</span><br />
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<span class="caption"><b><a href="http://news.discovery.com/space/earth-meteorites-gold-metals-110907.html" target="_blank">Meteorites Pummeled Earth, Delivering Gold</a></b></span><br />
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<span class="caption">Jessica Marshall</span><br />
<span class="caption">Discovery News</span><br />
<span class="caption">Wed, 07 Sep 2011 12:06 CDT</span><br />
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<b><a href="http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com/2011/09/mbiq-indicates-ne-colorado-meteor-event.html" target="_blank">US: Witness describes 'bright blue/green fireball' with long tail in Colorado night sky</a></b><br />
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Sat, 03 Sep 2011 05:37 CDT</div>
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<span class="BoldGrey">MBIQ (Meteor Bot Internet Query) Indicates NE Colorado Meteor Event 2SEP2011</span><br />
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Colorado, east of Greeley and Northeast of Kersey: Bright Blue/Green Meteor Fireball seen at 4:00 am, 2 September 2011<br />
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My friend and I were at work out at 70 Ranch located at CR 388 and CR 53 Around 4 O'clock AM...9/2/2011. I saw a light that looked like a shooting star. It was bright out of the North and then it shot like a star to the East and then stopped for a few seconds. Then it came down from the north going south and then about a half mile to a mile off the ground it turned a dark to bright green a couple hundred feet around it and then it was traveling towards the ground with a Long tail burning. Looked green and blue. Then it came down and got really low to the ground before It looked like it was going to hit. It may have burnt out but don't know. Just thought it was awesome so I looked it up on the<br />
news and no one reported it. My other friend was on the phone about 30miles south of me when I saw it, and he saw it to and asked me if I saw it too. Just thought it was cool so went to this website when I looked up meteors and it said I could report it here if I saw anything.<br />
So I figured I would see what you guys knew. Thanks - Mark Merriott</blockquote>
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Thank you Mark for your fine report!<br />
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Fort Collins, Colorado - arrived from google.com on "Latest Worldwide Meteor/Meteorite News" by searching for green fireball 9/2/11.<br />
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We need your sighting reports for this event:<br />
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Date and Time of event? Location name (town,city) where you were when saw the meteor? Start and Stop location in sky? Direction of movement? Duration of Event (seconds)? Brightness ( in comparison with Venus, Moon, Sun) color, sounds? Photos? Videos? please email LunarMeteoriteHunter@gmail.com Your reports make it possible for all to check what they saw as well. Thank you!</div>
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<b><a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20110909/ARTICLES/110909691/1005/sports?Title=Cape-Fear-Weather-Watch-See-a-fireball-last-night-You-8217-re-not-alone" target="_blank">North Carolina, US: Cape Fear Weather Watch - See a fireball last night? You're not alone</a></b><br />
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Andrew Dunn<br />
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Fri, 09 Sep 2011 00:28 CDT</div>
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Did you see a fireball in the eastern sky Thursday evening? You're not the only one.<br />
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Emergency dispatchers in New Hanover and Brunswick counties received multiple reports of a blazing object in the sky at about 8 p.m.<br />
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Most likely, it was a meteor or comet fragment that made it into the atmosphere, said Tim Armstrong of the National Weather Service's office in Wilmington. There has been no confirmation of that, however.<br />
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And confirmation is unlikely. Armstrong said the object appeared to be over the ocean, making examination of it impossible.<br />
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Did you snap a picture? Email it in to Andrew.Dunn@StarNewsOnline.com.<br />
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<b><br /><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/8754566/Meteorites-contain-chemical-essential-for-life.html" target="_blank">Meteorites Contain Chemical Essential for Life</a></b><br />
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Telegraph UK<br />
Sun, 11 Sep 2011 19:26 CDT</div>
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Fragments of a 10-tonne meteorite are found in a small pond Saskatchewan, Canada, 28 Nov 2008<br />
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<i>A chemical essential for life may have been brought to Earth from outer space by meteorites, scientists claim.</i><br />
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Astrobiologist Dr Terry Kee, from the University of Leeds, has found meteorite fragments contain a precursor to a key chemical that allows biological cells to capture energy from their surroundings.<br />
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He believes debris from meteorites that hit the Earth billions of years ago may have combined with slightly acidic water on the planet to produce early forms of the compound.<br />
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This would then have allowed the first forms of cellular life to form and to use energy from their surroundings.<br />
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"There is strong scientific evidence that chemicals essential to life have been found in interstellar material such as meteorites," Dr Kee said.<br />
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"Meteorites are fragments of some of the oldest materials in our solar system, and their composition can hold clues as to the appearance and environment of our own planet and what lived on it billions of years ago."</blockquote>
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Dr Kee will present his findings to the British Science Festival on Wednesday 14th September as part of the <i>Astrobiology: Life in Other Worlds event.</i><br />
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He and his research team found that when iron-based meteorites were dissolved in slightly acidic water, compounds called phosphates were formed.<br />
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After being subjected to heat of around 80 degrees, the phosphate compounds covert to pyrophosphate, which Dr Kee believes is a precursor of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a molecule essential for respiration in cellular life forms.<br />
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ATP allows all living cells to convert the chemical energy stored in sugar so it can be used to drive processes in the cell.<br />
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Dr Kee says the high reactivity of pyrophosphate suggests that it fostered early chemical reactions in the acidic, warm pools that surrounded volcanoes.<br />
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He said:<br />
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"The application of acidic water and heat to the meteorites mimics the conditions of ancient planet earth's surface.<br />
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"If corroded by acid rain, the chemical pyrophosphate would be released from the meteorite into the earth itself. This may suggest the origins of chemical cycles and cell formation on the early earth."</blockquote>
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Dr Kee is distancing himself from claims from NASA scientist Richard Hoover, who has claimed to have discovered extraterrestrial microfossils in a collection of meteorites three times in the last 14 years.<br />
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He said:<br />
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"We're not attempting to prove the existence of extraterrestrial life forms as such; we are concentrating upon the origins of earth's chemical processes, and why they evolved into life forms as they did.<br />
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"We believe that life did not evolve independently.<br />
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"There is a very good chance that extraterrestrial materials provided the building blocks of life on earth."</blockquote>
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<b><a href="http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=13&month=09&year=2011" target="_blank">Another Sun Diving Comet</a></b><br />
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Space Weather<br />
Tue, 13 Sep 2011 14:25 CDT</div>
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A comet is diving into the sun today. Just discovered by comet hunters Michal Kusiak of Poland and Sergei Schmalz of Germany, the icy visitor from the outer solar system is expected to brighten to first<br />
magnitude before it disintegrates on Sept. 14th.<br />
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The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory is monitoring the comet's death plunge: <a href="http://spaceweather.com/images2011/13sep11/finder_768.jpg?PHPSESSID=n904crbfeffcgg29ua0mud56r5" target="_blank">finder chart</a>, <a href="http://spaceweather.com/images2011/13sep11/sundiver3.gif?PHPSESSID=n904crbfeffcgg29ua0mud56r5" target="_blank">movie</a>, <a href="http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/c3/512/" target="_blank">latest images</a>.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/mysterious-booming-sounds-explanations-2003/" target="_blank">Mysterious 'Booming Sounds' Heard Around World Perplex Scientists</a></b><br />
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Charles Q. Choi<br />
OurAmazingPlanet<br />
Wed, 14 Sep 2011 09:20 CDT</div>
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<span class="caption">Brian Emfinger photographed this early Perseid meteor shower fireball, with a smoke trail, from Ozark, Arkansas just after midnight on Sunday, July 26, 2009.</span></div>
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Mysterious booming sounds are occasionally heard on the North Carolina coast, often powerful enough to rattle windows and doors. They cannot be explained by thunderstorms or any manmade sources - their source is a mystery.<br />
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Such dins are not unique to North Carolina or the modern age. People living near Seneca Lake in upstate New York have long known of <a href="http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/virginia-beach-meteor-boom-1675/" target="_blank">similar booming sounds, </a>which they called "Seneca guns." In coastal Belgium, they are known as "mistpouffers," or fog belches; in the Ganges delta and the Bay of Bengal, "Bansal guns;" in the Italian Apennines, "brontidi," or thunder-like; and by the Harami people of Shikoku, Japan, "yan."<br />
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"What's going on is an interesting challenge, whatever it might be," said seismologist David Hill, scientist emeritus at the U.S. Geological Survey office in Menlo Park, Calif.<br />
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<span class="BoldGrey">Long list of explanations</span><br />
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A host of plausible explanations may now exist for these enigmas, including earthquakes, rock bursts, <a href="http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/california-mud-volcanoes-0928/" target="_blank">mud volcanoes,</a> explosive venting of gas, storm-driven waves, tsunamis, meteors, distant thunder and so-called booming sands.<br />
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"It seems there is quite a range of processes in nature that might be responsible," Hill told OurAmazingPlanet.<br />
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"Earwitnesses" described sounds like booming cannons or falling stones accompanying small to moderate earthquakes in England from 1880 to 1916. In 1975, U.S. Geological Survey researchers managed to record both acoustic and seismic signals of an earthquake swarm in California, finding that three earthquakes with magnitudes ranging from 2.0 to 2.8 produced sounds that began within 0.02 seconds of the arrival of seismic waves at the scientists' station. Similar results were seen with quakes in the French Pyrenees in 2004.<br />
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All in all, <a href="http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/japan-earthquake-sound-hydrophone-110420-1414/" target="_blank">audible sounds from earthquakes</a> might be perceived even when shaking is not, Hill suggested. For instance, while earthquakes are rare in coastal North Carolina, they are relatively common in the Charleston area of South Carolina, the site of the 1886 magnitude 7.6 Charleston quake, and the Catskill Mountains that Seneca Lake is located within do host low-level earthquake<br />
activity. Locals could be hearing an earthquake that is too small for them to feel.<br />
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Also, rock bursts, where long-buried rock can suddenly release stress, often because of mining removing confining material above it, can essentially be seen as a type of small, near-surface earthquake. Scientists have reported feeling perceptible jolts and hearing sharp booming sounds from such bursts, Hill said.<br />
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Giant waves might also be responsible for the mystery sounds, Hill suggested. Scientists have found that booming sounds are apparently familiar to big-wave surfers during extreme waves. In addition, after the catastrophic <a href="http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/what-gave-deadly-sumatra-tsunami-its-extra-power-1653/" target="_blank">2004 magnitude 9.1 Sumatra earthquake and tsunami, </a>multiple witnesses said they heard loud, offshore booming sounds closely accompanying two or three of the largest waves that struck the coast at any given site.<br />
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"I was surprised to learn about the possibility that tsunamis produce these kinds of sounds," Hill said. "I don't think anyone understands that process."<br />
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Hill suggests the sounds heard off the coasts of North Carolina, Belgium and the Bay of Bengal might be large waves caused by distant storms that break well offshore, beyond outer banks or barrier beaches. Such waves might also disrupt offshore methane hydrate deposits, leading to explosive venting of high-pressure gas trapped deep within the Earth.<br />
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<span class="BoldGrey">Booming sands and seismometers</span><br />
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<b>Another possibility is meteors. <a href="http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/meteors-shatter-atmosphere-strange-snapshots-1950/" target="_blank">Meteors can generate sonic booms</a> and explode dramatically as they plummet from space. Given how long it can take a shockwave to reach the Earth's surface from the upper atmosphere, visible signs of the meteor can vanish before its sonic boom is heard, especially during the daytime, Hill noted.</b><br />
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Under the right circumstances, even <a href="http://www.livescience.com/3788-singing-sand-dunes-mystery-desert-music.html" target="_blank">sand dunes can generate a variety of sounds, </a>including whispering, humming, whistling and squeaking. Booming sands, comparable to rumbling thunder, can be heard to distances of 6 miles (10 kilometers) and for as long as 15 minutes, are possible as well. They generally appear limited to large sand dunes in arid climates with steep faces pointing away from the wind, and seem to require loosely packed, very smooth, almost spherical sand grains.<br />
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"In the eastern desert in Egypt, the Bedouins have a long history of hearing booms and avoiding that area - after installing seismometers there, researchers were able to go back and see these sounds seem<br />
correlated with small earthquakes that caused booming sands," Hill said.<br />
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In the future, after potential artificial sources of mysterious booming sounds are ruled out, such as military exercises and quarry blasts, seismic networks could quickly reveal if earthquakes or volcanoes were responsible. For instance, the <a href="http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/plume-fueling-yellowstone-volcanic-activity-0508/" target="_blank">USArray, a mobile network of seismometers, </a>is currently moving east across the United States and "it might help resolve the issue of what the sounds on the North Carolina coast are," Hill said.<br />
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Hill detailed this research in the September-October issue of the journal <i>Seismological Research Letters.</i></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.universetoday.com/88927/comet-elenin-is-now-fading-away/#more-88927" target="_blank">Comet Elenin is Now Fading Away</a></b><br />
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Nancy Atkinson<br />
Universe Today<br />
Wed, 14 Sep 2011 22:17 CDT</div>
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<span class="caption">Comet Elenin on Sept. 14, 2011. It is is now almost indiscernible. Image and annotated chart by Michael Mattiazzo.</span></div>
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As far as Comet Elenin goes, the only chance of impending doom is for the comet itself: it is disintegrating and quickly fading away. Australian amateur astronomer <a href="http://members.westnet.com.au/mmatti/sc.htm" target="_blank">Michael Mattiazzo</a> has been monitoring this comet's trip toward perihelion (closest point in its orbit to the Sun), which occurred on September 10, 2011, and he says Comet Elenin has likely has not survived. The image above was taken by Mattiazzo on today (Sept. 14) and it is barely visible as a disintegrating smudge.<br />
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Comet Elenin - the comet that has created a hoopla of <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/87619/worried-about-comet-elenin-faqs-from-ian-musgrave/" target="_blank">completely nonsensical, non-scientific doomsday predictions</a> - faded dramatically after being hit by a solar flare on August 20, <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/88494/comet-elenin-could-be-disintigrating/" target="_blank">as we reported earlier.</a> Subsequent images revealed a spreading, diffuse coma. It will likely continue to fade and become more diffuse.<br />
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Elenin's mass is smaller than average and its trajectory will take it no closer than 34 million km (21 million miles) of Earth as it circles the Sun. It will make its closest approach to Earth on October 16th, but was closest to the Sun on Sept. 10.<br />
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"On the night of August 19th, I estimated the brightness of comet Elenin as magnitude 8.1 and it was on target for naked eye observability in September," Mattiazzo wrote on his website, <a href="http://members.westnet.com.au/mmatti/sc.htm" target="_blank">Southern Comets. </a>"On the following night of the 20th, the comet had faded dramatically by half a magnitude and appeared more diffuse. This was a sign of impending doom for comet Elenin."<br />
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Elenin is at about magnitude 10 now, and fading as it is in the process of disintegrating.<br />
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It failed to recover, (you can see a series of images taken between August 19 and September 11 on <a href="http://members.westnet.com.au/mmatti/sc.htm" target="_blank">Mattiazzo's website</a>), with the comet's the nucleus taking on an elongated appearance with progressive fading.<br />
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<span class="caption">Comet Elenin on Sept. 11, 2011. 20x10second exposures taken with a C11 SCT and Starlight Express MX7c CCD imager.</span></div>
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"Such acts of disruption are all too common for small comets that have close encounters with the Sun," Mattiazzo said.<br />
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One of the most spectacular examples of a comet breaking apart occurred in July 2000 when comet C/1999 S4 LINEAR disintegrated and several observatories had a good view of the action.<br />
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/80914/full/C_1999_S4_LINEAR_breakup_1024x.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© ESO"><img alt="Elenin_2" height="245" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/80914/large/C_1999_S4_LINEAR_breakup_1024x.jpg" style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px;" title="Click to enlarge" width="399" /></a><br />
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<span class="caption">A closeup photo of the breakup of Comet S4 LINEAR taken on August 6, 2000 by the European Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile.</span></div>
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Elenin is now nearly in solar conjuction, where it is on the opposite side of the Sun from the Earth and not visible to us. Another amateur astronomer from Australia, <a href="http://astroblogger.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Ian Musgrave,</a> says it is doubtful that it will be bright enough to see in the the cameras from the Sun-orbiting <a href="http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/" target="_blank">SOHO spacecraft, </a>and that we will probably have to wait until October when the comet moves away from the Sun for powerful Earth-based telescopes to try and find if any of the comet survives.</div>
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<b><a href="http://www.mydesert.com/article/20110914/NEWS09/110914022/Palm-Springs-residents-spot-apparent-meteor-sky?odyssey=nav%7Chead" target="_blank">US: Palm Springs Residents Spot Apparent Meteor in Sky</a></b><br />
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Kate McGinty<br />
The Desert Sun<br />
Wed, 14 Sep 2011 22:51 CDT</div>
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Some Coachella Valley residents spotted something that looked to be falling from the sky tonight, amid reports of a meteor in the Southwest.<br />
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It looked like a falling star that continued falling toward the mountain, a <i>Desert Sun</i> reporter in south Palm Springs said.<br />
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The Scottsdale Airport tower told police they saw meteor activity around 7:45 p.m., the Arizona Republic reported.<br />
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Twitter users from Las Vegas to San Diego have also reported spotting the unusual activity in the sky.<br />
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"Okay did anybody else see the giant #meteor or #UFO that fell out of the sky 15 minutes ago?" @FRUTRON Tweeted.<br />
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The National Weather Service said it had not heard of any meteor activity, the Gannett-owned Phoenix paper added.<br />
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Palm Springs police said they have not received any calls about the object.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44529188/ns/technology_and_science-space/#.TnGJa9Tfngs" target="_blank">Fireball sighted in skies over southwestern US</a></b><br />
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Wed, 14 Sep 2011 23:45 CDT</div>
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<i>Reports stream in from Southern California and Nevada; experts say it's a meteor</i><br />
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People from San Diego to Los Angeles to Las Vegas reported seeing a large, greenish, fiery object shooting across the sky Wednesday night.<br />
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"I saw something that looked like a falling star but it must have been a fireball in the atmosphere," one witness told NBCLA. "It was huge. It had a green glow in front of it and a white tail. It like green<br />
fireworks going across the sky."<br />
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Witnesses said they saw the fireball around 7:45 p.m. PT (10:45 p.m. ET).<br />
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The Federal Aviation Administration said they received many calls about the sky sightings. Initially, there were concerns that the fireball could have been an aircraft. But a spokesman from the National Weather Service told NBCLA that it sounded as if it was a meteor.<br />
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Experts said that a meteor is slower than a regular shooting star, and it's not unusual for it to appear to change colors.<br />
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In a Twitter update, scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said that "a lot of lucky people ... saw a fireball tonight" - and pointed to a webpage listing frequently asked questions about fireballs. The report said sightings were made in Arizona as well as California and Nevada.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.theweatherspace.com/news/TWS-09_14_2011_meteor-arizona-phoenix-nevada-california.html" target="_blank">US: Possible Meteor Streaks Across Nevada, Arizona, and Southern California on Wednesday Evening</a><br /></b><br />
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Jim Duran<br />
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Thu, 15 Sep 2011 00:20 CDT</div>
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A bright light across the sky was seen from Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Southern California on Wednesday evening.<br />
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Sources believe it was a meteor that came through the atmosphere, however it has not yet been confirmed.<br />
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Just after 7:45 p.m. TheWeatherSpace.com tip line was loaded with message of the sighting. Some describe it as a sight they've never seen before.<br />
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"I was sitting outside looking at the thunderstorms in the distance and the object caught my eye," said Janet Patton of Palm Springs, California. "It was easily brighter than the full moon and it cast<br />
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Whatever it was, it caused a stir.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/region_phoenix_metro/central_phoenix/reports-of-%27glowing-object%27-flying-across-arizona-sky" target="_blank">US: 2 different objects seen over Phoenix, says witness</a></b><br />
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ABC15 / Associated Press<br />
Thu, 15 Sep 2011 08:38 CDT</div>
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Many residents around Arizona have reported seeing a "glowing object" fly across the night sky Wednesday.<br />
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Some experts believe it was either a fireball or a bright meteor. We started getting reports of the object around 7:45 p.m.<br />
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Our multimedia journalist Brien McElhatten captured two photos when he saw a glowing orange light before an object started streaking across the sky.<br />
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One photo shows how the glowing light looked in Chandler. The other image was taken as McElhatten kept the shutter open to show the object streaking across the sky.<br />
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"It had a big old tail, and it was so bright. I couldn't believe what I was witnessing," Valley resident Holly Pickard told ABC15.<br />
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Law enforcement in the Valley also saw the object.<br />
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"We received four calls (total) regarding the light in the sky," a Phoenix Police spokesman told ABC15. "Our air unit, myself, and other officers also observed it as well. We all made our wishes and went back to work."<br />
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A spokesman with the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office said their aviation unit did confirm seeing the meteor over Deer Valley Airport, but there haven't been any reports of an impact site.<br />
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Many of our viewers are also sounding off about it on the ABC15 Facebook page.<br />
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Sharon Roesch wrote, "It was huge and incredible- we were driving and too much in shock."<br />
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Althea Keegan wrote, "It had a green tail and burned out just as I had my camera ready to snap a picture."<br />
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The ABC15 newsroom confirmed that there have been similar reports in San Diego, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas.<br />
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<b><br /><a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2011/US/09/15/southwest.strange.light/" target="_blank">US: Mysterious light seen in Southwestern sky</a></b><br />
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Scott Thompson<br />
CNN<br />
Thu, 15 Sep 2011 10:31 CDT</div>
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/80954/full/fireball.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© CNN"><img alt="fireball" height="210" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/80954/large/fireball.jpg" style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px;" title="Click to enlarge" width="395" /></a><br />
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What exactly was seen in the skies across the Southwestern U.S. Wednesday night? Was it a meteor, a falling satellite or, perhaps, something more mysterious?<br />
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A streak of light that some are describing as a fireball, was seen shooting across the night sky and law enforcement and media from Phoenix to Los Angeles to Las Vegas were fielding calls of the reported sighting.<br />
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Lt. Justin Griffin of the Maricopa Sheriff Department in Arizona was trying to guess what the strange light was.<br />
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"Believe it was a meteorite traveling from north to south across Maricopa County," Griffin said. "The 911 call center received a flood of calls."<br />
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Griffin said there were no reports of impact or damage.<br />
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"People are, indeed, reporting they saw a light head from west to east across the sky. We got reports from CHP and the FAA about callers seeing the light. It is reasonable to say that it may be a meteor," Curt Kaplan, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service told CNN affiliate <a href="http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2011/09/14/riverside-orange-county-residents-reporting-strange-lights-in-the-night-sky/" target="_blank">KCAL</a>.<br />
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There are no reports of aircraft incidents across Southern California, said FAA spokesperson Ian Gregor.<br />
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The sighting quickly became a hot topic on a number of social media websites with most asking, "Did you see it? What was that?"<br />
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NASA officials announced this week the now-defunct Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite is expected to fall back to Earth in the coming weeks.<br />
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There was no word on whether what was seen Wednesday was that satellite.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2037668/Rare-fireball-rips-night-sky-California--dont-worry-Earth-isnt-attack.html#ixzz1Y3f3BuRc" target="_blank">Fireball sparks panic as it shoots across 250 miles of night sky above California</a></b><br />
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Leon Watson<br />
Mail Onlilne<br />
Fri, 16 Sep 2011 19:15 CDT</div>
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When a streak of fire blazed through the air above southern California, people could have been forgiven for thinking the Earth was under attack.<br />
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Thousands saw it from Phoenix in Arizona to Las Vegas and Los Angeles and local authorities were swamped with reports of ball of flame in the night sky.<br />
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One witness said: 'It was huge. It had a green glow in front of it and a white tail. It looked like green fireworks going across the sky.' <br />
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<span class="caption">Blazing through the sky: A witness captures the fireball on camera</span><br />
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<span class="caption">Blazing through the sky: The fireball seen over southern California and Arizona</span></div>
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But experts have revealed the phenomenon was most likely a fireball - a fragment of an asteroid that entered Earth's atmosphere.<br />
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The light was seen shooting quickly from west to east at around 7.45pm PDT, or 2.45am GMT.<br />
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Many reported it as bluish-green and others as yellow and orange. Some captured video of the object.<br />
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NASA scientist Don Yeomans, who runs the agency's Near-Earth Object Program, said: 'We can't say 100 per cent, but it's almost certain that the object was a fireball or very bright meteor the size of a basketball or baseball that likely disintegrated before it hit the ground.'<br />
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According to Mr Yeomans, the bluish-green colour suggests the object had some magnesium or nickel in it.<br />
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He added that orange is usually an indication it is entering earth's atmosphere at several miles per second, a moderate rate of speed.<br />
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'They make an impressive show for such a small object,' Mr Yeomans said.<br />
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<span class="caption">Good heavens: Another image of the fireball streaking through the night sky</span></div>
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<span class="caption">Sightings: Where the fireball was spotted</span></div>
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Yeomans said fireball events are much more rare than shooting stars, but they happen on a weekly basis somewhere on Earth, usually over the ocean.<br />
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'It's a natural phenomenon and nothing to be concerned about.'<br />
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Astronomer Dennis Mammana, from Borrego Springs, said: 'Apparently this one put on a big show.<br />
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'The color of the object can tell you about the chemical composition of the meteor. The bluish-green color could mean it was nickel.'<br />
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At Maricopa County Sheriff's Office police fielded more than a dozen calls about sightings.<br />
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Sheriff's deputies at Deer Valley Airport in north Phoenix reported a sighting themselves, Lieutenant Justin Griffin said.<br />
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'It took an unusually long time to get across the sky,' Lt Griffin said. 'It's like a meteor. It's not like we had any flying objects with little green men or anything like that.'<br />
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Sergeant Steve Martos, of the Phoenix Police Department, said his agency received four calls 'regarding the light in the sky'.<br />
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He added: 'Myself and other officers observed it as well. We all made our wishes and went back to work. Nothing more to report. Have a safe night.'<br />
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The burning object also created a stir on Twitter.<br />
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One witness tweeted: 'I saw a lot of red in it from my vantage point in Phoenix, as well as the blue and green tail.<br />
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Another tweeted: 'It was <i>crazy</i>! Green and going fast & then it just burned out.'<br />
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Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor has confirmed there were no aircraft incidents reported in the Western region.</div>
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<b><br /><a href="http://www.livescience.com/16105-cosmic-impact-extinction-archaic-birds.html" target="_blank">Dino-Killing Cosmic Impact Wiped Out Ancient Birds, Too</a></b><br />
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Charles Q. Choi<br />
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Sat, 17 Sep 2011 13:18 CDT</div>
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<span class="caption">A cosmic impact at the end of the Cretaceous that wiped out non-avian dinosaurs seems to have decimated primitive birds as well, researchers now say.</span></div>
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Although birds survived the mass extinction that claimed their brethren, the rest of the dinosaurs, birds did not emerge unscathed, scientists now find.<br />
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Apparently many ancient lineages of birds died off at the end of the Age of Dinosaurs, researchers added.<br />
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Nearly all the modern bird groups, from owls to penguins and so on, began to emerge within 15 million years after the rest of the dinosaurs went extinct. These birds are subtly but significantly different from many of the ancient lineages that existed before a <a href="http://www.livescience.com/15011-dinosaurs-mass-extinction-catastrophic-meteor-strike.html" target="_blank">cosmic impact at the end of the Cretaceous period</a> about 65 million years ago wreaked havoc around the globe.<br />
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"These <a href="http://www.livescience.com/13682-birds-survived-mass-extinction-dinosaurs.html" target="_blank">archaic birds </a>superficially looked very similar to modern birds, but underneath their feathers they were completely different," researcher Nicholas Longrich, a vertebrate paleontologist at Yale University, told LiveScience. "Some of them had teeth. Some of their joints were built backward compared to modern birds, so they may have flown in a different way."<br />
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Although scientists had suspected that many ancient bird lineages went extinct along with a host of other creatures at the end of the Cretaceous, "the fossil evidence was kind of vague," Longrich noted. This uncertainty left open the possibility that such birds actually began dying off gradually well before the <a href="http://www.livescience.com/1752-greatest-mysteries-mass-extinctions.html" target="_blank">mass extinction.</a><br />
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<span class="caption">Two shoulder bones (far left) and foot bones from 17 species of Cretaceous birds that went extinct around the time of the dinosaurs.</span></div>
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To help clear up this mystery, Longrich and his colleagues investigated ancient bird fossils from a variety of museums in the United States and Canada. They focused on specimens they had relatively certain dates for, ones from rock formations in states of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming and the province of Saskatchewan in Canada.<br />
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The researchers identified seven species of archaic birds, including diving birds such as Hesperornithes, all of which lived within 1.5 million years of the asteroid impact, and most of which lived within 300,000 years before the impact. None survived past the end of the Age of Dinosaurs.<br />
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"It looks like their extinction was abrupt," Longrich said. "It looks as if the <a href="http://www.livescience.com/1162-study-single-meteorite-impact-killed-dinosaurs.html" target="_blank">asteroid hit all the dinosaurs</a> - not just the non-avian ones like <i>T. rex</i> and <i>Triceratops,</i> but the birds as well, the flying dinosaurs."<br />
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It remains unknown whether all the ancient birds that died out had anything in common that helped ensure their demise or what qualities the lineages that survived had that helped them endure.<br />
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"We only have scraps of all these early birds, so we don't really know what the handful of birds that survived ate, or where they lived, factors that presumably helped them survive," Longrich said. "It's a big unsolved mystery." Future research might look at ancient bird fossils elsewhere in the world to help solve the puzzle, he added.<br />
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The scientists detailed their findings online Sept. 13 in the <i>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.</i></div>
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<b><br /><br /><a href="http://www.nwcn.com/home/?fId=130347828&fPath=/news/local&fDomain=10202" target="_blank">US: Fireball seen over Western Oregon</a></b><br />
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Michael Rollins<br />
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Thu, 22 Sep 2011 12:23 CDT</div>
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A fireball streaked across the Oregon sky Wednesday evening.<br />
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Described as blue or green with a small tail, the object appeared shortly after 8 p.m. Reports of the sighting ran from Portland to Southern Oregon but seemed to be focused on the Central Willamette<br />
Valley and Central Oregon Coast.<br />
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Candace wrote on the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/KGWTV8" target="_blank">KGW TV Facebook page </a>that "my daughter and I saw it. We were driving from Canby to Aurora and were near the intersection of 99E and Barlow Rd. I hit the brakes because it looked like it was going to land in the road in front of the car, but disappeared off to the side of the road. It looked like one steak from a light green firework coming down from the sky."<br />
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"We were traveling on Stayton-Scio hwy looking toward Mary's Peak in the Coast Range when we saw the meteorite burn from approximately 80 degrees to 30 degrees on the horizon where it broke<br />
apart into a couple chunks and disappeared at about 30 degrees on the horizon," wrote poster Doug on the "<a href="http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com/2011/09/oregon-meteor-fireball-21sep2011.html" target="_blank">Latest Worldwide Meteor/Metorite News</a>" web site.<br />
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Poster Tabitha wrote "I am a wild land firefighter and that object appeared to be the color of a very hot flame. Like when ink on paper or cardboard burns, that real pretty blue flame was the color of the object falling."<br />
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More: <a href="http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com/2011/09/oregon-meteor-fireball-21sep2011.html" target="_blank">lunarmeteorhunters.blogspot.com</a></div>
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<b><br /><a href="http://www.universetoday.com/89119/astrovideo-meteor-caught-on-video-by-troy-stone/" target="_blank">Meteor Caught on Video by Troy Stone</a></b><br />
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Dianne Castaneda<br />
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Thu, 22 Sep 2011 16:20 CDT</div>
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One of our valued readers here in Universe Today sent us a link to a video that was first featured in a local news channel in Florida. It was a video of a bright green fireball shooting across the sky in Orlando, Florida. The video was recorded by Troy Stone using a dash cam as he was on his way to work in the morning of September 5, 2011.<br />
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According to the locals who were able to <a href="http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com/2011/09/florida-bright-green-meteor-5sep2011.html" target="_blank">post the sighting online,</a> the meteor was heading east to west when looking south.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.space.com/13045-comet-elenin-skywatching-curiosity-nasa.html" target="_blank">The Curious Case of Comet Elenin: A Skywatching Tale</a></b><br />
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Geoff Gaherty<br />
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Thu, 22 Sep 2011 15:52 CDT</div>
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<span class="caption">Amateur astronomer Michael Mattiazzo of Castlemaine, Australia caught these two images of comet Elenin on Aug. 19 (left) and Sept. 6, 2011. The images show a rapid dimming in the comet, possibly hinting at its disintegration.</span></div>
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Russian amateur astronomer Leonid Elenin had the good fortune to discover a comet on Dec. 10, 2010, and it's turned out to be quite a skywatching curiosity.<br />
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Initially, comet Elenin <a href="http://www.space.com/12653-comet-elenin-earth-threat-nasa-answers.html" target="_blank">received quite a bit of attention </a>from astronomers because its orbit would take it quite close to Earth, within 22 million miles (35 million kilometers), on Oct. 16, 2011. It looked like it was going to put on a good show.<br />
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Even as recently as Aug. 19, the comet was brighter than predicted, as observed and photographed by amateur astronomers in Australia, notably Michael Mattiazzo.<br />
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Then, disaster struck in the form of a coronal mass ejection from the sun. The next day the comet had dropped half a magnitude in brightness, and has continued to drop, despite the icy body getting closer to the sun. Apparently the <a href="http://www.space.com/13038-comet-elenin-breaking-skywatching-video.html" target="_blank">comet is disintegrating,</a> as sometimes happens when comets pass too close to the sun.<br />
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Meanwhile, this rather small and ordinary comet has become the subject of media frenzy among <a href="http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/comet-elenin-planet-nibiru-doomsday-2012-1833/" target="_blank">conspiracy theorists and 2012 doomsayers.</a> Comet Elenin has been accused of being a brown dwarf or the mysterious and <a href="http://www.space.com/topics/latest-news-for-nibiru-2012-and-planet-x/" target="_blank">destructive planet "Nibiru," </a>and has been blamed for earthquakes and tsunamis. Did you know that its discoverer's name is really an acronym for "Extinction Level Event: Nibiru Is Nigh."<br />
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On Sept. 10 the comet passed its perihelion, a phase marking its closest approach to the sun, at a distance of 44,840,000 miles (72,170,000 km).<br />
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The next day, Mattiazzo managed a couple of images in the evening twilight sky as the comet dropped too close to the sun to be followed any further. The comet was a faint ghost of its former self.<br />
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Since then, the comet has been lost to view because of its faintness and its proximity to the sun in the sky.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nasa-to-host-news-conference-on-asteroid-search-findings-130587673.html" target="_blank">NASA to Host News Conference On Near-Earth Asteroid Search Findings</a></b><br />
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PR Newswire<br />
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NASA will hold a news conference at 1 p.m. EDT on Thurs., Sept. 29, to reveal near-Earth asteroid findings and implications for future research. The briefing will take place in the NASA Headquarters James E. Webb Auditorium, located at 300 E St. SW in Washington.<br />
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NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission, launched in December 2009, captured millions of images of galaxies and objects in space. During the news conference, panelists will discuss results from an enhancement of WISE called Near-Earth Object WISE (NEOWISE) that<br />
hunted for asteroids.<br />
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The panelists are:<br />
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<li> Lindley Johnson, NEO program executive, NASA Headquarters, Washington<br /> </li>
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<li> Amy Mainzer, NEOWISE principal investigator, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.<br /> </li>
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<li> Tim Spahr, director, Minor Planet Center, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, Mass.<br /> </li>
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<li> Lucy McFadden, scientist, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.<br /> </li>
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Reporters unable to attend may ask questions from participating NASA centers or by telephone. To participate by phone, reporters must contact Dwayne Brown at <span class="skype_pnh_highlighting_inactive_common" dir="ltr" tabindex="-1" title="Call this phone number in United States of America with Skype: +12023581726"><span class="skype_pnh_dropart_flag_span" style="background-position: -5849px 1px ! important;" title="Skype actions"></span><span class="skype_pnh_text_span">202-358-1726</span><span class="skype_pnh_right_span"> </span></span>or dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov by 10 a.m. EDT on Sept. 29.<br />
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The event will air live on NASA Television and the agency's website. For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and scheduling information, visit <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/ntv" target="_blank">here</a>. The briefing also will be streamed live, with a chat available <a href="http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2" target="_blank">here</a>. For more information about the mission, visit <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/wise" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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If all had gone as planned, the comet would be moving into the field of view of one of the cameras on NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) satellite on Friday (Sept. 23). If so, the big question is: what will SOHO see about this comet?<br />
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Most people look at the images from SOHO for the rich information they supply regarding the sun. However, the <a href="http://www.space.com/30-amazing-sun-photos-space.html" target="_blank">wide-field images also show the sun</a> against the starry background on the far side of the solar system.<br />
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Careful comparison of the images in SOHO to the images in planetarium software allow you to identify the background stars, and watch the planets pass behind and in front of the sun.<br />
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<span class="caption">Comet Elenin will be moving into SOHO’s field of view on Friday September 23. Or will it?</span></div>
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This <a href="http://www.space.com/13045-comet-elenin-skywatching-curiosity-nasa.html" target="_blank">sky map of comet Elenin's path </a>shows the situation on Friday, as the remains of the comet enter SOHO's field of view from the left. The bright stars Zaniah and Zavijava of western Virgo should be easy to see, but brilliant Mercury will dominate the images on the right.<br />
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Elenin will pass Zaniah on Sunday (Sept. 25) and Mercury on Tuesday (Sept. 27), before moving out of SOHO's field of view on Thursday (Sept. 29).<br />
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At this point, no one can predict exactly what we will see through SOHO's eyes in the coming week, but everyone will have the chance to watch using one of NASA's brightest eyes on the solar system.<br />
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If comet Elenin survives its close encounter with the sun, it will <a href="http://www.space.com/12746-comet-elenin-comet-garradd-night-sky-observing-tips.html" target="_blank">become visible in morning twilight</a> towards the end of the first week of October.<br />
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<b><br /><a href="http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/278173/71/Meteorite-hits-California-house" target="_blank">US: Meteorite Hits California House</a></b><br />
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Brandie Piper<br />
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Fri, 23 Sep 2011 22:27 CDT</div>
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Sacramento - While many in the world are wondering where on Earth a falling satellite could hit, one California man had his own space mishap.<br />
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A meteorite slammed into his house!<br />
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"What happened?"<br />
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That was how Mike Gibson responded after he was rudely awakened the night of August 13.<br />
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"I heard a boom like you wouldn't believe hitting our house, middle of the night," said Gibson.<br />
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He ran outside and searched his roof with a flashlight, and that's when he saw what happened.<br />
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<b>"A huge impact zone about 4 ½ -6 feet around was in my roof," he said.</b><br />
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But Gibson still didn't quite know what had happened.<br />
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The Perseid meteor shower was taking place, and Mike thought maybe, just maybe it was a meteorite that hit his home.<br />
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But he couldn't find proof.<br />
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That's when his son, Ben, joined in the search in the front yard plants.<br />
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"Grabbed some gloves, brought it over, started lifting it up, soon as he lifted it up, you're able to see, it's not a rock from Earth," he said. "We took it over to City College, my daughter did, to her astronomy professor and he tested it, and it has magnetism, that's a meteorite."<br />
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But with all the initial excitement came the harsh reality this meteorite did thousands of dollars in damage to the home, and could've done some serious harm.<br />
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"Going faster than a bullet, it's hitting at 20,000 miles an hour," he said.<br />
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Gibson is just happy that no one was injured, and now a month later, is still excited about his outer space visitor.</div>
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<b><br /><a href="http://rajaten.wordpress.com/2011/09/26/blue-fireball-lands-in-buenos-ares/" target="_blank">Argentina: One woman killed and six injured as meteorite smashes into Buenos Aires</a></b><br />
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Mon, 26 Sep 2011 11:11 CDT</div>
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Mystery explosion and Esteban Echeverría, "a ball of fire fell from heaven"<br />
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One woman died and six others were injured in the incident. A neighbor said the outbreak was caused by a burning object that fell from the sky and completely destroyed a house and several cars. "It was a tremor," he said. Are the causes of the accident.<br />
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The incident occurred minutes before 2 am, in a building located on the intersection of Luis Vernet and Los Andes, a town of Monte Grande, of Esteban Echeverría. The causes of the explosion are still unknown, but locals say they witnessed the fact that "a ball of fire fell from heaven." "He began to feel much smell like gunpowder," recalled one person who lives in the area told C5N. "There is no explanation for what happened," said Cayetano, a local resident, told Radio 10, then adding, "a neighbor ran because he saw a fireball falling blue." The commander of the local fire department, Guillermo Pérez, remarked that still do not know the cause of the incident, but acknowledged that the first version is aimed at an "object that fell from heaven." "I heard that version, but I can not say at first. Must be bound to expertise to really see what happened, "he said in a statement to Radio 10. Perez confirmed that two trade houses and" were completely destroyed. "In fact, a woman who was trapped under the rubble lost life while six others were rescued and were taken for care at a local hospital, told C5N firefighters who work on site.<br />
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The victim is one of the people who lived in the building where the explosion was generated. As the injured, three belong to that house and three adjoining the house, hit by the blast. All the injured were<br />
out of danger, said C5N. According to the story of neighbors, the outbreak was felt even in adjoining towns like Ezeiza and Temperley, south of Buenos Aires.</div>
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<b><br /><a href="http://galvestondailynews.com/story/260502" target="_blank">US: Texas Residents Report Something Fell From Sky, Then Fire</a></b><br />
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John DeLapp<br />
Galveston Daily News<br />
Sun, 25 Sep 2011 11:42 CDT</div>
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San Leon - An object falling from the sky could be to blame for a Saturday grass fire.<br />
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"When the call came in to the dispatcher, the person said that something fell from the sky and started the fire," Jeff Pittman, chief of the San Leon Fire Department, said.<br />
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The chief said an investigation will be conducted to determine the cause of the blaze at 18th Street and Broadway.<br />
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"It could be awhile before we figure out what happened," he said. "It could be (today) because of the lighting."<br />
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The call came in at 5:36 p.m. Saturday and the fire was under control by 7 p.m.<br />
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Along with San Leon, firefighters from Texas City, Dickinson, League City and Kemah responded to the call.<br />
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Galveston County sheriff's deputies and Galveston Area Emergency Medical Services personnel also were on the scene.<br />
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Pittman said about 60 acres of grass and brush burned.<br />
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After the fire was out, firefighters conducted a grid patrol using metal detectors to determine if something did fall from the sky, according assistant fire chief Scott Lyons.<br />
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"There was no property damage," he said. "It was an unimproved field.There were no injuries, either, just a lot of tired firemen."</div>
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<b><a href="http://www.northescambia.com/?p=69335" target="_blank">Meteor? Strange Falling Object Reported Across Gulf Coast</a></b><br />
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NorthEscambia.com<br />
Mon, 26 Sep 2011 11:50 CDT</div>
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People all across the Gulf Coast reported seeing a large, perhaps green object streaking through the skies about 7:20 p.m. Sunday.<br />
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So far, there's no official word on exactly what the object was. NorthEscambia.com and other media outlets received sighting reports from around the area - Atmore, Walnut Hill, Cantonment, Mobile and<br />
Pensacola. WKRG TV reports that their meteorologist Johnathan Owens saw the object, which he described on his Facebook page as likely a small piece of an asteroid or a large meteor - and obviously completely burned up in the atmosphere".<br />
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Did you see the object? Did you happen to get a picture? Email news@northescambia.com and let us know.<br />
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<b><br /><a href="http://www.examiner.com/unexplained-phenomena-in-national/watch-amazing-footage-from-japan-shows-falling-ufo-or-possibly-uars-satellite-video" target="_blank">Footage from Japan shows falling object possibly UARS Satellite</a></b><br />
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Tracey Parece<br />
Examiner.com<br />
Mon, 26 Sep 2011 11:59 CDT</div>
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<b><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/Flying%20objects%20%27not%20mysterious%27" target="_blank">Australia: Flying objects 'not mysterious'</a></b><br />
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Fri, 23 Sep 2011 03:21 CDT</div>
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<span class="caption">Another picture, taken by a Chatswood man, of the same ``UFO'' seen by Xavier Figarella last Sunday</span></div>
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A second person has come forward with photographs of what some believe was a UFO travelling across the northern beaches skyline on Sunday morning.<br />
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A Chatswood man, who asked to remain anonymous, managed to capture an image of two of the mysterious objects seen by Dee Why man Xavier Figarella.<br />
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Mr Figarella claims to have seen the two objects but was only able to photograph one.<br />
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"We witnessed essentially the same phenomena ... but from a completely different angle and probably from much further away," the man said.<br />
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"I estimated the objects to be hovering over the northern beaches area."<br />
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But the man said he did not believe what he saw was a UFO.<br />
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"I rationalised the entire phenomena as a reflection of the sun light off the vapour trails left by multiple oncoming airliners," he said.<br />
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Airservices Australia has maintained that the objects photographed in both instances were not UFOs.<br />
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"These are condensation trails, or 'contrails', of high-altitude aircraft. Contrails can be long or short, hang around for seconds, minutes or hours and are particularly spectacular at sunrise and sunset."<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/americas/argentine-explosives-experts-probe-fatal-blast-witnesses-describe-fireball-from-sky/2011/09/26/gIQAjxPQzK_story.html" target="_blank">Witness who photographed Buenos Aires meteor arrested for 'giving false testimony', police force him to change his story</a></b><br />
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The Associated Press<br />
Tue, 27 Sep 2011 05:29 CDT</div>
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Buenos Aires, Argentina - An explosion wrecked two homes, a business and several cars early Monday, killing a woman and injuring nine people on the outskirts of Argentina's capital.<br />
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Early reports by some witnesses that they had seen a ball of fire fall from the sky around the time of the 2 a.m. explosion caused a sensation, but authorities said later that evidence pointed to an explosion of leaking gas.<br />
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Officials said a search by the more than 100 police and others turned up a canister of natural gas with a poor connection to a pizza oven.<br />
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After the reports of a fireball coming down, the government dispatched the large number of searchers to check for radioactivity and any material that might have come from outer space. Provincial justice and security minister Ricardo Casal said experts were "evaluating all theories, from an explosion to something strange that came from the sky."<br />
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But the experts found no evidence of a crater, and NASA said its satellite that fell to Earth sometime Saturday landed well clear of South America.<br />
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Late in the day, the government said it appeared the blast was probably caused by a pizza oven's poorly connected gas canister.<br />
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<b>A young man who had claimed he photographed a space object and gave authorities a picture showing a streak of red light through the night sky was detained for providing false testimony</b>, the Argentine news agency <i>Diarios y Noticias</i> said. <span class="BoldRed">The man changed his story under questioning</span>, the report said.</div>
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<b>Comment: </b>The purported photograph of the fireball, above, captured by a young man who was later forced to confess that it was a hoax, is probably based on the reasoning that the fireball in his photograph is red, while other witnesses described seeing the fireball emanating a blue light. What the authorities don't realise is that meteors burning through the Earth's atmosphere can go through 4, 5 or more colours of the rainbow before fizzling out or impacting the ground.<br />
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Notice how the media casually dismiss "earlier reports" with fabrications about gas canisters from a leaky pizza oven obliterating a suburban street.... even though Argentinian investigators have already <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/235479-Argentianian-investigators-name-meteorite-victim-rule-out-gas-leak-behind-Buenos-Aires-explosion" target="_blank">ruled out</a> a gas leak.<br />
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/235470-That-ain-t-no-satellite-Meteorite-impacts-Buenos-Aires-Argentina" target="_blank">That ain't no satellite! Meteorite impacts Buenos Aires, Argentina</a> </div>
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<b><a href="http://www.buenosairesherald.com/article/79933/house-explosion-kills-1-injures-6" target="_blank">Argentinian investigators name meteorite victim, rule out gas leak behind Buenos Aires explosion</a></b><br />
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Tue, 27 Sep 2011 06:03 CDT</div>
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A woman died and eight people were injured in an overnight house explosion in Monte Grande, Buenos Aires province. According to police sources the cause of the violent explosion remains unknown. The blast occurred around 2 am at Los Andes and Vernet streets.<br />
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The wounded were taken Santamarina hospital. Seven people are being treated, one person has been cleared. The deceased woman was identified as 43-years-old Silvina Espinoza.<br />
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Neighbors' accounts describe a ball of fire coming from the sky as the cause of the explosion. <span class="BoldRed">The chief of the firefighters, Guillermo Pérez, however, said the "causes remain unknown" and that "gas containers were found intact," ruling out a gas related incident.</span><br />
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The blast caused destruction in several structures and cars surrounding the house.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku7NmTh0eY0&feature=player_embedded#%21" target="_blank">Video: Aftermath of fireball which destroyed part of Buenos Aires - 1 dead, 8 injured</a></b><br />
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Tue, 27 Sep 2011 06:08 CDT</div>
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<b>Comment: </b><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/235479-Argentinian-investigators-name-meteorite-victim-rule-out-gas-leak-behind-Buenos-Aires-explosion" target="_blank">Argentinian investigators name meteorite victim, rule out gas leak behind Buenos Aires explosion</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/235478-Witness-who-photographed-Buenos-Aires-meteor-arrested-for-giving-false-testimony-police-force-him-to-change-his-story" target="_blank">Witness who photographed Buenos Aires meteor arrested for 'giving false testimony', police force him to change his story</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/235470-That-ain-t-no-satellite-Meteorite-impacts-Buenos-Aires-Argentina" target="_blank">That ain't no satellite! Meteorite impacts Buenos Aires, Argentina</a><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.kspr.com/news/local/kspr-loud-boom-in-laclede-county-mo-people-look-for-source-in-fort-leonard-wood-20110927,0,7810710.story" target="_blank">US: Missouri - Loud "BOOM" Reported Across Laclede County</a></b><br />
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Joe Daues<br />
KSPR News<br />
Tue, 27 Sep 2011 20:07 CDT</div>
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Fort Leonard Wood answered numerous calls today (9-27) about a loud boom that was heard around 9:30 throughout Laclede County. According to Jeff Maddy, PIO for the Fort, some people even reported hearing it in Greene County.<br />
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One woman who emailed KSPR News said "it knocked the dust off the rafters where i work. Thunder doesn't do that!"<br />
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Another person tells KSPR News the owner of the Willard Quarry outside Lebanon told him the sound was not the result of any blasting.<br />
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Fort Leonard Wood has a cannon range on the west side of the post. It's used often by the Missouri Air National Guard for bombing practice.<br />
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"They use no live ammunition," Maddy said. "Just sacks of flour and things like that to mark the drop." Maddy said some people suggested it was a sonic boom, the sound made by a plane that breaks the sound barrier.<br />
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Maddy said one caller told him Whiteman Air Force Base told them it wasn't any of their aircraft. Maddy is waiting to hear back from the Air National Guard in St. Louis.<br />
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A woman posted on the KSPR Facebook page that she and several others heard a loud boom in Bolivar Sunday evening.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.space.com/13090-nasa-asteroids-wise-telescope-thursday.html" target="_blank">NASA to Announce New Asteroid Discoveries Thursday</a></b><br />
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Mike Wall<br />
SPACE.com<br />
Tue, 27 Sep 2011 10:42 CDT</div>
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NASA will reveal new findings about near-Earth asteroids during a press conference this Thursday (Sept. 29), agency officials announced today.<br />
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Scientists will present results based on data gathered by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) spacecraft. The briefing will take place at 1 p.m. EDT (1700 GMT) Thursday at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., and it will have "implications for future research," NASA officials said in a media advisory.<br />
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From January 2010 to February 2011, WISE hunted for asteroids and comets in a mission called NEOWISE (with the NEO standing for "Near-Earth Object"). The observatory found more than 33,000 new space rocks in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter. [<a href="http://www.space.com/10894-wise-great-photos-nasa-sky-mapping-telescope.html" target="_blank">Photos From NASA's WISE Telescope</a>]<br />
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Four panelists will discuss discoveries from the NEOWISE project, NASA officials said. Those panelists are:<br />
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<li> Lindley Johnson, NEO program executive, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.<br /> </li>
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<li> Amy Mainzer, NEOWISE principal investigator, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.<br /> </li>
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<li> Tim Spahr, director, Minor Planet Center, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, Mass.<br /> </li>
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<li> Lucy McFadden, scientist, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.<br /> </li>
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The $320 million WISE telescope launched in December 2009 and spent 14 months scanning the heavens in infrared light. It shut down in February 2011.<br />
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<span class="caption">This collage shows the 20 new comets discovered by NASA's NEOWISE mission, an extension of the WISE space telescope mission</span></div>
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NASA has a special interest in asteroids. In 2010, the Obama Administration directed the space agency to send astronauts to a space rock by 2025, as part of a plan to get people to Mars by the mid-2030s. And NASA recently announced that it will launch an $800 million asteroid sample-return mission called Osiris-Rex in 2016.<br />
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Osiris-Rex will rendezvous with a potentially dangerous asteroid called 1999 RQ36 in 2020, snag a few samples, and return them to Earth in 2023.<br />
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Since 1999 RQ36 is packed full of carbon-based compounds - the building blocks of life as we know it - the mission could shed light on how life originated on Earth. It could also help scientists better<br />
understand how to prevent or mitigate asteroid impacts, researchers have said.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.earthweek.com/2011/ew110930/ew110930a.html" target="_blank">Beautiful Bright Aurora</a></b><br />
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EarthWeek.com<br />
Thu, 29 Sep 2011 17:09 CDT</div>
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A stream of charged particles from a massive solar storm gave Earth only a glancing blow, but it was still strong enough to provide skywatchers from New Zealand to Norway with "unforgettable" displays of the aurora.<br />
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The coronal mass ejection arrived at about 5 million mph, triggering a geomagnetic storm high in Earth's atmosphere.<br />
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/82487/full/ff.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Ole C. Salomonsen"><img alt="" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/82487/large/ff.jpg" style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px;" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
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<span class="tiny">© Ole C. Salomonsen</span></div>
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"These were some of the most amazing auroras I have ever seen," said photographer Fredrik Broms of Kvaløya, Norway.<br />
<br />
He told Spaceweather.com: "The colors were absolutely stunning with purple and deep blood-red in addition to the green. It was a night I will never forget!"<br />
<br />
Observers said the Northern Lights were so vivid across Scandinavia that they could even be seen through rain clouds.<br />
<br />
The sunspot that created the stream of charged particles was large enough to be seen from Earth with the naked eye in the setting sun.<br />
<br />
There were no reports of electronic or communications difficulties due to the geomagnetic storm.<br />
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<b><br /><a href="http://ca.news.yahoo.com/another-dead-satellite-fall-space-november-002001124.html" target="_blank">Here We Go Again! Another Dead Satellite to Fall From Space in November</a></b><br />
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Denise Chow<br />
Fri, 30 Sep 2011 00:00 CDT</div>
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/82547/full/2011_09_28T201035Z_01_BTRE78R1.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Reuters/NASA"><img alt="" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/82547/medium/2011_09_28T201035Z_01_BTRE78R1.jpg" style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px;" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
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<span class="tiny">© Reuters/NASA</span><br />
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<span class="caption">NASA conceptual image shows the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS), launched on September 15, 1991, by the space shuttle Discovery.</span></div>
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A defunct NASA satellite that fell to Earth last week sparked some worldwide buzz, but it's not the only spacecraft falling out of space.<br />
<br />
The decommissioned German X-ray space observatory, called the <i>Roentgen </i>Satellite or ROSAT, will tumble to Earth sometime in early November, but it's still too early to pinpoint exactly when and where debris from the satellite will land, according to officials at the German Aerospace Center.<br />
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The 2.4-ton spacecraft's orbit extends from the latitudes of 53 degrees north and south, which means the satellite could fall anywhere over a huge swath of the planet - stretching from Canada to South America, German Aerospace officials said.<br />
<br />
The latest estimates suggest that up to 30 large pieces of the satellite could survive the intense and scorching journey through Earth's atmosphere. In all, about 1.6 tons of the satellite components could reach the surface of the Earth, according to German Aerospace officials.<br />
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The re-entry will be similar to NASA's 6-ton Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS), which plunged into the southern Pacific Ocean on Saturday (Sept. 24).<br />
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<br />
<span class="BoldGrey">ROSAT coming home</span><br />
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In 1998, ROSAT's star tracker failed, which caused its onboard camera to be pointed directly at the sun. The event permanently damaged the spacecraft and ROSAT was officially decommissioned in February 1999.<br />
<br />
Scientists are actively tracking the dead satellite, but many of the details will remain uncertain until roughly two hours before it hits Earth.<br />
<br />
"It is not possible to accurately predict ROSAT's re-entry," Heiner Klinkrad, head of the Space Debris Office at the European Space Agency, said in a webcast posted on the German Aerospace Center's website. "The uncertainty will decrease as the moment of re-entry approaches. It will not be possible to make any kind of reliable forecast about where the satellite will actually come down until about one or two hours before the fact."<br />
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It will, however, be possible to rule out certain geographical regions from the potential drop zone about a day in advance, Klinkrad said. The largest piece of debris is expected to be the telescope's heat resistant mirror.<br />
<br />
"Generally speaking, whenever a satellite re-enters the atmosphere, about 20 to 40 percent of its mass actually reaches the Earth's surface," Klinkrad said. "In the case of ROSAT, this figure could be slightly higher because one of its characteristic features is that it carries heat-resistant mirror structures on board."<br />
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<span class="BoldGrey">Small risk to public</span><br />
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Fragments from ROSAT could fall back to Earth over a 50-mile (80-kilometer) wide path, but despite the uncontrolled nature of ROSAT's re-entry, the odds of personal injury or property damage are extremely remote, German Aerospace officials said.<br />
<br />
When NASA's UARS satellite fell to Earth, for example, NASA said the chances of parts of the spacecraft striking any one of the nearly seven billion people on the planet were about 1 in 3,200. The actual personal risk of being hit for an individual person, however, was about 1 in several trillion, NASA officials said.<br />
<br />
To date, there have been no reported serious injuries or casualties from falling space debris, NASA scientists have said.</div>
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<b>Comment: </b>Another "Satellite?" Yeah right! More like another meteor!<br />
<br />
<br />
Check out these links from the last so called "satellite crash".<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/235480-Video-Aftermath-of-fireball-which-destroyed-part-of-Buenos-Aires-1-dead-8-injured" target="_blank">Video: Aftermath of fireball which destroyed part of Buenos Aires - 1 dead, 8 injured</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/235479-Argentinian-investigators-name-meteorite-victim-rule-out-gas-leak-behind-Buenos-Aires-explosion" target="_blank">Argentinian investigators name meteorite victim, rule out gas leak behind Buenos Aires explosion</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/235478-Witness-who-photographed-Buenos-Aires-meteor-arrested-for-giving-false-testimony-police-force-him-to-change-his-story" target="_blank">Witness who photographed Buenos Aires meteor arrested for 'giving false testimony', police force him to change his story</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/235470-That-ain-t-no-satellite-Meteorite-impacts-Buenos-Aires-Argentina" target="_blank">That ain't no satellite! Meteorite impacts Buenos Aires, Argentina</a></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=30&month=09&year=2011" target="_blank">Sundiving Comet - 30th September</a></b><br />
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SpaceWeather<br />
Fri, 30 Sep 2011 13:37 CDT</div>
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This morning a quartet of amateur comet hunters (M. Kusiak, S. Liwo, B. Zhou and Z. Xu) independently noticed a comet in SOHO coronagraph images. The icy visitor from the icy solar system is diving toward the sun--probably a one-way trip. Kusiak expects the doomed comet to brighten to first magnitude between now and the early hours of Oct. 1st.<br />
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/82567/full/sungrazer_finder.gif" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© SpaceWeather"><img alt="Sundiving Comet" height="396" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/82567/large/sungrazer_finder.gif" style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px;" title="Click to enlarge" width="396" /></a><br />
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<span class="tiny">© SpaceWeather</span></div>
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Realtime images <a href="http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/c3/512/" target="_blank">here.</a><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2011/sep/29/pretty-good-shake-hits-area-but-what-was-it/" target="_blank">US: Loud Boom Shakes South Carolina</a></b><br />
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Bo Petersen<br />
Post and Courier<br />
Thu, 29 Sep 2011 14:28 CDT</div>
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/82575/full/sc.gif" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="South Carolina map" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s4/82575/medium/sc.gif" style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px;" title="Click to enlarge" /></a></div>
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A loud boom shook the coastal Lowcountry Wednesday morning, felt from Mount Pleasant to West Ashley. And once again, no one could say what it caused it.<br />
<br />
<b>Seismographs at the College of Charleston didn't pick up any earthquake activity</b>. The Charleston Air Force Base didn't report any military aircraft creating sonic booms.<br />
<br />
No commercial vessels responded to a U.S. Coast Guard message asking for reports if it had been felt offshore.<br />
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The reverberation most likely came from the "Seneca Guns," a so-far-unexplained phenomenon felt along coasts around the world.<br />
<br />
Some experts speculate that the booms are caused by gases released from the sea floor, or undersea landslides along the Continental Shelf, or the echoed sound of distant thunder, or lightning-like electrical discharges, <span class="BoldRed">or even meteors crashing into the atmosphere at angles.</span><br />
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The latest blast hit just before 10 a.m.<br />
<br />
"It was a pretty good shake, a pretty loud boom," said Mark Reamer, who felt it in the Financial Management<br />
<br />
Group office off Coleman Boulevard near Patriots Point in Mount Pleasant.<br />
<br />
"I said it was probably one of those big electricity pillars getting pummeled down." He wondered only half-facetiously if it might have been a piece of the satellite that fell out of orbit last week.<br />
<br />
"The mirrors on the wall rattled," said Melinda Issacson, who was working out at home on James Island.<br />
<br />
Doors, windows and houses shook in Mount Pleasant and on Sullivan's Island, according to Twitter reports. A West Ashley tweeter said it sounded like a gust of wind against the house.<br />
<br />
About the same time, a large tree fell across Hut Road on Johns Island and a nearby resident reported an explosion. But a tweeter in North Charleston said nothing was felt there.<br />
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Small quakes and other booms are regular occurrences in the Lowcountry, where a series of faults converge underground. The last big shake was a temblor from the 5.8 Richter scale quake in Virginia in August.<br />
<br />
In March, a succession of three loud booms shook the coast that were widely believed to be the Seneca Guns.</div>
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<br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">A Service of <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">Signs of the Times</a>: The most comprehensive, objective and reliable Alternative News Source on the Web. If you aren't reading <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">SOTT</a>, you don't know what's REALLY happening!</div>Keithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06011086310017706847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385115091808825739.post-21041969076490263272011-08-01T20:55:00.003+00:002011-09-05T07:54:16.353+00:00August 2011<strong>
<br /><a href="http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1818757_1731539,00.html" target="_blank">It Fell From the Sky: Striking Imagery of Striking Events</a>
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<br />Time Magazine<br />
<br />Mon, 01 Aug 2011 14:38 CDT</div>
<br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/232824-It-Fell-From-the-Sky-Striking-Imagery-of-Striking-Events#"><br />
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<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/76115/full/craters_01.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Corbis"><img alt="" height="270" width="398" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/76115/large/craters_01.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Corbis</span><br />
<br /><span class="caption">Tunguska Event<br />
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<br /><strong><span class="BoldGrey">The Tunguska Event</span></strong>
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<br />Though it flattened all the trees in every direction for 30 miles, the
<br />airburst that took place over Siberia's Tunguska River left no crater
<br />behind. Scientists theorize that the blast, caused probably by a meteor
<br />or comet fragment that exploded a few miles over the surface of the
<br />Earth, was 1000 times as powerful as the bomb that fell on Hiroshima,
<br />Japan.
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<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/76116/full/craters_02.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Boyer / Roger Viollet / Getty"><img alt="" height="271" width="400" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/76116/large/craters_02.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Boyer / Roger Viollet / Getty</span><br />
<br /><span class="caption">Willamette meteorite<br />
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<br /><strong><span class="BoldGrey">Otherworldly Object</span></strong>
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<br />It is believed that the Willamette meteorite crashed to the Earth
<br />somewhere in Canada, but that it was shifted by a glacier south to
<br />Oregon, where it was discovered in 1902. It is the largest meteorite
<br />found in the United States, and the sixth largest in the world.
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<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/76118/full/craters_03.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Georg Gerster / Photo Researchers"><img alt="" height="270" width="398" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/76118/large/craters_03.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Georg Gerster / Photo Researchers</span><br />
<br /><span class="caption">Gosses Bluff<br />
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<br /><strong><span class="BoldGrey">Impact Crater</span></strong>
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<br />Gosses Bluff, near Alice Springs, Australia was formed by the impact of a
<br />meteor or comet about 143 million years ago. It is one of the
<br />approximately 170 terrestrial impact craters on the Earth's surface.
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<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/76120/full/craters_04.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Jonathan Blair / Corbis"><img alt="" height="270" width="398" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/76120/large/craters_04.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Jonathan Blair / Corbis</span><br />
<br /><span class="caption">Arizona's Meteor Crater<br />
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<br /><strong><span class="BoldGrey">Hole in the Desert</span></strong>
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<br />Much smaller and younger than Gosses Bluff, Arizona's Meteor Crater is
<br />also known as Barringer Crater, in honor of Daniel Barringer, the man
<br />who first suggested it was formed by the collision of a meteor with the
<br />Arizona desert around 50,000 years ago.
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<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/76123/full/craters_05.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Thomas J. Abercrombie / National Geographic / Getty"><img alt="" height="270" width="398" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/76123/large/craters_05.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Thomas J. Abercrombie / National Geographic / Getty</span><br />
<br /><span class="caption">Empty Quarter's meteorite
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<br /><strong><span class="BoldGrey">Curiosity</span></strong>
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<br /><br />
<br />Two Saudi men examine a two-ton meteorite embedded in the sand of the Kingdom's desolate Empty Quarter.
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<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/76124/full/craters_06.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Ali Jarekji / Reuters / Corbis"><img alt="" height="274" width="404" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/76124/large/craters_06.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Ali Jarekji / Reuters / Corbis</span><br />
<br /><span class="caption">Two meteors in the sky over Amman, Jordan<br />
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<br /><strong><span class="BoldGrey">Meteor Shower</span></strong>
<br /><br />
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<br />A time-lapse photograph captures the trails of two meteors in the sky
<br />over Amman, Jordan. The red streaks at the mid left and bottom right are
<br />meteors; the white streaks are stars. Most meteors disintegrate in the
<br />intense heat created from entering the Earth's atmosphere.
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<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/76125/full/craters_07.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© M-Sat / Photoresearchers"><img alt="" height="273" width="403" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/76125/large/craters_07.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© M-Sat / Photoresearchers</span><br />
<br /><span class="caption">The "eye of Quebec"<br />
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<br /><strong><span class="BoldGrey">Ring Shaped Reservoir</span></strong>
<br /><br />
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<br />Water from a series of hydroelectric projects has filled Manicougan
<br />Crater in northern Quebec to brimming. The resulting lake and the island
<br />in its middle are sometimes called the "eye of Quebec."
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<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/76126/full/craters_08.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Visuals Unlimited / Corbis"><img alt="" height="271" width="399" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/76126/large/craters_08.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Visuals Unlimited / Corbis</span><br />
<br /><span class="caption">Gosses Bluff crater<br />
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<br /><strong><span class="BoldGrey">Vast Expanse</span></strong>
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<br />It is believed that when Gosses Bluff crater was originally formed, it
<br />measured over 13.5 miles in diameter. After 143 million years, much of
<br />it has eroded away, leaving an exposed 3-mile wide formation.
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<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/76127/full/craters_09.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Jonathan Blair / Corbis"><img alt="" height="270" width="397" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/76127/large/craters_09.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Jonathan Blair / Corbis</span><br />
<br /><span class="caption">The Ahnighito Meteorite<br />
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<br /><strong><span class="BoldGrey">Close Encounter</span></strong>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The Ahnighito Meteorite, at New York's American Museum of Natural
<br />History, is one part of a much larger meteorite that fell to Earth
<br />(landing in Greenland) thousands of years ago. Even so, at 34 tons, it
<br />is the second largest meteorite in the world.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/76128/full/craters_10.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Space Frontiers / Hulton / Getty"><img alt="" height="271" width="398" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/76128/large/craters_10.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Space Frontiers / Hulton / Getty</span><br />
<br /><span class="caption">Aorounga Crater<br />
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<br /><strong><span class="BoldGrey">Concentric Rings</span></strong>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Aorounga Crater, in the Sahara Desert, northern Chad, is approximately
<br />eight miles wide. It is believed to be several hundred million years
<br />old.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/76130/full/craters_11.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Corbis"><img alt="" height="271" width="398" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/76130/large/craters_11.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Corbis</span><br />
<br /><span class="caption">The Clearwater Lakes<br />
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<br /><strong><span class="BoldGrey">Twin Craters</span></strong>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The Clearwater Lakes near Hudson Bay in Quebec were probably formed by a
<br />binary asteroid, a system of two asteroids bound to each other by
<br />gravity. This photograph was taken from aboard the Challenger space
<br />shuttle in 1985.
<br /><br />
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<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/76131/full/craters_13.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Roger Ressmeyer / Corbis"><img alt="" height="271" width="398" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/76131/large/craters_13.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Roger Ressmeyer / Corbis</span><br />
<br /><span class="caption">Meteorite Crater
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<br /></span></div>
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<br /><strong><span class="BoldGrey">Man and Crater</span></strong>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Earth experiences from one to three impacts large enough to produce a
<br />12.5-mile diameter crater about once every million years, on average.<br />
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><strong>
<br /><a href="http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=34239" target="_blank">Does the Impact Rate For Asteroids Vary Periodically with Time?</a>
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<br />Max Planck Institute<br />
<br />Mon, 01 Aug 2011 12:52 CDT</div>
<br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/232811-Does-the-Impact-Rate-For-Asteroids-Vary-Periodically-with-Time-#"><br />
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<br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/76091/full/impact.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Space Ref"><img style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/76091/medium/impact.jpg" alt="Impact Events" title="Click to enlarge" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Space Ref</span></div>
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<br />Synopsis: Is the Earth more likely or less likely to be hit by an
<br />asteroid or comet now as compared to, say, 20 million years ago? Several
<br />studies have claimed to have found periodic variations, with the
<br />probability of giant impacts increasing and decreasing in a regular
<br />pattern. Now a new analysis by Coryn Bailer-Jones from the Max Planck
<br />Institute for Astronomy (MPIA), set to be published in the <a href="http://esoads.eso.org/abs/2011arXiv1105.4100B" target="_blank"><em>Monthly Notes of the Royal Astronomical Society,</em></a>
<br />shows those simple periodic patterns to be statistical artifacts. His
<br />results indicate either that the Earth is as likely to suffer a major
<br />impact now as it was in the past, or that there has been a slight
<br />increase in impact rate events over the past 250 million years. **
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Giant impacts by comets or asteroids have been linked to several mass
<br />extinction events on Earth, most famously to the demise of the dinosaurs
<br />65 million years ago. Nearly 200 identifiable craters on the Earth's
<br />surface, some of them hundreds of kilometers in diameter, bear witness
<br />to these catastrophic collisions.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Understanding the way impact rates might have varied over time is not
<br />just an academic question. It is an important ingredient when scientists
<br />estimate the risk Earth currently faces from catastrophic cosmic
<br />impacts.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Since the mid-1980s, a number of authors have claimed to have
<br />identified periodic variations in the impact rate. Using crater data,
<br />notably the age estimates for the different craters, they derive a
<br />regular pattern where, every so-and-so-many million years (values vary
<br />between 13 and 50 million years), an era with fewer impacts is followed
<br />by an era with increased impact activity, and so on.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />One proposed mechanism for these variations is the periodic motion of
<br />our solar system relative to the main plane of the Milky Way Galaxy.
<br />This could lead to differences in the way that the minute gravitational
<br />influence of nearby stars tugs on the objects in the Oort cloud, a giant
<br />repository of comets that forms a shell around the outer solar system,
<br />nearly a light-year away from the Sun, leading to episodes in which more
<br />comets than usual leave the Oort cloud to make their way into the inner
<br />solar system -- and, potentially, towards a collision with the Earth. A
<br />more spectacular proposal posits the existence of an as-yet undetected
<br />companion star to the Sun, dubbed "Nemesis". Its highly elongated orbit,
<br />the reasoning goes, would periodically bring Nemesis closer to the Oort
<br />cloud, again triggering an increase in the number of comets setting
<br />course for Earth.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />For MPIA's Coryn-Bailer-Jones, these results are evidence not of
<br />undiscovered cosmic phenomena, but of subtle pitfalls of traditional
<br />("frequentist") statistical reasoning. Bailer-Jones: "There is a
<br />tendency for people to find patterns in nature that do not exist.
<br />Unfortunately, in certain situations traditional statistics plays to
<br />that particular weakness."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />That is why, for his analysis, Bailer-Jones chose an alternative way of
<br />evaluating probabilities ("Bayesian statistics"), which avoids many of
<br />the pitfalls that hamper the traditional analysis of impact crater data.
<br />He found that simple periodic variations can be confidently ruled out.
<br />Instead, there is a general trend: From about 250 million years ago to
<br />the present, the impact rate, as judged by the number of craters of
<br />different ages, increases steadily.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />There are two possible explanations for this trend. Smaller craters
<br />erode more easily, and older craters have had more time to erode away.
<br />The trend could simply reflect the fact that larger, younger craters are
<br />easier for us to find than smaller, older ones. "If we look only at
<br />craters larger than 35 km and younger than 400 million years, which are
<br />less affected by erosion and infilling, we find no such trend,"
<br />Bailer-Jones explains.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />On the other hand, at least part of the increasing impact rate could be
<br />real. In fact, there are analyses of impact craters on the Moon, where
<br />there are no natural geological processes leading to infilling and
<br />erosion of craters, that point towards just such a trend.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Whatever the reason for the trend, simple periodic variations such as
<br />those caused by Nemesis are laid to rest by Bailer-Jones' results. "From
<br />the crater record there is no evidence for Nemesis. What remains is the
<br />intriguing question of whether or not impacts have become ever more
<br />frequent over the past 250 million years," he concludes.
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<br /><a href="http://www.rotoruadailypost.co.nz/local/news/rotorua-comet-caught-on-camera/3961485/" target="_blank">Comet Garradd Caught on Camera</a><br />
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<br /><div class="m-bar">Matthew Martin<br />
<br />The Daily Post, New Zealand<br />
<br />Mon, 01 Aug 2011 19:29 CDT</div>
<br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/232841-Comet-Garradd-Caught-on-Camera#"><br />
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<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/76153/full/010811comet1.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© The Daily Post, New Zealand"><img width="399" height="304" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/76153/large/010811comet1.jpg" alt="Comet Garradd" title="Click to enlarge" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© The Daily Post, New Zealand</span><br />
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<br /><span class="caption">Comet:
<br />Rotorua's Rolf Carstens captured this image of comet C/2009 P1
<br />(Garradd) from his back garden on Homedale St on Monday morning.</span></div>
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<br /><br />
<br />Rotorua's Rolf Carstens is a keen amateur astronomer and was up at
<br />2.30am on Monday to capture this photo of recently-discovered comet
<br />C/2009 P1 (Garradd).
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The comet was discovered by Australian astronomer Gordon Garradd at
<br />Siding Spring, New South Wales, in 2009 and can be seen in the eastern
<br />skies of New Zealand.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The comet will come closest to Earth in March 2012 but will only be seen
<br />in the North Hemisphere at that time. Scientists are still trying to
<br />work out its orbit and when it will be near Earth in the future but,
<br />according to Mr Carstens, that will be "a very long time".
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Mr Carstens used a 25.4cm SCT (Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope) on a German
<br />Equatorial Mount with a camera attached to take the picture from a
<br />system remotely controlled from inside his house. He is also a member of
<br />the Rotorua Astronomical Society, which has its next meeting tomorrow
<br />from 7.30pm at the old Rotorua West Bowling Club building on Kamahi
<br />Place.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Everyone is welcome.
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<br /><strong>
<br /><a href="http://hwaairfan.wordpress.com/2011/08/01/heavenly-signs-we-are-a-part-of-the-universe/" target="_blank">Heavenly Signs: Chronicle of a Busy Month (July 2011)</a><br />
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<br /><div class="m-bar">hwaairfan<br />
<br />Hwaairfan's Blog<br />
<br />Mon, 01 Aug 2011 13:58 CDT</div>
<br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/232870-Heavenly-Signs-Chronicle-of-a-Busy-Month-July-2011-#"><br />
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<br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/76230/full/military_officer_gabriel_muthi.png" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Unknown"><img alt="" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/76230/medium/military_officer_gabriel_muthi.png" title="Click to enlarge" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown<br />
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<br />Tucked
<br />away safely down here on earth, the limits of our imagination is
<br />confined to sci-fi films, and the odd natural disaster - <strong>ok increasingly natural disasters</strong>, but sometimes we do need to be reminded we are a part of something more...
<br /><br />
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<br />July 2011 to date has been a busy time with that something more when it
<br />comes to comets. The preoccupation with comets Elenin and Nibiru also
<br />takes away from the comet show that has been taking place since the
<br />beginning of the year, but has particularly busy in July 2011.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">1st July</span> - Ballyeaston, U.K. A fireball was sighted near the village, and reported to Armagh Observatory
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">1st July</span> - 31st - U.S. - Across the U.S. 277 reports for July alone were recorded.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">1st July</span> - Dandenong, Australia - At 4.50am flames of green, blue, and yellow caught the attention of one witness.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">1st July</span> - Doveton, Australia - What looked like a faking star turned bright green and blue, then yellow before disappearing.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">1st July</span> - Melbourne, Australia - A huge green ball with a purple - white tail fell was witnessed.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">1st July</span> - Renfrewshire, Scotland - At
<br />00:40 a blue colour meteor lit up the sky. It seems the same meteor
<br />appeared blue-orange from Rhyl, North Wales, had a sparking green and
<br />red coloured tail, which is a sign fragmentation from East Midlands at
<br />23:37, and at low altitude from Bakewell in Derbyshire at 23:38.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">5th July</span> - Ballyclare, U.K. - Fireballs lit up the 11,00pm sky
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">6th July</span> - Matawai, New Zealand - A
<br />low flying bright meteor lit up the early morning (5.50am) sky, as
<br />sparks from its orange-red tail were flying off it before a boom was
<br />heard,
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">7th July</span> - Poland - A comet registered
<br />by the Poland Fireball Network had travelled cross most of the Polish
<br />sky as recorded by an observatory station in the village of Podgorzyn
<br />before fragmenting. Experts agree that it came from the area of Jupiter.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">16th July 2011</span> - Kilimambago, Kenya. An
<br />explosion was heard about 10am which was compared to a plane crash.
<br />Eye-witness accounts saw it spinning on impact before landing in a
<br />cornfield. Police and military found a hot smooth black object weighing
<br />11 pounds.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">30th July</span> - Kabati, Kenya - At 9.00am
<br />an explosion drew the attention of military personnel caused by an
<br />object weighing 2 kilograms. The impact could be heard 5 km away
<br /><br />
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<br /><span class="BoldGrey">Sources:</span>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><a href="http://www.amsmeteors.org/fireball2/public.php?start_date=2011-07-01&end_date=2011-07-31&state=&event_id=&submit=Find+Reports" target="_blank">American Meteor Society</a>
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<br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/232051-Bright-fireball-over-Poland" target="_blank">Bright Fireballs Over Poland</a>
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<br /><a href="http://www.newtownabbeytoday.co.uk/news/local/fireballs_spotted_in_the_night_sky_1_2882475" target="_blank">Fireballs Spotted in the Sky</a>
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<br /><a href="http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/article/?id=23658" target="_blank">Meteorite Puts on Pre-Dawn Light Show</a>
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<br /><a href="http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/InsidePage.php?id=2000039049" target="_blank">Mysterious Object Fell from the Sky</a><br />
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<br /><a href="http://uk.ibtimes.com/articles/190777/20110802/nasa-mission-dawn-spacecraft-shuttle-status-vesta-asteroid-space-news-discovery.htm" target="_blank">NASA Dawn Spacecraft Reveals New Insights into Mysterious Vesta Asteroid 184 Million Km Away From Earth</a><br />
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<br /><div class="m-bar">Alastair Stevenson<br />
<br />International Business Times<br />
<br />Tue, 02 Aug 2011 04:42 CDT</div>
<br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/232854-NASA-Dawn-Spacecraft-Reveals-New-Insights-into-Mysterious-Vesta-Asteroid-184-Million-Km-Away-From-Earth#"><br />
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<br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/76188/full/vesta_asteroid.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA"><img style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/76188/medium/vesta_asteroid.jpg" alt="Vesta Asteroid" title="Click to enlarge" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA</span><br />
<br /><span class="caption">NASA's <em>Dawn</em>
<br />spacecraft is beginning the first of it four intensive research orbits,
<br />with its initial run around the Vesta asteroid scheduled to begin on 11
<br />August.</span></div>
<br /></div>
<br />NASA's <em>Dawn</em> spacecraft is beginning
<br />the first of it four intensive research orbits, with its initial run
<br />around the Vesta asteroid scheduled to begin on 11 August.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The spacecraft will soon begin circling the giant asteroid at an
<br />altitude of roughly 1,700 miles, providing key data and in-depth
<br />analysis of the Vesta giant.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Vesta is the brightest object viewable from Earth in the asteroid
<br />cluster surrounding Earth, Mars, Venus and Mercury. Previously, little
<br />was known about the giant though it is believed to be roughly 530
<br />kilometres large in diameter. The <em>Dawn</em> has already taken an image of Vesta showing its its rocky outer surface for the first time in human history.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The images have all been taken while the <em>Dawn</em> is still roughly
<br />5,200 km from the asteroid. NASA has since confirmed that the current
<br />images are primarily for navigation rather than overtly scientific
<br />purposes.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2011/aug/HQ_11-254_Dawn_Image.html" target="_blank">The report from NASA</a> clarified that the <em>Dawn</em> has already been caught by the Vesta's gravitational pull and is now only 2,900 km away from the asteroid.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />To get this far the <em>Dawn</em> has already had to travel 2.8 billion km. Launching all the way back in September 2007 it has taken the <em>Dawn</em> four-years to get to the first stage of its mission.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Once the <em>Dawn</em> gets close, as well as photographing Vesta, the
<br />spacecraft will also be able to enact more in-depth investigations
<br />utilizing its gamma ray and neutron detector and infrared mapping
<br />spectrometer. The devices will allow the <em>Dawn</em> to measure the nature and energy of the subatomic particles emitted from and measure the mineralogy of the asteroid's surface.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Marc Rayman, <em>Dawn's</em> chief engineer and mission manager at
<br />NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena California commented on the
<br />Dawn's most recent pictures: "Now that we are in orbit around one of
<br />the last unexplored worlds in the inner solar system, we can see that
<br />it's a unique and fascinating place."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />With Jim Green, planetary division director at NASA Headquarters in
<br />Washington adding: "The new observations of Vesta are an inspirational
<br />reminder of the wonders unveiled through ongoing exploration of our
<br />solar system."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The news follows NASA's recently announced new mission, that <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/190340/20110801/nasa-most-dangerous-mission-land-astronauts-on-a-near-earth-asteroid-by-the-year-2025-trojan.htm" target="_blank">hopes to have astronauts land on a near-Earth asteroid by the year 2025</a>.
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<br /><a href="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-08/acs-foc080311.php" target="_blank">First opal-like crystals discovered in meteorite</a>
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<br />American Chemical Society<br />
<br />Wed, 03 Aug 2011 14:57 CDT</div>
<br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/232930-First-opal-like-crystals-discovered-in-meteorite#"><br />
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<br />Scientists have found opal-like crystals in the Tagish Lake
<br />meteorite, which fell to Earth in Canada in 2000. This is the first
<br />extraterrestrial discovery of these unusual crystals, which may have
<br />formed in the primordial cloud of dust that produced the sun and planets
<br />of our solar system 4.6 billion years ago, according to a report in the
<br /><em>Journal of the American Chemical Society</em>.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Katsuo Tsukamoto and colleagues say that colloidal crystals such as
<br />opals, which form as an orderly array of particles, are of great
<br />interest to for their potential use in new electronics and optical
<br />devices. Surprisingly, the crystals in the meteorite are composed of
<br />magnetite, which scientists thought could not assemble into such a
<br />crystal because magnetic attractions might pack the atoms together too
<br />tightly. "We believe that, if synthesized, magnetite colloidal crystals
<br />have promising potential as a novel functional material," the article
<br />notes.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The formation of colloidal crystals in the meteorite implies
<br />that several conditions must have existed when they formed. "First, a
<br />certain amount of solution water must have been present in the meteorite
<br />to disperse the colloidal particles," the report explains. "The
<br />solution water must have been confined in small voids, in which
<br />colloidal crystallization takes place. These conditions, along with
<br />evidence from similar meteorites, suggest that the crystals may have
<br />formed 4.6 billion years ago."<br />
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<br /><strong>
<br /><a href="http://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2011/08/03/1139981-toulouse-on-a-vu-un-ovni.html" target="_blank">Meteorite and Explosion Over South-Western France</a>
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<br />La Depeche du Midi<br />
<br />Wed, 03 Aug 2011 10:47 CDT</div>
<br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/232914-Meteorite-and-Explosion-Over-South-Western-France#"><br />
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<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/76321/full/bolidefullres.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© David Néel"><img alt="" width="394" height="263" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/76321/large/bolidefullres.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© David Néel</span><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="caption">This photo was taken 20 km from Clermont-Ferrand (Isserteaux) - the meteor's trajectory was a westerly direction.<br />
<br /></span></div>
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<br />Several
<br />people reported seeing a green object with a yellow or white tail
<br />yesterday (August 2nd) at 3.35am in the skies above Toulouse, France.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"It was 3. 35am on Tuesday morning. I had just looked at my watch as I
<br />was heading out to do my round when I looked up at the dark sky and, for
<br />about 3 seconds, saw a large, silent green object with a light trailing
<br />behind it. About 30 seconds later I there was an loud explosion as if
<br />something had hit the ground", says Alexandre, a security agent working
<br />at the Toulouse military airport. "It wasn't a plane. I know well that
<br />there are no flight paths in the area of the sky where I saw it. It
<br />looked like a firework, but silent and a a lot bigger. A colleague who
<br />was outside smoking a cigarette saw it too." he added.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Alexandre has 4500 'friends' on Facebook. He reported his sighting on
<br />the social networking site. One of his 'friends' sent him a message:
<br />"She was unable to sleep last night and saw the same thing as me, with a
<br />white light. Another person from Albi saw it too. For me, it looked
<br />like a meteorite", explained the security agent.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Yesterday afternoon, Le Geipan, an unidentified aerospace phenomena
<br />study and information group, which collects all information on UFOs in
<br />France, received two other eyewitness accounts of the same phenomenon at
<br />the same time.
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<br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=62250">New Zealand: Loud Noise Heard in Niue Thought to be Caused by a Meteor</a>
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<br />Radio New Zealand<br />
<br />Fri, 05 Aug 2011 15:12 CDT</div>
<br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/233048-New-Zealand-Loud-Noise-Heard-in-Niue-Thought-to-be-Caused-by-a-Meteor#"><br />
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<br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a title="© Unknown" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s2/56446/full/molina_meteor.jpg"><img title="Click to enlarge" alt="meteorite" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s2/56446/medium/molina_meteor.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span></div>
<br /></div>
<br /><br />
<br />The Niue police chief says a large bang heard around the island late
<br />on Tuesday night sounded like thunder but may have been a meteor
<br />exploding.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Mark Chenery says the island has been abuzz about the loud noise and
<br />inquiries made at Wellington's Carter observatory suggest it was
<br />probably caused by a meteor detonating about 20 kilometres above Niue.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Mr Chenery says he initially thought a boat had blown up down at the wharf.
<br /><blockquote class="typ2">
<br />"There was a large, a huge clap of thunder but it was its normal starry
<br />night outside. People have described seeing a white light, like a flare,
<br />shooting across the sky. Niue is 64 kilometres around and it was heard
<br />in Lakepa in the north west down to Avasele in the south east, so it was
<br />certainly heard island wide."
<br /></blockquote>
<br />Mark Chenery says there have been no reports of damage.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
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<br /><strong>
<br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.universetoday.com/87955/now-in-the-night-sky-comet-garradd/">Now in the Night Sky: Comet Garradd</a><br />
<br /></strong>
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<br /><div class="m-bar">Nancy Atkinson<br />
<br />Universe Today<br />
<br />Fri, 05 Aug 2011 10:29 CDT</div>
<br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/233049-Now-in-the-Night-Sky-Comet-Garradd#"><br />
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<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Peter Lake" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/76641/full/Comet_Garradd_Aug_1_PL_580x409.jpg"><img width="389" height="279" title="Click to enlarge" alt="Comet Garradd" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/76641/large/Comet_Garradd_Aug_1_PL_580x409.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Peter Lake</span><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="caption">Comet Garradd on Aug. 1. 2011 as seen from Australia.</span></div>
<br /></div>
<br />If
<br />you haven't already, it's time to start looking for Comet Garradd! This
<br />comet, with the nomenclature C/2009 P1, is now coming into small
<br />telescope/binocular view so here's your chance to see the brightest
<br />comet in the current night sky. You can find it in the late evening sky
<br />in the constellation Pegasus. Viewing it now, Garradd is just coming out
<br />the "fuzzball" stage, and its tail is just coming into view.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Some say it's much better looking than that other comet, Elenin, that
<br />has been needlessly grabbing some headlines. Comet Garradd was
<br />discovered two years ago by Gordon Garradd from the Siding Spring
<br />Observatory in Australia, and is currently visible through a small
<br />telescope at about magnitude nine.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Above is an image of Comet Garradd from <a target="_blank" href="http://aartscope.blogspot.com/2011/08/comet-garradd.html">Peter Lake (aka Astroswanny)</a> from Australia.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Throughout the next couple of months, Comet Garradd will get
<br />higher and brighter and cut through the Summer Triangle north of Altair.
<br />By September, it will drop lower in the west but remain visible in the
<br />evening sky until year's end for observers at mid-northern latitudes.
<br />Comet Garradd will peak in brightness late next February at around 6th
<br />magnitude, so it could be visible with the naked eye if you have really
<br />dark skies. Closest approach to Earth happens next March 5, when Garradd
<br />will be 117.7 million miles away. At that time, the comet will be seen
<br />flying though the Little Dipper.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Other comets are also currently falling towards the Sun and brightening
<br />as they get closer include C/2010 X1 (Elenin), expected to peak near
<br />magnitude six in early September, 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova expected
<br />to peak brighten past magnitude eight in mid-August, and C/2011 L4
<br />(PANSTARRS) which may become visible to the unaided eye during the early
<br />months of 2013.
<br /></div>
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<br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=LFupbMm8qmc">Fireball: 21 June 2011, 11:10am, Rotorua, New Zealand</a><br />
<br /></strong>
<br /><div class="article-info">
<br /><div class="l-bar"></div>
<br /><div class="m-bar">NZScorps<br />
<br />YouTube<br />
<br />Thu, 28 Jul 2011 18:48 CDT</div>
<br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/233058-Fireball-21-June-2011-11-10am-Rotorua-New-Zealand#"><br />
<br /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<br /></div>
<br /><div class="article-body">
<br />Bearing in mind I know nothing of comets, I initially thought it
<br />might be one. I googled for other sightings and haven't found anything
<br />as yet. I did find Asteroid 2011MD but that wasn't due to go past till
<br />27 June 2011. What's your opinion? One of the above? Meteorite? Some
<br />kind of UFO? We're stumped and really surprised there's been nothing in
<br />the media about it.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/76663/full/fireball.jpg"><img alt="" width="387" height="196" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/76663/large/fireball.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a></div>
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<br /><strong><a href="http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.34c5003b72dbc6d8a074c32288bf6a09.21&show_article=1" target="_blank">Exploding meteor wakes Pacific island nation</a>
<br /></strong>
<br /><div class="article-info">
<br /><div class="l-bar"></div>
<br /><div class="m-bar"><br />
<br />Breitbart<br />
<br />Mon, 08 Aug 2011 02:08 CDT</div>
<br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/233161-Exploding-meteor-wakes-Pacific-island-nation#"><br />
<br /></a></div>
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<br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/76934/full/photo_1312783298809_1_1.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Unknown"><img alt="" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/76934/medium/photo_1312783298809_1_1.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="caption">This file photo shows a streak of a meteor, seen in the night sky.</span></div>
<br /></div>
<br />An
<br />exploding meteor was believed to be responsible for a huge bang that
<br />reverberated around the Pacific island nation of Niue last week,
<br />according to police.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Niue police chief Mark Chenery said the loud bang on Wednesday night
<br />woke the island's 1,200 residents and he initially thought a boat had
<br />exploded in the harbour.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Chenery said there was widespread speculation about the cause of the
<br />noise but the Carter observatory in New Zealand had told him it was
<br />likely to be a meteor exploding 20 kilometres (12.5 miles) high in the
<br />atmosphere.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"There was a large (noise), a huge clap of thunder but it was its normal starry night outside," he told Radio New Zealand.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"People have described seeing a white light, like a flare, shooting
<br />across the sky. Niue is 64 kilometres around and it was heard in Lakepa
<br />in the northwest down to Avasele in the southeast, so it was certainly
<br />heard island-wide."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Chenery said there were no reports of damage.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />--
<br /><br />
<br /><em>Source: Agence France Presse</em>
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<br /><strong><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-08-08/exploding-meteor-wakes-niue-with-a-start/2829724" target="_blank">Pacific island's big bang blamed on meteor</a>
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<br /><div class="article-info">
<br /><div class="l-bar"></div>
<br /><div class="m-bar"><br />
<br />ABC News<br />
<br />Mon, 08 Aug 2011 04:46 CDT</div>
<br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/233177-Pacific-island-s-big-bang-blamed-on-meteor#"><br />
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<br />An exploding meteor was believed to be responsible for a huge bang
<br />that reverberated around the Pacific island of Niue last week.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Niue police chief Mark Chenery said the loud bang on Wednesday night
<br />woke the island's 1,200 residents and he initially thought a boat had
<br />exploded in the harbour.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Mr Chenery said there was widespread speculation about the cause of the
<br />noise, but the Carter Observatory in New Zealand has told him <strong>it was likely to be a meteor exploding 20 kilometres above the Earth</strong>.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"There was a large (noise), a huge clap of thunder, but it was
<br />its normal starry night outside," he told Radio New Zealand.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"People have described seeing a white light, like a flare, shooting
<br />across the sky. Niue is 64 kilometres around and it was heard in Lakepa
<br />in the north-west down to Avasele in the south-east, so it was certainly
<br />heard island-wide."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Mr Chenery said there were no reports of damage.<br />
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><strong>
<br /><a href="http://www.caboodle.hu/nc/news/news_archive/single_page/?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=9304" target="_blank">Meteor Streaks Across Sky Over Hungary</a>
<br /></strong>
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<br /><div class="l-bar"></div>
<br /><div class="m-bar"><br />
<br />Caboodle<br />
<br />Mon, 08 Aug 2011 02:56 CDT</div>
<br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/233204-Meteor-Streaks-Across-Sky-Over-Hungary#"><br />
<br /></a></div>
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<br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77052/full/3c47a3e1ac.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© nae.hu"><img style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77052/medium/3c47a3e1ac.jpg" alt="Meteor" title="Click to enlarge" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© nae.hu</span><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="caption">This photo of the meteor was taken by the Nagykanizsa Amateur Astronomer Association.</span></div>
<br /></div>
<br />A flaming meteor streaked over Hungary late Friday evening, according to eyewitness accounts on several websites.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Weather portal Idokep.hu put the meteor over Western Hungary at 9:46pm,
<br />based on eyewitness accounts by several hundred readers who watched it
<br />move across the sky for 3-4 seconds. A loud explosion could be heard
<br />near Lake Balaton a few minutes later.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The meteor was moving in a northeasterly direction, according to an eyewitness account posted on the homepage of the <a href="http://www.nae.hu/" target="_blank">Nagykanizsa Amateur Astronomers Association,</a> based in southwest Hungary. "It appeared so close that we almost started looking for the meteorite," the eyewitness said.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Other accounts posted online show the ball of fire was visible from Budapest and as far east as the city of Miskolc.
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<br /><strong><a href="http://www.gfwadvertiser.ca/News/2011-08-08/article-2696663/Fire-in-the-sky/1" target="_blank">Canada: Fire in The Sky</a>
<br /></strong>
<br /><div class="article-info">
<br /><div class="l-bar"></div>
<br /><div class="m-bar"><br />
<br />GFW Advertiser<br />
<br />Mon, 08 Aug 2011 12:02 CDT</div>
<br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/233206-Canada-Fire-in-The-Sky#"><br />
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<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77054/full/photo_1804768_resize_article.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Darren Mills / GFW Advertiser"><img style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77054/large/photo_1804768_resize_article.jpg" alt="Fireball" title="Click to enlarge" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Darren Mills / GFW Advertiser</span><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="caption">A
<br />meteor, space junk, satellite or alien spacecraft? A number of people,
<br />including Harold Watkins, saw what appeared to be a fireball Monday
<br />night in Botwood. He said the object had been moving west and
<br />disappeared behind Bishop's Falls, and did not have a tail behind it.
<br />One possibility is that the object was a communications satellite with a
<br />bright reflective surface.</span></div>
<br /></div>
<br /><br />
<br />Whatever it was, Harold Watkins and others in Botwood were treated
<br />to the sight of what appeared to be a fireball in the sky Monday night.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"I live in an apartment off Twomey Drive, and this lady said to me,
<br />'look, do you see that over there?' and when I looked, it seemed to be
<br />one big ball of fire going west," he said. "It was about 1,000 feet in
<br />the air. It looked very close to us."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Mr. Watkins and others had returned from Botwood Day ceremonies that
<br />evening, which had included fireworks at the Botwood Airbase. But he and
<br />the other people who had returned to outside his apartment said the
<br />fireworks had finished by the time they left the base.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"It was going west, and looked like it would have ended up in the back
<br />of Bishop's Falls," he said. "There were three of us coming back from
<br />the base and just getting out of the car. And the lady next door in an
<br />apartment next to me said 'see that in the air,' and when I looked, it
<br />was one big ball of fire and it was moving around and around."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Ron Silver, a media representative for NAV Canada, responsible for air
<br />traffic control operations across the country, said he contacted ATV at
<br />Gander International Airport after he was notified of the incident by
<br />the Advertiser.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"They didn't report anything unusual," he said.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Besides the far-fetched possibility of alien spacecraft, the most likely
<br />possibilities are space junk, such as trash from old spacecraft and
<br />decommissioned satellites and meteors, all burning up on re-entry in
<br />Earth's atmosphere.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"Although we're still 10 days from the peak of the Perseid meteor shower, you can
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />get meteors and fireballs anytime," said Randy Dodge, secretary of the
<br />St. John's centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC).
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The Perseids are regular meteor showers, which happen when Earth's orbit
<br />brings the planet through a body of "dust" leftovers from broken-up
<br />comets and other astral remains.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />It's quite possible, however, what the observers was a functioning
<br />satellite, which many people from all walks of life have mistaken for
<br />meteors or even UFOs.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"It could be an Iridium 55 phone satellite," said Garry Dymond, auditor
<br />with the St. John's RASC and also a regular tracker of meteors and
<br />satellites. "It was visible from your site at about (10:30 p.m.) at a
<br />magnitude of -8, bright enough to cause you to see your shadow on the
<br />ground. Venus has a magnitude of -4 and the full moon has a magnitude of
<br />-12. It came from the northeast heading west, and its orbit is 770
<br />kilometres. There were a few -8 visible satellites from your area that
<br />night and the next. The description of the flight line having no tail
<br />but getting bright and then dimming makes me believe that what they saw
<br />was an Iridium satellite and the sight they saw is referred to as an
<br />Iridium Flare."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The Iridium communication satellites are oddly shaped, with three
<br />polished door-sized antennas at different angles. The forward antenna
<br />faces the direction the satellite is traveling. Occasionally, an antenna
<br />reflects sunlight directly down at Earth, creating a quickly moving
<br />illuminated spot on the surface below of about 10 kilometres in
<br />diameter. To an observer this looks like a bright flash, or flare in the
<br />sky, lasting for about a few seconds.<br />
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><strong>
<br /><a href="http://www.astrobio.net/pressrelease/4143/comet-collision-to-come" target="_blank">Comet Collision to Come?</a>
<br /></strong>
<br /><div class="article-info">
<br /><div class="l-bar"></div>
<br /><div class="m-bar"><br />
<br />SETI Institute<br />
<br />Tue, 09 Aug 2011 14:37 CDT</div>
<br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/233293-Comet-Collision-to-Come-#"><br />
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<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77273/full/Gallery_Image_8129.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© CAMS / SETI"><img width="392" height="285" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77273/large/Gallery_Image_8129.jpg" alt="Draconid" title="Click to enlarge" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© CAMS / SETI</span><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="caption">This
<br />+2 magnitude February eta Draconid was filmed by Peter Jenniskens with
<br />one of the low-light-level video cameras of the Cameras for Allsky
<br />Meteor Surveillance (CAMS) station in Mountain View, California, at
<br />07:59:24 UT on February 4, 2011.</span></div>
<br /></div>
<br />A telegram was issued
<br />on July 10th by the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams of the
<br />International Astronomical Union announcing that the Earth got impacted
<br />for a few hours by a stream of dust from a potentially <a href="http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/roadmap" target="_blank">dangerous comet</a> last February 4.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"This particular shower happens only once or twice every sixty years,"
<br />says discoverer Dr. Peter Jenniskens of the SETI Institute and NASA
<br />Ames. "The stream of dust is always there, but quite invisible just
<br />outside of Earth's orbit. Only when the planets steer the dust in
<br />Earth's path do we get to know it is there."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Jenniskens heads the Cameras for Allsky Meteor Surveillance (<a href="http://www.astrobio.net/index.php?option=com_retrospection&task=detail&id=3503" target="_blank">CAMS</a>)
<br />project in California. Since last October, the SETI Institute has
<br />teamed up with Fremont Peak Observatory and UCO/Lick Observatory in
<br />monitoring the night sky with low-light video cameras in an effort to
<br />map the meteor showers in the sky over the San Francisco Bay Area. They
<br />triangulate the meteor trajectories and determine their orbit in space.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The International Astronomical Union keeps score of showers
<br />that were claimed to exist in the past and now has a list of 300+
<br />showers that need confirmation. Only 64 showers have been established so
<br />far. Jenniskens' goal is to establish many more.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />While reducing the Fremont Peak and Mountain View station observations
<br />from February 4, normally a night with not much going for it, Jenniskens
<br />discovered a handful of meteoroids that arrived at Earth from the exact
<br />same direction in the sky. The meteoroids arrived from the direction of
<br />the star Eta Draconis, and the shower is now recognized by the
<br />International Astronomical Union as the February Eta Draconids (FEDs for
<br />short). This was the first new shower discovered in the CAMS project,
<br />and a very unusual one at that.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The meteoroids in question were moving on a very elongated orbit, typical of that of long-period comets such as <a href="http://www.astrobio.net/pressrelease/3522/our-comets-celestial-wanderers" target="_blank">Hale-Bopp.</a>
<br />Unlike Hale-Bopp, this one passes close to Earth's orbit. Long-period
<br />comets come back to the Sun only rarely and if any one is on a
<br />trajectory to hit the Earth, we could have little warning.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77274/full/Gallery_Image_6164.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Philipp Salzgeber"><img width="394" height="483" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77274/large/Gallery_Image_6164.jpg" alt="Hale Bopp" title="Click to enlarge" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Philipp Salzgeber</span><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="caption">The meteoroids were moving on a very elongated orbit, typical of long-period comets like Hale-Bopp (pictured above). </span></div>
<br /></div>
<br />Now,
<br />Jenniskens has found the trail of crumbs of such a comet, which passed
<br />very close to Earth's orbit the last time it was near the Sun. That
<br />could have been only a few hundred years ago, or many thousands. At that
<br />time, the comet released a cloud of dust which is now returning. Some
<br />dust grains return earlier than others, depending on how elongated their
<br />orbit ended up being, and the result is a continuous stream of
<br />returning dust grains. That stream is detected only when it encounters
<br />the Earth, when the meteoroids cause a brief 2-hour <a href="http://www.astrobio.net/pressrelease/3512/the-walt-whitman-meteor-mystery" target="_blank">meteor</a> shower.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"Earth gets hosed typically only once or twice every sixty years by such
<br />streams," says Jenniskens. "Only when Jupiter and Saturn are back at
<br />their original positions do they steer the dust trail in our path. The
<br />trail wags in and out of Earth's path much like the Sun moves around in
<br />response to the motion of these heavy planets."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The February Eta Draconids follow a short list of other such known
<br />showers, which include the November 22 Alpha Monocerotids, which were
<br />seen last in 1995, and the September 1 Aurigids, which created a
<br />spectacular shower in 2007. The return of those showers was predicted by
<br />Jenniskens.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Now the February Eta Draconid shower has been discovered, Jenniskens is
<br />confident that a next return can be predicted. He teamed with Finnish
<br />astronomer Esko Lyytinen to investigate. Lyytinen calculated a possible
<br />return in 2016 or 2023, after that not again until 2076.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Future observations of this shower may pry loose other information about
<br />the comet that caused this stream of meteoroids, which is a potential
<br />danger to Earth. "If the meteoroids can hit us, so can the comet," says
<br />Jenniskens, "We don't know whether the comet has already passed us by or
<br />is still on approach." To get some extra advance warning, one could
<br />look along the measured orbit to those spots where the <a href="http://www.astrobio.net/pressrelease/96/cometary-closeup" target="_blank">comet</a> could arrive at Earth's orbit on a future February 4 date.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"Even then, chances are very small that the comet will actually hit us, as such impacts are rare in Earth's history," he added.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">Source:</span> <a href="http://cams.seti.org/" target="_blank">SETI Institute</a> press release.<br />
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<br /><strong><a href="http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=11&month=08&year=2011" target="_blank">Perseid Meteor Shower</a>
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<br />Space Weather<br />
<br />Thu, 11 Aug 2011 00:22 CDT</div>
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<br />Earth is entering a stream of debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle, source of the annual <a href="http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/09aug_perseids2011/" target="_blank">Perseid meteor shower.</a> International observers are <a href="http://www.imo.net/live/perseids2011/" target="_blank">now reporting</a> nearly 20 Perseids per hour, a number that will increase as the shower reaches its peak on August 12-13.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />After midnight on August 10th, Marco Langbroek caught this early Perseid
<br />flying over his moonlit roof in Leiden, the Netherlands:
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77320/full/Marco_Langbroek_PER_09082011_2.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Marco Langbroek"><img width="384" height="251" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77320/large/Marco_Langbroek_PER_09082011_2.jpg" alt="Perseid Meteor Shower" title="Click to enlarge" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Marco Langbroek</span><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="caption">Conditions
<br />were very dynamic, with fast moving cloud fields. During a clearing, I
<br />captured this Perseid (10 Aug 2011 between 01:28:40 - 01:29:00 UTC) low
<br />in the west. Canon EOS 450D + EF 2.8/24mm lens, 800 ISO, 20s exposure,
<br />Leiden town center. </span></div>
<br /></div>
<br />On the same night in Dayton, Ohio, photographer John Chumak recorded a <a href="http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2011/11aug11/John-Chumack1.jpg?PHPSESSID=04akd7830f6ksnripbpjfpp1o0" target="_blank">flurry of Perseids.</a>
<br />"More than 3 dozen bright meteors rained down over my observatory last
<br />night!" he says. "Many were brighter than I expected, so there is still a
<br />chance for folks to see some Perseids despite the glare of the bright
<br />Moon."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The best time to look is Saturday morning, Aug. 13, just before
<br />dawn when the Moon is low and meteor rates are peaking. Some observers
<br />will also see the International Space Station, which coincidentally
<br />flies over many US towns and cities during the shower's peak: <a href="http://www.spaceweather.com/flybys?PHPSESSID=04akd7830f6ksnripbpjfpp1o0" target="_blank">ISS tracker.</a> Also, be sure to tune into <a href="http://spaceweatherradio.com/" target="_blank">Space Weather Radio</a>
<br />to hear the ghostly pings of Perseids disintegrating over the US Air
<br />Force's Space Surveillance Radar. It makes a great soundtrack for any
<br />meteor watch.<br />
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<br /><strong><a href="http://www.space.com/12603-comet-elenin-photo-nasa-stereo-spacecraft.html" target="_blank">NASA Sun-Watching Satellite Spots Comet Elenin in Deep Space</a>
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<br />Space.com<br />
<br />Thu, 11 Aug 2011 06:00 CDT</div>
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<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77371/full/comet_elenin.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA"><img width="392" height="392" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77371/large/comet_elenin.jpg" alt="Comet Elenin" title="Click to enlarge" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA</span><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="caption">Comet Elenin as seen by NASA's STEREO spacecraft on Aug. 6, 2011.</span></div>
<br /></div>
<br /><br />
<br />A NASA spacecraft aimed at the sun shifted its unblinking gaze to
<br />an approaching comet last week to snap a new photo of the icy object as
<br />it flew by.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The image shows the <a href="http://www.space.com/11617-comet-elenin-wimpy-solar-system.html" target="_blank">comet Elenin</a>
<br />as it passed within 4.3 million miles (7 million kilometers) of one of
<br />NASA's twin Stereo sun-watching spacecraft during a series of deep space
<br />photo sessions that began on Aug. 1. NASA rolled the Stereo-B satellite
<br />to give its instruments a view of the comet flyby, officials said.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />From Stereo's observations, the fuzzy comet Elenin can be seen streaking
<br />across a small portion of the sky. The comet was seen by Stereo's HI-2
<br />telescope between Aug. 1 to 5, and by the higher resolution HI-1
<br />telescope between Aug. 6 to 12, NASA officials said. Stereo mission
<br />scientists planned to take photos for one-hour every day through Aug.
<br />12.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"From August 15 onward, the comet enters the HI-1 telescope's nominal
<br />field of view, at which time we should enjoy continuous viewing of the
<br />comet," NASA researchers explained in an update posted to the Stereo
<br />mission website.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Comet Elenin is expected to become brighter over the next few
<br />days, and could be detectable using Stereo's coronagraph instrument
<br />between Aug. 20 and Sept. 1, NASA officials said. Mission managers are
<br />then expecting the comet to become visible to another sun-watching
<br />spacecraft - NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) - for
<br />six days, beginning on Sept. 23.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Comet Elenin was discovered in December by Russian astronomer Leonid
<br />Elenin, who spotted the icy wanderer using the International Scientific
<br />Optical Network's robotic observatory near Mayhill, New Mexico.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Viewed from Earth, comet Elenin presently appears as a faint smudge of
<br />light in deep sky exposures. By late August the comet could be visible
<br />to the naked eye as a dim "fuzzy star" with a tail.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Comet Elenin will fly through the inner solar system in October 2011 and
<br />be 22 million miles (35 million kilometers) away at its closest
<br />approach to our planet, NASA scientists have said. The comet is not
<br />expected to be particularly dazzling, but the flyby may be a good chance
<br />to study a relatively young comet from the outer solar system.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Some doomsday theorists have pinned the <a href="http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/comet-elenin-planet-nibiru-doomsday-2012-1833/" target="_blank">Nibiru rogue planet hypothesis</a> on the small comet.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Conspiracy theorists say a planet, known as Nibiru, will swing in from
<br />the outskirts of our solar system and collide with Earth and wipe out
<br />humanity in 2012. Since no rogue planet has been found in the outer
<br />solar system, some people have argued that comet Elenin will be the true
<br />culprit in the Nibiru-Earth collision.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />NASA has dismissed the notion that comet Elenin is anything other than a
<br />dim, wimpy comet. It poses no threat to Earth, making its closest pass
<br />at a distance roughly 100 times farther than the distance from Earth to
<br />the moon.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />NASA's identical twin Stereo spacecraft were launched in October 2006.
<br />They are offset from one another, one flying ahead of the Earth and the
<br />other behind. The name "Stereo" is short for Solar Terrestrial Relations
<br />Observatory.<br />
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<br /><strong>
<br /><a target="_blank" href="http://astrobob.areavoices.com/2011/08/08/speedy-comet-honda-to-pass-near-earth-next-week/">Speedy Comet Honda to pass near Earth next week</a>
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<br />Astro Bob<br />
<br />Mon, 08 Aug 2011 14:09 CDT</div>
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<br />It wasn't but a week ago I was observing Comet
<br />Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova, which for simplicity we'll call Comet
<br />Honda-M-P. It was very low in the southern sky in the early morning
<br />hours and a tough catch in the constellation <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ianridpath.com/startales/piscisaustrinus.htm">Pisces Austrinus</a>
<br />the Southern Fish. Using the "lure" of time, I made two observations -
<br />one around midnight and the other at 2 a.m. This way I was able to
<br />track and positively identify a faint, round hazy glow that slowly
<br />inched across the starfield over the span of two hours. Terry's photo
<br />below captures its appearance well.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Terry Lovejoy" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77373/full/ff.jpg"><img alt="" width="377" height="380" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77373/large/ff.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Terry Lovejoy</span><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="caption">Comet Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova photographed by Australian amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy on August 5.<br />
<br /></span></div>
<br /></div>
<br />Sure
<br />wasn't much to look at, but finding an old friend is always a pleasure.
<br />I last saw the comet back in 2001 and before that in 1995. Honda-M-P is
<br />what astronomers call a returning or periodic comet, similar to
<br />Halley's Comet but with a much smaller orbit and hence a shorter times
<br />between returns. It was discovered by Japanese amateur astronomer Minoru
<br />Honda in 1948 and seen at nearly the same time by astronomers Antonin
<br />Mrkos and Ludmila Pajdusakova.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Honda belongs to the short-period Jupiter family of comets or
<br />those with orbits less than 20 years under the control of the
<br />gravitational powerhouse Jupiter. As it orbits the sun with a period of
<br />5.3 years, it occasionally makes close passes to the planets Venus,
<br />Earth and Jupiter. When near Jupiter, the planet's powerful gravity can
<br />alter the comet's orbit and change its period slightly. This last
<br />occurred in 1983 and will again in 2030.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a title="© Chris Marriott's SkyMap" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77374/full/ff.jpg"><img alt="" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77374/medium/ff.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Chris Marriott's SkyMap</span><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="caption">Comet
<br />Honda-M-P covers a lot of ground in the next week, plunging through the
<br />southern constellations Grus, Tucana, Hydrus and Dorado as seen from
<br />Australia.<br />
<br /></span></div>
<br /></div>
<br />Next Monday August 15, Honda will pass very
<br />close to the Earth - relatively speaking - at a distance of just
<br />5.6 million miles. To put this in perspective, that's 23 times farther
<br />than the moon or still a long ways off. I've been asked if the comet
<br />will affect the Earth in any way, and the answer is 'no'. Honda is only
<br />0.6 miles across and far too tiny to produce any measurable effects on
<br />our much more massive planet. If anything, it's the other way around.
<br />Earth may very slightly alter the comet's orbit.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />When I saw the Comet Honda-M-P, it was very faint in a large amateur
<br />telescope (15-inch). Today it's brighter at magnitude 8.5 with a coma or
<br />cometary atmosphere measuring about half the size of the full moon.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />If you're worried that Earth might pass through the coma, don't be. At
<br />Honda's present distance of 9.3 million miles, the hazy glow around the
<br />tiny cometary nucleus is about 43,000 miles across, much too small to
<br />reach out and brush our planet. Even if we did pass through a comet's
<br />outer coma, its effects would likely amount to a nice show of meteors at
<br />best. Comas are highly rarefied - any ice, dust or small rocks would
<br />quickly vaporize on striking the upper atmosphere.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The closer a celestial object is to Earth, the faster it appears to move
<br />across the sky. Because the comet is closing in on minimum distance
<br />from Earth, it's quickly picking up speed, covering more and more ground
<br />as we approach the 15th. Tonight for instance, it travels some two
<br />degrees or four times the full moon's diameter in the southern
<br />constellation of Grus the Crane. Tomorrow that increases to three
<br />degrees, and by the 14-15th, Honda-M-P flys across some 10 degrees of
<br />sky- your clenched fist held at arm's length - in just one night!
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The next night or two, the comet will still be visible from the far
<br />southern states low in the south around 1 a.m., but by the 14th, only
<br />southern hemisphere observers will see it. To spot the comet, you'll
<br />need at least a small telescope, since it's very diffuse and will get no
<br />brighter than 8th magnitude. The moon will also be near or at full
<br />phase, lighting up the sky and making it even harder to find.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a title="© Chris Marriott's SkyMap" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77375/full/ff.jpg"><img alt="" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77375/medium/ff.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Chris Marriott's SkyMap</span><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="caption">Two side-by-side binocular comets at dawn in Leo on October 7.<br />
<br /></span></div>
<br /></div>
<br />After
<br />closest approach, Honda-M-P swings back north and slowly continues to
<br />brighten, reaching 6th magnitude (naked eye limit) in late September,
<br />and finally appearing in the morning sky before dawn for northern
<br />hemisphere sky watchers in early October. It's expected to be an easy
<br />binocular comet then, shining around 7th magnitude.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />On the morning of the Oct. 7, it will be joined by Comet Elenin four
<br />degrees (eight full moons) to its north. Although both comets will be at
<br />different distances from Earth - 90 million miles for Honda-M-P and
<br />22 million for Elenin - they'll lie in approximately the same line of
<br />sight. With wide-field binoculars you'll be able to catch them both in
<br />the same field of view. What a wonderful and rare sight this will be!
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Speaking of Comet Elenin, southern observers continue to observe and
<br />photograph it. It's now magnitude 9 with a 3-4 arc minute coma and
<br />visible in 4-inch and larger telescopes. Click <a target="_blank" href="http://stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/item.php?id=selects&iid=154">HERE</a> for the latest views of the comet with the STEREO-B (behind) solar telescope.
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<br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/news/riddle_of_the_late_night_rumblings_that_caused_a_sonic_boom_in_norfolk_1_990893">UK: Sonic Boom Over Norfolk</a><br />
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<br /><div class="m-bar">Lucy Clapham<br />
<br />Evening News24, Norwich<br />
<br />Thu, 11 Aug 2011 14:43 CDT</div>
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<br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a title="© Evening News24, Norwich" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77382/full/2735196835.jpg"><img title="Click to enlarge" alt="Meteor" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77382/medium/2735196835.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Evening News24, Norwich</span><br />
<br /><span class="caption">An artist's impression of a meteor over Norwich.</span></div>
<br /></div>
<br /><br />
<br />Mystery surrounds what made the earth tremble across Norfolk in a bizarre late-night phenomenon.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Experts and amateurs alike believe a sonic boom - triggered by a
<br />meteorite or aircraft - caused strange tremors to shake homes and
<br />spook pets.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The rattling was reported by people across the county, including
<br />Norwich, North Walsham, Gayton, Belton, Cringleford and South Lopham at
<br />about 10.30pm on Tuesday.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Jonathan Larter, from Sprowston, said: "I was just going to bed and the
<br />house started shaking and doors rumbling as if the wind was blowing
<br />through the windows, but they weren't open. I thought it was a ghost
<br />outside knocking on my door because I live near a cemetery."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Alan Sharman, from City Road, Norwich, added: "My French doors rattled
<br />rather loudly at 10.30-ish. It actually sounded like someone was trying
<br />to get in. It woke me up a bit."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Experts quickly dismissed the possibility of the movement being
<br />caused by an earthquake as their equipment did not pick up any seismic
<br />activity.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Glen Ford, a seismologist with the British Geological Survey, said:
<br />"From the descriptions and the lack of seismic information ,it sounds
<br />like it could have been a sonic boom."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Mr Ford said sonic booms can be caused by aircraft or meteorites. And in
<br />a bizarre coincidence some people reported seeing a meteor over the
<br />skies of Norwich just before the tremor started.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Dominic Hyde-Smith, 44, spotted "a streak of fire" land south of the city while on his way home to Hempnall.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"It just shot down in a split second," he said. "Rather than a shooting star, this went straight down towards the ground."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Meanwhile, RAF Marham staff said aircraft were not out on Tuesday but
<br />planes from RAF Lakenheath were reported to have been on exercise.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Do you have a theory about what made the earth tremble? Email newsdesk@archant.co.uk
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<br /><strong>
<br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2087758,00.html">DNA in Space? Biological Building Blocks Found in Meteorites</a><br />
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<br /><div class="m-bar">Michael D. Lemonick<br />
<br />Time<br />
<br />Thu, 11 Aug 2011 13:42 CDT</div>
<br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/233432-DNA-in-Space-Biological-Building-Blocks-Found-in-Meteorites#"><br />
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<br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a title="© Chris Smith / NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77624/full/meteorite_dna_0809.jpg"><img title="Click to enlarge" alt="meteroiite dna" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77624/medium/meteorite_dna_0809.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Chris Smith / NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center</span><br />
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<br /><span class="caption">Meteorites contain a large variety of nucleobases, an essential building block of DNA<br />
<br /></span></div>
<br /></div>
<br />Scientists
<br />have been finding evidence of life inside meteorites for well over 100
<br />years - that, or the building blocks of life. The claims of life have
<br />been debunked every time, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2057461,00.html">most recently</a> just this past March. It always turns out to be a <a target="_blank" href="http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2057461,00.html">wishful interpretation</a> of chemicals, minerals and tiny structures inside the meteorite that <em>could</em> be the fossilized husks of long-dead bacteria - but almost certainly aren't.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The building blocks, though, have proved a lot more convincing. As far
<br />back as the 1960s, it was clear that amino acids, which link up to form
<br />proteins, can and do form in space. And now scientists at NASA's Goddard
<br />Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., are claiming that another set of
<br />molecules crucial to life have also rained down on Earth: adenine and
<br />guanine, two of the four so-called nucleobases that, along with cytosine
<br />and thymine, form the rungs of DNA's ladder-like structure.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />By itself, that wouldn't mean much, says Michael Callahan, lead author of a new paper in <em>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</em>.
<br />"People have been finding nucleobases in meteorites since the late
<br />1960s," he says. But they've always been among the handful of
<br />nucleobases common to organisms on Earth, so contamination on the ground
<br />after the meteorite landed has been the most likely explanation. "When I
<br />picked up on this research," says Callahan, a chemist with Goddard's
<br />Astrobiology Analytical Laboratory, "I was convinced that it was all
<br />contamination."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />But once he and his collaborators got hold of samples from 12
<br />meteorites that had landed mostly in Antarctica and ran them through the
<br />lab's liquid chromatograph and mass spectrometer, they discovered all
<br />sorts of other molecules - substances that were similar in structure
<br />but not biologically useful. That was a surprise; if a meteorite picked
<br />up its biological traces on the ground, the adenine and guanine would
<br />have been accompanied by other, equally familiar molecules - not these
<br />substances that were not quite nucleobases but not quite not either.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"That," says Callahan, "argues against the idea that someone sneezed on
<br />the meteorites." Another argument against earthly contamination is that
<br />when the scientists took samples of ice and soil from the sites where
<br />the meteorites were found, they saw the usual terrestrial mix of organic
<br />molecules but not their nonbiological cousins. If the molecules came
<br />from the landing sites rather than from space, you'd expect to see the
<br />nonbiological cousins as well.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />A third line of evidence comes from the fact that life-related
<br />substances are common in space. Hydrogen cyanide, ammonia and water -
<br />critical to building biology - are known to exist throughout the
<br />cosmos, and when you mix them together in a lab, says Callahan, "it's
<br />pretty easy to make nucleobases." It's not even a little bit of a
<br />stretch to imagine that the same processes could happen on, or in, a
<br />meteorite. It's also at least plausible that life would never have
<br />arisen on our planet without a liberal dose of space chemicals,
<br />delivered to Earth on a barrage of meteorites billions of years ago.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The new research doesn't address the question of <a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia">panspermia</a>,
<br />the not entirely crazy idea that life arrived on our planet fully
<br />formed as viruses or bacteria that developed on another world. If that
<br />turns out to be the case - if we find microbes on Mars or on a
<br />meteorite, for example, with DNA identical to ours - we might face the
<br />disturbing fact that we're the contamination on a formerly pristine
<br />planet.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />What the new research does is reinforce an idea that astronomers and
<br />biologists - and, increasingly, the people who call themselves
<br />astrobiologists - find very convincing: since the raw materials of
<br />life are common in the universe, and since we now know that planets are
<br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2041683,00.html">common as well</a>, it's hard to imagine how the Milky Way could <em>not</em> be teeming with life. Our species may continue to be special in a lot of ways - but perhaps a little less so than we thought.
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<br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://ca.news.yahoo.com/meteors-set-put-show-110624982.html">Meteors Set to Put on a Show</a>
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<br />CBC News<br />
<br />Thu, 11 Aug 2011 06:59 CDT</div>
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<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© unknown</span></div>
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<br /><br />
<br />One of the most dazzling shows of the year is upon us, but don't
<br />worry - you won't need a ticket to see it live. A front-row view is as
<br />close as your own backyard.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The annual Perseid meteor shower takes centre stage this week, painting
<br />the night sky with glowing streaks of light. The spectacle begins every
<br />year in mid-July and lasts through August, but the best time to take in
<br />the show this year is when the meteor shower peaks on Friday night and
<br />early Saturday.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Unfortunately, the glare of the full moon will make it hard to see some
<br />of the more modest meteors this year. The best viewing time is expected
<br />to be just before dawn on Saturday, when the moon will be low in the
<br />sky.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The Perseids appear to originate from a point within the constellation
<br />Perseus. The number of meteors visible in the sky tends to increase as
<br />the night wears on.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />According to NASA, more than a dozen meteors per hour were already visible by Tuesday.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />For those who don't want to stay up until dawn, the few meteors
<br />that are visible early in the night may also be some of the most
<br />brilliant. Astronomers call these meteors earthgrazers. Long, slow and
<br />colourful, they approach from the horizon and skim along the atmosphere
<br />much to the viewer's delight.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The show is free, so grab a seat, whether for an hour or the whole
<br />night, and if you miss the event this year you can always catch it again
<br />next August. This performance has a standing engagement.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Meteor showers occur when the Earth encounters the debris fields left
<br />behind by visiting comets. As comets travel through space and near the
<br />sun, small particles of rock and metal break off, leaving fragments in
<br />their wake like a trail of crumbs.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />For example, the Perseids streak through the sky when the Earth is
<br />passing through debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle. Comet crumbs called
<br />meteoroids hit the top of Earth's atmosphere at hundreds of thousands of
<br />kilometres per hour, burning up because of friction. This may make them
<br />glow for several seconds, lighting up the night sky.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />If a part of the meteor survives the trip through the atmosphere and
<br />hits the ground, it's a meteorite. But that is a rare occurrence.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Meteoroids are usually pretty small. According to NASA, most meteors
<br />range in size from one millimetre to one centimetre in diameter, barely
<br />more than a grain of sand. The light they produce while burning up,
<br />however, is very intense and can be seen from hundreds of kilometres
<br />away.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Many people call these celestial fireworks "shooting stars," but they really don't have anything to do with stars at all.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The intense light of a meteor breaking up is created when a dust
<br />particle hits air molecules in the Earth's atmosphere. The impact
<br />vapourizes the outer layers of the meteor, leaving a trail of iron,
<br />magnesium and sodium.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />When this trail of molecules makes subsequent impact with air molecules,
<br />the electrons are "bashed" out of their regular orbit with their
<br />corresponding nuclei, creating light in the process.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The colour of light produced depends upon the composition of the
<br />meteorite. Iron particles produce yellow light; sodium particles produce
<br />orange-yellow light; magnesium produces a blue-green light and silicon
<br />atoms produce red light.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The debris from a comet travels in parallel lines, and when that hits
<br />the Earth's atmosphere, it appears to originate from a single point,
<br />just as parallel train tracks appear to converge to a single point.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The Perseids, for example, get their name from the constellation
<br />Perseus, because that is where the shower appears to originate.
<br />Similarly, November's Leonids appear to come from within the
<br />constellation Leo, and December's Geminids appear to originate from
<br />within the constellation Gemini.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Find the darkest spot you can, away from light pollution. Try to get
<br />outside any settled area. In years where there is a bright moon, try to
<br />position yourself so its light is shielded from your field of vision.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Meteors can appear anywhere in the night sky and they are safe to watch with the naked eye.
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<br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-08/ci-mtk080511.php">Meteorites: Tool kits for creating life on Earth</a>
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<br />Carnegie Institution<br />
<br />Mon, 08 Aug 2011 09:10 CDT</div>
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<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown<br />
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<br />Meteorites
<br />hold a record of the chemicals that existed in the early Solar System
<br />and that may have been a crucial source of the organic compounds that
<br />gave rise to life on Earth. Since the 1960s, scientists have been trying
<br />to find proof that nucleobases, the building blocks of our genetic
<br />material, came to Earth on meteorites. New research, published next week
<br />in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, indicates that <strong>certain
<br />nucleobases do reach the Earth from extraterrestrial sources, by way of
<br />certain meteorites, and in greater diversity and quantity than
<br />previously thought.</strong>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Extensive research has shown that amino acids, which string together to
<br />form proteins, exist in space and have arrived on our planet piggybacked
<br />on a type of organic-rich meteorite called carbonaceous chondrites. But
<br />it has been difficult to similarly prove that the nucleobases found on
<br />meteorite samples are not due to contamination from sources on Earth.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The research team, which included Jim Cleaves of Carnegie's Geophysical
<br />Laboratory, used advanced spectroscopy techniques to purify and analyze
<br />samples from 11 different carbonaceous chondrites and one ureilite, a
<br />very rare type of meteorite with a different type of chemical
<br />composition. This was the first time all but two of these meteorites had
<br />been examined for nucleobases.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Two of the carbonaceous chondrites contained a diverse array of
<br />nucleobases and compounds that are structurally similar, so-called
<br />nucleobase analogs. Especially telling was the fact that three of these
<br />nucleobase analogs are very rare in terrestrial biology. What's more,
<br />significant concentrations of these nucleobases were not found in soil
<br />and ice samples from the areas near where the meteorites were collected.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><strong>"Finding nucleobase compounds not typically found in Earth's
<br />biochemistry strongly supports an extraterrestrial origin," Cleaves
<br />said.</strong>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The team tested their conclusion with experiments to reproduce
<br />nucleobases and analogs using chemical reactions of ammonia and cyanide,
<br />which are common in space. Their lab-synthesized nucleobases were very
<br />similar to those found in the carbonaceous chondrites, although the
<br />relative abundances were different. This could be due to chemical and
<br />thermal processing that the meteorite-origin nucleobases underwent while
<br />traveling through space.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />These results have far-reaching implications. The earliest forms of life
<br />on Earth may have been assembled from materials delivered to Earth by
<br />meteorites.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"This shows us that meteorites may have been molecular tool kits, which
<br />provided the essential building blocks for life on Earth," Cleaves said.<br />
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<br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2023946/Nasa-study-looking-meteorites-claims-aliens.html">We could be aliens after all, claims Nasa study looking at meteorites from outer space</a>
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<br />Daily Mail<br />
<br />Fri, 12 Aug 2011 06:27 CDT</div>
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<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA/ESA</span><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="caption">A
<br />Hubble Space Telescope image of what is thought to be a head-on
<br />collision between two asteroids travelling five times faster than a
<br />rifle bullet. The collision created a meteorite that was found to
<br />contain amino acids<br />
<br /></span></div>
<br /></div>
<br />Life on Earth may have its origins in outer space, according to Nasa research.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Scientists have analysed meteorites that formed billions of years ago before falling to Earth.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The carbon-rich fragments were found to contain chemicals similar to one
<br />of the key components of DNA, the building blocks of life.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Tests show that the presence of these chemicals cannot be explained away
<br />by Earthly contamination, suggesting DNA's origins may lie in outer
<br />space.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The find comes from U.S. scientists, predominantly Nasa researchers, who analysed the chemical make-up of 12 meteorites.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Writing in the journal<em> Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</em>, the researchers said their find has 'far-reaching implications'.
<br /><br />
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<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© PA" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77451/full/article_2023946_0010369B000002.jpg"><img alt="" width="397" height="309" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77451/large/article_2023946_0010369B000002.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© PA</span><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="caption">Life
<br />from outer space? Scientists studying meteorites like this one say that
<br />they could have brought the building blocks of life to Earth</span></div>
<br /></div>
<br />The
<br />study's lead author, Dr Michael Callahan, of the Nasa Goddard Space
<br />Flight Centre in Maryland, said: 'With meteorites and comets impacting
<br />the early Earth, it appears that they did deliver some very important
<br />ingredients.'
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Previous studies found meteorites harbour the other two of the three basic ingredients of life.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />These are amino acids, the 'beads' that form proteins when strung
<br />together, and chemicals needed to allow cells to create a membrane
<br />barrier. The chemicals in DNA are the third.
<br /><br />
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<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© PA" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77453/full/article_2023946_004782C1000002.jpg"><img alt="" width="390" height="255" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77453/large/article_2023946_004782C1000002.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© PA</span><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="caption">Meteor shower: Life on this planet could have its origins in a cosmic event</span></div>
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<br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.wtok.com/news/mississippiheadlines/Reported_Plane_Down_May_Have_Been_Meteor_127606883.html">US: Reported 'Plane Down' May Have Been Meteor</a><br />
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<br /><div class="m-bar">Wade Phillips<br />
<br />WTOK.com<br />
<br />Fri, 12 Aug 2011 15:37 CDT</div>
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<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span></div>
<br /></div>
<br /><br />
<br />Lauderdale County Emergency Management received a report of a plane
<br />possibly crashing Thursday night. But a search has not turned up
<br />anything.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />There may or may not have been a plane crash in Lauderdale County Thursday night. It's looking increasingly like there was not.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Emergency officials got a call around 10:30 p.m. from someone who
<br />believed they saw a plane go down near the Newton- Lauderdale county
<br />line.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />They spent much of the night searching for the plane, and went back out Friday morning, but did not find anything.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"Just from what he described, and the fact that we had a meteor shower
<br />last night during that time frame, I suspect we may be dealing with a
<br />meteorite that fell," said Sharp. "I don't know that, but there's no
<br />planes missing, anywhere around here. Nobody's reported anyone missing,
<br />so I have to believe that's probably what we're dealing with."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />A plane from the Mississippi Civil Air Patrol was also called in to check the area, but was not able to come up with anything.
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<br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.universetoday.com/88154/your-perseid-images-from-around-and-above-the-world/">Your Perseid Images from Around - and Above - the World!</a><br />
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<br /><div class="m-bar">Nancy Atkinson<br />
<br />Universe Today<br />
<br />Sun, 14 Aug 2011 13:34 CDT</div>
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<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Nahum Mendez Chazarra, Rojales, Spain" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77723/full/perseid_through_the_sky_580x38.jpg"><img width="382" height="258" title="Click to enlarge" alt="Perseids_1" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77723/large/perseid_through_the_sky_580x38.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Nahum Mendez Chazarra, Rojales, Spain</span><br />
<br /><span class="caption">A Perseid through the sky.<br />
<br /></span></div>
<br /></div>
<br />We
<br />made a wish that our readers would send in their images of the Perseid
<br />Meteor Shower, and it came true! Despite a full Moon and clouds
<br />scattered around the world, we heard from many of you that you saw -
<br />and successfully imaged - the 2011 Perseids. Many of you took
<br />advantage of <a target="_blank" href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/universetoday">Universe Today's new Flickr group,</a>
<br />an easy way to have readers share their astrophotos with us. Above is a
<br />colorful image of a Perseid streaking through the sky by Nahum Mendez
<br />Chazarra, in Rojales, Spain.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Below, see an image take from up above the world so high: astronaut Ron
<br />Garan on board the International Space Station captured his view looking
<br />down at a Perseid streaking through sky!
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Ron Garan" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77724/full/ron_garan_perseid_580x313.jpg"><img width="397" height="221" title="Click to enlarge" alt="Perseids_2" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77724/large/ron_garan_perseid_580x313.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Ron Garan</span><br />
<br /><span class="caption">'What a shooting star looks like from space," wrote ISS astronaut Ron Garan on Twitter. </span></div>
<br /></div>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Andrei Juravle, Timisoara, Romania" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77725/full/andre_j_580x386.jpg"><img width="393" height="266" title="Click to enlarge" alt="Perseids_3" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77725/large/andre_j_580x386.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Andrei Juravle, Timisoara, Romania</span><br />
<br /><span class="caption">Faint meteor.<br />
<br /></span></div>
<br /></div>
<br />This is another Flickr submission, from Andrei Juravle, Timisoara, Romania. Click to see this image and more from Andrei.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Paul Miller from San Diego, California took the following two very nice images from Mt. Laguna:
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Paul MIller, San Diego, California" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77726/full/paul_miller_1_580x377.jpg"><img width="389" height="258" title="Click to enlarge" alt="Perseids_4" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77726/large/paul_miller_1_580x377.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Paul MIller, San Diego, California</span><br />
<br /><span class="caption">Bright Perseid.<br />
<br /></span></div>
<br /></div>
<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Paul MIller, San Diego, California" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77727/full/paul_miller_2_580x362.jpg"><img width="386" height="246" title="Click to enlarge" alt="Perseids_4" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77727/large/paul_miller_2_580x362.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Paul MIller, San Diego, California</span><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="caption">A Perseid meteor and much more! </span></div>
<br /></div>
<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Jason Major" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77728/full/jpm_meteor_580x342.jpg"><img width="393" height="238" title="Click to enlarge" alt="Perseids_5" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77728/large/jpm_meteor_580x342.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Jason Major</span><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="caption">A
<br />Perseid meteor is caught on camera by the Canada-France-Hawaii
<br />Telescope's mounted low-light Cloudcam before dawn on the morning of
<br />August 12, 2011. Still frame cropped and edited by J. Major</span></div>
<br /></div>
<br />Here's
<br />one from our own Jason Major - kind of! He found the Perseid
<br />streaking through the sky on footage from the Canada-France-Hawaii
<br />Telescope's mounted low-light Cloudcam, and created this image.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Leonard Ellul Mercer, Malta, EU" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77729/full/Leonard_Ellul_Mercer_580x398.jpg"><img width="397" height="277" title="Click to enlarge" alt="Perseids_6" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77729/large/Leonard_Ellul_Mercer_580x398.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Leonard Ellul Mercer, Malta, EU</span><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="caption">First meteor!<br />
<br /></span></div>
<br /></div>
<br />How's
<br />this for beginniner luck?! "Last night I captured my first ever Perseid
<br />image with Andromeda on its upper left," said Leonard Ellul Mercer from
<br />Malta. "This is the first time I tried imaging meteors. Was just lucky
<br />even though there was a bright full moon overhead."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Keep imaging, Leonard - nice shot!
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Michaela Knott" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77730/full/meteorwatermarked_580x386.jpg"><img width="390" height="264" title="Click to enlarge" alt="Perseids_7" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77730/large/meteorwatermarked_580x386.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Michaela Knott</span><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="caption">Meteor, or something else?<br />
<br /></span></div>
<br /></div>
<br />"I
<br />took this on August 12, 2011 I'm not sure what it is," wrote in
<br />Michaela Knott, "but I know it's not a plane (which is what most of what
<br />shows up in my time lapse ends up being). This year I think I only saw 2
<br />dozen or so meteors over two nights I went out looking."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Shot with a Nikon D60, 28mm lens f2.8 10 sec exposure at the Frosty Drew
<br />Observatory in Charlestown RI, USA. "It was taken @ 9:42 EST, still
<br />pretty early in the evening," Michaela said.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© David Parmet" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77731/full/David_P_580x386.jpg"><img width="391" height="265" title="Click to enlarge" alt="Perseids_8" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77731/large/David_P_580x386.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© David Parmet</span><br />
<br /><span class="caption">Timelapse, Perseids and stars on August 12, 2011.<br />
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
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<br /><span class="atop-r"></span>
<br /></div>
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<br /><br />
<br /></div>
<br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/News%20flash%20from%20space...%20there%27s%20a%20meteor%20BELOW%21%20Nasa%20astronaut%27s%20amazing%20Twitter%20picture%20of%20Perseid%20shower%20%20Read%20more:%20http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2026157/Perseid-meteor-shower-seen-space-Nasa-astronaut-shares-photo-Twitter.html#ixzz1V">NASA Astronaut's Amazing Picture of Persied Meteor Shower From the International Space Station</a>
<br /></strong>
<br /><div class="article-info">
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<br /><div class="m-bar"><br />
<br />The Daily Mail<br />
<br />Mon, 15 Aug 2011 13:02 CDT</div>
<br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/233514-NASA-Astronaut-s-Amazing-Picture-of-Persied-Meteor-Shower-From-the-International-Space-Station#"><br />
<br /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<br /></div>
<br />Sometimes photographers just happen to be in the right place at the right time to capture that magic moment.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />If you are a Nasa astronaut you find yourself in that position a little
<br />more often that amateur stargazers so Ron Garan makes good use of his
<br />camera on duty to help us earthbound folk share in some of his special
<br />experiences.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />He took this stunning photograph of a Perseid meteor bursting into the
<br />earth's atmosphere through a window of the International Space Station
<br />on Sunday during the annual Perseid meteor shower.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© NASA/Ron Garan" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77803/full/article_2026157_0D6F1307000005.jpg"><img width="383" height="205" title="Click to enlarge" alt="persied meteor in space" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77803/large/article_2026157_0D6F1307000005.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA/Ron Garan</span><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="caption">Snap happy: Nasa astronaut Ron Garan took this photo of a Perseid meteor through a window in the International Space Station.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /></span></div>
<br /></div>
<br />The astronaut posted his snap to Twitter with the
<br />message: 'What a "Shooting Star" looks like #FromSpace Taken yesterday
<br />during Perseids Meteor Shower...'
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a title="© NASA" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77804/full/article_2026157_0D6F1303000005.jpg"><img title="Click to enlarge" alt="Ron Garan astronaut nasa" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77804/medium/article_2026157_0D6F1303000005.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA</span><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="caption">Space man: Ron Garan is coming to the end of his six-month mission on the ISS</span></div>
<br /></div>
<br />The
<br />key difference in this image, which isn't immediately obvious from
<br />looking at it, is that the Perseid meteor is moving away from Garan,
<br />rather than towards him, as would be the case if the image was captured
<br />on the ground.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Meteors are what remain of asteroids as the giant rocks hurtle through
<br />space, breaking up as they smash into planets or burn up entering orbit.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The Perseids are grains of dust shed from the tail of Comet Swift-Tuttle burning up in the atmosphere.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />They are named Perseid because they point where they come from - the constellation Perseus.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The annual Perseid meteor shower, which arrives every August, has been
<br />observed by skywatchers for at least 2,000 years, according to Nasa.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />This year's stunning light show began with sightings on Friday night,
<br />kickstarting one of the highlights of the celestial year for amateur
<br />astronomers.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Under ideal conditions up to 100 of the shooting stars an hour would have been visible when the shower peaked.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />But Garan, who was launched into space as part of the Expedition 27 crew
<br />in April, might have to watch the next one from terra firma as he is
<br />nearing the end of his six-month stay on the ISS.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><a title="© Europäische Presse Agentur" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77805/full/article_2026157_0D6A0400000005.jpg"><img width="398" height="241" title="Click to enlarge" alt="persied meteor shower 2011" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/77805/large/article_2026157_0D6A0400000005.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><span class="tiny"><br />
<br />© Europäische Presse Agentur<br />
<br /><br />
<br /></span><span class="caption">Worm's
<br />eye view: How a Perseid meteor looks from earth, taken in the night sky
<br />over the stone dolls in Kuklice, near the eastern city of Kratovo,
<br />Macedonia, on Saturday
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
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<br /><br />
<br /><strong>
<br /><a href="http://www.universetoday.com/88180/meteors-sound-like-aliens/" target="_blank">Meteors Sound Like Aliens!</a><br />
<br /></strong>
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<br /><div class="m-bar">Nancy Atkinson<br />
<br />Universe Today<br />
<br />Mon, 15 Aug 2011 14:33 CDT</div>
<br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/233520-Meteors-Sound-Like-Aliens-#"><br />
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<br /></div>
<br /><div><iframe width="400" height="349" frameborder="0" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/jQNHE_fpDOI"></iframe></div>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />A space radar picked up the sounds of a meteor shower as it delighted skywatchers over the weekend.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />What do meteors sounds like as they hit Earth's atmosphere? From this
<br />recording made by the U.S. Air Force Space Surveillance Radar in Texas,
<br />the "pings" from the Perseid Meteor Shower sound rather alien! The radar
<br />station in Lake Kickapoo, Texas is part of United States Strategic
<br />Command's (USSTRATCOM), which involves detecting, tracking, cataloging
<br />and identifying artificial objects orbiting Earth, such as both active
<br />and inactive satellites, spent rocket bodies, or fragments of debris
<br />from natural and man-made objects. Reportedly, the radar can detect
<br />objects as small as 10 cm (four inches) at heights up to 30,000 km.
<br /><br />
<br /></div>
<br /></div>
<br /><strong>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><a href="http://www.universetoday.com/88239/capture-comet-c2009-p1-garradd-now/" target="_blank">Capture Comet C2009 P1 Garradd Now</a><br />
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<br /><div class="m-bar">Tammy Plotner<br />
<br />Universe Today<br />
<br />Wed, 17 Aug 2011 11:01 CDT</div>
<br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/233610-Capture-Comet-C2009-P1-Garradd-Now#"><br />
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<br />What are you waiting for? If it's an engraved invitation, the
<br />consider this your pass to get out and start looking for Comet C/2009 P1
<br />Garradd! It's well within reach of average binoculars and it's even in a
<br />position that's easy for the average observer! Step on out here into
<br />the backyard and I'll show you...
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/78026/full/ff.png" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© heavens-above.com"><img alt="" width="390" height="394" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/78026/large/ff.png" title="Click to enlarge" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© heavens-above.com<br />
<br /><br />
<br /></span></div>
<br /></div>
<br />At
<br />close to magnitude 8, Comet C/2009 P1 Garradd is currently grazing its
<br />way along the eastern line of the Summer Triangle. Even if you live in a
<br />moderately light polluted area, you should be able to make out the
<br />three bright stars, Deneb to the north, Vega to the west and Altair to
<br />the south. Just aim your binoculars roughly halfway between Altair and
<br />Deneb and begin scanning on binocular field at a time for a faint, fuzzy
<br />poofball that signifies the comet's presence. What you will see in
<br />binoculars will appear to be like a "fuzzy star" - while a telescope
<br />will reveal the beginnings of a tail.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Just check out the video taken by our friends at Bareket Observatory!
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><div><iframe width="400" height="349" frameborder="0" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/2HWB_jrln2g"></iframe></div>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Did you catch the signature of a Perseid meteor in there, too? Good for you!
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Now quit messing around on the computer and get out there and capture that comet!
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Thanks to <a href="http://www.bareket-astro.com/" target="_blank">Bareket Observatory</a> for the images and to <a href="http://www.heavens-above.com/" target="_blank">heavens-above.com</a> for the locator chart!<br />
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<br /><strong><a href="http://www.irishweatheronline.com/news/space/asteroids/575-ft-asteroid-to-zoom-past-earth-in-cosmic-close-call/32083.html" target="_blank">575-Ft Asteroid To Zoom Past Earth In Cosmic Close Call</a>
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<br />Irish Weather Online<br />
<br />Wed, 17 Aug 2011 11:36 CDT</div>
<br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/233616-575-Ft-Asteroid-To-Zoom-Past-Earth-In-Cosmic-Close-Call#"><br />
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<br />The third near-earth asteroid of 2011 will pass between the moon and earth later this year, NASA has confirmed.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The 575-foot-wide (175 metres) asteroid, which is more than one and a
<br />half times the length of a soccer pitch, will pass within 0.85 lunar
<br />distances of the Earth on November 8, 2011.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><div class="article-image to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/78034/full/ff.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Unknown"><img alt="" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/78034/medium/ff.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span></div>
<br /></div>
<br /><br />
<br />Discovered on December 28, 2005 by Robert McMillan of the Spacewatch
<br />Program near Tucson, Arizona, 2005 YU55 is believed to be a very dark,
<br />nearly spherical object.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />According to NASA's Near Earth Object Program: "Although classified as a
<br />potentially hazardous object, 2005 YU55 poses no threat of an Earth
<br />collision over at least the next 100 years. However, this will be the
<br />closest approach to date by an object this large that we know about in
<br />advance and an event of this type will not happen again until 2028 when
<br />asteroid (153814) 2001 WN5 will pass to within 0.6 lunar distances."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />See Trajectory of Asteroid <a href="http://www.irishweatheronline.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/2005_YU55_approach_movie.gif" target="_blank">here</a>.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />While neither the European Space Agency (ESA) nor NASA has
<br />suggested that YU55 poses a threat to Earth, plans to develop a mission
<br />to counteract a potential asteroid collision in the future are already
<br />underway.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The <em>Daily Mail</em> reported on Tuesday that the ESA is planning to
<br />fire an 'impactor' satellite into a 'test' asteroid in 2015 to see if
<br />the object's trajectory can be altered. The Agency is conducting the
<br />test mission in light of the minimal threat posed by the 1,600-foot-wide
<br />99942 Apophis asteroid, which has a one in 250,000 chance of impacting
<br />Earth in 2036.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">Other Recent Asteroid Encounters</span>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />In late June 2011, earth experienced one of its closest encounters with
<br />an asteroid in recent years. But as NASA indicated in the days ahead of
<br />the 'cosmic close call', the encounter was so close that Earth's gravity
<br />sharply altered the asteroid's trajectory and prevented the space rock
<br />from impacting the planet.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />2011MD, a newly discovered asteroid passed within 12,000 kilometres
<br />(7,500 miles) of Earth. The asteroid was only sighted for the first time
<br />on 22 June by a robotic telescope in New Mexico, USA. The International
<br />Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center in Massachusetts, USA, put out
<br />an alert Thursday.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />It was daylight in the UK and Ireland (12.30 GMT) when the asteroid
<br />passed over the southern Atlantic Ocean, near the coast of Antarctica.
<br />The event was observable from South Africa and parts of Antarctica. It
<br />also was visible in the hours leading up to the closest approach across
<br />Australia, New Zealand, southern and eastern Asia, and the western
<br />Pacific.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Some media outlets proclaimed the asteroid to be as big as New York's
<br />Empire State Building'. In fact, 2011 MD measured about 16 feet to 35
<br />feet.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />According to Minor Planet Center's ranking charts 2011 MD's trip was the
<br />fifth-closest recorded Asteroid event. The last asteroid to impact
<br />earth was '2008 TC3' which was detected on 7 October 2008, just 19 hours
<br />before it burned up in the atmosphere over northern Sudan.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />On 2 June, a 10-metre wide asteroid passed between the earth and moon.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Asteroid 2009 BD, which was first observed on 16 January 2009 passed
<br />approximately within 0.9 lunar distances (the distance between Earth and
<br />the Moon) of earth. Astronomers believe the rock is a rare "co-orbital
<br />asteroid" which follows the orbit of the Earth, not receding more than
<br />0.1 AU (15 million km) away.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Two asteroids, several meters in diameter and in unrelated orbits,
<br />passed within the moon's distance of Earth on September 8 2010. In April
<br />2010 an asteroid roughly as long as a tennis court zoomed past Earth at
<br />about the distance of the moon. The space rock to pass at or within
<br />lunar distance previous to this was 2009 JL2, an asteroid about 17 to 37
<br />metres across, in May 2009.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />There is a roughly 50 percent chance of a 30-metre-wide plus asteroid
<br />striking Earth each century, according to Clark Chapman, a space
<br />scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, USA.<br />
<br /><br />
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<br /></div>
<br /><strong><a href="http://www.livescience.com/15609-mt-etna-violent-bursts-spotted-space.html" target="_blank">Will We Be Able to Deflect an Earthbound Asteroid?</a><br />
<br /></strong>
<br /><div class="article-info">
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<br /><div class="m-bar">Natalie Wolchover<br />
<br />Life's Little Mysteries<br />
<br />Wed, 17 Aug 2011 10:03 CDT</div>
<br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/233619-Will-We-Be-Able-to-Deflect-an-Earthbound-Asteroid-#"><br />
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<br /><div class="article-body">
<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/78036/full/asteroid_earth.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Don Davis / NASA"><img width="397" height="304" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/78036/large/asteroid_earth.jpg" alt="Impact Event" title="Click to enlarge" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Don Davis / NASA</span><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="caption">Artist's
<br />concept of a catastrophic asteroid impact with the early Earth. An
<br />impact with a 500 kilometer (310 mile) diameter asteroid would
<br />effectively sterilize the planet. The Earth may have experienced such
<br />gigantic impacts in its youth, but fortunately today there are no
<br />projectiles this large to threaten our planet.</span></div>
<br /></div>
<br /><br />
<br />For any single human being, there are bigger things to worry about
<br />than death by space rock. For the long-term survival of humankind, on
<br />the other hand, asteroids pose a real danger.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />A 6-mile-wide asteroid that struck off the coast of present-day Mexico
<br />65 million years ago induced ecological changes that wiped out the
<br />dinosaurs. Inevitably, an Earth-shaking chunk of space debris will
<br />strike again.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />However, so many earthly worries exist that a cosmic one which, at any
<br />given moment, is infinitesimally small doesn't garner much attention -
<br />or government funding. Several scientists who study asteroid hazards
<br />agree: Humankind probably won't start readying its planetary defenses
<br />until we know the danger is real. We'll need evidence that a large
<br />asteroid is actually headed here.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Will it be too late by then?
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />It depends. "Human beings can solve any technical problems that are put
<br />in front of us," said Daniel Durda, senior planetary scientist at the
<br />Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., and an expert on
<br />asteroid collisions. "It's the social and political issues that we
<br />struggle with." Rusty Schweickart, former NASA astronaut and founding
<br />member of the B612 Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to
<br />protecting the Earth from asteroid strikes, concurred: "The geopolitical
<br />realities are daunting. The technical issues are easy by comparison."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/78037/full/aphophis.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© UH / IA"><img width="387" height="411" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/78037/large/aphophis.jpg" alt="Apophis" title="Click to enlarge" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© UH / IA</span><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="caption">The
<br />asteroid Apophis was discovered on June 19, 2004. It will fly within
<br />18,300 miles of Earth on April 13, 2029, but poses little risk of
<br />impact.</span></div>
<br /></div>
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">The main culprits</span>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Though we know very little about the composition of asteroids -
<br />necessary information for determining their masses, and knowing how to
<br />knock them off course - we do know where most of the large, nearby
<br />rocks actually are. NASA's Spaceguard Survey tracks the paths of all
<br />near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) in Earth's neighborhood that are larger than
<br />1 kilometer (0.6 miles) in diameter.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Knowing an asteroid's location is step one in determining if it's on a
<br />crash course for Earth, and fortunately, none of the big ones pose a
<br />threat at this time. If one of these known asteroids were found to have a
<br />greater than 1 percent chance of striking Earth, astronomers would
<br />figure it out at least a decade beforehand.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"A large impact of something 1 km across - that's a bad enough
<br />scenario that it would motivate people to take this seriously," Durda
<br />said. According to Clark Chapman, another senior scientist at the
<br />Southwest Research Institute, the international community would probably
<br />band together and plan a mission to divert the path of the asteroid.
<br />"This would probably require matching its orbit with a series of
<br />spacecraft equipped with bombs," Chapman said. Getting the deflection
<br />mission off the ground would cost on the order of $10 billion.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Though we don't have all the technology worked out yet, we do know <a href="http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/diy-how-split-atoms-kitchen-richard-handl-1913/" target="_blank">how to build nuclear devices,</a>
<br />and we have already successfully sent spacecraft to and from asteroids.
<br />"A decade out, given the technology it would take to do a deflection, I
<br />think we could respond in time," Durda told Life's Little Mysteries, a
<br />sister site to SPACE.com.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />David Morrison, interim director of the NASA Lunar Science Institute and
<br />an expert on impact hazards, thinks we might need more time. He
<br />believes it would take two missions to deflect an asteroid. The first
<br />would rendezvous with the target asteroid and figure out what it's made
<br />of, the second, which would be specially tailored to the asteroid based
<br />on the first mission, to knock it off course. "One decade would be the
<br />minimum, but that would mean sending the deflection mission before we
<br />had characterized the target, which would be a bit risky. Twenty years
<br />is more realistic as a minimum," Morrison wrote in an email.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Schweickart says 15 years of warning of a coming impact would be a safe
<br />bet. Along with the time it takes to assemble a launch vehicle, launch,
<br />fly to and rendezvous with an asteroid, you also need "time enough for
<br />the deflection itself to accumulate enough change in the [asteroid]
<br />orbit for it to miss the Earth impact. Post deflection will require
<br />anywhere from say 3 to 10 years for the orbit change."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><div><embed width="400" height="412" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash" swliveconnect="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" seamlesstabbing="false" name="flashObj" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" flashvars="videoId=1729299888&linkBaseURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.space.com%2F9958-spacewatch-scanning-cosmic-killers.html&playerId=1417334557&viewerSecureGatewayURL=https://console.brightcove.com/services/amfgateway&servicesURL=http://services.brightcove.com/services&cdnURL=http://admin.brightcove.com&domain=embed&autoStart=false&" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/1417334557"></embed></div>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">Smaller targets</span>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />There are dangers involved with asteroids under the 1-kilometer threshold, however.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"Anything more than 300 to 400 meters (983-1,312 feet) in diameter can
<br />cause continental-scale damage," said Stephen Wolters, a research fellow
<br />at Caltech who studies <a href="http://www.livescience.com/11093-infographic-science-spending-federal-budget.html" target="_blank">near-Earth asteroids</a> at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />NASA has begun locating and tracking smaller asteroids, but there are
<br />thousands still at large. If one of these were on course to strike
<br />Earth, sky surveys would give us no more than a month of warning. In
<br />that case, said Morrison, deflection is probably not an option. Instead,
<br />"you respond more like the way we handle hurricane warnings,"
<br />evacuating people from the area most likely to be struck.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Eventually we will track all asteroids larger than about 200 meters (656
<br />feet) wide. The day scientists realize that one of these mid-size rocks
<br />has a chance of hitting us, and that we have enough time to do
<br />something about it, serious political strife will likely ensue, the
<br />experts say.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">Uncertainties abound</span>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"If we had a decade of warning on a smaller-scale asteroid, 200 meters
<br />across, I think that's down in the area where we would be much more
<br />prone to arguing about possibilities and we wouldn't actually respond to
<br />it," Durda said.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Such an <a href="http://www.livescience.com/11537-weather-outlook-tomorow-shuttle-launch-worsens.html" target="_blank">asteroid collision</a>
<br />probably wouldn't cause a global catastrophe, just a national or
<br />continental one, he explained. This means that perhaps not every country
<br />would care to pitch in to deflect it, and others might be opposed to
<br />any action if it puts them at greater risk.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"The big challenge will be the international implications of where it
<br />will occur, what the range is - usually orbital uncertainties mean
<br />there's a track across the Earth where it's most likely to hit," he
<br />said. "Then, if you decide to deflect the asteroid, where does that
<br />track move across the Earth's surface before moving off the surface? Now
<br />you're taking an act of God and turning it into an act of litigation,
<br />where you've moved the impact point potentially into countries that had
<br />been safe."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />He continued, "It's these very issues that will lead to all kinds of
<br />discussion and argument and inherent delay in taking any physical
<br />action."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Given orbital uncertainties, another issue is how probable an impact
<br />must be before we decide to take action. "The world economies cannot
<br />afford to protect against all low-probability hazards," Chapman said. A
<br />1-in-1,000 chance of a collision, for example, will probably be ignored,
<br />and according to Schweickart, they already are. "There are already some
<br />near-Earth objects with impact probabilities greater than 1-in-1000 and
<br />no one is the least excited," he wrote in an email. A 130-meter-wide
<br />NEA called 2009FD, for example, has a 1-in-435 chance of impacting Earth
<br />in the year 2185.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"For [the case] of a 500-meter-wide near-Earth asteroid, at a
<br />probability of more than 1 percent, I think we would take the threat
<br />very seriously," Morrison wrote. "Below that I don't know."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">Out of left field</span>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />There's one form of cosmic debris that no amount of international cooperation can do much about.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"There's always a possibility of a <a href="http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/asteroid-comet-or-meteor-1139/" target="_blank">long-period comet</a>
<br />coming from nowhere and giving us almost no warning," Wolters said. Not
<br />only do such bodies come from the outer reaches of the solar system,
<br />where we can't see them, "these comets can come from high inclination
<br />orbits where we're not looking for things. You might only have a few
<br />months notice."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Fortunately, experts estimate that long-period comets comprise only
<br />about 1 percent of all the space rocks that pass by Earth. "The good
<br />news is that they're only a tiny fraction of the overall hazard," Durda
<br />said.<br />
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
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<br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://spacefellowship.com/news/art26449/comet-elenin-poses-no-threat-to-earth.html">NASA: Comet Elenin Poses No Threat to Earth</a><br />
<br /></strong>
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<br /><div class="m-bar">Klaus Schmidt<br />
<br />Space Fellowship<br />
<br />Wed, 17 Aug 2011 00:48 CDT</div>
<br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/233654-NASA-Comet-Elenin-Poses-No-Threat-to-Earth#"><br />
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<br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a title="© n/a" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/78093/full/comet_elenin_.jpg"><img title="Click to enlarge" alt="comet elenin" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/78093/medium/comet_elenin_.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© n/a</span><br />
<br /><span class="caption">Comet Elenin<br />
<br /></span></div>
<br /></div>
<br />Often,
<br />comets are portrayed as harbingers of gloom and doom in movies and on
<br />television, but most pose no threat to Earth. Comet Elenin, the latest
<br />comet to visit our inner solar system, is no exception. Elenin will pass
<br />about 22 million miles (35 million kilometers) from Earth during its
<br />closest approach on Oct. 16, 2011.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Also known by its astronomical name C/2010 X1, the comet was first
<br />detected on Dec. 10, 2010 by Leonid Elenin, an observer in Lyubertsy,
<br />Russia, who made the discovery "remotely" using an observatory in New
<br />Mexico. At that time, Elenin was about 401 million miles (647 million
<br />kilometers) from Earth. Since its discovery, Comet Elenin has - as all
<br />comets do - closed the distance to Earth's vicinity as it makes its
<br />way closer to perihelion, its closest point to the sun.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />NASA scientists have taken time over the last several months to answer
<br />your questions. Compiled below are the some of the most popular
<br />questions, with answers from Don Yeomans of NASA's Near-Earth Object
<br />Program Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.,
<br />and David Morrison of the NASA Astrobiology Institute at the NASA Ames
<br />Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Most Popular Questions About Comet Elenin:
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">When will Comet Elenin come closest to the Earth and appear the brightest?</span>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Comet Elenin should be at its brightest shortly before the time of its
<br />closest approach to Earth on Oct. 16, 2011. At its closest point, it
<br />will be 22 million miles (35 million kilometers) from us.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">Will Comet Elenin come close to the Earth or between the Earth and the moon?</span>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Comet Elenin will not come closer to Earth than 22 million miles (35
<br />million kilometers). That's more than 90 times the distance to the moon.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">Can this comet influence us from where it is, or
<br />where it will be in the future? Can this celestial object cause shifting
<br />of the tides or even tectonic plates here on Earth?</span>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />There have been incorrect speculations on the Internet that alignments
<br />of comet Elenin with other celestial bodies could cause consequences for
<br />Earth and external forces could cause comet Elenin to come closer. "Any
<br />approximate alignments of comet Elenin with other celestial bodies are
<br />meaningless, and the comet will not encounter any dark bodies that could
<br />perturb its orbit, nor will it influence us in any way here on Earth,"
<br />said Don Yeomans, a scientist at NASA JPL.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"Comet Elenin will not only be far away, it is also on the small side
<br />for comets," said Yeomans. "And comets are not the most densely-packed
<br />objects out there. They usually have the density of something akin to
<br />loosely packed icy dirt.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"So you've got a modest-sized icy dirtball that is getting no closer
<br />than 35 million kilometers [about 22 million miles)," said Yeomans. "It
<br />will have an immeasurably miniscule influence on our planet. By
<br />comparison, my subcompact automobile exerts a greater influence on the
<br />ocean's tides than comet Elenin ever will."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">I've heard about three days of darkness because of Comet Elenin. Will Elenin block out the sun for three days?</span>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"As seen from the Earth, comet Elenin will not cross the sun's face," says Yeomans.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />But even if it could cross the sun, which it can't, astrobiologist David
<br />Morrison notes that comet Elenin is about 2-3 miles (3-5 kilometers)
<br />wide, while the sun is roughly 865,000 miles (1,392,082 kilometers)
<br />across. How could such a small object block the sun, which is such a
<br />large object?
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Let's think about an eclipse of the sun, which happens when the moon
<br />appears between the Earth and the sun. The moon is about 2,500 miles
<br />(4,000 kilometers) in diameter, and has the same apparent size as the
<br />sun when it is about 250,000 miles (400,000 kilometers) away - roughly
<br />100 times its own diameter. For a comet with a diameter of about 2-3
<br />miles (3-5 kilometers) to cover the sun it would have to be within 250
<br />miles (400 kilometers), roughly the orbital altitude of the
<br />International Space Station. However, as stated above, this comet will
<br />come no closer to Earth than 22 million miles.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">I've heard there is a "brown dwarf" theory about
<br />Comet Elenin. Would its mass be enough to pull Comet Honda's trajectory a
<br />significant amount? Could this be used to determine the mass of Elenin?</span>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Morrison says that there is no 'brown dwarf theory' of this comet. "A
<br />comet is nothing like a brown dwarf. You are correct that the way
<br />astronomers measure the mass of one object is by its gravitational
<br />effect on another, but comets are far too small to have a measureable
<br />influence on anything."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">If we had a black or brown dwarf in our outer solar system, I guess no one could see it, right?</span>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"No, that's not correct," says Morrison. "If we had a brown dwarf star
<br />in the outer solar system, we could see it, detect its infrared energy
<br />and measure its perturbing effect on other objects. There is no brown
<br />dwarf in the solar system, otherwise we would have detected it. And
<br />there is no such thing as a black dwarf."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">Will Comet Elenin be visible to the naked eye
<br />when it's closer to us? I missed Hale-Bopp's passing, so I want to know
<br />if we'll actually be able to see something in the sky when Elenin
<br />passes.</span>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />We don't know yet if Comet Elenin will be visible to the naked eye.
<br />Morrison says, "At the rate it is going, seeing the comet at its best in
<br />early October will require binoculars and a very dark sky.
<br />Unfortunately, Elenin is no substitute for seeing comet Hale-Bopp, which
<br />was the brightest comet of the past several decades."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"This comet may not put on a great show. Just as certainly, it will not
<br />cause any disruptions here on Earth. But, there is a cause to marvel,"
<br />said Yeomans. "This intrepid little traveler will offer astronomers a
<br />chance to study a relatively young comet that came here from well beyond
<br />our solar system's planetary region. After a short while, it will be
<br />headed back out again, and we will not see or hear from Elenin for
<br />thousands of years. That's pretty cool."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">This comet has been called 'wimpy' by NASA scientists. Why?</span>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"We're talking about how a comet looks as it safely flies past us," said
<br />Yeomans of NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office. "Some cometary
<br />visitors arriving from beyond the planetary region - like Hale-Bopp in
<br />1997 - have really lit up the night sky where you can see them easily
<br />with the naked eye as they safely transit the inner-solar system. But
<br />Elenin is trending toward the other end of the spectrum. You'll probably
<br />need a good pair of binoculars, clear skies and a dark, secluded
<br />location to see it even on its brightest night."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">Why aren't you talking more about Comet Elenin?
<br />If these things are small and nothing to worry about, why has there been
<br />no public info on Comet Elenin?</span>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Comet Elenin hasn't received much press precisely because it is small
<br />and faint. Several new comets are discovered each year, and you don't
<br />normally hear about them either. The truth is that Elenin has received
<br />much more attention than it deserves due to a variety of Internet
<br />postings that are untrue. The information NASA has on Elenin is readily
<br />available on the Internet, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-135">here</a>. If this comet were any danger to anyone, you would certainly know about it.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">I've heard NASA has observed Elenin many times more than other comets. Is this true, and is NASA playing this comet down?</span>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />NASA regularly detects, tracks and characterizes asteroids and comets
<br />passing relatively close to Earth using both ground- and space-based
<br />telescopes. The Near-Earth Object Observations Program, commonly called
<br />"Spaceguard," discovers these objects, characterizes a subset of them
<br />and predicts their paths to determine if any could be potentially
<br />hazardous to our planet.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />However, neither NASA nor JPL is in the business of actively observing
<br />Elenin or any other comet. Most of the posted observations are made by
<br />amateur astronomers around the world. Since Elenin has had so much
<br />publicity, it naturally has attracted more observers.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />I was looking at the orbital diagram of Comet Elenin on the JPL website,
<br />and I was wondering why the orbit shows some angles when zooming? If
<br />you pick any other comet, you can see that there are no angles or bends.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Many people are trying to plot the orbit of the comet with the routine
<br />on the JPL website, without realizing that this is just a simple
<br />visualization tool. While the tool has been recently improved to show
<br />smoother trajectories near the sun, it is not a scientific program to
<br />generate an accurate orbit. Yeomans explains that the orbit plotter on
<br />the Near-Earth Object website is not meant to accurately depict the true
<br />motion of objects over long time intervals, nor is it accurate during
<br />close planetary encounters. For more accurate long-term plotting,
<br />Yeomans suggests using the <a target="_blank" href="http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi?find_body=1&body_group=sb&sstr=C/2010%20X1">JPL Horizons system</a> instead: here.
<br /></div>
<br /><br />
<br /><strong>Comment: </strong>For more information on Elenin, comets and some interesting research on related phenomena see:
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/231434-Elenin-Nibiru-Planet-X-Time-for-a-Sanity-Check">Elenin, Nibiru, Planet X - Time for a Sanity Check</a><br />
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<br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/12661-meteorites-midwest-meteor-fireball-ohio.html">Meteorites Possible From Midwest US Fireball</a><br />
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<br /><div class="m-bar">Denise Chow<br />
<br />SPACE.com<br />
<br />Wed, 17 Aug 2011 09:42 CDT</div>
<br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/233671-Meteorites-Possible-From-Midwest-US-Fireball#"><br />
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<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Southern Ontario Meteor Network" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/78121/full/orangeville_meteor.jpg"><img alt="" width="397" height="303" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/78121/large/orangeville_meteor.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Southern Ontario Meteor Network</span><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="caption">On
<br />August 8 at 1:22 Eastern Daylight Time, 4 all sky cameras belonging to
<br />the Southern Ontario Meteor Network detected a fireball entering the
<br />atmosphere 54 miles above Lake Erie (80.944 W, 41.945 N), moving SSE at
<br />25 km/s (55,900 mph). </span></div>
<br /></div>
<br />Ohio residents should be on the
<br />lookout for potential small meteorites that may have been created by a
<br />bright fireball that streaked over southern Ontario, Canada, last week,
<br />NASA says.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The fireball was detected by all-sky cameras from the Southern Ontario Meteor Network at 1:22 a.m. EDT (0522 GMT) on Aug. 8.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"It was picked up over Lake Erie and proceeded south-southeast over
<br />Ohio," said Bill Cooke, head of NASA's Meteoroid Environments Office at
<br />the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. [Video: <a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/12660-midwest-meteor-meteorites.html">See the Aug. 8 fireball</a>]
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The meteor was last tracked north of Gustavus, Ohio, and the potential impact zone for <a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/10498-life-building-blocks-surprising-meteorite.html">meteorite fragments</a> is a region east of Cleveland, Cooke told SPACE.com.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Google; Image State of Ohio/OSIP; Image PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources-PAMAP/USGS; Image USDA Farm Service Agency" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/78122/full/meteor_darkflight_impact_lo.jpg"><img alt="" width="398" height="237" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/78122/large/meteor_darkflight_impact_lo.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">©
<br />Google; Image State of Ohio/OSIP; Image PA Department of Conservation
<br />and Natural Resources-PAMAP/USGS; Image USDA Farm Service Agency</span><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="caption">This
<br />map shows the calculated darkflight impact points for the meteor
<br />spotted over Lake Erie on On August 8, 2011, at 1:22 Eastern Daylight
<br />Time.<br />
<br /></span></div>
<br /></div>
<br />When would-be meteors are traveling through
<br />space, they are known as meteoroids to astronomers. When they enter
<br />Earth's atmosphere to create fireballs, they are called meteors. Only
<br />fragments that actually reach Earth's surface are called meteorites.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"We look for ones that are moving low and slow, ones that penetrate deep
<br />into the atmosphere," Cooke said. "Normally meteors burn up 40 to 50
<br />miles (about 65 to 80 kilometers) over your head. This one got down to
<br />38 km (24 miles) before we lost track of it, and we know it went lower."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />When a meteor penetrates low into the atmosphere and moves relatively
<br />slow, it can create meteorites that fall to the ground, Cooke explained.
<br />The fireball seen last week slowed to approximately 25,200 mph (40,555
<br />kph). [Photos: <a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/12500-photos-perseid-meteor-shower-amazing-images.html">Amazing Perseid Meteor Shower Displays</a>]
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />And while skywatchers around the world enjoyed spectacular views of the
<br />annual Perseid meteor shower last week, Cooke clarified that this
<br />fireball is definitely not a Perseid because it is moving too slowly.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© KCLE" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/78123/full/kcle_radar_map_meteor.jpg"><img alt="" width="389" height="289" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/78123/large/kcle_radar_map_meteor.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© KCLE</span><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="caption">This segment from the KCLE radar shows the meteor begin and end points labeled.<br />
<br /></span></div>
<br /></div>
<br />Based on the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/11281-shooting-stars-fireballs-meteors-spring.html">fireball's brightness</a>
<br />and radar observations, the meteor's mass is estimated to be in the
<br />range of 22 pounds (10 kilograms). This means that meteorite fragments
<br />will likely be pretty small, Cooke said.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"Something the size of your thumbnail, maybe a bit bigger," he said,
<br />estimating that any rocks found would probably be about three ounces
<br />(roughly 100 grams) and measure about one to two inches (2.5 to 5 cm)
<br />across.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />For meteorite hunters in the area, or for anyone who fortuitously
<br />stumbles across any pieces of space rock, Cooke wants to know about it,
<br />and people are encouraged to contact <a target="_blank" href="http://www.nasa.gov/offices/meo/home/index.html">NASA's Meteoroid Environments Office</a> if they find any fragments.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />But, the meteorite expert cautions that there are strict rules governing the ownership of <a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/12416-giant-meteorite-china-discovery.html">space rocks that fall from the sky</a>.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"One thing you need to know is that meteorites belong to the property
<br />holder, the owner of the property on which they land," he said. "So, if
<br />you're looking for them on someone's property, be sure you talk to them
<br />and get their permission first. If you're looking for meteorites,
<br />respect the wishes and rights of all property owners."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />You can follow SPACE.com staff writer Denise Chow on Twitter
<br />@denisechow. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and
<br />exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.<br />
<br /><br />
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<br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2026710/European-Space-Agency-plan-blow-asteroid-hurtling-Earth.html">Fact following fiction? Scientists plan mission to blow up an asteroid 'hurtling towards Earth'</a><br />
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<br /><div class="m-bar">Fiona Macrae<br />
<br />The Telegraph, UK<br />
<br />Fri, 19 Aug 2011 06:05 CDT</div>
<br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/233749-Fact-following-fiction-Scientists-plan-mission-to-blow-up-an-asteroid-hurtling-towards-Earth-#"><br />
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<br /><div class="image-caption"><br />
<br /><span class="caption">Will America save the day?<br />
<br /></span></div>
<br /></div>
<br />Scientists plan to smash a spacecraft into an asteroid so that they are prepared for having to stop one hurtling towards Earth.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The news came as Nasa moved to calm fears that a comet is on a collision course with our planet.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The plans for a test mission to stop an asteroid from colliding with Earth come from Nasa's cousin, the European Space Agency.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />In the Hollywood movie Armageddon, Bruce Willis attempts to blow up a huge asteroid hurtling towards Earth.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />In real life, the mission, called Don Quixote, will see two spacecraft launched.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />One will be fired at an asteroid at break-neck speed in an
<br />attempt to push it off its course. The other will analyse data with the
<br />aim of informing future missions in which the future of mankind may be
<br />at stake.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />One potential target for the test mission is a 1,600ft-wide asteroid
<br />called 99942 Apophis, which has a tiny chance - around one in 250,000
<br />- of hitting Earth in 2036.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Nasa scientists yesterday took the unusual step of officially dismissing
<br />claims sweeping the internet that comet Elenin, discovered by an
<br />astronomer last December, is on a deadly course.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><div class="StoryComment">
<br /><br />
<br /><strong>Comment: </strong>This is a red herring. Elenin was never in
<br />danger of colliding with Earth. The danger lies in something NASA
<br />claims to have no awareness of - that comets 'impact' our celestial
<br />environment by causing the Sun to discharge enormous amounts of energy
<br />from afar.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /></div>
<br /><br />
<br />Scare stories include the comet plunging the Earth into darkness for
<br />three days by blocking out the sun, colliding with Earth, moving tides
<br />or continents and throwing the planet off orbit.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />It is even claimed that a fleet of UFOs are streaking towards us in the
<br />comet's wake, and that Nasa has conspired with media organisations to
<br />create a news blackout on the comet to avoid mass panic sweeping the
<br />world.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><div class="StoryComment">
<br /><br />
<br /><strong>Comment: </strong>Richard Hoagland's disinformation has clearly served NASA well.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /></div>
<br /><br />
<br />But the space agency said Elenin will never come closer to Earth
<br />than 22 million miles and will not compromise our planet in any way.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />An official said: 'The truth is that Elenin has received much more
<br />attention than it deserves due to a variety of internet postings that
<br />are untrue.'
<br /></div>
<br /><br />
<br /><strong>Comment: </strong>So on the one hand NASA publicises
<br />plans to blow up space rocks that may or may not be on a collision
<br />course with Earth, while on the other hand this US government agency
<br />ridicules the most outlandish claims about Comet Elenin. This 'speaking
<br />out of both sides of the mouth' is intended to reassure those waking up
<br />to the fact that <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/142651-Something-Wicked-This-Way-Comes">Something Wicked This Way Comes</a>
<br />that they have everything under control. They don't, of course. At
<br />most, they are planning their own escape while leaving us in the dark.<br />
<br /></div>
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<br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.tribtoday.com/page/content.detail/id/560615/Meteorites-may-have-landed-in-the-region.html?nav=5021">US: Meteorites May Have Landed in the Region of Northeastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania</a><br />
<br /></strong>
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<br /><div class="l-bar"></div>
<br /><div class="m-bar">Dan Pompili<br />
<br />Trib Today<br />
<br />Fri, 19 Aug 2011 17:01 CDT</div>
<br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/233793-US-Meteorites-May-Have-Landed-in-the-Region-of-Northeastern-Ohio-and-Western-Pennsylvania#"><br />
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<br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a title="© Unknown" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/62283/full/spaceimages_20.jpg"><img title="Click to enlarge" alt="meteorites" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/62283/medium/spaceimages_20.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span></div>
<br /></div>
<br /><br />
<br />Residents of northeastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania should be on the lookout for space rocks.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />At 1:22 a.m. Aug. 8, sky cameras belonging to the Southern Ontario
<br />Meteor Network in Canada recorded a meteor as it entered the Earth's
<br />atmosphere over Lake Erie, and scientists at NASA say they have "high
<br />confidence" that pieces of the meteor landed in northern Trumbull
<br />County.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The "fireball" entered the atmosphere 54 miles above Lake Erie,
<br />traveling south-by-southeast at approximately 55,900 mph. Dr. William
<br />Cooke, head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office, said debris created
<br />Doppler radar echoes west of Hermitage, Pa.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The International Astronomical Union defines a fireball as "a meteorite
<br />brighter than any of the planets." In essence, the mass and speed of the
<br />meteor increase its visibility, Cooke said.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Cooke said the fragments are about two to three inches in diameter and likely weigh a few ounces.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Patrick Durrell, an astronomy professor at Youngstown State University
<br />said the fragments can be difficult to identify, but there is at least
<br />one telltale sign.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"If you pick up a rock that feels a lot heavier than you'd expect for its size, that's a good place to start," Durrell said.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Durrell and Cooke both said meteorite landings like this one are highly common and occur daily.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Jay Reynolds, research astronomer at Cleveland State
<br />University, said meteorites like this one are not dangerous, and have no
<br />radioactivity but are scientifically "very fascinating when you can
<br />find them."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Reynolds said denser meteorites are usually the ones that make contact
<br />with the Earth because they can withstand the pressure of the thicker
<br />layers of Earth's atmosphere.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />He said in this case, the thicker layers caused the meteor to fracture into meteorites.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"While you won't see something like this coming into this area every
<br />night, in and of itself, it's not that uncommon," Durrell said.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Cooke said that while meteorite falls are very common, a given point on
<br />Earth may only see such a fireball once every couple of decades.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />What makes this sighting special, Cooke said, is that the meteor was tracked and its trajectory recorded from start to finish.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"Very few meteorites are tracked on their way down, so this would be very special," Cooke said.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Reynolds said many of the meteorites that have been found over time are
<br />composed largely of iron and small amounts of nickel and other metal
<br />compounds, with carbonaceous cores.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Cooke, however, said the composition of this meteor is unknown and will not be determined until a fragment is found and studied.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />He said the farthest point of the meteor's orbit corresponds with the
<br />outer edge of the asteroid belt between the planets of Mars and Jupiter.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Should the National Aeronautics and Space Administration retrieve a
<br />piece of this meteor, Cooke said, they could determine the compositional
<br />differences of matter based on distance from the sun.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Of course, that kind of research hinges entirely upon somebody actually
<br />finding a piece of meteorite, and so far, Cooke said, nobody has
<br />reported one.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Residents contacted in Kinsman and Gustavus reported no knowledge of finding any space rock.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"Nobody mentioned it at lunch today. It's news to me," said Kinsman
<br />Township Trustee Tony Gates, who dines regularly with residents of
<br />Kinsman and Gustavus.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Gustavus Trustee Alan Bradford echoed Gates: "I haven't heard anybody say anything about it."<br />
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<br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://rt.com/usa/news/comet-elenin-space-nasa-478/">Cosmic smoke and mirrors, or how crumbs of truth are mixed with confusion and lies: The mystery of Comet Elenin</a>
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<br /><div class="m-bar"><br />
<br />Russia Today<br />
<br />Fri, 19 Aug 2011 02:23 CDT</div>
<br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/233812-Cosmic-smoke-and-mirrors-or-how-crumbs-of-truth-are-mixed-with-confusion-and-lies-The-mystery-of-Comet-Elenin#"><br />
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<br />Astronomers and other outer space experts are speaking out on a comet
<br />expected to make a close call with colliding into Earth later this
<br />year. The consequences could be dire, so why are so many people unaware
<br />of it?
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><div><iframe width="400" height="390" frameborder="0" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5z8f6-kdVl8"></iframe></div>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"I think it's worth a raised eyebrow" says author Brooks Agnew. He's
<br />done a lot of research on Elenin and tells RT that there are some rather
<br />strange coincidences regarding the comet that people should take into
<br />consideration.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"A lot of people are concerned about it," says Agnew. "We've done a lot
<br />of research on Comet Elenin and what we've found is there's a lot of
<br />missing data on this comet"
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Agnew says that NASA calls the comet just "a harmless little fuzzball of
<br />ice" that won't come within more than 20 million miles from Earth.
<br />Others, he says, are claiming that this comet should raise concern since
<br />it doesn't look like a comet, doesn't act like a comet and is coming
<br />from outside of the area where most comets are accustomed to originate
<br />out of.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"There are a lot of things about this comet that don't make sense," Agnew says.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Another thing raising concern for the author is that another
<br />large asteroid is expected to come close to Earth around the same time.
<br />Coincidentally, he says, a new emergency alert system has been announced
<br />to debut the same day that asteroid will rock right by our planet.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Agnew attests that allegations about the impact of Elenin have been
<br />discussed for centuries, and says that people shouldn't just shrug them
<br />off as crackpot theories. "We've been put off by professionals saying
<br />everything is going to be fine, but those of us that have been watching
<br />the cosmological signs, geological signs [and] oceanographic signs have
<br />been showing that there is the trend that the ancients said would be
<br />happening."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"What we should be aware of is that the projections [are] highly
<br />estimated. There are a lot of forces working on this comet as it travels
<br />through our solar system from a very off angle and not all of them have
<br />been calculated. So were kind of making a guess of where this thing is
<br />going to end up - and a guess might not be good enough."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />If projections aren't enough proof, Agnew says to look no further than
<br />the major governments of the world. Both the US and Russia have invested
<br />fortunes into new underground shelters, and the author says there has
<br />to be a reason for it. NASA, he says, has also recently circulated a
<br />video among the families of employees advising them what to do in case
<br />of an upcoming emergency.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />According to Agnew, it's time to connect the dots, and he's not just talking about constellations.
<br /></div>
<br /><br />
<br /><strong>Comment: </strong>There has been much disinformation and
<br />plain hysteria around the topic of Comet Elenin that contribute to the
<br />general confusion regarding possible effects of the comet on Earth and
<br />our civilization.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />We advise our readers to take a look at the following articles that bring sanity to this highly charged topic.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/231434-Elenin-Nibiru-Planet-X-Time-for-a-Sanity-Check">Elenin, Nibiru, Planet-X - Time for a Sanity Check</a>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/229777-Cosmic-Propaganda-Alert-Comet-Elenin-Just-Passing-By-With-SOTT-Commentary">Cosmic Propaganda Alert! Comet Elenin: Just Passing By - With SOTT Commentary</a>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/231479-Interview-with-Russian-astronomer-Leonid-Elenin-The-discoverer-of-Comet-Elenin">Interview with Russian astronomer Leonid Elenin - The discoverer of Comet Elenin</a><br />
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<br /><strong><a href="http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/08/divert-asteroid-apophis/" target="_blank">Missing the Forest for the Trees: Kamikaze Satellite Could Be Earth's Last Defense Against Asteroid</a><br />
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<br /><div class="m-bar">Mark Brown<br />
<br />Wired<br />
<br />Mon, 22 Aug 2011 10:00 CDT</div>
<br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/233915-Missing-the-Forest-for-the-Trees-Kamikaze-Satellite-Could-Be-Earth-s-Last-Defense-Against-Asteroid#"><br />
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<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/78650/full/apophis_dan_durda_iaaa.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Dan Durda/IAAA"><img alt="" width="400" height="273" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/78650/large/apophis_dan_durda_iaaa.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Dan Durda/IAAA<br />
<br /></span></div>
<br /></div>
<br />Chinese researchers from Beijing's Tsinghua University have <a href="http://arxiv.org/abs/1108.3183" target="_blank">revealed</a>
<br />plans to divert the asteroid Apophis - which may well collide with
<br />Earth in a couple decades - by smashing a kamikaze solar sail into it.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The asteroid, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/99942_Apophis" target="_blank">99942 Apophis</a>
<br />to give it its full title, is a 46 million tonne, 1,600-foot-wide chunk
<br />of space rock that's currently hurtling its way towards our planet. In
<br />2029 it will soar safely past Earth, but we won't be out of the woods
<br />just yet.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />There's a possibility that it will pass through a slim gravitational
<br />keyhole - a tiny, 600 mile area of space - that would cause the
<br />asteroid to turn back on itself and strike Earth some seven years later
<br />in 2036.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Read the full article on <a href="http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/08/divert-asteroid-apophis/" target="_blank">Wired.com</a>.
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<br /><strong><a href="http://www.space.com/12699-meteor-measured-space-station-big-perseid.html" target="_blank">Meteor Measured From Space Station - How Big Was That Perseid?</a></strong>
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<br />SPACE.com<br />
<br />Mon, 22 Aug 2011 15:56 CDT</div>
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<br />NASA scientists have analyzed the photograph taken by Ron Garan
<br />aboard the ISS during the 2011 Perseid Meteor Shower and have deduced
<br />the size and speed it was traveling at when it hit the Earth's
<br />atmosphere.
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<br /><div><embed width="400" height="412" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash" swliveconnect="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" seamlesstabbing="false" name="flashObj" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" flashvars="videoId=1123759856001&linkBaseURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.space.com%2Fvideo&playerId=1417334557&viewerSecureGatewayURL=https://console.brightcove.com/services/amfgateway&servicesURL=http://services.brightcove.com/services&cdnURL=http://admin.brightcove.com&domain=embed&autoStart=false&" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/1417334557"></embed><br />
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<br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.gadling.com/2011/08/22/unidentified-falling-object-seen-over-loch-ness/">Scotland: Unidentified Falling Object Seen Over Loch Ness</a><br />
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<br /><div class="m-bar">Sean McLachlan<br />
<br />Gadling.com<br />
<br />Mon, 22 Aug 2011 12:52 CDT</div>
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<br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a title="© Wikimedia Commons" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/78672/full/bolide.jpg"><img title="Click to enlarge" alt="Fireball" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/78672/medium/bolide.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Wikimedia Commons<br />
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<br />Scottish police are scratching their heads over a <a target="_blank" href="http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/scotland/Loch-Ness-39plane-crash39-alert.6822739.jp">mysterious occurrence at Loch Ness</a> this weekend, <em>The Scotsman</em> newspaper reports.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />On Saturday night several eyewitnesses saw an object falling into or
<br />near the loch. Some describe it as a white light, others as a blue
<br />light. People said it was a balloon, or an ultralight, or a parachute.
<br />Some people said it didn't fall at all, merely passed over the tree
<br />line.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />In other words, nobody has the faintest idea what they saw.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />So many people called emergency services, however, that it's certain
<br />something strange was going on in the skies, and the police, the
<br />coastguard, a lifeboat crew, and the Royal Air Force went in search of
<br />it. Several hours of looking in the water and along the shore turned up
<br />nothing.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />So what was it? Possibly a meteor. Meteors often cause UFO
<br />flaps. Large ones called "fireballs" or "bolides" can light up the sky
<br />and even change color as their various minerals get ionized from the
<br />heat of entering our atmosphere. Since they streak across the night sky
<br />so quickly, it's hard to judge distance or location. This photo,
<br />courtesy of <a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bolide.jpg">Wikimedia Commons,</a> shows a bolide. It's not a photo of whatever was over Loch Ness.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Sadly, there were no reported sightings of Nessie this weekend. Some people say the poor <a target="_blank" href="http://www.gadling.com/2010/01/08/has-the-loch-ness-monster-gone-extinct/">Loch Ness Monster may be extinct.</a><br />
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<br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.irishweatheronline.com/news/space/meteorite/meteorites-possible-from-irish-fireball/33267.html">Meteorites Possible From Irish Fireball</a>
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<br />Irish Weather<br />
<br />Tue, 23 Aug 2011 09:47 CDT</div>
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<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Unknown" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/78697/full/meteor_fireball.jpg"><img alt="" width="393" height="319" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/78697/large/meteor_fireball.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span><br />
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<br /><span class="caption">A fireball, similar to the one pictured, was observed over Irish skies on 23 August 2011<br />
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<br /><em>Astronomy
<br />Ireland (AI) has confirmed that a fireball meteor entered the
<br />atmosphere above Ireland in the early hours of Tuesday morning (23
<br />August 2011).</em>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The organisation added that meteor fragments are likely to have reached
<br />the surface but it remains unclear at this stage if the impact occurred
<br />overland or in the Atlantic Ocean.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Astronomy Ireland says it has already received dozens of reports of a
<br />bright fireball shooting across Irish skies at approximately 12:15 AM on
<br />Tuesday. 60-70% of reports received came from the Greater Dublin area
<br />with other reports being received from Tipperary, Meath, Cork, Mayo and
<br />Kerry.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Initial reports suggest the fireball moved westward in a line from north
<br />Dublin to south Mayo, meaning anyone living to the north of this line
<br />would have observed the fireball to the south and vice versa for those
<br />living south of the Midlands.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Only two meteorites have been successfully retrieved on the
<br />island of Ireland since the beginning of the 20th century. A meteorite
<br />was recovered in Northern Ireland in 1969, while in November 1999 a
<br />meteorite fall in County Carlow earned a local woman almost €15,000 when
<br />she recovered four egg-sized pieces. Fragments were subsequently
<br />donated to the National History Museum in London and Trinity College
<br />Dublin.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />According to AI's Conor Farrell: "There is high confidence that this
<br />meteor produced meteorites. If the fireball was brighter than the Full
<br />Moon, as has been reported by many people today, then it is well worth
<br />looking for a meteorite (the part that survives the fall to Earth).
<br />However, it remains unclear whether they impacted overland or in the
<br />sea. Even if the main body of the meteorite crashed into the sea,
<br />smaller pieces could have fallen earlier on land", explained.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />He added: "We would appeal to anyone who may have captured the fireball
<br />on video or camera to visit our website as soon as possible. We would
<br />also ask anyone who operates a CCTV system to review video from around
<br />12:15am this morning."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Mr. Farrell said that average meteor is no bigger than a grain of sand.
<br />He continued: "When it collides with the Earth the closing speed can be
<br />of the order of 100,000mph and the friction with the thin air 100 miles
<br />above the ground quickly heats the tiny particle until it vapourises in a
<br />fiery streak which we call a shooting star and that typically only
<br />lasts one second or so."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"Most meteors are caused by small particles of dust that were left
<br />behind by comets. The brighter meteors come from larger particles.
<br />Fireballs are probably caused by objects the size of a pea, and larger.
<br />Comets leave very few large particles behind them so most fireballs
<br />probably come from pieces smashed off asteroids as the result of
<br />something (probably another asteroid) colliding with an asteroid,
<br />probably millions of years ago. Most asteroids orbit the Sun between the
<br />orbits of Mars and Jupiter i.e. between 2 and 4 times the Earth's
<br />distance from the Sun. Compared to planets, most asteroids are small
<br />(only a handful are bigger than 100 miles across) but they are rocky and
<br />some have metal cores", he concluded.
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<br />To report a Fireball or submit images/video visit the Astronomy Ireland <a target="_blank" href="http://www.astronomy.ie/fireball.php">website</a>.
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<br /><span class="BoldGrey">Notable European Meteorite Finds</span>
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<br /><br />
<br />The <span class="BoldGrey">Cape York</span> meteorite was found in Savissivik, Greenland, and is one of the world's largest iron meteorites.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elbogen_%28meteorite%29"><span class="BoldGrey">Elbogen</span></a> - The oldest recorded meteorite in the Czech Republic, also known as the "betwitched burgrave".
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hrascina"><span class="BoldGrey">Hrascina</span></a> meteorite - Croatian meteorite first speculated as originating from outer space.
<br /><br />
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<br /><span class="BoldGrey">Orgueil</span> is a scientifically important carbonaceous chondrite meteorite that fell in SW France in 1864.
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<br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.portageonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23498&Itemid=468">Canada: Burning Fireball Lights Up Sky</a><br />
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<br /><div class="m-bar">Tara Funke<br />
<br />Portage Online<br />
<br />Wed, 24 Aug 2011 16:58 CDT</div>
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<br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a title="© Portage Online" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/78855/full/misc_fireball.png"><img title="Click to enlarge" alt="Fireball" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/78855/medium/misc_fireball.png" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Portage Online</span><br />
<br /><span class="caption">Example of a fireball. This is not a photo from Tuesday night.</span></div>
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<br />A number of southern Manitoba residents noticed something unique in
<br />the sky last night. Scott Young is an astronomer at The Manitoba Museum,
<br />and shares they've already received quite a few reports.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Young tells us people were able to watch it for a few seconds, and it
<br />was one of those once in a lifetime kind of experiences. If you did
<br />witness it he says consider yourself one of the lucky ones. Young
<br />explains they are currently collecting as many as reports as possible,
<br />and have activated their meteorite search team. He adds even if they
<br />narrow it down they'll be covering a lot of ground and that takes a lot
<br />of people. Anyone interested in volunteering in the search can contact
<br />the museum.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />He shares only 13 actual meteorites have ever been found in Manitoba
<br />even though people bring potential meteorites to the museum once a week,
<br />and have for 40 years. Young tells us they receive calls daily about
<br />events or sightings in the night sky.
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<br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110825/local/Burning-UFO-thought-to-be-a-fireball.381693">Malta: Burning UFO thought to be a fireball</a>
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<br />Times of Malta<br />
<br />Thu, 25 Aug 2011 08:37 CDT</div>
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<br />A strange object spotted by residents in the skies above Birżebbuġa
<br />on Saturday night could have been a "very bright meteor", also referred
<br />to as a fireball, according to the Astronomical Society of Malta.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />It has attempted to shed light on the outlandish sighting, described by
<br />curious resident Charles Caruana as resembling a "hot air balloon"
<br />because it was clearly on fire.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Mr Caruana, who filmed the sight, said it advanced at speed from Żurrieq
<br />and over the water polo pitch towards the Freeport until it disappeared
<br />in the distance within minutes.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />It was about 9 p.m. when he caught sight of it and zoomed off to get
<br />hold of his camera, saying it was the size of a car and was neither too
<br />high nor too far.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Mr Caruana excluded that it was a flying saucer because it was alight,
<br />but was still curious to know what it was. His curiosity was not
<br />satisfied when he went to buy the newspapers the next day.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Perhaps the most "extraordinary" observation, in Mr Caruana's
<br />view, was that it was not simply rising through the air but "zipping"
<br />and "dancing" at speed. Had it merely been an object that caught fire,
<br />rising slowly into the sky, Mr Caruana, who does not have particular
<br />extraterrestrial interests, would not have thought much of it. However,
<br />as it were, the unusual sight was more suspicious than pleasant.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The fire could be deciphered from when it was spotted over Żurrieq, but
<br />the possibility that it was a plane ablaze was quickly ruled out.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Although the only image the society had at its disposition to determine
<br />the nature of the object was out of focus, its president, Alexei Pace,
<br />said it could be deduced from the description that it was a fireball.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Meteors were caused when specks of rocks from outer space entered the
<br />earth's atmosphere at high speed and burned up to produce the streak of
<br />light that was called a shooting star, Mr Pace explained.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The recent Perseid meteor shower, the famous Tears of St Lawrence, peaked on the night of August 12, he pointed out.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"Fireballs are caused when a larger object enters the atmosphere and
<br />burns up spectacularly. It often takes several seconds to disintegrate
<br />and, often, it does not burn up entirely because it is too big, ending
<br />up on the surface of the earth as a meteorite," Mr Pace explained. "In
<br />this case, it seems this did not happen. It appears the rock from outer
<br />space simply burned up in the atmosphere."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Avid observers of the night sky, the members of the society have
<br />witnessed several of these fireballs and "each one remains vivid in our
<br />memories". Sometimes, they change colour as their various components
<br />burn up separately. On other occasions, they can break up during entry,
<br />or even explode at the end.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Mr Pace was "fairly confident" something similar had been observed by Mr
<br />Caruana. His only scepticism lay in comments on its size or that it
<br />zipped through the sky. He said these were subjective and did not really
<br />tally with a scientific explanation.
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<br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.thedickinsonpress.com/event/article/id/50709/group/News/">US: Weird Lights Flash Across Night Sky Tuesday - Alexandria, Minnesota</a></strong>
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<br /><div class="m-bar">Al Edenloff<br />
<br />The Dickinson Press<br />
<br />Thu, 25 Aug 2011 00:00 CDT</div>
<br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/234038-US-Weird-Lights-Flash-Across-Night-Sky-Tuesday-Alexandria-Minnesota#"><br />
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<br />Did you see something unusual streaking across the sky Tuesday night? You're not alone.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><em>Echo Press</em> reader Brian Alvstad posted this on the newspaper's
<br />Facebook page Wednesday: "Find out what the heck that meteor or asteroid
<br />or comet was that flew in the sky around 9:45 last night [Tuesday]...it
<br />was green and purple and you could tell when it broke through the
<br />atmosphere. Pretty much the coolest thing ever."
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<br />After hunting around on the Internet, the newspaper found a blog - <a target="_blank" href="http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com/">lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot</a> - that included several sightings of a fireball or meteor from sky watchers across the Midwest on Tuesday night.
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<br /><br />
<br />Here are just a few:
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<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">Huron, South Dakota:</span> "At approximately
<br />9:40 we saw a large fireball fall from the sky northwest of Huron. It
<br />lasted approximately five to seven seconds. Bright ball of fire with
<br />blue green tail."
<br /><br />
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<br /><span class="BoldGrey">Delano, Minnesota:</span> "Tonight along Highway
<br />12 heading west approaching Delano, I witnessed an orange fireball
<br />hurling towards the ground at a slant from the north at approximately
<br />9:33 p.m. It hit ground in a corn field but was unable to see where
<br />exactly it landed."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">Grand Forks, North Dakota:</span> "Saw a bright
<br />green fireball in the south-southwest sky between 9:30 and 9:35 p.m.
<br />Description: Green ball of light...slightly above in brightness moving
<br />to the southeast."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">Bismarck North Dakota:</span> "Approximately
<br />9:40, was driving and something flashed in the sky, looked up, and there
<br />was a VERY bright streak across the sky, mildly slow moving for a
<br />meteorite. It lit up the entire sky and land, and both me and my
<br />girlfriend were amazed by it...Very beautiful event, lasted a few
<br />seconds, colorful, and very bright - almost had a strobe like effect."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">Shafer, Minnesota:</span> "My Husband, daughter
<br />and I were driving westward on U.S. Highway 8 about one mile east of
<br />Shafer (near the Wisconsin border) at 9:38 p.m. We all saw a green/blue
<br />fireball with a short white tail about 45 degrees high in the sky, about
<br />1:00 direction from our vehicle as we were heading due west. It was so
<br />large at first I thought it was a dud firework falling to the ground but
<br />I quickly realized it must have been a meteorite. It came down in an
<br />upper left toward the lower right trajectory, northward. I was driving
<br />so I had to watch the road, but my husband and daughter thought they saw
<br />a yellowish flash in the horizon behind the tree line/town, but we are
<br />unsure how far away it was. It was pretty amazing!"
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">Oakwood State Park, South Dakota:</span> "We saw a
<br />huge fireball fall from the sky in the west. It was dark in the center
<br />surrounded by blue and orange. It lit up the sky and lasted about five
<br />to seven seconds."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">Collegeville, Minnesota:</span> "Around 9:30
<br />p.m., I was coming home from St. Cloud and was near St. John's
<br />University or city of Collegeville and saw a bright green light fall
<br />from the sky and it went through the trees and appeared to hit the
<br />earth. Once it landed, there was like a shockwave of light, like
<br />lightning coming from the ground and spread out for a instant then went
<br />dark."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">Arvilla, North Dakota:</span> "On Tuesday, at
<br />about 9:40 p.m., I witnessed a bright green ball of light headed west
<br />just south of Arvilla. Easily as bright as the moon."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">Saskatchewan, Canada:</span> "At approximately
<br />9:30 p.m. last night (Tuesday), I was heading south towards the town of
<br />Maryfield, Saskatchewan and saw a BRIGHT blue ball of fire with a long
<br />tail that lit up the sky that lasted for at least five seconds. Then
<br />before it hit the ground there was a large flash of white light like an
<br />explosion and it was gone."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">Detroit Lakes, Minnesota:</span> "Last night
<br />(Tuesday), I saw a blue light followed by a bright white light when it
<br />hit the ground...This was about 9:30 p.m. It was viewed to the southwest
<br />in the sky."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">Beulah, North Dakota:</span> "Several people,
<br />family and friends, reported to me they saw a blue flash of light while
<br />outdoors last night. It happened between 9:30 and 10 p.m. The sky was
<br />clear and sun was almost set. They described it as a blue flash of light
<br />that lit up the darkening outdoors as a stroke of lightning would."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><em>Al Edenloff is a reporter at the Alexandria (Minn.)</em> Echo Press<em>, which is owned by Forum Communications Co.</em>
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<br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2030428/Meteorite-Peru-leaves-forest-fires-wake-Cusco.html#ixzz1W8P6vZNR">Meteorite blasts across skies of Peru leaving forest fires in its wake</a>
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<br /><div class="m-bar">Claire Bates<br />
<br />DailyMail.co.uk<br />
<br />Fri, 26 Aug 2011 08:20 CDT</div>
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<br />Blazing with the fury of a mini-sun this amazing video shows the
<br />moment a suspected meteor streaked across the sky over the city of Cusco
<br />in Peru.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />It was captured blasting through the upper levels of the atmosphere at
<br />2pm yesterday afternoon, leaving an iridescent trail in its wake.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Astonished residents watched as the impressive natural phenomena eventually disappeared over the horizon.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><div><iframe width="400" height="338" frameborder="0" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/BB3M2m-ZiCI"></iframe></div>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Experts believe it may have caused forest fires in the south of the city, which have been ravaged by drought.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Local officials and the National Police are currently trying to
<br />determine where the meteorite may have landed and are speaking to
<br />farmers south of the city.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The meteorite fell in the south of the Imperial City, between the districts of San Sebastian and San Geronimo.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Cusco is the gateway to the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu. The Inca trail
<br />attracts tens of thousands of tourists every year, with entry
<br />restricted to 200 new travelers each day.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Peru last saw a meteorite fall in September 2007 near the border with Bolivia.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Unknown" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/79026/full/ff.jpg"><img alt="" width="387" height="240" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/79026/large/ff.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="caption">Blazing fury: The meteorite was broadcast on local TV just hours after it flew across Cusco in Peru yesterday</span></div>
<br /></div>
<br />The
<br />basketball-sized meteorite left an impressive crater that was 44ft in
<br />diameter. Fragments of rock tested positive for iron, nickel and cobalt
<br />with traces of iridium.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />It was dated as about 4.5 billion years old and formed around the same time as our Solar System.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Meteorites are fragments of rock and sometimes metal that survive the
<br />fall to Earth from space. Most are fragments left over from the
<br />collision of two asteroids.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Captured by Earth's gravitational force, they are accelerated to speeds of over 11.2 kilometres per second.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />They can vary in size from a fraction of a millimetre to larger than a
<br />football pitch. It is believed a meteorite six miles across wiped out
<br />the dinosaurs 65million years ago.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Hundreds of meteorites fall to Earth each year but only a handful are recovered.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Unknown" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/79027/full/ff.jpg"><img alt="" width="390" height="267" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/79027/large/ff.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span><br />
<br /><span class="caption">The meteorite was spotted in the Andean city of Cusco, home of the Inca citadel Machu Picchu<br />
<br /><br />
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<br /><strong><a href="http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=113576" target="_blank">Blazing Starry Trail: Accountant Finds Sixth Comet in Nine Months</a>
<br /></strong>
<br /><div class="article-info">
<br /><div class="m-bar"><br />
<br />daijiworld.com<br />
<br />Sat, 27 Aug 2011 12:41 CDT</div>
<br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/234134-Blazing-Starry-Trail-Accountant-Finds-Sixth-Comet-in-Nine-Months#"><br />
<br /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<br /></div>
<br /><div class="article-body">
<br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/79165/full/SOHO_sungrazer_with_prominent_.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA"><img style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/79165/medium/SOHO_sungrazer_with_prominent_.jpg" alt="SOHO Sungrazer" title="Click to enlarge" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA</span><br />
<br /><span class="caption">A Kreutz Sungrazer comet.<br />
<br /><br />
<br /></span></div>
<br /></div>
<br />He
<br />spends most of his day at office and commuting to and from Mumbai in
<br />crowded suburban trains but accountant Shishir Deshmukh still finds time
<br />to look at the stars and pursue his passion for astronomy. <strong>And he has just discovered his sixth comet in just nine months</strong>, the first by an Indian.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />His latest discovery was a Kreutz Group comet Thursday evening.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"I feel very thrilled by my discoveries, the first by an Indian. It
<br />gives great pleasure. Although I am an amateur astronomer, I have made a
<br />small contribution to the world of astronomy," an excited Deshmukh, who
<br />works as an assistant accounts manager with a leading realty group,
<br />told IANS.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The Kreutz Group of comets is named after a German astronomer, Heinrich
<br />Kreutz, who discovered that these types of comets - which travel around
<br />the sun and consist of a solid frozen nucleus part and a long luminous
<br />tail - have their orbits very close to the sun.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"These comets are generally very fragile, barely a few metres long and
<br />keep disintegrating throughout their orbit," explained Deshmukh, a
<br />commerce graduate from the University of Mumbai with an M.Phil in
<br />information science.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />These comets are much smaller than the better known large comets like Halley's Comet.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"But they (the small ones) are very useful to the study of the dynamics
<br />of orbits of comets, their disintegration process and perturbations from
<br />giant planets," he added.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"<strong>Actually, what we are seeing now in the form of Kreutz Comets
<br />is the debris or left-overs of very large comets which come in the
<br />vicinity of our solar system once in a few centuries.</strong>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"From the orbits of some of the Kreutz Comets, it is estimated that one
<br />such huge comet was seen in 1106, then in 1882 and last in 1965,"
<br />Deshmukh, 37, explained.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Besides, some short period comets are also observed using Solar &
<br />Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) data, which help scientists understand
<br />their orbital dynamics and rate of erosion each time they visit our
<br />solar vicinity.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />On the basis of their observations, astronomers can estimate their
<br />expected time of return - and the possible risks to mankind, he said.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Detailing his achievement, Deshmukh said it involves a furiously
<br />competitive study of images of the sun sent by SOHO, which is a space
<br />observatory between the sun and earth, some 1.5 million km away from our
<br />planet.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"It beams one image every 12 minutes which is uploaded on its official
<br />website 24x7 and picked up by astronomers worldwide. I also studied
<br />them, measured the positions of any suspicious objects, picked out my
<br />claims and submitted them for confirmation, including the one yesterday
<br />(Thursday)," he said.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"My latest discovery - yesterday evening - has also been acknowledged as
<br />genuine and the official confirmation is expected soon," Deshmukh said.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The plaudits have been many.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Deshmukh was felicitated for his achievement by former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in Dombivali last March.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />In January this year, Deshmukh, co-author of a book, <em>Astronomy of Eclipses</em>,
<br />was commended and felicitated by eminent nuclear scientist Anil
<br />Kakodkar for becoming the first Indian amateur astronomer to get
<br />international recognition as a discoverer of SOHO comet.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />He will speak on "Comet Hunting With SOHO" at a major felicitation
<br />organised by the Bombay Amateur Astronomers Association Saturday.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />In the past 15 years or so, a total of 2,122 Kreutz Group of comets have
<br />been discovered by professional and amateur astronomers worldwide.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />German astronomer Rainer Kracht holds a tally of 225 discoveries.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Other astronomers have made smaller individual discoveries, including Deshmukh, of course.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Prior to Deshmukh, late Indian astronomer M.K.V. Bappu of Andhra Pradesh
<br />along with two international scientists, discovered a conventional
<br />comet which was later named after them as 'Bappu-Bok-Newkirk Comet' in
<br />1949.
<br /></div>
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<br /><strong><a href="http://www.echinacities.com/aroundtown/china-in-pulse/super-ufo-spotted-in-both-beijing-and-shanghai.html" target="_blank">China: "Super UFO" (Or Possible Fireball?) Spotted in Both Beijing and Shanghai</a>
<br /></strong>
<br /><div class="article-info">
<br /><div class="m-bar"><br />
<br />eChinacities.com<br />
<br />Wed, 24 Aug 2011 13:58 CDT</div>
<br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/234138-China-Super-UFO-Or-Possible-Fireball-Spotted-in-Both-Beijing-and-Shanghai#"><br />
<br /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<br /></div>
<br /><div class="article-body">
<br />On the night of August 20th, numerous people and pilots in both
<br />Beijing and Shanghai reported seeing a strange ball of light that grew
<br />bigger and bigger over the cities' skies. The topic has been creating
<br />quite a lot of buzz among Chinese netizens, with many claiming that the
<br />strange glow was actually a "Super UFO". Several pilots who were mid-air
<br />at the time reported seeing a huge white ball flying at an altitude of
<br />10.7km, one that appeared several hundred times larger than the moon.
<br />The mysterious phenomenon was visible for 20 minutes and was reported to
<br />the East China Air Traffic Control Bureau. As usual, no official
<br />explanation for this mysterious sighting has been given.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><div><iframe width="400" height="345" frameborder="0" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ZLApHRg10oM"></iframe></div>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/79172/full/super_ufob.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Unknown"><img width="387" height="217" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/79172/large/super_ufob.jpg" alt="Super UFO1" title="Click to enlarge" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span></div>
<br /></div>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/79173/full/super_ufoa.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Unknown"><img style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/79173/large/super_ufoa.jpg" alt="Super UFO 2" title="Click to enlarge" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span></div>
<br /></div>
<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/79174/full/super_ufod.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Unknown"><img style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/79174/large/super_ufod.jpg" alt="Super UFO 3" title="Click to enlarge" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span></div>
<br /></div>
<br /></div>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><strong>
<br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/12746-comet-elenin-comet-garradd-night-sky-observing-tips.html">Comet Double Feature: Comets Elenin & Garradd Now Showing in Night Sky</a><br />
<br /><br />
<br /></strong>
<br /><div class="article-info">
<br /><div class="m-bar">Geoff Gaherty<br />
<br />Space.com<br />
<br />Fri, 26 Aug 2011 09:00 CDT</div>
<br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/234090-Comet-Double-Feature-Comets-Elenin-Garradd-Now-Showing-in-Night-Sky#"><br />
<br /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<br /><div class="article-body">
<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Starry Night Software" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/79061/full/Gaherty_comets.jpg"><img width="393" height="393" title="Click to enlarge" alt="Comet Garradd" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/79061/large/Gaherty_comets.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Starry Night Software</span><br />
<br /><span class="caption">Comet Garradd can be seen right now with binoculars in the constellation Sagitta.
<br /><br />
<br /></span></div>
<br /></div>
<br /><br />
<br />Skywatchers often ask "When's the next comet?" In fact, if you're
<br />prepared to do a bit of searching, there are always several comets
<br />visible in the night sky, including two right now.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Some comets are like old friends, they keep coming back at regular intervals to visit. These are called periodic comets; <a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/11552-photos-halleys-comet-images-astronomy.html">Comet Halley was the first</a>
<br />such comet to be identified, by Edmond Halley back in 1705. It returns
<br />to the inner solar system every 75 to 76 years; its last appearance was
<br />in 1986 and its next will be in 2061. At present Halley is out just
<br />beyond Neptune's orbit.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Other comets are one-time visitors: they come in to visit us from the
<br />Oort Cloud, warm themselves for a few months by the sun, and then head
<br />back out to the farthest reaches of the solar system.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />There are two comets currently visiting the inner solar system - comet
<br />Elenin and comet Garradd - so the next two months will provide some
<br />excellent opportunities to observe these unusual visitors. The<a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/12746-comet-elenin-comet-garradd-night-sky-observing-tips.html"> sky map of the two comets here</a> shows their locations over the next few weeks.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />All comets share one characteristic: they are like "dirty
<br />snowballs" in their makeup. Their nucleus of rock and ice, when warmed
<br />by the sun, sheds its ice which forms a graceful tail as it's swept away
<br />by the solar wind. Because it's the solar wind that drives the gas and
<br />vapor away, comet's tails always point away from the sun.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><div class="StoryComment">
<br /><br />
<br /><strong>Comment: </strong>If comets were actually "dirty snowballs"
<br />like this author claims, then why have all attempts to disturb the
<br />surface of comets produced <a target="_blank" href="http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/2005/arch05/050715cometwater.htm">nothing but rock and dust</a>?
<br />Oh, I know what you're thinking, the water and ice must be trapped on
<br />the inside and only "leaks out" to form the long comet tail, right?
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Wrong. In fact, comet tails appear to be an entirely electric
<br />phenomenon (why else would they only point in the direction of the solar
<br />wind, for instance?) and the H<sub>2</sub>0 observed within the tail is likely due to chemical processes brought on by powerful electric currents. As stated in our <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/226166-Planet-X-Comets-and-Earth-Changes-by-J-M-McCanney">summary of James McCanney's theories</a> on comets:
<br /><blockquote class="typ1">
<br />McCanney... hypothesizes a "recombination zone" around the comet nucleus
<br />where the electrons neutralize incoming positive ions from the tail, <strong>making the region a "chemical factory" where elements are blended into molecules like water and hydrocarbons...</strong>
<br /></blockquote>
<br />But in case you need more proof, this <a target="_blank" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RXQJR5SSFk&feature=share">little video</a>
<br />should suffice to sum up the main points of why comets cannot possibly
<br />be "dirty snowballs" as many mainstream astronomers have painted them to
<br />be.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /></div>
<br /><br />
<br />In the sky, many comets appear like ghostly fingers pointing down
<br />towards Earth. That is one reason why comets have traditionally been
<br />viewed as harbingers of death and disaster. To astronomers, on the
<br />contrary, they are objects of great beauty and attract close scientific
<br />scrutiny for the information they reveal about the ancient history of
<br />the solar system and its farthest reaches.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">Comet Elenin now showing</span>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The first comet visitor in the sky we'll review is comet Elenin (C2010
<br />X1). You may have heard about, because it's become a popular item for
<br />the gloom and doom crowd, who see portents of disaster in ordinary
<br />astronomical objects.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/12653-comet-elenin-earth-threat-nasa-answers.html">The truth about Comet Elenin</a>
<br />is that it is a quite ordinary, fairly small comet discovered on Dec.
<br />10, 2010 by Russian amateur astronomer Leonid Elenin using a remote
<br />controlled telescope in Arizona.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />This comet will pass closest to the sun on Sept. 10 (45 million miles or
<br />72 million kilometers) and closest to Earth on Oct. 16 at a distance of
<br />22 million miles (35 million km.)
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Despite the fact that this is a really tiny body, 3 or 4 km. in diameter which will miss the Earth by 22 million miles, the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/comet-elenin-planet-nibiru-doomsday-2012-1833/">purveyors of gloom and doom</a>
<br />have seized upon it as bringing disaster upon the Earth. Please don't
<br />take them seriously, instead try to spot this interesting little object.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><div class="StoryComment">
<br /><br />
<br /><strong>Comment: </strong>The "purveyors of gloom and doom" have
<br />certainly latched onto the buzz surrounding Comet Elenin, but we suspect
<br />the situation is not so cut and dry:
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/231434-Elenin-Nibiru-Planet-X-Time-for-a-Sanity-Check">Elenin, Nibiru, Planet-X - Time for a Sanity Check</a>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /></div>
<br /><br />
<br />At present, comet Elenin is too close to the sun to be viewed from
<br />the Northern Hemisphere, though observers south of the equator may catch
<br />it low in the western sky after sunset. Northern observers' turn will
<br />come after the comet passes the sun and starts back out towards the Oort
<br />Cloud.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />In the last few days of September, Elenin will separate from the sun in
<br />our morning sky. It will be visible in binoculars in the morning sky for
<br />all of October, and we will publish finder maps then.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />There is an unusual opportunity to "observe" this comet when it is very
<br />close to the sun during the last week of September. To do this, you
<br />won't be able to use your eyes or any optical aid; instead you will use
<br />your computer.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Several times every day, the SOHO satellite returns images of the sun, including ones from the <a target="_blank" href="http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/c3/512/">observatory's LASCO C3 camera</a>
<br />which has a field of view of about 15 degrees. This has an occulting
<br />disk which blocks the Sun itself but lets the background stars appear.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />If you take a look at it right now, you'll see Venus off to the left of
<br />the sun and the star Regulus to the right. During the last week of
<br />September, you will be able to see Comet Elenin pass through the field
<br />of view.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">Comet Garradd graces the sky</span>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The other bright comet in the night sky hasn't received the publicity of
<br />comet Elenin but is actually a better opportunity for skywatchers. This
<br />is comet Garradd (C2009 P1), which was discovered on Aug. 13, 2009 by
<br />Australian astronomer G. J. Garradd.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Comet Garradd is very easy for any experienced skywatcher to locate and
<br />observe with binoculars. Currently it is just south of the small but
<br />well-known constellation of Sagitta, the arrow. This arrow-shaped
<br />constellation is right in the middle of the summer triangle formed by
<br />the bright stars Vega, Deneb, and Altair. On Wednesday (Aug. 24),
<br />Garradd was right under the tip of the arrow.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Tonight (Friday, Aug. 26), Garradd it will be impaled by the shaft of
<br />the arrow, and one week later (Friday, Sept. 2) it will be right by the
<br />"hook" of the popular Coathanger Cluster, also known as Brocchi's
<br />Cluster. During that time it should increase in brightness from about
<br />magnitude 8.2 to about magnitude 6.9, an easy object with binoculars.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The comet will continue moving westward and brightening until it reaches
<br />magnitude 5.8 on September 16. Then it will begin to fade.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The <a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/12746-comet-elenin-comet-garradd-night-sky-observing-tips.html">sky map in this story</a> shows the position of comet Garradd at 11 p.m. EDT each night from through Sept 2.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />A reminder: All of the magnitudes given here for comets are estimates;
<br />comet brightness is notoriously hard to predict. The comets may be
<br />fainter than predicted or we may get lucky and get a couple of really
<br />bright comets.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Editor's note: If you snap an amazing photo of Comet Elenin or Comet
<br />Garradd, and would like to share them with SPACE.com for a possible
<br />story or gallery, please contact managing editor Tariq Malik at:
<br />tmalik@space.com.
<br /></div>
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<br /><div class="article-header"><strong>
<br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=29&month=08&year=2011">Weekend Comet Garradd Show</a>
<br /></strong>
<br /><div class="article-info">
<br /><div class="l-bar"></div>
<br /><div class="m-bar"><br />
<br />Space Weather<br />
<br />Mon, 29 Aug 2011 00:58 CDT</div>
<br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/234171-Weekend-Comet-Garradd-Show#"><br />
<br /></a></div>
<br /><div class="r-bar"></div>
<br /></div>
<br /></div>
<br /><div class="article-body">
<br />Over the weekend, incoming Comet Garradd passed beautifully close to globular star cluster <a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_71">M71.</a>
<br />For all those amateur astronomers caught under hurricane clouds, John
<br />Chumack of Dayton, Ohio, recorded the encounter in the form of a 2.5
<br />hour time-lapse movie:
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><div><iframe width="400" height="345" frameborder="0" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qfb95XRTZiA"></iframe></div>
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<br />"It was so cool watching the comet's tail cross the cluster," says Chumack. "I had a <a target="_blank" href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=John-Chumack-CometGarradd_M71_082711_ChumackLRweb_1314571402.jpg">great view</a> through my home-made 16-inch telescope."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />At the moment, Comet Garradd can only be seen through a backyard telescope (recommended: <a target="_blank" href="http://www.shopspaceweather.com/david-h-levy-comet-hunter-with-twilight-ii-mount-and-heavy-duty-tripod.aspx">The Comet Hunter</a>).
<br />It is, however, approaching the sun and brightening. Recent projections
<br />place it at peak magnitude 6, on the threshold of naked-eye visibility,
<br />in February 2012. Because Comet Garradd is a first-time visitor to the
<br />inner solar system, it could behave in unexpected ways, perhaps
<br />exceeding those expectations. Stay tuned--and meanwhile browse the image
<br />links below.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">More Images</span>
<br /><br />
<br />From <a target="_blank" href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Daniele-Cipollina-Garradd_1314565190.jpg">Daniele Cipollina</a> of Arquata Scrivia, Alessandria, Italy; from <a target="_blank" href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Nick-Howes-garradm71_1314480887.jpg">Nick Howes</a> of Cherhill in Wiltshire UK; from <a target="_blank" href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=ULF-PETERSSON-GARRADD_Oland_1314554329.jpg">Ulf Petersson</a> of Öland, Sweden; from <a target="_blank" href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Doug-Zubenel-IMG_1826_1314553563.jpg">Doug Zubenel</a> of Linn Co., Kansas; from <a target="_blank" href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Marek-Harman-garradd_1314482944.jpg">Marek Harman</a> of Vartovka observatory, Banská Bystrica, Slovakia; from <a target="_blank" href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Karl-Beck-komet-serie_1314440345.jpg">Karl Beck</a> of Observatory Michelbach, Austria; from <a target="_blank" href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Jimmy-Westlake-C_Garradd-M71-Westlake-082711-sm_1314435056.jpg">Jimmy Westlake</a> of Stagecoach, Colorado; from <a target="_blank" href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Marian-UrbanAsk-www--dss_1314454730.jpg">Marian Urbaník</a> of Čadca, Slovak republic; from <a target="_blank" href="http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Becky-Ramotowski-M71-Comet-Garradd_1314430933.jpg">Becky Ramotowski</a> of Tijeras, New Mexico.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">Comet Links:</span>
<br /><br />
<br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/2009P1/2009P1.html">Finder charts,</a> <a target="_blank" href="http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2009%20P1;orb=1;">3D orbit.</a>
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<br /><strong><a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/5525179/Strange-light-sparks-UFO-theories" target="_blank">New Zealand: Strange light sparks UFO theories and Nibiru hysteria</a>
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<br />Auckland Now<br />
<br />Mon, 29 Aug 2011 02:29 CDT</div>
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<br />A strange light filmed in the sky over Auckland on Saturday night was
<br />probably not a UFO, comet, or rogue planet about to smash into Earth,
<br />astronomers say.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The descending point of light, which revealed a U-shaped nimbus when
<br />zoomed in on, was filmed in the sky west of Auckland about 6pm on
<br />Saturday.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><div><iframe width="400" height="335" frameborder="0" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/KwQ934qUxYw"></iframe></div>
<br /><br />
<br />The video was uploaded to YouTube by a user known as biggordy100 who
<br />narrates that the light is "back", indicating he has seen it in the
<br />past.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The tag-line on the video reads: "WTF is in our skies? ufo! nibiru? elenin? spaceship? comet? seen over Auckland at 18.00."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Nibiru is the name given by Doomsday and conspiracy blogs and websites
<br />to a supposed collision between Earth and a mystery planet - Planet X -
<br />that is supposed to occur in the early 21st Century.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />According to Wikipedia, Nibiru was revealed to Wisconsin woman
<br />Nancy Lieder after aliens implanted a communications device in her
<br />brain.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Comet Elenin has a similar conspiracy theory attached to it - something
<br />about it actually being a secret brown dwarf star that is going to flip
<br />the Earth's magnetic polarity with disastrous results.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Astronomers who could be bothered have debunked both theories.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Astronomy educator at Auckland's Stardome Observatory, David Britten,
<br />said Nibiru would not hit Earth "because it doesn't exist".
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />He said the light that had been filmed was "almost certainly the contrails of a plane heading out over the Tasman Sea".
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Britten said at that time, the sun had set enough for Auckland to be in shadow but the plane was still in the sun.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Its spreading contrail was catching the light and making the effect recorded.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Britten said the observatory was approached about similar sights semi-regularly.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"Look at the coverage over Hurricane Irene - if there was something out
<br />there that was going to hurt us, we would know about it.''
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />He said if the videographer had waited for dark, with a telescope he
<br />might have seen Saturn and its rings in approximately the same spot.
<br /></div>
<br /><br />
<br /><strong>Comment: </strong>This article is a good example of how
<br />unsubstantiated theories based on lies and ignorance lead to even more
<br />ignorance, ridicule and faulty science. It's true that Nibiru and Comet
<br />Elenin hysteria is blown way out of proportions, but the following
<br />statement "if there was something out there that was going to hurt us,
<br />we would know about it" clearly demonstrates astronomers' lack of
<br />knowledge when it comes to threats from space or PTB's effort to conceal
<br />them.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Read the following articles to learn more on the topic:
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/146792-The-Hazard-to-Civilization-from-Fireballs-and-Comets" target="_blank">The Hazard to Civilization from Fireballs and Comets</a>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/128992-Forget-About-Global-Warming-We-re-One-Step-From-Extinction-" target="_blank">Forget About Global Warming: We're One Step From Extinction!</a>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/231434-Elenin-Nibiru-Planet-X-Time-for-a-Sanity-Check" target="_blank">Elenin, Nibiru, Planet-X - Time for a Sanity Check</a>
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<br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/229777-Cosmic-Propaganda-Alert-Comet-Elenin-Just-Passing-By-With-SOTT-Commentary" target="_blank">Cosmic Propaganda Alert! Comet Elenin: Just Passing By - With SOTT Commentary</a><br />
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<br /><strong>
<br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.universetoday.com/88494/comet-elenin-could-be-disintigrating/">Comet Elenin Could Be Disintegrating</a><br />
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<br /><div class="m-bar">Nancy Atkinson<br />
<br />Universe Today<br />
<br />Mon, 29 Aug 2011 13:25 CDT</div>
<br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/234191-Comet-Elenin-Could-Be-Disintegrating#"><br />
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<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Michael Mattiazzo" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/79304/full/elenin_aug_29.jpg"><img width="375" height="443" title="Click to enlarge" alt="Elenin" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/79304/large/elenin_aug_29.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Michael Mattiazzo</span><br />
<br /><span class="caption">C/2010 X1 Elenin, on Aug 29, 2011.<br />
<br /><br />
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<br />Astronomers
<br />monitoring Comet Elenin have noticed the comet has decreased in
<br />brightness the past week, and the coma is now elongating and diffusing.
<br />Some astronomers predict the comet will disintegrate and not survive
<br />perihelion, its closest approach to the Sun.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />On August 19, a massive solar flare and coronal mass ejection hit the
<br />comet, which may have been the beginning of the end for the much
<br />ballyhooed lump of ice and dirt.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© NASA/STEREO" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/79306/full/Elenin_stereo.jpg"><img width="396" height="396" title="Click to enlarge" alt="Elenin_1" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/79306/large/Elenin_stereo.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA/STEREO</span><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="caption">Comet Elenin as seen by the STEREO HI1-B on Aug. 6, 2011, from about 7 million kilometers from the spacecraft.<br />
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<br />We've
<br />been following it in the STEREO spacecraft images and a number of
<br />amateurs have been following it in their telescopes," said Australian
<br />amateur astronomer Ian Musgrave, author of the <a target="_blank" href="http://astroblogger.blogspot.com/">Astroblog website.</a>
<br />"Shortly after the coronal mass ejection the comet flared up and you
<br />could see some beautiful details in the tail, with the tail was twisting
<br />about in the solar wind. But shortly after that Earth- bound amateurs
<br />reported a huge decrease in the intensity of the comet. We think it may
<br />presage a falling apart of the comet."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><a target="_blank" href="http://astrobob.areavoices.com/2011/08/28/comet-elenin-tired-of-too-much-pr/">One journalist</a> joked that maybe Comet Elenin just couldn't take all the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.universetoday.com/87619/worried-about-comet-elenin-faqs-from-ian-musgrave/">doomsday talk and publicity.</a>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"It really has been a beautiful little comet and it deserves a better fate than to be overhyped by doom-sayers," said Musgrave.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Elenin is a long period comet originating from the outer edges
<br />of our solar system, and Musgrave noted that comets coming from the Oort
<br />cloud which are making their first pass through the solar system tend
<br />to be under-performers in terms of brightness. "They don't brighten as
<br />quickly as comets that come around more than once," he said, "and in
<br />looking at the relationship between the brightness and the distance from
<br />the Sun, we find empirically that comets that brighten on roughly the
<br />same speed as Elenin tend to be likely to fall apart at perihelion."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />However, Musgrave added, each comet is unique. "Some comets will survive
<br />and some won't. The fact that this comet decreased in brightness after
<br />the CME, possibly indicates that the comet will not survive. Another
<br />possibility is that merely the CME wiped away the coma - the bright
<br />cloud of particles around the comet - and the volatiles of the comet
<br />might take awhile to come back and recreate the coma, if it does
<br />survive."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Elenin's mass is smaller than average and its trajectory will take it no
<br />closer than 34 million km (21 million miles) of Earth as it circles the
<br />Sun. It will make its closest approach to Earth on October 16th, but be
<br />closest to the Sun on Sept. 10.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Another Australian amateur Michael Mattiazzo has been taking images of the comet (see his website, <a target="_blank" href="http://members.westnet.com.au/mmatti/sc.htm">Southern Comets</a>)
<br />and he has noticed that the nucleus appears to be elongating. When that
<br />occurs, usually the comet disintegrates or splits apart. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.universetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Elenin-disrupition.gif">Here is an animation</a> Mattiazzo created from images he took of Comet Elenin on August 19, 22, 23, 27 & 29.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />You can see a wide-field view of the comet by astrophotographer Rob Kaufmanns, comparing the view from August 19, 23 and 26 at <a target="_blank" href="http://i727.photobucket.com/albums/ww271/Rob_Kau/Comparison19-26Aug2011.jpg">this link.</a>
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />A similar process took place just a few weeks ago with another comet, 213P Van Ness.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Do comets break apart often?
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"You don't see it it that often, but it happens surprisingly more than
<br />people think," Musgrave said. "Van Ness just happened, but ever couple
<br />of years there is a comet that visibly breaks up into fragments, maybe
<br />about 6 comets in the last 10 years - excluding the Kreutz-sun-grazer
<br />family of comets which split and vaporize on a regular basis."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© ESO" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/79309/full/C_1999_S4_LINEAR_breakup_1024x.jpg"><img width="397" height="244" title="Click to enlarge" alt="Comet Linear" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/79309/large/C_1999_S4_LINEAR_breakup_1024x.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© ESO</span><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="caption">A closeup photo of the breakup of Comet S4 LINEAR taken on August 6, 2000 by the European Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile.<br />
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<br />Unfortunately,
<br />the likely demise of Comet Elenin hasn't put a lid on the doomsdayers
<br />who have predicted earthquakes or three days of darkness or a collision
<br />with Earth.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"The doomsdayers are just saying that more bad things will happen!"
<br />laughed Musgrave. "But you have to remember that when a comet breaks up,
<br />the fragments stay in the same orbit. If it evaporates, you'll have a
<br />mass of rubble and gas on the same orbit. People don't seem to get that
<br />space is big, really big, and when a comet breaks up it follows Newtons
<br />Laws and the fragments will slowly draw apart, but over the timescale
<br />that we see them, the difference will be so miniscule."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><span class="BoldGrey">Sources:</span> Conversation with Ian Musgrave, <a target="_blank" href="http://astroblogger.blogspot.com/2011/08/comet-elenin-fades.html">Astroblog,</a> <a target="_blank" href="http://astrobob.areavoices.com/2011/08/28/comet-elenin-tired-of-too-much-pr/">AstroBob,</a> <a target="_blank" href="http://members.westnet.com.au/mmatti/sc.htm">Southern Comets,</a> <a target="_blank" href="http://stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/item.php?id=selects&iid=154">STEREO</a><br />
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<br /><a target="_blank" href="http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/news_china/2011-08-26/huge-bubble-cloud-over-beijing-skies-mystifies-observers.html">China: Huge Bubble Cloud over Beijing Skies Mystifies Observers</a>
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<br />NDT Television<br />
<br />Fri, 26 Aug 2011 16:22 CDT</div>
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<br />Photos were posted online of a mysteriously huge bubble cloud over
<br />the skies of Beijing and surrounding areas Thursday, which raised
<br />concerns and discussions among netizens.
<br /><br />
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<br /><div><iframe width="400" height="345" frameborder="0" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ZLApHRg10oM"></iframe></div>
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<br />"At first, it's relatively small and bright, the upper part is something
<br />like a semi-circle, a spherical ring of light, it's obviously becoming
<br />bigger and bigger then."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />When the observation team set their instruments at the bubble, it
<br />gradually became bigger and thinner. The entire occurrence lasted for
<br />less than 15 minutes. Observers took pictures of the whole process and
<br />posted them online.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Staff members at the Beijing Planetarium believe it was the same phenomenon after an analysis of time and space.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"Of course people had a lot of discussions, personally I think it's a kind of meteor or a phenomenon in terrestrial space."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Experts say the bubble cloud was unlikely a natural phenomenon. Judging
<br />from the pictures, the bubble cloud was hundreds of miles away from
<br />observers in Beijing.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Zhu Jin, Curator, Beijing Planetarium: "It must have been caused by human beings, not nature or other things like that."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />In less than one day more than 100 comments were posted about the
<br />unusual phenomenon. Many of those who commented said they had seen a
<br />similar bubble cloud in the provinces of Shenyang, Shanxi, and Zhejiang.
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<br /><strong><a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/205707/20110830/too-bright-meteor-streaks-over-atlanta-skies-nasa-video-and-photos-nasa-marshall-space-flight-center.htm" target="_blank">US: 'Too Bright' Meteor Streaks Over Atlanta Skies</a>
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<br />International Business Times<br />
<br />Tue, 30 Aug 2011 00:11 CDT</div>
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<br />A very bright meteor streaked across the skies of Atlanta Sunday night, NASA scientists revealed Monday.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />NASA said that the meteor was "too bright for the all-sky camera in Cartersville to accurately determine the center of light."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The Meteoroid Environment Office reported the meteor's initial speed was around 23.6 km per second (52,800 mph).
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The all-sky camera in Cartersville, Georgia, operated by NASA's Marshall
<br />Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., captured a video and photos of
<br />the spectacular meteor.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/79383/full/meteor_1.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA/MSFC/Meteoroid Environment Office"><img width="385" height="295" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/79383/large/meteor_1.jpg" alt="Meteor_1" title="Click to enlarge" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA/MSFC/Meteoroid Environment Office</span><br />
<br /><span class="caption">View of meteor from all sky camera located at Cartersville, Georgia. </span></div>
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<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/79384/full/meteor_2.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA/MSFC/Meteoroid Environment Office"><img width="379" height="289" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/79384/large/meteor_2.jpg" alt="Meteor_2" title="Click to enlarge" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA/MSFC/Meteoroid Environment Office</span><br />
<br /><span class="caption">View of meteor from all sky camera located at Tullahoma, Tenn.<br />
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<br /></span></div>
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<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/79385/full/meteor_3.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA/MSFC/Meteoroid Environment Office"><img width="397" height="302" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/79385/large/meteor_3.jpg" alt="Meteor_3" title="Click to enlarge" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA/MSFC/Meteoroid Environment Office</span><br />
<br /><span class="caption">View from all sky camera located at Huntsville, Alabama.<br />
<br /><br />
<br /></span></div>
<br /></div>
<br />A YouTube video from NASA Marshall TV here shows the bright meteor captured from an all-sky camera in Cartersville.
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<br /><div><iframe width="400" height="345" frameborder="0" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/o0L5JfKG6Y0"></iframe></div>
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<br /><br />
<br /><strong>
<br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.walesonline.co.uk/cardiffonline/cardiff-news/2011/08/30/cardiff-student-discovers-two-new-asteroids-91466-29325596/">Wales, UK: Cardiff student discovers two new asteroids</a><br />
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<br /><div class="m-bar">Graham Henry<br />
<br />WalesOnline<br />
<br />Tue, 30 Aug 2011 11:10 CDT</div>
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<br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© WalesOnline" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/79425/full/hannah_blyth_887724374.jpg"><img width="362" height="160" title="Click to enlarge" alt="Hannah Blyth" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/79425/large/hannah_blyth_887724374.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a>
<br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© WalesOnline</span><br />
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<br /><span class="caption">Hannah Blyth: Helped discover asteroids on work experience</span></div>
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<br />A stargazing schoolgirl made quite an impact on work experience when she discovered 22 new asteroids and a disintegrating comet.
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<br />Hannah Blyth, 18, had been chosen to do a summer work placement on the
<br />University of Glamorgan's Faulkes Telescope project when she made the
<br />remarkable finds.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The St John's College pupil single-handedly discovered two new
<br />asteroids, and together with astronomer Nick Howes and two of the
<br />world's leading comet and asteroid imagers, Giovanni Sostero and Ernesto
<br />Guido, discovered 20 others - not to mention the comet.
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<br />"I was not really expecting to be involved with the asteroids, never
<br />mind expecting to find new ones - and it was quite a rush, to tell the
<br />truth," said Hannah, from Castleton, who is hoping for a career in
<br />science.
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<br /><br />
<br />"It was an extremely exciting moment when we discovered the asteroids,
<br />and something to remember. I'm very proud of the fact that I was part of
<br />something like that, I had a lot of fun."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />She was encouraged by her biology teacher to go on the funded
<br />placement as part of a programme by the Nuffield Foundation, working
<br />with the team in charge of the Faulkes Telescope project.
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<br /><br />
<br />The robotic telescope, based on the Hawaiian island of Maui and in
<br />Australia, is operated remotely from computers, and Hannah shared her
<br />remarkable discoveries with the rest of the team via Twitter.
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<br />"As soon as we saw the images, we knew something had kicked off in the comet's tail," said Mr Howes.
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<br />"We were frantically communicating with each other over Twitter, e-mail
<br />and Facebook, just staggered with the huge fragment we were seeing
<br />drifting back along the comet's tail."
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<br />The university said that it was "highly unusual" for an amateur to
<br />discover such phenomena on their own, and "even more remarkable" for a
<br />schoolgirl.
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<br /><br />
<br />It follows on from Irish comedian Dara O'Briain sparking a Twitter
<br />stargazing debate after operating the telescopes remotely from London
<br />after tweeting with Dr Edward Gomez, from Cardiff University, who is
<br />also involved with the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network.
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<br />"This project, which we decided to squeeze in to the normally quiet
<br />summer months when the telescopes are not being used by schools, has
<br />been an amazing success", says Dr Paul Roche, head of astronomy at
<br />Glamorgan and space ambassador for Wales.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />"We had hoped to find maybe one or two new asteroids, but Nick, Giovanni
<br />and Ernesto have turned up far more than that already, and Hannah's
<br />observations of the comet fragmentation are really the icing on the
<br />cake."
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<br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/article2411300.ece">India: Delhi boys discover asteroid</a><br />
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<br /><div class="m-bar">Madhur Tankha<br />
<br />The Hindu<br />
<br />Tue, 30 Aug 2011 13:12 CDT</div>
<br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/234276-India-Delhi-boys-discover-asteroid#"><br />
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<br />Vaibhav Sapra and Sharanjeet Singh of Bal Bharati Public School,
<br />Pitampura, have discovered a Main Belt Asteroid, ensuring for themselves
<br />a name in history.
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<br />Conducted by non-government organisation Science Popularisation
<br />Association of Communicators and Educators (SPACE) in collaboration with
<br />the United States-based International Astronomical Search
<br />Collaboration, the All-India Asteroid Search Campaign-2011 concluded in
<br />August. It involved school and college students from across the country
<br />working with a special software to discover asteroids. The students,
<br />divided into groups of two each, collaborated and analysed their data
<br />for asteroid hunting. It was a difficult and challenging task for
<br />Vaibhav and Sharanjeet, both Science students, to jointly detect the
<br />asteroid from a series of pictures of the sky.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />According to Sharanjeet, the three-month-long campaign involved
<br />software training, studying and spotting moving objects on the
<br />highly-advanced Astrometrica software. "We had to assume the shape of
<br />the asteroid. For each image, there was a graph which we had to jointly
<br />analyse and prepare a report."
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Once the report was completed, the duo despatched it to renowned
<br />astrophysicist and head of International Astronomical Search
<br />Collaboration Miller Patrick.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Since there is an official confirmation of discovering "2011QM14," the
<br />name of the new asteroid, both Vaibhav and Sharanjeet will now have to
<br />wait till its orbit is completely known. "It will take three to six
<br />years, and then we will be allowed to give it a name. We have not
<br />decided the name yet," Sharanjeet said.
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Reacting to his son's discovery, Rajeev Sapra, an executive engineer in
<br />Delhi Transco Limited, said he is on cloud nine. "A couple of years ago,
<br />I purchased a small telescope for my son. Last year, he wanted a bigger
<br />telescope. I invested in it because astrophysics is Vaibhav's field of
<br />specialisation."
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<br />Sixty school and colleges from different metropolises participated in the campaign.
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<br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">A Service of <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">Signs of the Times</a>: The most comprehensive, objective and reliable Alternative News Source on the Web. If you aren't reading <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">SOTT</a>, you don't know what's REALLY happening!</div>Keithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06011086310017706847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385115091808825739.post-263805899537821112011-07-18T22:38:00.010+01:002011-11-10T13:27:48.218+00:00Elenin, Nibiru, Planet-X - Time for a Sanity Check<div class="article-header">
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/231434-Elenin-Nibiru-Planet-X-Time-for-a-Sanity-Check" target="_blank">Elenin, Nibiru, Planet-X - Time for a Sanity Check</a></b><br />
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Ryan X<br />
Sott.net<br />
Sun, 10 Jul 2011 15:29 CDT</div>
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73158/full/comet_elenin_is_coming.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Unknown"><img alt="Elenin is coming" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73158/medium/comet_elenin_is_coming.jpg" style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px;" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
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<i><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span><br /><span class="caption">What is really going on?</span></i><span class="caption"><br /></span></div>
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<br />
Oy! Where to start?<br />
<br />
It seems there is a veritable fever going around at the moment, all centered on Comet C/2010 X1 (Elenin) and the possible connection it may have to Nibiru - or Planet-X as it's known in some circles. This is the supposed "12th planet" that's been prophesied to come plowing through the Solar System causing a doomsday scenario for us earth-dwellers. Right now, YouTube is awash with videos on Comet Elenin, making this and that claim. Last I checked, a search for "Comet Elenin" returned over 5,000 results on YouTube alone (and that says nothing about what's going on in the blogosphere).<br />
<br />
As we've noted here on SOTT over the years, when the noise starts to overpower the signal, that's when there's usually something brewing behind the scenes. The Powers That Be don't just put resources into obscuring certain topics for nothing; and it seems that their disinfo machine is cranked into high gear for this one. Due to all this noise surrounding these topics many questions abound: Is there something special about Comet Elenin? Does Elenin have anything to do with Nibiru/Planet-X? Is Elenin related to the chaotic weather we've experienced lately? Is Comet Elenin really a spaceship from another galaxy? Is all of this somehow related to the end of the Mayan Calendar and the 2012 doomsday prophecies? These questions are understandable given all the lies we're swimming in and the frantic nature of the material we're dealing with. Hopefully a lot of these questions will clear up towards the end of this article.<br />
<br />
To summarize the situation, it seems that we have certain folks claiming that Comet Elenin is everything from an elaborate hoax, to a piloted alien spacecraft, to a stray neutron star, to Planet-X itself, and on and on... All the while, NASA and friends seem to be sitting back comfortably in their chairs saying, "nothing to see here, folks!" So who's figured it out? Or hasn't anyone really put all the pieces together yet? Clearly, there's a lot of truth being mixed with lies - that is for certain. The hope here is to dissect some of the noise and inject a little sanity into what is otherwise an insane discussion.<br />
<br />
Let's go back to when this all started earlier this year and see if we can make some sense out of these claims about Elenin, Nibiru and Planet-X.<br />
<br />
<b><span class="BoldGrey">Opening a Can of Worms</span></b><br />
<br />
Earlier this year SOTT published Laura Knight-Jadczyk's article on Comet Elenin titled "<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/221672-Comet-Elenin-is-Coming-" target="_blank">Comet Elenin is Coming!</a>" There she discussed some of <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/226166-Planet-X-Comets-and-Earth-Changes-by-J-M-McCanney" target="_blank">James McCanney's theories </a>and made some rough predictions about Earth Changes due to certain alignments between the Earth, Comet Elenin and the Sun. The key to understanding this process is that these alignments have the ability to 'discharge' the solar capacitor (an area which encompasses the entire Solar System), using McCanney's terminology. When this happens, there's a much greater potential for geomagnetic effects on Earth which, as we're beginning to see, are also tied to earthquakes, volcanoes, large storms and other atmospheric anomalies. And we sure have seen a lot of this these types of events this year! However, correlation does not imply causation and there may be other factors to consider too. But it was shortly after we published Laura's article that the disinfo machine began to kick into high gear.<br />
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73159/full/Leonid_Elenin.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Unknown"><img alt="Leonid Elenin" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73159/medium/Leonid_Elenin.jpg" style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px;" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
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<i><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span></i><br />
<span class="caption">Amateur Russian Astronomer Leonid Elenin - discoverer of Comet Elenin</span></div>
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Now around this same time there was a lot of buzz surrounding the potential for a magnetic pole shift. I discussed how James McCanney's theories related to the possibility of magnetic field changes in the article "<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/221977-Pole-Shift-Look-to-the-Skies-" target="_blank">Pole Shift? Look to the Skies!</a>". In this piece, I noted a huge spike in Google searches for the phrase "pole shift" in early January, likely tied to the increase in stories about mass animal deaths (which, by the way, <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/231240-Canada-Lake-at-Marden-Park-closed-after-dozens-of-dead-fish-found" target="_blank">haven't stopped</a>). So this was either on a lot of people's minds or at the very least the minds of those in alphabet agencies trying to steer public attention. Whatever the case, the 'pole shift' craze continued for the next few months.<br />
<br />
Given these trends, we began to see random folks on YouTube taking the video Laura used in her Comet Elenin article and making wild speculations about an impending 'pole shift' due to happen in the middle of March, right around the first Earth-Elenin-Sun alignment. This was mentioned in Laura's article "<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/223438-Pole-Shift-in-March-Not-Likely-" target="_blank">Pole Shift in March? Not Likely!</a>" I thought I made it pretty clear in my "<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/221977-Pole-Shift-Look-to-the-Skies-" target="_blank">Pole Shift?...</a>" article that the only way we'd have a magnetic pole shift is if a very large (planet-size) comet passes close to the Earth. But apparently these folks didn't get the message. Alignments with planets and even comets are not uncommon and a magnetic pole shift would seem to be a highly unlikely possibility. As Laura stated in her article, "it's just plain nuts to go around predicting a pole shift in March based on the approach of Comet Elenin!"<br />
<br />
So what actually happened? Well, we're pretty sure the poles didn't shift in March (although the North Pole has been <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/221911-Alarming-NOAA-Data-Supports-Observations-of-North-Pole-s-Rapid-Shift" target="_blank">steadily drifting towards Siberia </a>for some time now). However, we did get an M9 earthquake in Japan causing a devastating tsunami around this time. We suspect that the alignment with Comet Elenin may have had something to do with this. There was a massive spike in geomagnetic activity around March 11th as noted by the planetary k-index (see image below.) As SpaceWeather.com reported for <a href="http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=09&month=03&year=2011" target="_blank">March 9th</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="typ1">
A coronal mass ejection (CME) exploded from the vicinity of sunspot 1164 during the late hours of March 7th. <b>It leapt away from the sun traveling ~2200 km/s, making it the fastest CME since Sept. 2005. </b>A movie of the cloud prepared by Karl Battams of the Naval Research Lab shows a possibly substantial Earth-directed component. This CME and at least one other could brush against Earth's magnetic field on March 9th or 10th. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras.</blockquote>
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73147/full/k_index_m9_japan.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NOAA"><img alt="k-index m9 japan 2" height="347" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73147/large/k_index_m9_japan.jpg" style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px;" title="Click to enlarge" width="395" /></a><br />
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<i><span class="tiny">© NOAA</span><br /><span class="caption">Image showing the spike in the k-index, indicating increased geomagnetic activity, around the time of the March 11th M9 Japanese earthquake</span></i></div>
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<br />
Was this massive CME and the resulting geomagnetic activity around March 11th, as well as the devastating Tsunami in Japan, all related to an Elenin-Earth-Sun alignment? I mentioned in my recent "<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/229308-Planetary-Alignments-and-the-Solar-Capacitor-Things-are-heatin-up-" target="_blank">Planetary Alignments...</a>" article the work of John Nelson and the relationship he discovered between planetary alignments and geomagnetic activity. But is there a similar correlation between geomagnetic activity and earthquakes? In fact, there does appear to be one. <br />
<br />
One such theory is the Lithosphere-Atmosphere-Ionosphere Coupling (LAIC) theory used to explain the phenomenon of ionospheric heating over a region prior to a major earthquake. This <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228732-Atmosphere-Above-Japan-Heated-Rapidly-Before-M9-Earthquake" target="_blank">article </a>describes how the ionosphere heated up just prior to the Japanese M9 quake. Similar ionospheric heating over a region before a major earthquake has been detected in other instances as well.<br />
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It seems that scientists have a difficult time explaining the cause of these ionospheric and atmospheric changes that precede major earthquakes. Most scientists still believe that the source of an earthquake must begin within the Earth itself, arising from forces generated by shifting tectonic plates. They suspect that radiation due to radon released before and during an earthquake causes the anomalous ionospheric heating and atmospheric changes observed. However, there are <a href="http://fedgeno.com/documents/on-the-relation-between-solar-activity-and-seismicity.pdf" target="_blank">other schools of thought</a> that posit that ionospheric changes due to solar activity is actually the <b>driver</b> behind major earthquakes. Another good summary of this concept can be found <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/230371-Earthquakes-and-Weird-Atmospheric-Phenomena-Which-Comes-First-The-Chicken-Or-the-Egg-" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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Right now the jury is still out on how the process works, but given what we've observed between planetary alignments and Earth Changes, we suspect that the forces that trigger an earthquake likely originate from outside of the ionosphere. But it would take a whole other article to explain this reasoning fully. For the moment, let's explore some of what's being said about Comet Elenin and see if we can make some sense out of this madness.<br />
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<b><span class="BoldGrey">The Good</span></b><br />
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On April 11th, <a href="http://sites.google.com/site/omerbashich/" target="_blank">Dr. Mensur Omerbashich</a>, a Bosnian scientist, submitted the paper "<a href="http://arxiv.org/abs/1104.2036" target="_blank">Astronomical alignments as the cause of ~M6+ seismicity</a>" to the arXiv.org database, hosted by Cornell University. On the one hand, this paper was interesting because he drew a strong correlation between planetary alignments and earthquakes, something we've been keeping an eye on here at SOTT. But on the other hand, he attributes the mechanism behind this to his own "georesonator concept", which involves gravitational forces, while we rather suspect that electrical forces are primarily responsible for this correlation. The paper itself has been much discussed on the web since its release and many have tried to offer alternative interpretations to Omerbashich's data. Much of his paper focuses on Comet Elenin as a big part of its dataset, which has caused some folks to raise an eyebrow or two. In an interview conducted by Marshall Masters of Yowusa.com, Masters <a href="http://yowusa.com/planetx/2011/planetx-2011-06a/1.shtml" target="_blank">questions Omerbashich</a> on why he chose to focus on Comet Elenin for his paper:<br />
<blockquote class="typ1">
The Elenin was suitable for testing of my concept because its
trajectory, with inclination of around 1º, is virtually coplanar to our solar system. It also approaches the Sun relatively slowly, traveling
along the legs of a hyperbola. These characteristics are enabling long
alignments amongst the Elenin, the Earth and a third body.<br />
<br />
The Elenin also drags gravitationally locked particles spanning 30k+ km,
but neither its relatively small mass nor relatively low density
constitute forbidding factors for causing strong earthquakes in the
georesonator. No other object with similar properties has been noticed
in our solar system in the past few decades, to the best of my
knowledge.</blockquote>
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<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73162/full/omerbashich.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Unknown"><img alt="Omerbashich" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73162/medium/omerbashich.jpg" style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px;" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
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<i><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span></i><br />
<span class="caption"><i>Omerbashich is the guy in the center with the blue shirt. This image was taken in 2001 at a technical conference held at the University of New Brunswick.</i></span><br />
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He's right. Most comets have some large amount of inclination in their orbit about the Sun. By "inclination", I mean that their orbit is offset by some degree from the plane of the ecliptic, which is where all the planets are. For example, Comet Hale-Bopp is inclined a whopping 90 degrees to the plane of the ecliptic - pretty much perpendicular to the planets. A body having a small inclination (like Comet Elenin) is apparently an important feature for Omerbashich's georesonator concept.<br />
<br />
He also predicts that as Comet Elenin approaches the Earth, the earthquake activity will actually decrease. The reason for this, he explains, is that Elenin will pick up speed as it makes its slingshot<br />
around the Sun, so any alignments will be too short-lived to cause any major earthquake activity. Now that Elenin is still on its approach, the Earth alignments should be of longer duration, leading to greater "resonance," and thus more high-magnitude earthquakes, he claims. Omerbashich predicts that as Elenin heads on its way out of the Solar System, the earthquake activity should intensify for a period of time as the longer duration alignments increase again. This appears to be one feature of his theory that is falsifiable.<br />
<br />
While Omerbashich's paper focuses exclusively on explaining the peaks in earthquake activity, how do we make sense of the <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228041-US-A-Record-226-Tornadoes-Recorded-Over-24-Hours-Last-Week" target="_blank">record number of tornadoes</a> we've experienced this spring, along with other electrical anomalies including <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228706-Exploding-Transformers-More-than-meets-the-eye-" target="_blank">transformer fires</a>? It seems that there is an electrical component to this whole process that Omerbashich has overlooked. However, when asked in the interview about his opinion of the popular <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/226938-The-Electric-Sky" target="_blank">Electric Universe Theory</a>, he states:<br />
<blockquote class="typ1">
<br />
I am not familiar with the details of that theory. Bear in mind though, that electromagnetism can also be a byproduct and a feature of a closed mechanical oscillator.</blockquote>
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So maybe we have a chicken and egg problem? Does Omerbashich's georesonator cause the electromagnetic effects, or do the electromagnetic effects stand on their own? Remember the Ionosphere-Atmosphere-Lithosphere Coupling theory mentioned above? Omerbashich's paper also mentions the observed ionospheric heating before major earthquakes, yet his georesonator concept seems to fall short in explaining this phenomenon fully.<br />
<br />
James McCanney also spoke of planetary alignments as the cause of electrical disturbances in the solar system, possibly leading to Earth Changes. In his book <i>Planet-X, Comets & Earth Changes</i>, he cites Comet C/1999 H1 and Comet C/2001 A2 as examples of comets that supposedly caused such mischief. Neither of these comets have orbital inclinations even close to the plane of the ecliptic. However, he does note that their strongest effects were during perihelion when they were closest to the plane of the ecliptic. These alignments, he mentions, did not set up in a perfectly straight line, so it appears that there's some leeway when it comes to alignments with comets. Since Omerbashich argues that alignments of long duration are a center-piece of his georesonator concept, this seems in contradiction to McCanney's findings, since the alignments McCanney cites were all short-lived. However, McCanney's correlations are mostly with hurricanes and not earthquakes, so perhaps each sort of alignment has a different 'flavor'? It would be nice to have more research dedicated to solving these problems, but for now we're left to piece together the clues we're given.<br />
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<b><span class="BoldGrey">The Bad</span></b><br />
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In any event, Omerbashich's paper has spread like wildfire throughout the alternative media. Some folks don't buy Omerbashich's georesonator concept and instead believe that the only way Elenin could exert forces at a distance strong enough to cause earthquakes would be if astronomers have grossly underestimated its mass. Some of these folks suspect a conspiracy at NASA to hide the real data on Elenin. Now there likely is a conspiracy at NASA, but in this case no conspiracy is apparently needed to explain the conundrum. It seems more likely that these folks still haven't figured out the role that electrical forces play in our solar system - the real force behind these correlations between Elenin and earthquakes. This appears to be the reasoning behind the speculation that Elenin is actually a brown dwarf, neutron star or some other hypothetical large body like the mythical Nibiru/Planet-X, instead of just a lowly comet.<br />
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It's unfortunate to see how one layer of disinformation plays off another. As NASA and professional astronomers have neglected electrical forces in their models of the Solar System over the decades, this has left the door wide open for wild speculations of this sort - where mass and gravitation have to explain everything. You'd almost think some devious time-traveler in the future was cunning enough to set up such a sorry situation, but I digress...<br />
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There are other folks on YouTube who <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t00Rw9S_8k" target="_blank">attempt to show </a>that there is no comet in the location of the sky where Elenin is supposed to be and instead point to a brown dwarf in its place. It seems unlikely that so many astronomers (both professional and amateur) would fail to understand what they're seeing.<br />
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Just a couple notes here: Mark Sircus, whose health articles we've featured on SOTT, is one such person to join the fray of individuals proclaiming that Elenin is actually some absurdly massive body (actually a <a href="http://blog.imva.info/world-affairs/bad-news-nasa" target="_blank">neutron star </a>in his case). While this is unfortunate, and does call into question his objectivity, it may just be a case of Mark getting too involved in topics he hasn't fully researched. Hopefully Mark, like a lot of other folks, will come to their senses come October when Elenin gets up close and personal with the Earth.<br />
<br />
Another note I have to mention here is that while it seems extremely unlikely Elenin is anything other than a small comet, that doesn't invalidate the idea that there is some brown dwarf star sitting in a binary orbit with the Sun. There's actually <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/230480-Is-the-Sun-Part-of-a-Binary-Star-System-Six-Reasons-to-Consider" target="_blank">more to this theory than most people realize</a>, and a close approach of this companion star may be responsible for some of the anomalous events observed in the solar system recently.<br />
<br />
Unlike what the Nibiru/Planet-X crowd speculates, <b>the research doesn't point to this companion star coming anywhere near the inner solar system</b>. We have surmised that the precession of the equinoxes is somewhat indicative of its orbital parameters, and we can form a hypothesis on where it might reach perihelion based on the <a href="http://www.binaryresearchinstitute.org/bri/research/evidence/sheeredge.shtml" target="_blank">sheer edge</a> found just around 50 AU. However, this doesn't mean that just because the Sun's hypothetical companion doesn't come <i>into</i> the solar system that it wouldn't have any notable impact. We've made the point <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/142651-Something-Wicked-This-Way-Comes" target="_blank">elsewhere </a>that if this hypothetical companion star passes through the Oort cloud, there would also be a tendency for it to dislodge comets towards the inner solar system too.<br />
<br />
We've mentioned McCanney and his theories quite a bit here, but what is James McCanney actually saying about all of this Elenin business? One would think that he might be saying similar things about Elenin as we are. As he notes on his <a href="http://www.jmccanneyscience.com/" target="_blank">website</a> recently:<br />
<blockquote class="typ1">
<br />
[Edited for readability]<br />
<br />
<div class="article-image to-right">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73164/full/maccanney02.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Unknown"><img alt="James McCanney" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73164/medium/maccanney02.jpg" style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px;" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<i><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span></i><br />
<span class="caption"><i>James McCanney</i></span></div>
</div>
<br />
Comet Elenin IS NOT A THREAT to earth ... my name and work regarding the electrical nature of comets and the solar system are being hijacked by a government backed misinformation crew making all kinds of wild claims about Comet Elenin ...<br />
<br />
These postings are on web pages and blogs and many professionally made youtube videos disguised as coming from "average people" like you and me ... many times claiming to have resources to un-named "professional astronomers" who "verify" their baloney stories ... <br />
<br />
Some claim that they talk to aliens who "confirm McCanney's work" along with completely distorted ramblings ... some claim Comet Elenin will cause all sorts of disaster with time lines and dates with some claiming you should move to certain "safe sites" on a given timeline ...<br />
<br />
These sites and people we have found are all coming from the same place ... let me make it perfectly clear that Comet Elenin is a small comet that will likely not be even seen by most people since it is so small and far away ... someone (group) is spending a lot of time and money to make a major issue out of a complete non-issue ... the curious issue is<br />
why all the misinformation and other "date" correlations being propagated on the internet and now on the major media ...<br />
<br />
It is clear that an extensive group of people are behind this and they are getting major press and air time ... then in clear disinformation style the NASA owned press has the "white hats" (the NASA "good-guys") riding in to save the day telling you not to listen to all those quacks on the internet (pointing directly to these many sites which distort my name and work which as i said is being completely mis-represented by the same disinformation crew in what we have come to learn over the years is a well orchestrated dog and pony show ... with the same disinformation crew controlling both sides of the "debate") [...]<br />
<br />
Others are associating this false reporting with possible NASA and leadership (NWO and other) groups to create false alien invasion scenarios (emphasis on FALSE) to create fear with the public ... i have NOTHING to do with any of these reports and let me repeat and make it perfectly clear ... my work regarding cometary alignments and the electrical nature of the solar system shows that Comet Elenin IS NOT ANY KIND OF THREAT TO EARTH ... emphasis on NOT [...]</blockquote>
<br />
While he's right - there does seem to be a big disinfo campaign afoot - his writing here seems utterly paranoid. Given the topics he's dealing with, some amount of paranoia is to be expected, but this does seem over the top. Perhaps he's caught a slightly different form of the Elenin fever than the hystericized YouTubers out there? In all seriousness though, it appears that McCanney is unwilling to join in a healthy discussion of these topics and network with other like-minded individuals. This is unfortunate. It also seems like he's thrown up his hands and labeled everyone as some form of quack distorting his work without due consideration. As the saying goes, sometimes there is only a fine line between genius and insanity.<br />
<br />
It should be stated that SOTT does not endorse anything other than McCanney's older astronomy work, which was quite good for the time. He appears to be going off in his own direction which is very much different from ours.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><span class="BoldGrey">The Ugly</span></b><br />
<br />
<div class="article-image to-right">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73167/full/camelot.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© projectcamelot.org"><img alt="Camelot" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73167/medium/camelot.jpg" style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px;" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<i><span class="tiny">© projectcamelot.org</span> <span class="caption">Project Camelot "roundtable video conference" on Comet Elenin. New Age COINTELPRO at its finest.</span></i></div>
<br /></div>
<br />
Recently Kerry Cassidy of Project Camelot completed filming a "roundtable video conference" on Comet Elenin which included the likes of Richard Hoagland, Dr Joseph Farrell, Keith Hunter, Dr Carl Johan Calleman, and Andy Lloyd. At this moment, the conference in its entirety has not been released. However, selected portions have been released to the public. Most notable in this roundtable group is Richard Hoagland, of Cydonia fame (the 'face' on Mars) and his thesis that Elenin is actually a "controlled spacecraft" which is beaming Earth with gravitational torsion waves causing this increase in earthquakes. As Michael Salla of the Exopolitics Examiner <a href="http://www.examiner.com/exopolitics-in-honolulu/is-comet-elenin-an-incoming-spacecraft-heralding-a-new-age#ixzz1RCUFBp3u" target="_blank">reports</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="typ1">
<br />
The main conference organizer, Kerry Cassidy, revealed that a number of <b>anonymous whistleblowers</b> had revealed that Elenin is a piloted spacecraft, and in fact was being trailed by a fleet of spacecraft. Hoagland claims that he has been confidentially told similarly by other whistleblowers of the artificial nature of Elenin. Dr Joseph Farrell agreed and claimed that Elenin was either an artificial object (controlled spacecraft) or a natural object placed in an artificial orbit. In probably the most significant observation of the conference, <b>Hoagland claimed that Elenin was likely an active torsion field generator</b>.</blockquote>
<br />
Anonymous whistleblowers, huh?<br />
<br />
Professor Nikolai Kozyrev, a Russian scientist was the originator of the idea of torsion waves. He developed an extremely sensitive apparatus to detect these waves, which he found occurred from any irreversible process. Due to this, his torsion waves were also denoted as "time waves" by some. He was certainly involved in some exotic physics, but the main point to understand here is that these torsion waves supposedly interact with matter in such a weak way that only the most sensitive devices could detect them. This has caused many scientists to wonder if what Kozyrev observed was even a real phenomenon at all. In any event, Hoagland doesn't appear to have grasped this concept (along with many others) if he truly believes that Elenin is emitting torsion waves which are somehow strong enough to cause earthquakes.<br />
<br />
But really?... Elenin?... a piloted spacecraft?.. As in, UFO or 'alien' spacecraft? Forgive me for stating the obvious, but UFOs tend to be extremely elusive objects, popping in and out of reality with uncanny,
synchronistic timing. We've been tracking the more notable sightings
for years <a href="http://www.sott.net/signs/list_by_category/8-High-Strangeness" target="_blank">here on SOTT</a>, so we have a pretty good idea what to expect from the UFO phenomenon overall. If UFOs are such slippery entities, why would they suddenly choose the form of a plainly visible comet to zip past the planets, when they typically can't even stay in our reality long enough for people to photograph them? Frankly, the assertion that Elenin is a "controlled spacecraft" isn't falsifiable, so there's little we can say about the matter. <b>In other words, like much of what Hoagland claims, it's not even wrong.</b><br />
<br />
What's unfortunate about relating Elenin to UFOs is that Kerry Cassidy, Richard Hoagland and the other folks involved with this Project Camelot
"roundtable video conference" are setting up another scenario similar to
what occurred with Comet Hale-Bopp in the late 90's. Back then some
astronomers photographed a body trailing Comet Hale-Bopp, causing many
to openly speculate that it might be a UFO. This ultimately led to the
Heaven's Gate mass suicide. According to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hale-Bopp" target="_blank">Hale-Bopp</a> entry on Wikipedia:<br />
<blockquote class="typ1">
<br />
In November 1996 amateur astronomer Chuck Shramek of Houston, Texas took
a CCD image of the comet, which showed a fuzzy, slightly elongated
object nearby. When his computer sky-viewing program did not identify
the star, Shramek called the Art Bell radio program Coast to Coast AM to
announce that he had discovered a "Saturn-like object" following Hale -
Bopp. <b>UFO enthusiasts, such as remote viewing proponent<br />Courtney Brown, soon concluded that there was an alien spacecraft following the comet.</b>[51] Several astronomers, including Alan Hale,[52] claimed the object was simply an 8.5-magnitude star, SAO141894, which did not appear on Shramek's computer program because the user preferences were set incorrectly.[53]<br />
<br />
<b>Later, Art Bell even claimed to have obtained an image of the<br />object from an anonymous astrophysicist who was about to confirm its discovery.</b> However, astronomers Olivier Hainaut and David J. Tholen of the University of Hawaii stated that the alleged photo was an altered copy of one of their own comet images.[54]<br />
<br />
A few months later, in March 1997, the Heaven's Gate cult chose the appearance of the comet as a signal for their mass cult suicide. They claimed they were leaving their earthly bodies to travel to the spaceship following the comet.[55]</blockquote>
<br />
<div class="article-image to-left">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73168/full/Hoagland_Roswell_2002.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Unknown"><img alt="Richard Hoagland" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73168/medium/Hoagland_Roswell_2002.jpg" style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px;" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<i><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span></i><br />
<span class="caption">Richard Hoagland claims Comet Elenin is a "controlled spacecraft"</span></div>
<br /></div>
<br />
It should be noted that Art Bell and Richard Hoagland had a long-standing
relationship for many years. It seems awfully fishy that Hoagland is now promoting a similar story about Comet Elenin given what transpired with Heaven's Gate over a decade ago. What Cassidy, Hoagland and others have started here is most shameful. Presenting Comet Elenin as a spacecraft sent to "usher in a New Age" is just plain irresponsible considering the recent history of such claims. The UFO and contactee community tends to house some of the more mentally unstable individuals. These claims by Hoagland as promoted by Cassidy seemingly amount to shouting "Fire!" in a crowded theater.<br />
<br />
But you can't really count something as a total disinfo job until <a href="http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,519.0.html" target="_blank">Sorcha Faal (a.k.a. David Booth)</a> gets in on the action. In a recent article titled "<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/Top%20US%20Space%20Expert%20Issues%20Catastrophic%20Warning%20On%20Comet%20Elenin" target="_blank">Top US Space Expert Issues Catastrophic Warning On Comet Elenin</a>" published on the whatdoesitmean.com website, Booth highlights Hoagland's claim by emphasizing this so-called "secret code" which agents unknown have apparently embedded in the <a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/" target="_blank">JPL</a><br />
data on Comet Elenin. (Just a note, it should be obvious by now that Richard Hoagland should never be considered an "expert" on anything other than COINTELPRO activities.)<br />
<blockquote class="typ1">
<br />
The 'secret coding' referred to by Hoagland contained on the JPL website falls under the "Orbit Determination Parameters" statistics information block that lists the producer of the data as being "Otto Matic."<br />
<br />
According to Hoagland's report, the significance of the name "Otto Matic" being associated with Comet Elenin lies with it only being able to be associated with a video game developed by Pangea Software, published by Aspyr Media and then released to the public on 11 September 2001, the same day the United States suffered a crippling attack.<br />
<br />
<br />
Hoagland further asserts in his report that is "beyond coincidence" that Comet Elenin is scheduled make its closest approach to the Sun on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, 11 September 2011, and that on 11 November 2011 (11-11-11) its orbit will carry it into a "grand alignment" between itself, the Earth and other planets in our Solar System.</blockquote>
<br />
Seriously?!? Keep in mind this is whatdoesitmean.com, which tends to take the looniest of the loony claims, then wrap them up in a nice package with a few credible side stories. I mean, I'd like to think<br />
that most people can see right though this stuff for the lies, half-truths and psuedo-logic that it is, but I'm afraid that there are probably some people that will fall for stuff like this. Hoagland, by<br />
way of David Booth and Kerry Cassidy, appears to be leading a bunch of folks along on a wild goose chase! Needless to say, the disinfo machine appears to be running on all four-cylinders at this point!<br />
<br />
Getting back to this comparison of Elenin with Hale-Bopp... Despite all these claims about spaceships trailing comets and such nonsense, observing multiple objects circling or trailing a comet might not be that unusual. It's often noted by astronomers that comets come in pairs. Comets often drag a large amount of disintegrating material in their tail too, some of which could be larger asteroid-like bodies.<br />
Another more controversial claim is that comets, if they are large enough, may even have natural satellites just like planets have moons. According to McCanney, this appears to have been the case with Comet Hale-Bopp:<br />
<blockquote class="typ1">
<br />
<div class="article-image to-right">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73170/full/Hale_Bopp_UFO.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Unknown"><img alt="Hale-Bopp UFO" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73170/medium/Hale_Bopp_UFO.jpg" style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px;" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<i><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span></i><br />
<span class="caption"><i>Comet Hale-Bopp 'UFO' photo</i></span></div>
<br /></div>
<br />
Thelist of lies from NASA was nearly endless. Almost no sooner than photos from the Hubble Space Telescope had been placed on the official NASA internet site, than they were as quickly removed. <b>NASA time lapse movies showed clearly a large companion or satellite orbiting the parent very massive and huge main nucleus.</b>I called my contacts at Goddard Space Flight Center and the inside story was that H-B was HUGE. The ensuing story of the companion (which NASA officially admitted later WAS THERE at the Canary Island H-B conference) is so bizarre that it will take a separate book to describeit. NASA scientists accused individuals including some of their own professional scientists of "faking photos" and causing the death of 39 unsuspecting Heavens Gates Cult members, when in fact it is now proven that NASA scientists at the University of Hawaii were the ones who doctored the photos.</blockquote>
<br />
In other words, according to McCanney, Comet Hale-Bopp's nucleus was likely somewhere around the size of our Moon. This orbiting or trailing object that UFO enthusiasts claimed to be a spacecraft was perhaps just a natural satellite of Comet Hale-Bopp, tagging along for the ride. Again, we can see how one layer of disinformation propagated by NASA about the nature of comets leads others to accept more bizarre explanations such as comet-trailing spacecraft, etc. It's the same as with the claims about Comet Elenin being the size of a brown dwarf star. Lies feed upon lies and in the end only careful research can shed any light on the situation.<br />
<br />
<b><span class="BoldGrey">...and Authoritarian Science</span></b><br />
<br />
It appears that NASA has not changed its ways since the days of the Hale-Bopp controversy either. Their stance on Comet Elenin is basically the polar opposite of those folks running around making unfounded, extraordinary claims. According to NASA, Elenin is just a tiny snowball comet that isn't going to impact the Earth in any significant way come this fall. What's more, all these claims about Nibiru/Planet-X are just an elaborate hoax so others can sell more books. In other words, "Nothing to see here, folks! Move right along..."<br />
<br />
A recent article on Space.com titled "<a href="http://www.space.com/12194-comet-elenin-planet-nibiru-doomsday-2012.html" target="_blank">Believers In Mysterious Planet Nibiru Await Earth's End</a>" is an exemplary form of this whole attitude NASA harbors. It sets up its straw man argument by putting "Nibiru", "conspiracy theorists", "2012" and "YouTube" all in the same sentence: <br />
<blockquote class="typ1">
The waxing obsession with Nibiru, which conspiracy theorists say is a planet swinging in from the outskirts of our solar system that is going to crash into Earth and wipe out humanity in 2012 - or, in some opinions, 2011 - shows that an astonishing number of people "are watching YouTube videos and visiting slick websites with nothing in<br />
their skeptical toolkit," in the words of David Morrison, a planetary astronomer at NASA Ames Research Center and senior scientist at the NASA Astrobiology Institute.</blockquote>
<br />
The folks inciting doomsday scenarios and making extreme claims about Elenin, Nibiru/Planet-X on YouTube are certainly acting irresponsibly. But NASA is no better it seems when it comes to engaging in rational discussion about these topics. In fact, NASA's outright denial of the danger posed by comets creates such an environment where irrational claims - such as the ones they rail against - can easily thrive. This outright denial only drives more people to irrational positions on these topics. True 'skepticism' is not a stubborn denial of the facts.<br />
<blockquote class="typ1">
<br />
Morrison estimates that there are 2 million websites discussing the impending Nibiru-Earth collision. He receives, on average, five email inquiries about Nibiru every day.<br />
<br />
"<b>At least once a week I get a message from a young person - as young as 11 - who says they are ill and/or contemplating suicide because of the coming doomsday</b>," Morrison told Life's Little Mysteries, a sister site to SPACE.com.</blockquote>
<br />
<div class="article-image to-left">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73171/full/NASA_Morrison.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA"><img alt="David Morrison" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73171/medium/NASA_Morrison.jpg" style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px;" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<b><span class="tiny">© NASA</span></b><br />
<span class="caption"><b>David Morrison, NASA public relations spokesman</b></span></div>
<br /></div>
<br />
This isn't the first time that David Morrison has claimed that he is hearing from young folks who are contemplating suicide over what they read and hear on the net. (<b>Which, by the way, if true, is extremely tragic! This should give pause to all those who make such doomsday claims and hopefully reflect on what drives them to do so.</b>) He mentions the same thing in a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sasivPeOzc&feature=related" target="_blank">video released</a><br />
at the beginning of this year by NASA where he also attempts to debunk any claims about 2012, Nibiru/Planet-X, planetary alignments, magnetic pole shifts, etc. in a heavy-handed, authoritarian manner. Again, no rational discussion, just outright denial and basic authoritarian tactics. And Morrison wonders why so many young people are inclined to take their own lives in a world so devoid of truth? It's the irrational loonies on both sides of the spectrum setting up this sorry state of<br />
affairs.<br />
<br />
Later on, the article discusses some of the history behind the Nibiru/Planet-X claims which were popularized by Nancy Lieder back in the late 90's. Nancy made a big hoopla over a rendezvous with this Planet-X sometime around 2003, which obviously never transpired. Since then her focus has been to ramp up a similar program focused on the 2012 timeframe. The article discusses some of the history of where the name "Nibiru" comes from:<br />
<blockquote class="typ1">
<br />
Lieder originally called the bringer of doom "Planet X," and later connected it to a planet that was hypothesized to exist by a writer named Zecharia Sitchin in his book "The 12th Planet" (Harper 1976). According to Sitchin (1920-2010), the ancient Sumerians wrote about a giant planet called Nibiru - the "twelfth planet" in the solar system, after the other planets (including Pluto), the sun and moon - which has an oblong orbit that swings near Earth every 3,600 years. Humans actually evolved on Nibiru, he said, and colonized this planet during a previous flyby. <br />
<br />
Historians and language scholars say that Stitchin grossly mistranslated ancient texts. The Sumerians did indeed believe in a cosmology involving planets; <b>however they thought there were five planets</b>, not 12, and they did not believe that humans hopped to Earth from a place called Nibiru. Furthermore, astronomers have pointed out that a planetary orbit like the one Sitchin proposed for Nibiru is impossible: No celestial body could maintain a stable orbit that swings it through the inner solar system every 3,600 years and keeps it beyond Pluto the rest of the time. The body would quickly get sucked in or pushed out.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="article-image to-right">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73174/full/sky_god.gif" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Unknown"><img alt="Ancient Sky Gods" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73174/medium/sky_god.gif" style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px;" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<i><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span></i><br />
<span class="caption"><i>Assyrian cylinder seal showing winged deity hovering in air</i></span></div>
<br /></div>
First of all, let me just say a few words about Sumerian astronomy since this author is really confusing the matter. According to astronomers Victor Clube and Bill Napier, these ancient astronomers were not particularly interested in the planets as we know them today, but rather in observing the orbits of cometary debris coming from different parts of the sky. Their "five planets" were not actually 'planets' as we understand them, but meteor streams left behind by some larger progenitor comet. <b>In what few records the Chaldean astronomers left behind, they described these "five planets" as having fixed zodiacal positions in the sky, just like meteor showers do,</b> whereas for the actual planets that we know today, their position in the zodiac varies over time. [Bailey, Clube, Napier; <i>The Origin of Comets</i>; 1990, p26]</blockquote>
<br />
<br />
These ancient astronomers associated increased meteor and fireball sightings with ill omens, either of an environmental or social nature. Land would be laid to waste, crops would fail, armies would clash,<br />
cities would rise and fall, all due to the signs from the mighty sky gods (i.e. progenitor comets). Given this, the confusion about Nibiru being a planet is understandable. What the ancients were really describing with this name "Nibiru" and the other five planetary names were actually comets, or clusters of comets and their attendant meteor streams.<br />
<br />
It's also not unusual for long-period comets to have orbits which span thousands of years. So the claim that, "no celestial body could maintain a stable orbit..." is a bit of a distortion if the implication<br />
is that such a 3,600 year orbit could not exist. Many celestial bodies have been tracked having orbits of this period or greater. What's impossible is for a LARGE body to maintain a stable orbit while traveling through the inner solar system because making such a passage ultimately changes the orbit of said body. A cluster of smaller comets with a 3,600 year period would not be out of the question here. Even if one or two of them get sucked into or kicked out of the solar system, there would likely be others that stay close to their original orbit.<br />
<br />
The Space.com article goes on to discuss this supposed association people have made between Elenin and Nibiru:<br />
<blockquote class="typ1">
The biggest missing link in the doomsday prophecy is Nibiru itself. Because no giant, rogue planet has been found in the outer solar system to play the role of Nibiru, some conspiracy theorists have decided that a small comet called Elenin, which will pass nearest Earth in October 2011, is actually Nibiru. Even then, though, scientists say Elenin will come no closer than 100 times farther than the distance from Earth to the moon...</blockquote>
<br />
Again, as noted above, the association of Elenin to some massive body is due to the incorrect assumptions attached to Omerbashich's work that we discussed above. Part of this is, again, the fault of NASA for not being straightforward about the electrical nature of the solar system.<blockquote class="typ1">
"The fact is that these folks are constantly changing their story," Morrison wrote in an email. "For some, Nibiru is no longer the Sumerian god or planet that is supposed to be returning to Earth in late 2012. It has become a catchword for almost any cosmic catastrophe."</blockquote>
<br />
If Morrison actually understood the real meaning behind "Nibiru" as described above, he might see how its status as a "catchword for almost any cosmic catastrophe" might be warranted. That isn't to say that Comet Elenin <i>is</i> Nibiru, however. I think we still need to draw a distinction between these two things until we have more data. From all appearances, Elenin is still a relatively small, long-period comet. It should be noted that comets are not so easy to detect until they've 'electrified'. Comets, despite the myth about them being 'dirty snowballs', are actually some of the blackest objects in all of space. For all we know there may be a large cluster of comets already knocking at the door of the inner solar system. This is a very real possibility given the sudden increase of 'moons' detected around Jupiter and all the outer planets since the year 2000 [Knight-Jadczyk; <i>Almost Human</i>; 2009, p25]<br />
<br />
Moving on, the article attempts to debunk claims of Elenin's mysterious action-at-a-distance on Earth:<br />
<blockquote class="typ1">
<br />
Internet rumors about Elenin began spreading earlier this year. Its approach to Earth was blamed for shifting the Earth's axis by 3 degrees in February, precipitating the Chile earthquake, then shifting the pole even more to trigger the Japan quake in March. "Ignoring plate tectonics as the cause of earthquakes, they suggest that the comet exerted strong gravitational or electromagnetic effects on our planet," Morrison wrote.<br />
<br />
<br />
When scientists pointed out that the comet is a mere 3-mile-wide glob of ice with no magnetic field and that it won't even pass very near Earth - and that plate tectonics, not comets, cause earthquakes - rumors began to circulate that NASA was withholding information about Elenin.</blockquote>
<br />
Some of these claims, specifically about Elenin and the March 11th M9 earthquake in Japan, seem to have some basis in fact, as we've explored. Electromagnetic effects from planetary alignments, resulting in seismic activity, is a definite possibility given what we've pieced together. To say simply that plate tectonics <i>causes</i> earthquakes is not so different than saying that electricity <i>causes </i>a lightbulb to brighten. There still has to be some event to trigger the earthquake, just as there has to be some switch to send current to the lightbulb. Morrison appears to be confusing a common theory with a mechanism of causation. <b>If we actually knew what caused earthquakes, we'd already be able to predict when and where they would occur. </b>So far there is no known earthquake prediction system available to us.<br />
<br />
A little further down, Morrison debunks the claim that Elenin is actually some massive body like a brown-dwarf star in disguise:<br />
<blockquote class="typ1">
<br />
If it were a brown dwarf, "it would not have a coma or tail, because the gas cannot escape from an object with substantial gravity. In addition, if it were massive we would be seeing its gravitational influence on the orbits of the planets, especially Mars and Earth, but there is no change in these orbits," Morrison wrote. "Finally, if it were a brown dwarf it would have been easily detected in various previous astronomical surveys, including the recent WISE infrared mission, even when it was still in the outer solar system," he wrote.</blockquote>
Again, we're not arguing that Elenin is actually a brown dwarf star, but we don't discount the possibility that such a brown dwarf star may be in a binary orbit with our Sun. In other words, the two objects, Elenin and a hypothetical brown-dwarf companion star, are independent of one another. Unfortunately, the folks out there on YouTube and other blogs just haven't accomplished the depth of research needed to see this and are muddying the waters with their claims - perhaps in some cases<br />
intentionally.<br />
<br />
What Morrison says here about WISE is interesting, however. It is true that if such a body existed, WISE would have likely photographed it by now. However, that doesn't mean that anybody recognizes it for what it is at this point. In fact, astronomers like John Matese and Daniel Whitmire of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette admit that they are <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/225312-Where-s-Tyche-the-9th-planet-Getting-the-full-story" target="_blank">actually searching </a>for such a dark body. They suspect that this body (which they've euphemistically named "Tyche") is on the size-scale of a Jovian planet. At the moment there is still much debate over what its orbital parameters or mass might be, but they suspect such a body does exist due to the irregular distribution of long-period comet orbits. The process of testing potential candidates that turn up in the WISE surveys takes a long time, since each body must be tracked for some amount of time in order to compute its orbit. But that doesn't seem to concern Morrison here since it seems he's mostly concerned about pulling the wool over your eyes.<br />
<br />
In conclusion the article states:<br />
<blockquote class="typ1">
Morrison offered some advice to those who are interested in astronomy or are worried about impending collisions. "If it [a story] is real, it is likely to be in regular news media, not just posted on some website," he told us. Furthermore, "not everyone who claims on YouTube to be a scientist or an employee of NASA is. <b>But there is no simple way to distinguish truth from lies.</b>"</blockquote>
Indeed. There is no simple way to distinguish truth from lies. It takes true perspicacity, and even then nothing is for certain. From this brief article it appears that truth - for Morrison, as well as the author presumably - is only a matter of faith in those scientific authorities ordained by the Establishment. There's a distinct us-vs-them attitude that pervades his comments; and this same attitude appears to have infected most of NASA and other professional astronomers as well. It's as if for them science was a matter of picking the right sports team in a championship. It's 'scientists' versus the rest of us<br />
unenlightened quacks.<br />
<br />
In any case, between NASA and the Nibiru folks, there is little middle ground for discussion on these topics of Comet Elenin, a hypothetical companion star, or any connection these might have to the Earth Changes going on right now. Hopefully some of this discussion serves to bridge this gap. (Even though I've probably only touched on a small percentage of the claims that have been made out there!)<br />
<br />
<b><span class="BoldGrey">What's Next?</span></b><br />
<br />
<div class="article-image to-left">
<a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73175/full/elenin_tail.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Unknown"><img alt="Elenin tail" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73175/medium/elenin_tail.jpg" style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px;" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br />
<div class="image-caption">
<i><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span></i><br />
<span class="caption"><i>What will happen when we pass through the tail of Comet Elenin?</i></span></div>
<br /></div>
<br />
So if Comet Elenin is just an ordinary comet, what can or should we expect this fall when it passes by the Earth?<br />
<br />
We know that Elenin will probably not come close enough to impact the Earth directly, but what are some of the possibilities as the Earth passes through the tail of Comet Elenin? We know that comet tails do contain a large amount of dust and smaller asteroids. We also know that <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/231224-The-Ultimate-Time-Travelers-Microbes-Survive-Millions-of-Years-Traveling-in-Space" target="_blank">bacteria and other microbes can survive </a>in the tail region while attached to this dust. Since Elenin has traveled quite a distance to make it here, it might have picked up some distinct alien microbes somewhere along the way. Is it possible that we might experience a rash of new diseases, or some pandemic disease<br />
sometime in the late fall or early winter (northern hemisphere)? Or not until next year perhaps? It can take time for the material picked up by the upper layers of the atmosphere (as Earth passes through debris fields of varying density) to precipitate down through the lower layers.<br />
<br />
Some scientists have linked past pandemics to comet passages before, such as the case with Comet 2P/Encke and the so-called Spanish Flu. In the paper "<a href="http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/archivos_pdf/comets_contagion.pdf" target="_blank">Comets and Contagion: Evolution and Diseases From Space</a>", R. Joseph and C. Wickramasinghe hypothesize that the flu pandemic of 1918 was due to the Earth passing through the tail of Comet Encke - the comet related to the Taurid meteor showers which occur every year at the end of June (this being the same time as the anniversary of the Tunguska Explosion over Siberia). Perhaps something similar could happen when the Earth passes through the tail of Comet Elenin this fall?
<br />
<br />
But even if pandemic disease is in our future, there's still no reason to panic. Despite what the medical authorities would have you believe, there is a lot a person can do on their own to project themselves from new diseases. There's a wealth of information in our <a href="http://www.sott.net/signs/list_by_category/7-Health-Wellness" target="_blank">Health & Wellness </a>section and our very own Dr. Gabriela Segura M.D. has written several articles on the topic of detoxification. Such information could become vital in the event of a pandemic, but I think it's best if people were already in the habit of detoxing and supplying their bodies with optimal fuel beforehand (as there are many other benefits besides just preventing disease). The motivated reader might want to check out these<br />
links for starters:<br />
<blockquote>
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228189-New-Light-on-the-Black-Death-The-Viral-and-Cosmic-Connection" target="_blank">New Light on the Black Death: The Viral and Cosmic Connection</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/226021-Detoxify-or-Die-Natural-Radiation-Protection-Therapies-for-Coping-With-the-Fallout-of-the-Fukushima-Nuclear-Meltdown" target="_blank">Detoxify or Die: Natural Radiation Protection Therapies for Coping With the Fallout of the Fukushima Nuclear Meltdown</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/215274-The-Day-the-Water-Died-Detoxing-after-the-Gulf-Oil-Spill" target="_blank">The Day the Water Died: Detoxing after the Gulf Oil Spill</a></blockquote>
<br />
Of course, at the very least, if what we've seen so far this year is any indication, we may expect more of the same: earthquakes, volcanoes, violent storms and unstable weather. For all we know, many of these Earth Changes might be related to a hypothetical brown dwarf star making its perihelion approach; Comet Elenin might only be a smaller contributing factor. Remember the <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/221541-Strange-Phenomenon-Sun-rises-two-days-early-in-Greenland-sparks-fear" target="_blank">early Greenland sunrise </a>this year? Perhaps there is something 'big' on the horizon causing slight changes in the configuration of the entire solar system? Such a possibility was discussed in a <a href="http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/1102/1102.0212v6.pdf" target="_blank">recent Cornell study</a><br />
which attempted to explain changes in the Moon's orbital eccentricity. Although no definite conclusions were reached in this study, we believe the possibility of a "massive distant body" remains open. <b> Currently the Sun is behaving mighty quiet for a time when it is supposed to be at a maximum for solar activity.</b> We've seen visible changes on both <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/208317-BIG-NEWS-Jupiter-loses-one-of-its-belts" target="_blank">Jupiter</a> and <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/231231-Astronomers-Observe-Colossal-Saturn-Storm" target="_blank">Saturn </a>taking place within the last year. Astronomers are witnessing events they've never before seen in the short history of modern astronomy. There are a lot of mysteries to consider here.<br />
<br />
There is so much more to discover; new mysteries and new horizons are appearing and the imperative of keeping eyes open to objective reality left and right grows stronger with the dangers they bring. Try to keep in mind that all this noise about Comet Elenin being radiated across the Net from the Cosmic COINTELPRO sector is intended to DISTRACT you and vector your thinking. There appear to be a number of actors on this scene with varying motivations. In a spooky way, it may be that Comet Elenin itself could be the source of some of this hysteria among the general public. Clube and Napier noted the distinct historical fact that when comet and fireball sightings were on the increase, social instability was often at a peak. Many times this would lead to the collapse of one empire and its replacement with another. Mass social movements and religions would either dissolve or spring up from the upheaval. Perhaps relating comets to the 'gods', as the ancients did, is not such a stretch after all? At this point, considering the pace of these changes in our cosmic and social landscape, a sanity check is definitely overdue.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">A Service of <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">Signs of the Times</a>: The most comprehensive, objective and reliable Alternative News Source on the Web. If you aren't reading <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">SOTT</a>, you don't know what's REALLY happening!</div>Keithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06011086310017706847noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385115091808825739.post-9662602363020489362011-07-18T22:29:00.003+01:002011-08-01T20:54:14.482+00:00July 2011<strong><br /><a href="http://crestoneeagle.com/2011/06/30/the-mysterious-crestone-crater-a-real-meteor-crater-or-not/" target="_blank">The Mysterious Crestone Crater in Colorado, US: A real meteor crater or not?</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Keno<br /><br />The Crestone Eagle<br /><br />Fri, 01 Jul 2011 00:00 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/230879-The-Mysterious-Crestone-Crater-in-Colorado-US-A-real-meteor-crater-or-not-#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/72024/full/July_B1_Photo_1.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© H. H. Nininger (1941)"><img alt="" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/72024/medium/July_B1_Photo_1.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© H. H. Nininger (1941)</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">Aerial view of the Crestone Crater looking eastward from an altitude of about 500 feet.</span></div><br /></div><br />Is<br />the hole in the ground south of Crestone a meteor crater or not, and if<br />not, what is it? Well it sure looks like one, and many geologists<br />believe it is, but a few others say they aren't sure. It's a Crestone<br />mystery that's not completely solved.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Known as the "Crestone Crater" to most, this striking feature lies<br />inside of the Great Sand Dunes National Park, one mile from the Liberty<br />Gate entrance in the Baca, and 6 miles from downtown Crestone. This<br />crater measures 355 feet by 246 feet with a mean depth of 23 feet.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The crater was first discovered by Crestone resident V.M. King in 1934.<br />He and many others around the San Luis Valley had witnessed a fireball<br />crash in the same area back in 1892. It was first studied in 1941 by<br />Denver geologist Dr. H.H. Nininger, an expert in this line of research. <strong>His initial study suggested that it could be a true meteor crater, or perhaps an impact from a comet.</strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Two scientists who studied the crater in 1963, Ursula Marvin<br />and T. C Marvin, claimed otherwise, in part since they only found traces<br />of nickel-iron spherules, with no rock flour, impact glass or other<br />telltale signs of a meteorite at the site. Therefore they concluded<br />that it was likely not created by a meteoric impact. They felt it more<br />likely was of aeolian origin, or in layman's words, they felt it was<br />formed by the wind. However, they did not use any kind of geophysical<br />methods to validate their hypothesis, and geologists who have studied<br />the crater since have challenged this.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/72025/full/July_B1_Photo_2.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/72025/medium/July_B1_Photo_2.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><br /><br /><span class="caption">Standing at rim of crater, looking in. Zach is walking in the low part of the crater's depression.</span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br />Richard Madole, who studied the crater in 2004, doesn't believe wind<br />played a role in its creation, as he notes: "The raised rim and<br />circular form make that seem less likely because it would be difficult<br />to form such a circular rim so close to the mountain front". The newest<br />study made at the crater, which was conducted from this past February<br />through May, agrees with this line of thought. It states: "The Crestone<br />crater has a unique geophysical signature that cannot be explained from<br />an aeolian process and can mostly be explained through impact events.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Conducted by students from the Colorado School of Mines, this new study<br />found no evidence that rules out impact origins, but it also found no<br />hard evidence that completely confirmed it's from a meteor, either. What<br />all geologists who have studied the crater agree on is that more<br />studies are needed. But the problem today lies in funding such studies.<br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/72026/full/July_B1_Photo_3.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Zach Bartley is in photo"><img alt="" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/72026/medium/July_B1_Photo_3.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Zach Bartley is in photo</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">Taken outside of the Rim: as seen approaching crater from the east, looking west</span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br />Of the 178 confirmed meteor craters on Earth, most have been around<br />for millions of years, and there are few as small as the Crestone<br />Crater, with even fewer located in sand, as most are found in rock. The<br />facts that this crater is both small in size, and located in sand, are<br />the main reasons it's hard to determine its origin. The fact it is also a<br />relativity new find is the other reason why nothing official has been<br />declared one way or the other. But the 1963 study claims the crater<br />should have been deeper if it was impacted by a meteor. Its diameter was<br />found to be disproportionately large compared to the shallowness of the<br />crater, especially when compared to other meteor craters of comparable<br />diameter. But the fact this is located in sand changes everything. Anya<br />Reitz, a student working on her masters in geophysicists, and who took<br />part in the latest study, points out that windblown sand could have made<br />the crater's depth shallower than it once was. Reitz also points out<br />that sand makes for more erosion on what might be left of the meteorite<br />today, than had it crashed into rock. She also pointed out, along with<br />Madole, that the 1963 study, or any of the studies conducted so far,<br />have not gone down deep enough to find any possible meteorite.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />So could this crater have been formed by a comet? Yes, but according to a<br />few geologists that's not likely. Impacts from comets on Earth are very<br />rare. However, the materials left behind on impact by a comet would be<br />more in line with what has been found to date at the Crestone Crater,<br />that being, comet impacts leave little behind because of their icy<br />makeup.<br /><br /><br />But if the Crestone Crater wasn't formed by wind, or a meteor, how did it get there?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Scientists have noted it likely was formed by one of those two things.<br />But states Reitz, "The anomalies we found down below make me think this<br />is a meteor crater". The students' faculty advisor for the study, Dr.<br />Jeff Andrews-Hanna, didn't feel the crater was formed by a meteor before<br />the study was conducted; however, since, he has officially changed his<br />mind and has gone down today as saying he isn't sure anymore.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Then the question that keeps coming up is what exactly did locals all<br />over the San Luis Valley see in the sky crashing to the ground in that<br />same area back in 1892? Reitz points out that witnesses noted the<br />fireball came from the east, and the shape of the crater indicates that<br />if something indeed crash-landed there, it had to have come in from an<br />easterly direction.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/72027/full/July_B1_Photo_4.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/72027/medium/July_B1_Photo_4.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a></div><br /><br /><br />In time it will be up to the Park Service to declare if this is a<br />true meteor crater or not. The heads over at the Great Sand Dunes<br />National Park all feel that this crater is from a meteor, but they still<br />don't have enough proof it is yet, and without more research and<br />studies, finding that proof could still be years off. But because of its<br />small size, if the Crestone Crater is found to be an impact crater,<br />this will be important news, and it should lead to future research and<br />better understanding of smaller craters around the globe, and that alone<br />excites scientists.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Looking for something interesting to do while visiting Crestone? Take a<br />hike out to the crater and see for yourself our mysterious Crestone<br />crater.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a href="http://www.irishweatheronline.com/news/space/large-asteroid-to-pass-between-earth-and-moon/22181.html" target="_blank">Large Asteroid To Pass Between Earth And Moon</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Mark Dunphy<br /><br />Irishweatheronline.com<br /><br />Fri, 01 Jul 2011 04:13 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/230916-Large-Asteroid-To-Pass-Between-Earth-And-Moon#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/72061/full/42_21781704.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Unknown"><img alt="" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/72061/medium/42_21781704.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown<br /><br /></span></div><br /></div><br />The<br />third near-earth asteroid of 2011 will pass between the moon and earth<br />later this year, NASA has confirmed. The 400-metre wide asteroid, named<br />2005 YU55, will pass within 0.85 lunar distances of the Earth on<br />November 8, 2011.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Discovered December 28, 2005 by Robert McMillan of the Spacewatch<br />Program near Tucson Arizona, the object is believed to be a very dark,<br />nearly spherical object 400 meters in diameter.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />According to NASA's Neart Earth Object Program: "Although classified as a<br />potentially hazardous object, 2005 YU55 poses no threat of an Earth<br />collision over at least the next 100 years. However, this will be the<br />closest approach to date by an object this large that we know about in<br />advance and an event of this type will not happen again until 2028 when<br />asteroid (153814) 2001 WN5 will pass to within 0.6 lunar distances."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><iframe height="349" frameborder="0" width="400" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/bML29gjUAHA"></iframe></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Earlier this week, earth experienced one of its closest encounters with<br />an asteroid in recent years. But as NASA indicated in the days ahead of<br />Monday afternoon's 'cosmic close call', the encounter was so close that<br />Earth's gravity sharply altered the asteroid's trajectory and prevented<br />the space rock from impacting the planet.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />2011MD, a newly discovered asteroid passed within 12,000 kilometres<br />(7,500 miles) of Earth. The asteroid was only sighted for the first<br />time on 22 June by a robotic telescope in New Mexico, USA. The<br />International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center in Massachusetts,<br />USA, put out an alert Thursday.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />It was daylight in the UK and Ireland (12.30 GMT) when the asteroid<br />passed over the southern Atlantic Ocean, near the coast of Antarctica.<br />The event was observable from South Africa and parts of Antarctica. It<br />also was visible in the hours leading up to the closest approach across<br />Australia, New Zealand, southern and eastern Asia, and the western<br />Pacific.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Some media outlets proclaimed the asteroid to be as big as New York's<br />Empire State Building'. In fact, 2011 MD measured about 16 feet to 35<br />feet.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />According to Minor Planet Center's ranking charts 2011 MD's trip was the<br />fifth-closest recorded Asteroid event. The last asteroid to impact<br />earth was '2008 TC3' which was detected on 7 October 2008, just 19<br />hours before it burned up in the atmosphere over northern Sudan.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Earlier this month (2 June), a 10-metre wide asteroid passed between the earth and moon.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Asteroid 2009 BD, which was first observed on 16 January 2009 passed<br />approximately within 0.9 lunar distances (the distance between Earth and<br />the Moon) of earth. Astronomers believe the rock is a rare "co-orbital<br />asteroid" which follows the orbit of the Earth, not receding more than<br />0.1 AU (15 million km) away.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Two asteroids, several meters in diameter and in unrelated orbits,<br />passed within the moon's distance of Earth, September 8 2010. In April<br />2010 an asteroid roughly as long as a tennis court zoomed past Earth at<br />about the distance of the moon. The space rock to pass at or within<br />lunar distance previous to this was 2009 JL2, an asteroid about 17 to 37<br />meters across, in May 2009.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />There is a roughly 50 percent chance of a 30-meter-plus asteroid<br />striking Earth each century, according to Clark Chapman, a space<br />scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, USA.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://themoscownews.com/russia/20110701/188805033.html">Meteorite strike? Russia can take it!</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Tom Washington<br /><br />The Moscow News<br /><br />Fri, 01 Jul 2011 14:05 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><br /><br /></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a title="© RIA Novosti. Vasiliy Litosh" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/72125/full/188805010.jpg"><img alt="" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/72125/medium/188805010.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© RIA Novosti. Vasiliy Litosh<br /><br /></span></div><br /></div><br />If<br />a large asteroid falls on the earth then the fallout will be huge and<br />life as we know if comes to a choking, flaming end. But if it's a small<br />one then Russia can take it.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />That's more than can be said for Europe and North America, whose people can kiss the world goodbye if anything lands on them.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The reason is not that Russians are hardier than everyone else but that<br />with its expanses of open space, covering one fifth of the world's land<br />surface, Russia could take the strain.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">A near miss</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />An asteroid the size of a truck skimmed past Earth four weeks ago,<br />coming closer to us than the moon ever has. The 7-meter lump of<br />celestial rock, named 2009 BD, came within 346,000 kilometers of Earth<br />at around 9:51 pm Moscow time The moon's average distance from us is<br />about 385,000 km.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />So it, was relatively speaking, by a gnat's whisker that a calamity approaching the Hiroshima bomb bypassed humanity.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />But so long as the heavenly bombshell was that small Russia<br />would be alright, according to the NEOimpactor (from NASA's "NEO" or<br />Near Earth Object program).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The ten countries that would be the most affected are China, Indonesia,<br />India, Japan, the United States, the Philippines, Italy, the United<br />Kingdom, Brazil and Nigeria, because of their dense populations.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Only a century ago</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"The consequences for human populations and infrastructure as a result<br />of an impact are enormous," Nick Bailey, one of the NEOimpactor<br />software's authors, told the University of Southampton, as reported by<br />the Daily Galaxy.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Nearly one hundred years ago [in 1908, the remote Krasnoyarsk] region<br />near the Tunguska River witnessed the largest asteroid impact event in<br />living memory when a relatively small object (approximately 50 meters in<br />diameter) exploded in mid-air.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"While it only flattened unpopulated forest, had it exploded over London<br />it could have devastated everything within the M25," he said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />It took scientists until 1927 before they reached the site of the blast,<br />and the devastation they found two decades later is pictured above.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Running out of time</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In 2028, the asteroid 1997XF11 will come extremely close to Earth but<br />should miss the planet. If something were to change and it did hit<br />Earth, what you would have is a mile-wide asteroid striking the planet's<br />surface at about 50,000 mph.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />An asteroid that big traveling at that speed has the energy roughly<br />equal to a 1 million megaton bomb, engineer Marshall Brain wrote for <em>Discovery</em> Company How Stuff Works.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />An asteroid on this scale is potentially 10 million times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The amount of dust and debris thrown up into the atmosphere would block<br />out the sun and cause most living things on the planet to perish. If an<br />asteroid that big were to land in the ocean, it would cause massive<br />tidal waves hundreds of feet high that would scrape everything off the<br />coastlines where they made landfall.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />While the timescales may seem colossal compared with a human life<br />lasting for a few decades, the craters dotting the surface of the Moon<br />and the inner planets show that in galactic terms these crashes are<br />frequent events.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />They happen more or less every 100 million years and the last one was 70<br />million years ago, believed to have been responsible for wiping out the<br />dinosaurs.<br /></div><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>Actually, the possibility of a strike<br />is much more imminent. Perhaps not by the "killer asteroid", but one<br />doesn't need to be knocked over by the a sledgehammer, when series of<br />"undetected" darts can do the job very well. The stony "drops" have been<br />falling on our heads for quite some time now, and we wonder if one of<br />them is about to provide us with the last wake-up call. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www2.newsadvance.com/news/2011/jul/03/july-3-1861-great-comet-what-does-it-portend-ar-1145808/">US - July 3, 1861: The Great Comet - what does it portend?</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar"><br /><br />2newsadvance.com<br /><br />Sun, 03 Jul 2011 13:05 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/231005-US-July-3-1861-The-Great-Comet-what-does-it-portend-#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a title="© Cometography.com" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/72285/full/great_comet_1861.jpg"><img alt="" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/72285/medium/great_comet_1861.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Cometography.com</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">The Great Comet of 1861 passed closest to Earth on June 30, 1861.</span></div><br /></div><br />"The<br />Comet. Mr. Editor: -- Did you see the comet Monday night? I was<br />indebted for the pleasure to an excellent friend, who took the trouble<br />to call and awaken me. I certainly was never more astonished. All<br />similar visitors to our system have either been foretold, or discovered<br />by astronomers when not visible to the naked eye. Their approach has<br />been gradual, and their advent and progress duly chronicled by the<br />newspapers. But this has come like a thief in the night, unannounced - -<br />undiscovered -- until, with a splendor far beyond any of its<br />predecessors, it blazes in our firmament ... The tail reached the<br />zenith, inclining a little to the West. The body seemed three or four<br />times as large as that of any other comet I ever saw. My friend says<br />when it first caught his eye, without referring to the points of the<br />compass, he took it for the moon ..."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Letter to the editor, <em>The Daily Virginian</em><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"The Comet ... What does it portend now? Is it one of those<br />'great signs that shall be seen in the heavens at the time when 'wars<br />and rumors of wars' shall fill the earth? Is it part of the grand<br />paraphernalia in which the heavens are to be dressed when betokening the<br />approach of that 'great and notable day' ... We should not be guided by<br />the dim, uncertain light of supersititon; but there is much in our<br />surroundings eminently suggestive. The times are pregnant with great<br />events that may soon be developed. ... Events now rapidly tending<br />towards their full development, may mark this as one of the grandest and<br />most awful epochs in the history of the world. Who can tell what lies<br />before us?"<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Editorial, <em>The Daily Virginian</em><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />(The Great Comet of 1861 passed closest to Earth on June 30, 1861,<br />according to cometography.com. The comet itself appeared in the skies of<br />North America before the news of its May discovery in the Southern<br />Hemisphere reached here. The vivid comet had a long tail and was one of<br />eight "Great Comets" of the 19th century.)<br /></div><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"><br /><span class="atop-l"></span><br /><span class="atop-r"></span><br /></div><br /><div class="article-header"><br /><div class="article-icon"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20110701152821830">Australia: Space rock passes through satellite belt</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar"><br /><br />Universityworldnews.com<br /><br />Sun, 03 Jul 2011 13:10 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/231006-Australia-Space-rock-passes-through-satellite-belt#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br />Astronomers around the world breathed a sigh of relief last Monday<br />night when an asteroid passed within 12,000 kilometres of Australia,<br />closer than communication satellites.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />First observed by a dedicated telescopic asteroid tracker in the US on<br />22 June, the object was then observed by French astronomer Professor<br />Klotz and PhD student Michael Todd, who remotely programmed it into the<br />schedule for the Zadko Telescope at the University of Western Australia.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Director of the telescope, Associate Professor David Coward, said the<br />asteroid - officially known as Near Earth Asteroid 2011MD - was<br />identified as a tumbling, elongated 4-12 metre rock during a 40-minutes<br />observation by Zadko over Australian skies. The Zadko telescope<br />observations were the first to determine that the rock was rotating with<br />a period of about 11 minutes.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"NASA said asteroids of the size of 2011MD come this close to Earth on<br />average once every six years so it's a relatively rare event," Coward<br />said. "2011MD was within the geosynchronous satellite belt, orbiting<br />with our communications satellites and it could do a lot of damage if it<br />collided with one."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />A visiting astronomer at the university, Professor Michael Boer<br />from the Observatoire de Haute Provence in France, said: "If it were to<br />enter the Earth's atmosphere there would be a big bang and it would<br />probably explode. An asteroid that exploded over Russia in 1908<br />flattened a forest.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"A bigger space rock - say one of 100 metres - could destroy cities so<br />it's important that we track them and that we pick them up early so we<br />can have a worldwide coordinated warning system if necessary. We don't<br />want to detect them 24 hours before they get close. There are more space<br />rocks up there, we've just have not found them yet.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Boer said the Zadko played an important role in monitoring the skies<br />above Western Australia and was part of a worldwide programme.<br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"><br /><span class="atop-l"></span><br /><span class="atop-r"></span><br /></div><br /><div class="article-header"><br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/technology/each-june-a-giant-comet-stalks-the-earth">Each June, a giant comet stalks the Earth</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Robert Matthews<br /><br />Thenational.ae<br /><br />Sun, 03 Jul 2011 17:58 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/231045-Each-June-a-giant-comet-stalks-the-Earth#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div><object height="385" width="400" id="flashObj" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,47,0"><embed src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9/74523142001?isVid=1&publisherID=72178649001" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashvars="playerID=74508870001&domain=embed&videoID=995637647001" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="flashObj" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" swliveconnect="true" allowscriptaccess="always" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash" width="400" height="385"></object></div><br />Last week the Earth came close to being hit by a chunk of cosmic debris packing the punch of a Hiroshima-type atomic bomb.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The house-sized asteroid 2011 MN shot past the Earth at more than<br />25,000kph last Monday, coming closer than some communications satellites<br />before flying off back into the void of space.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />So why were we not warned? One reason was that although it was a<br />close-run thing, astronomers had pinned down the path of 2011 MN well<br />enough to be pretty confident it would miss us.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Another was that even if it had struck, it would have lost most of its<br />energy as it entered our atmosphere, most likely burning up to give a<br />brief but impressive shower of "shooting stars".<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Even so, the incident serves as a timely reminder that the<br />cosmos can still spring nasty surprises on us - and especially at this<br />time of the year. At the end of June our planet cuts across a part of<br />space littered with debris that some astronomers believe has caused<br />devastating impacts on Earth during recorded history.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Most of this debris is nothing more than specks of ice and dust, some of which enters our atmosphere and burns up in a flash.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />But every so often the Earth encounters something much larger lurking in<br />the debris trail: tower block-sized chunks of a comet that entered our<br />solar system thousands of years ago.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Travelling at more than 100,000kph, these are big enough to survive<br />entry through the atmosphere, and they could strike with the explosive<br />violence of dozens of H-bombs.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />This may sound like another of those terrifying yet incredibly rare events scientists seem so keen to scare us with these days.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />But this is no once-in-a-million-years scenario. There is now impressive<br />evidence that just such a cosmic impact happened barely a century ago.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Known as the Tunguska Event, it took place in the morning of June 30,<br />1908, over a remote part of Siberia. Eyewitnesses reported seeing a<br />colossal fireball and trail of black smoke crossing the morning sky;<br />some even claimed to feel the heat on their bodies. As it approached the<br />ground, an explosion triggered a blast-wave that knocked people off<br />their feet. A huge forest fire then broke out, sending vast plumes of<br />smoke up into the air.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />It took scientists almost 20 years to reach the remote site of the<br />incident and begin gathering evidence. Leonid Kulik, a Soviet<br />mineralogist at the Soviet Academy of Sciences in St Petersburg,<br />confirmed the reports that something catastrophic had taken place.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />He found a scene of complete devastation as far as the eye could see,<br />with charred remnants of trees lying like matchsticks, all pointing<br />outward from an epicentre around 75 kilometres north of the Tunguska<br />river.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Kulik was convinced he was looking at the effects of a giant meteor<br />impact, and set about looking for fragments of the cosmic visitor. Yet<br />he failed to find anything: no chunks of meteor fragments, not even an<br />impact crater.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Inevitably, this prompted more speculative explanations, ranging from<br />the impact of a small black hole with the Earth to some form of UFO<br />incident.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Among astronomers, however, there is now little doubt that Kulik was<br />right, and the cause was a 50m-diameter meteor - which left no debris<br />because it broke apart under atmospheric stresses about 10km above the<br />ground.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Many scientists are content to regard the Tunguska Event as just one of<br />those freakish phenomena that can be consigned to history. But some<br />astronomers have pointed to a number of curious coincidences about the<br />timing of the event.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In 1975, seismometers placed on the Moon by the Apollo missions detected<br />a colossal meteor storm blasting the moon over five days - around the<br />end of June.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Shortly afterwards, the American meteorite expert Jack Hartung pointed<br />out that a medieval report of what appeared to be a huge explosion on<br />the Moon could be dated to the end of June in the year 1178.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Perhaps most telling of all was the discovery in 1947 of a trail of<br />cosmic debris which the Earth cuts across every year - around the end of<br />June.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The impact risks posed by this so-called Taurid meteor stream were first<br />highlighted almost 30 years ago by two British astronomers, Dr Victor<br />Clube and Dr Bill Napier.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />At the time, the scientific community was struggling to accept claims<br />that the extinction of the dinosaurs was linked to a cosmic impact near<br />today's Gulf of Mexico around 65 million years ago. As a result, the<br />authors' claim of a threat to present-day Earth fell largely on deaf<br />ears.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Now catastrophic meteor impacts no longer seem so outlandish, and<br />mounting evidence backs the idea that a giant comet entered our solar<br />system 25,000 years ago, leaving debris in the Taurid stream that still<br />threatens the Earth.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Last year, the Royal Astronomical Society published a study by Dr Napier<br />linking the Taurid meteor stream with evidence for cosmic impacts<br />around 12,900 years ago, ranging from massive fires across North America<br />to the extinction of many animal species in the region.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Despite this, efforts to hunt down the giant disintegrating comet remain<br />low-key. In the mid-1990s, the US space agency Nasa set up Spaceguard,<br />an international network of telescopes designed to discover and track<br />potential Earth-impacting objects.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />But astronomers admit they do not have the technology needed to detect<br />more than a few per cent of any Tunguska-like objects that might be out<br />there.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Until such technology becomes available, the location of the giant comet<br />that stalks the Earth will remain a mystery - one that we may regret<br />failing to solve one June day in the not-too-distant future.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Robert Matthews is visiting reader in science at Aston University, Birmingham, England<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21128190.200-meteorite-hunter-my-two-months-in-an-omani-jail.html?full=true" target="_blank">Hazards of Occupation? Meteorite hunter: My two months in an Omani jail</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Roger Highfield<br /><br />New Scientist<br /><br />Mon, 04 Jul 2011 15:11 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><br /><br /></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/72300/full/mg21128190_200_1_300.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Robert Ward"><img alt="" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/72300/medium/mg21128190_200_1_300.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Robert Ward</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">Troublesome rock<br /><br /></span></div><br /></div><br /><em>Michael<br />Farmer tells the tale of his quest for extraterrestrial geology and how<br />it landed him in prison, and explains why he eats bits of the moon and<br />Mars.</em><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Why did you head to Oman in the first place?</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />On 31 December last year I went on my 20th meteorite hunting expedition<br />in Oman with my fellow hunter Robert Ward. I have studied the law there<br />since the arrest of Russian and American hunters back in 2005 and I<br />understand the practice to be legal.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">How did your meteorite hunting trip go?</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I found 35 meteorites, including three more pieces of the Dhofar 1180<br />Lunar, which I'd originally found in 2005, and other nice things. On the<br />last day we headed towards Dubai. At 1pm on 13 January we arrived at a<br />roadblock in the town of Adam. There was nothing out of the ordinary,<br />until the police rushed my car with M16 rifles. They were nice and did<br />not seem to know why we were being arrested but they forced us out of<br />our cars and ripped them apart, finding the meteorites. We were taken to<br />the police station and interrogated for 10 hours. They had intelligence<br />that we were coming. I think I know who had told them.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">After the arrest where did the police take you?</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />We were driven to Muscat, the capital of Oman, in shackles. We arrived<br />at midnight and were taken to an interrogation centre in the Qurum<br />district of the city. There we were stripped, put into separate rooms,<br />about 9 by 9 by 12 feet, with a small pad on the floor and two blankets.<br />The rooms were horribly filthy, crawling with roaches. There were<br />things on the floors and walls which I decline to describe. A small<br />light was on 24/7 so you never knew the time of day. We heard people<br />being beaten, crying, screaming and being dragged around.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">How did you get help?</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Two days after our arrest I was interrogated, forced to sign a statement<br />admitting guilt, then driven to a prosecutor's office, arriving at<br />midnight on 15 January. I begged the prosecutor for a call and he<br />refused, then thankfully after he sent me out to a waiting room, another<br />person quietly handed me a cellphone, so I called my wife. It took a<br />week for the American embassy to find us. Even so, we went to trial on 6<br />Feb, a 15-minute joke, as it was in Arabic. The judge asked one<br />question and then sentenced us to six months in prison and a $250 fine<br />for illegal mining operations.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">After sentencing where were you incarcerated?</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />We were sent to the Sumail central prison, which was clean and new. But<br />we were the only two westerners in a prison of thousands. We nearly<br />starved to death. Another prisoner carved me a spoon out of a toilet<br />cleaner chemical container. I still have it. At one point, special<br />forces were brought in as some of the other cell blocks rioted and all<br />hell broke loose, as part of wider protests in Oman. That's when things<br />went really downhill and they surrounded the prison with tanks. We were<br />scared for our lives.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">In March you appealed against your conviction for<br />illegal mining and violating cultural heritage laws. How did you make<br />your case?</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I told the court that a meteorite is not an artefact, and when asked how<br />old it was, I said it was unknown. Robert also spoke at length, then<br />our lawyer fought very hard for an hour or so over every aspect of Omani<br />law. The judges left, came back 5 minutes later, looked at Robert and I<br />and said in Arabic "Hallas", which means "finished", and then in<br />perfect English, "You are released from prison". By then I had served<br />two months of my sentence and lost nearly 40 pounds - I was offered less<br />to eat than my pet cat eats in a day. I had nightmares for more than a<br />month afterwards.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Is meteorite hunting illegal in Oman?</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I have collected nearly a thousand meteorites from there, all legally in<br />my view. If they don't like it, well then I say change the law.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Will you ever go back to Oman?</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />We were deported and can never return there. I have been enough times anyway. I do plan to return to North Africa.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Do you regret your last trip there?</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />No. We have had adventures there that money can't buy. Those of you who<br />have never taken a risk cannot understand that those of us who gather<br />these stones that fill museums and collections around the world<br />knowingly risk life and limb. Those who are unwilling to take a risk<br />usually gain little.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Have you ever been arrested anywhere else in the world?</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I have been arrested in northern Arizona, at Meteor Crater. But I was on<br />state land, with a permit, so the court threw out the case. I was<br />released and all my meteorites were returned.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Three years ago we barely got out of Peru. We were there to study a big<br />stone meteorite fall that made an impact crater 14 metres wide, near the<br />village of Carancas. Models predicted that such a meteorite should have<br />exploded into thousands of pieces and not made it to the ground in a<br />large enough piece. I was called by scientists who wanted to be sure it<br />really was a stony meteorite. I was sure, since I dug it out of the mud!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Afterwards, when I tried to leave Peru, the border police took us back<br />to the crater and demanded thousands of dollars. When we refused, they<br />threatened to put us in prison. We jumped in a taxi and drove to another<br />border crossing and escaped. When we arrived in Bolivia and checked our<br />email, we had one from the US embassy saying the local police had<br />already reported our arrest.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">I understand you have an unusual habit. What is it?</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I've eaten a small piece of every moon rock and Mars rock that I have<br />purchased or found. After all, not many people can say they have eaten a<br />piece of the moon. And I know for a fact that numerous scientists have<br />done the same.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Do you have a favourite meteorite?</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />My favourite would have to be the <a href="http://www.meteorite.com/nininger/nininger-moments-24.htm" target="_blank">Springwater pallasite</a>,<br />a stony-iron meteorite which was first found in Saskatchewan, Canada,<br />in 1931. My partner and I researched it for months, then did several<br />trips scouting the location and finally rediscovered the area where the<br />meteor had hit the ground, which had been forgotten. We have been<br />methodically searching there for three years now and have recovered many<br />pieces, including the 52-kilogram chunk which was sold to the Royal<br />Ontario Museum last year. I have put so much time and effort into that<br />one.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Do you plan to go meteorite hunting again and, if so, where?</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I am trying to keep a lower profile these days - I'm a little skittish<br />after Oman. I have just returned from collecting in Canada. The most<br />danger we were in was getting stuck in the mud. In the summer I plan to<br />go to the Arctic in Sweden, which is nice and safe. I am lucky. How many<br />people get to travel every part of the world to do their job?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Profile</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.meteoritehunter.com/" target="_blank">Michael Farmer</a><br />became interested in meteorites 15 years ago when he visited the Tucson<br />Gem and Mineral Show and bought his first one. He has made more than 50<br />trips to Africa and earned 3 million frequent flier miles on one<br />airline alone. He sourced the Martian meteorite <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20482-is-this-really-a-piece-of-mars.html" target="_blank">NWA 2975Movie Camera</a>, a piece of which is being awarded to a lucky <em>New Scientist</em> competition winner this week<br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a href="http://www.ghosttheory.com/2011/07/04/giant-fireball-filmed-in-mexico" target="_blank">Giant Fireball Filmed In Mexico</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Javier Ortega<br /><br />Ghost Theory<br /><br />Mon, 04 Jul 2011 03:23 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/231047-Giant-Fireball-Filmed-In-Mexico#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/72342/full/meteor.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© kimdragon1"><img alt="" height="286" width="394" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/72342/large/meteor.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© kimdragon1<br /><br /></span></div><br /></div><br />With a title that reads "UFO or Meteorite", it's easy to see how alien and UFO rumors begin. Posted on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0tw5ZVGy50&feature=player_embedded" target="_blank">YouTube</a> is a video that was shot in Cuernavaca, Mexico, on June 29th, 2001.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The video is by far one of the clearest and most beautiful filming of a<br />meteorite falling towards earth. With such long trailing tails of fire,<br />you really can't help but imagine this thing bring from a different<br />planet.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><iframe height="390" frameborder="0" width="400" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/q0tw5ZVGy50"></iframe></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9Kjm79-32o&feature=player_embedded">Fireball July 7, 2011, Georgia, USA</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">UFOglobalRC<br /><br />YouTube<br /><br />Thu, 07 Jul 2011 17:09 CDT<br /><br /></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br />Caught it! Someone says it's airplane, well then the plane is from outter space then... I've never seen such plane! Gosh!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><object style="height: 390px; width: 400px;"><br /><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/w9Kjm79-32o?version=3"><br /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><br /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/w9Kjm79-32o?version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="335"></object></div><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/72901/full/fireball.jpg"><img height="244" width="388" title="Click to enlarge" alt="fireball" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/72901/large/fireball.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOv0t71aWhQ" target="_blank">Meteor / Fireball Over Georgia July 4, 2011 - Red Barn Observatory</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">georgiameteors<br /><br />YouTube<br /><br />Mon, 04 Jul 2011 17:26 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/231284-Meteor-Fireball-Over-Georgia-July-4-2011-Red-Barn-Observatory#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br />Georgia meteor / fireball entering the atmosphere at 12:17:45 EST<br />(04:17:43 UTC) on July, 4 2011. Approximate magitude -6.5 to -7.5.<br />Recorded with a Sandia Laboratories Fireball Camera - located on site of<br />the Red Barn Observatory MPC-H68 in Ty Ty, Georgia. Steve E. Farmer Jr.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><object style="height: 390px; width: 400px;"><br /><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/bOv0t71aWhQ?version=3"><br /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><br /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/bOv0t71aWhQ?version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="335"></object></div><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"><br /><span class="atop-l"></span><br /><span class="atop-r"></span><br /></div><br /><div class="article-header"><br /><div class="article-icon"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.accessnorthga.com/detail.php?n=240166">Georgia, US: Loud 'boom' rattles Gainesville area</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Ken Stanford<br /><br />Access North GA<br /><br />Thu, 07 Jul 2011 07:26 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/231341-Georgia-US-Loud-boom-rattles-Gainesville-area#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a title="© Unknown" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73010/full/hall_county_map_medium.jpg"><img alt="" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73010/medium/hall_county_map_medium.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown<br /><br /></span></div><br /></div><br />Some people in the Gainesville area reported hearing a mysterious loud noise - like an explosion - Thursday morning.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />AccessNorthGa.com received calls between 10:00 and 11:00, the first<br />about 10:40 from the McEver Road/Browns Bridge Road area. The caller<br />said it shook her house and wondered if it might have been a sonic boom,<br />caused by a jet breaking the sound barrier.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>A second caller, a few minutes later, said he was sitting by his<br />pool on Mountain View Road, which is off McEver, and saw a "streak<br />across the sky," followed by the loud noise, leading to some speculation<br />that it was a sonic boom caused by a meteor entering the earth's<br />atmosphere.</strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />There were also reports Friday morning from people who say they heard it in Monroe and in Lumpkin County.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Lt. Col. James Wilson, a spokesman for Dobbins Air Reserve Base, said<br />the noise was probably not caused by a plane approaching or leaving the<br />base, which is in Marietta. He said the Dobbins flight schedule does not<br />indicate any aircraft would have been passing through the area at that<br />time.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Base officials say they are still looking into the matter.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-header"><br /><span class="atop-l"></span><br /><span class="atop-r"></span><br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/os-ed-asteroids-071011-20110708,0,6810954.story">Plan Now to Avoid "Deep Impact" Later</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Douglas MacKinnon<br /><br />Orlando Sentinel<br /><br />Sun, 10 Jul 2011 17:01 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/231437-Plan-Now-to-Avoid-Deep-Impact-Later#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a title="© Unknown" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/5394/full/asteroid_impact.jpg"><img title="Click to enlarge" alt="asteroid impact" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/5394/medium/asteroid_impact.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown<br /><br /></span></div><br /></div><br />As<br />President Barack Obama jump-starts his re-election campaign and<br />declared or potential Republican candidates like Michele Bachmann, Tim<br />Pawlenty, Jon Huntsman, Mitt Romney and Rick Perry test-fly various<br />strategies, it's a sure bet that not one of them will be breathlessly<br />warning of an always pending and incalculably lethal threat to our<br />troubled planet.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Too bad. They should be.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />This city, region, nation, or even planet-killing threat -<br />chuckling and shakes of the head anticipated - are the all-but<br />invisible asteroids which whiz by earth on a fairly regular basis.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />For instance, asteroid 2011 MD. Heard of it? Well, on June 27, this asteroid - which was not discovered until June 22 - <strong>just missed the only home we have in the universe by a miniscule 7,500 miles.</strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />To astronomers, that's a distance so close that the objects may as well be touching.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Of course, instantly NASA astronomers basically said, "Nothing to see here. Move on. There is no chance 2011 MD will hit Earth."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Even if they had been wrong and the asteroid did enter our atmosphere, they said it "likely wouldn't reach the surface."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />By their own admission, NASA initially got the calculations on asteroid<br />2011 MD's closet approach to Earth wrong, so "likely" is not always that<br />comforting.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />What if they had been even more wrong and it was a certainty that it was about to strike earth?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />What if, instead of the approximately 100 feet across, it had been 500<br />or 1,000 feet across? With five days notice or less, what could we do to<br />avert a collision that would have the potential to wreck havoc on<br />humanity?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Nothing. Absolutely nothing.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Laugh, if you will. File this incident and remarkably close call in with<br />the reports of UFOs over the swamp and Sasquatch in the neighbor's<br />backyard.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />But you do so at all of our peril.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In 1908, an asteroid - much smaller than originally believed -<br />exploded over Siberia and flattened more than 800 square miles of<br />forest, killing everything in its path.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The truth is that the vast majority of politicians in our country -<br />Republican or Democrat - are loath to discuss this subject out of fear<br />of being labeled eccentric or because they have (rightfully) determined<br />that it's not considered tangible and is not a vote-getter.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Fine. Except I would argue that asteroid 2011 MD just demonstrated that<br />if leaders such as President Obama, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, Michele<br />Bachmann and others are not talking about the horrific and unimaginable<br />consequences of an asteroid strike, they are in dereliction of duty.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />There will be no second chances, no do-overs, and no soaring rhetoric to reverse the devastation or even extinction.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Knowing that to be the absolute truth, shouldn't those politicians who<br />hold our fate in their hands at least give this subject a bit more<br />thought?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />As our elected officials continue to throw billions of dollars around<br />like they were dimes, shouldn't they think about investing more of that<br />money into asteroid detection and collision prevention?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Diverting or destroying an Earth-killing asteroid can only really be accomplished from a space-based platform.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />A platform that does not exist.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Next, does this latest cosmic scare dictate the need for the governments<br />of the world to come together to formulate a plan to permanently get a<br />sampling of humankind off the planet and into the solar system as a way<br />of preserving the species?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Leaving aside destruction by an asteroid, human beings tend to be fairly<br />fragile and don't react well to nuclear weapons, terrorism, natural<br />disasters or unforeseen plagues.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Isn't it time we covered that bet?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />While I go back to scanning the skies for ET and leaving a plate of food<br />out for Bigfoot, I really do hope President Obama and those who seek to<br />replace him, give this subject the attention it deserves... before it's<br />too late.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><em>Douglas MacKinnon is a former White House and Pentagon official and a long-time consultant on space.</em><br /></div><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43647229/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/probe-nears-target-asteroid-size-arizona/">Probe Nears Target: Asteroid the Size of US State of Arizona</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Mike Wall<br /><br />MSNBC<br /><br />Tue, 05 Jul 2011 17:09 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/231438-Probe-Nears-Target-Asteroid-the-Size-of-US-State-of-Arizona#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a title="© NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / PSI" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73202/full/110705_AsteroidPhoto_hmed_0330.jpg"><img title="Click to enlarge" alt="Vesta" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73202/medium/110705_AsteroidPhoto_hmed_0330.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / PSI</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">NASA's <em>Dawn</em><br />spacecraft obtained this image on June 20 on its approach to the<br />protoplanet Vesta, the second-most-massive object in the main asteroid<br />belt. </span></div><br /></div><br />Dawn, <em>first spaceship to visit Vesta, will enter into orbit next week for year's study</em><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />A NASA spacecraft is just 11 days away from a historic rendezvous with an asteroid the size of Arizona.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />NASA's <a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/12062-nasa-dawn-vesta-asteroid-update.html"><em>Dawn</em> probe</a><br />should enter into orbit around Vesta on July 16, becoming the first<br />spacecraft to visit the 330-mile-wide space rock - the second-largest<br />object in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. <em>Dawn</em><br />is expected to spend a year studying the space rock from above, marking<br />the first time a spacecraft has ever made an extended visit to a large<br />asteroid.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Scientists hope <em>Dawn</em>'s mission will help them learn<br />about the early days of the solar system and the processes that formed<br />and shaped rocky planets like Earth and Mars.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Bodies like Vesta are building blocks," <em>Dawn</em> principal<br />investigator Christopher Russell of UCLA told reporters in a recent<br />briefing. "So we're going back and doing some sort of investigation into<br />our roots, the roots of the solar system."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">A long journey</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><em>Dawn</em> is now in the home stretch of a nearly four-year cosmic<br />chase. The probe launched in September 2007 and has logged about 1.7<br />billion miles during its travels. As of Friday, Dawn had closed to<br />within 53,400 miles of Vesta, researchers said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><em>Dawn</em> will be just 9,900 miles from Vesta when the space rock's gravity captures the probe on July 16. At that point, <em>Dawn</em> and Vesta will both be about 117 million miles from Earth.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The capture shouldn't be a dramatic, nail-biting affair punctuated by last-minute thruster burns. <em>Dawn</em><br />has been using its low-thrust ion propulsion system to close in on<br />Vesta slowly but surely, and it should slide nicely into orbit on July<br />16.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The spacecraft will begin its science operations in early August, researchers said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Studying a protoplanet</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Vesta is so large that many scientists classify it as a protoplanet. The<br />object was well on its way to becoming a full-fledged rocky planet long<br />ago, scientists said, but circumstances intervened.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"The formation of Jupiter started stirring up that region of the<br />asteroid belt and preventing materials from coming together any longer,"<br />Russell said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />So Vesta is a sort of time capsule, preserving some record of how the solar system came together 4.5 billion years ago.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"As we explore Vesta, we take a virtual journey back in time to the beginning of the solar system," said Carol Raymond, <em>Dawn</em> deputy principal investigator at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />During its year at Vesta, <em>Dawn</em> will map the giant asteroid's<br />cratered surface fully, study its composition and investigate its<br />geological history. It will do this from several different orbits,<br />ranging from 1,700 miles above Vesta to just 120 miles, researchers<br />said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">On to the next big thing</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><em>Dawn</em> should wrap up its science work at Vesta in July 2012. But<br />at that point, the probe's mission will only be half-finished. It will<br />then jet off for another asteroid encounter, this time with the dwarf<br />planet Ceres - the largest object in the asteroid belt.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><em>Dawn</em> should arrive at the 605-mile-wide Ceres in early 2015.<br />The spacecraft's observations will allow scientists to compare the two<br />giant bodies, which have been shaped by different forces, researchers<br />said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"The <em>Dawn</em> mission is unique in that we're going to be the first<br />mission to rendezvous with not just one body, but two solar system<br />bodies," said Robert Mase, <em>Dawn</em> project manager at JPL. "These are two of the last unexplored worlds in our inner solar system."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Source: Space.com<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-header"><br /><span class="atop-l"></span><br /><span class="atop-r"></span><br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-07-asteroid-vesta-moon.html">Does Asteroid Vesta have a moon?</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Dauna Coulter<br /><br />Physorg<br /><br />Thu, 07 Jul 2011 10:34 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/231485-Does-Asteroid-Vesta-have-a-moon-#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© NASA" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73271/full/doesasteroid.jpg"><img alt="" height="306" width="401" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73271/large/doesasteroid.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">NASA's<br />Galileo spacecraft took this image of asteroid Ida and its moon Dactyl<br />in 1994. The image was the first conclusive evidence that natural<br />satellites of asteroids exist. We still don't know whether Vesta has a<br />moon</span></div><br /></div><br /><em>NASA's Dawn spacecraft is closing in on<br />Vesta, and from now until the ion-powered spacecraft goes into orbit in<br />mid-July, every picture of the giant asteroid will be the best one ever<br />taken. What will researchers do with this unprecedented clarity?</em><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"For starters," says Dawn chief engineer Marc Rayman, "we're going to look for an asteroid moon."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />You might think of asteroids as isolated bodies tumbling alone through<br />space, but it's entirely possible for these old "loners" to have<br />companions. Indeed, 19-mile-wide Ida, 90-mile-wide Pulcova,<br />103-mile-wide Kalliope, and 135-mile-wide Eugenia each have a moon. And<br />175-mile-wide Sylvia has two moons. Measuring 330 miles across, Vesta is<br />much larger than these other examples, so a "Vesta moon" is entirely<br />possible.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Where do such moons come from?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Rayman suggests one source: "When another large body collides with an<br />asteroid, the resulting debris is sprayed into orbit around the asteroid<br />and can gradually collapse to form a moon."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Another possibility is "gravitational pinball": A moon formed<br />elsewhere in the asteroid belt might, through complicated gravitational<br />interactions with various bodies, end up captured by the gravity of one<br />of them.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Hubble and ground based telescopes have looked for Vesta moons before,<br />and seen nothing. Dawn is about to be in position for a closer look.<br />This Saturday, July 9th, just one week before Dawn goes into orbit<br />around Vesta, the moon hunt will commence.2 The cameras will begin<br />taking images of the space surrounding the asteroid, looking for<br />suspicious specks.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"If a moon is there, it will appear as a dot that moves around Vesta in<br />successive images as opposed to remaining fixed, like background stars,"<br />says Dawn Co-investigator Mark Sykes, who is also director of the<br />Planetary Science Institute. "We'll be able to use short exposures to<br />detect moons as small as 27 meters in diameter. If our longer exposures<br />aren't washed out by the glare of nearby Vesta, we'll be able to detect<br />moons only a few meters in diameter."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />While you won't see "find a moon" among the mission's science goals, a<br />moon-sighting would be a nice feather in Dawn's cap. Not that it will<br />need more feathers. The probe is already primed to build global maps and<br />take detailed images of the asteroid's surface, reveal the fine points<br />of its topography, and catalog the minerals and elements present there.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Besides, Dawn will become a moon itself when it enters orbit around<br />Vesta. And the probe's motions as it circles will provide a lot of<br />information about the rocky relic.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Sykes explains: "We'll use the spacecraft's radio signal to measure its<br />motion around Vesta. This will give us a lot of detailed information<br />about the asteroid's gravitational field. We'll learn about Vesta's mass<br />and interior structure, including its core and potential mascons (lumpy<br />concentrations of mass)."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />As you read this, the spacecraft is gently thrusting closer to its<br />target. And with the navigation images alone we're already watching a<br />never-before-seen world grow ever larger and clearer.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"The pictures are beginning to reveal the surface of this battered,<br />alien world," says Rayman. "They're more than enough to tantalize us.<br />We've been in flight for four years, we've been planning the mission for<br />a decade, and people have been looking at Vesta in the night sky for<br />two centuries. Now, finally, we're coming close up to it, and we'll be<br />getting an intimate view of this place."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />This is not only the first time a spacecraft has visited this alien<br />world, it's also the first time a spacecraft has visited a massive body<br />we haven't approached previously. In the past, rocket ships have orbited<br />Earth, the moon, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, and Mercury.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"In each case, flyby missions occurred first, providing a good estimate<br />of the target's gravity along with information on other aspects of its<br />physical environment, including whether any moons are present. This time<br />we're much less certain what we'll find."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />At a recent press conference, NASA Planetary Science Deputy Director Jim<br />Adams told reporters that Dawn will "paint a face on a world seen only<br />as a 'fuzzy blob' up to now." What does Rayman think Vesta's face will<br />look like?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Wrinkled, ancient, wizened, with a tremendous amount of character that<br />bears witness to some fascinating episodes in the solar system's<br />history."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />If a new moon is among the episodes, Rayman has a name in mind.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"How about 'Dawn'?"<br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/article/?id=23658">New Zealand - Meteorite Puts on Pre-Dawn Light Show</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar"><br /><br />The Gisborne Herald, NZ<br /><br />Sun, 10 Jul 2011 19:26 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><br /><br /></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a title="© Unknown" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73441/full/ff.jpg"><img alt="" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73441/medium/ff.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">Illustration only<br /><br /></span></div><br /></div><br />Anyone up early on Saturday morning would have witnessed a rare event from outer space.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Neil Hart and his 10-year-old son Jayden left in the dark to go pig-hunting around 5.50am at Matawai.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />As they were heading towards Ormond, they saw in the direction of<br />Patutahi an extremely bright meteorite that lit up the early morning sky<br />and all the hills around them.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Mr Hart's wife said the four of them in the car watched as it cut horizontally across the sky.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"It was quite spectacular - you could make out the rock with the sparks coming off it, it was very, very clear."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />When the hunting group arrived at Matawai, the people they were meeting said they had heard a boom.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Another eye-witness in Mangapapa noticed an unusual light when he got up around the same time.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"It was very unusual. I wondered why the light was so different.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"By the time I got outside it was like a trail of sparks in the sky. It<br />had an orange-red tail and was like a bright light going across the<br />sky."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Amateur astronomer Roger Handford said it was not that common to see<br />meteorites this low. For a boom to be heard meant it would have entered<br />the lower atmosphere.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"It has probably blown up between 30 and 50 kilometres above ground and<br />was most likely a stony meteorite - or the other possibility is space<br />junk," he said<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Mr Handford said it would have been the size of a fist, or more, to have penetrated the lower atmosphere.<br /></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"><br /><span class="atop-l"></span><br /><span class="atop-r"></span><br /></div><br /><div class="article-header"><br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43716148/ns/technology_and_science-science/">How tough turtles survived catastrophic meteor: Cretaceous animals adapted in mass extinction that wiped out dinosaurs</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Jennifer Welsh<br /><br />Live Science<br /><br />Mon, 11 Jul 2011 08:46 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/231555-How-tough-turtles-survived-catastrophic-meteor-Cretaceous-animals-adapted-in-mass-extinction-that-wiped-out-dinosaurs#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Brian T. Roach, Yale Peabody Museum" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73435/full/110711_TurtlePhoto_hmed_1215p_.jpg"><img alt="" height="334" width="392" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73435/large/110711_TurtlePhoto_hmed_1215p_.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Brian T. Roach, Yale Peabody Museum</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">Reconstruction<br />of the baenid turtle Boremys basking on a Triceratops dinosaur skull.<br />Boremys were one of several turtle species that survived the asteroid<br />impact that killed the dinosaurs (other than birds) at the end of the<br />Cretaceous Period.<br /><br /></span></div><br /></div><br />What does it take to survive a<br />catastrophic meteor impact? The tough turtles of the Cretaceous know a<br />bit about that; they seem to have survived the mass extinction that<br />wiped out the dinosaurs because of their slow metabolisms and aquatic<br />lifestyles, researchers now say.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Turtles are very tough animals, if times get tough they can go into a<br />state of animation," said study researcher Tyler Lyson, of Yale<br />University. "Animals that were living in the water were kind of<br />protected against whatever killed the land plants and the dinosaurs."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Essentially, since their bodily processes were so slow, needing very<br />little energy, they could survive on sparse resources during and after<br />the wipeout of dinosaurs.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The conclusion is based on a newly discovered turtle fossil<br />from North Dakota, which dates back 60 million and 65 million years ago.<br />The specimen belongs to a turtle species thought to have survived<br />global extinction, Lyson said, because fossils of the same species have<br />been found in rocks deposited up to 75 million years ago.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Tough turtles</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The global extinction event that killed the dinosaurs, called the K-T<br />boundary due to its special signature in rock layers, was most likely<br />set off by a meteorite strike, though the true sequence of events is<br />hotly debated. Some researchers believe a set of world-shattering <a target="_blank" href="http://www.livescience.com/3165-dinosaur-killer-volcanism-asteroid.html">volcanic eruptions</a> darkened the sky, which may or may not have been caused by the meteor.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Erik Freeman" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73436/full/110711_Turtle1Photo_hmed_1215p.jpg"><img alt="" height="333" width="389" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73436/large/110711_Turtle1Photo_hmed_1215p.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Erik Freeman</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">Diagram<br />of the many types of turtles that survived the K/T extinction event.<br />The skulls of these turtles are illustrated (as viewed from above) as<br />are their fossil record (thick blue bars) and evolutionary relationships<br />(thin lines connecting bars). The red line marks the extinction event,<br />and is matched with the photographic of the geologic section in the<br />background. Eight different lineages of turtles survived. </span></div><br /></div><br />The<br />turtles, along with other burrowing and water-living animals, survived<br />the dinosaur-killing whole-Earth extinction event, which extinguished 90<br />percent of the animal and plant species living on land, including<br />land-living turtles.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"If you only looked at turtles across this boundary you <a target="_blank" href="http://www.livescience.com/9723-dinosaur-killing-space-rock-barely-rattled-algae.html">wouldn't think there was an extinction</a>,"<br />Lyson told LiveScience. "Small animals that have a slow metabolism and<br />live in the water do very well across the K-T boundary."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />These turtles lived in lakes and streams in North America, where they<br />ate soft plants and crustaceans. They would have resembled the painted<br />or cooter turtles of today, Lyson said, though they aren't closely<br />related to any living turtle species. They were part of a very large<br />group of species called the baenid turtles, at least eight of which<br />survived the extinction event only to vanish later by some other means.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Extinction after-party</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />After the land-based wipeout, the remaining small <a target="_blank" href="http://www.livescience.com/7230-rise-modern-mammals-occurred-long-dinosaur-demise.html">mammals populating the Earth</a><br />spread in what's called "adaptive radiation," where a limited number of<br />species fans out and diversifies in empty habitats. The living mammals<br />underwent rapid evolution and spread into the niches vacated by other<br />animals, including the dinosaurs.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><br /></div><br /><div class="image-caption"><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="tiny"> Erik Freeman</span><a title="© Erik Freeman" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73437/full/110711_Turtle2Photo_hmed_1215p.jpg"><img alt="" height="228" width="331" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73437/large/110711_Turtle2Photo_hmed_1215p.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><br /></div><br /><span class="caption"><br /><br />This<br />is the Hell Creek Formation in southwestern North Dakota where many<br />fossils, including dinosaurs and turtles, have been collected. The K/T<br />boundary – the point in the record at which the extinction took place —<br />is about where the yellow sand meets the gray mudstone. </span></div><br /></div><br />Even<br />though turtles had the metabolic upper hand to survive the extinction<br />event, the mammals beat out these tough turtles in the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.livescience.com/7121-fossils-suggest-chaotic-recovery-mass-extinction.html">race to repopulate land</a>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"In the water, before and after the boundary, it was <a target="_blank" href="http://www.livescience.com/14984-tough-turtles-survive-extinction-event.html#">business </a>as<br />usual. A lot of these smaller species are around right after the<br />impact. Not a whole lot changed," Lyson said. "Mammals just have more of<br />a rapid turnover, so they are able to more quickly adapt to their<br />environment and their changing surroundings."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />But this story of survival has a sad ending. After enduring more than 85<br />million years on Earth, the baenid turtles ultimately died out around<br />40 million years ago, probably when North America hit a dry spell during<br />the late Eocene Epoch.<br /><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"><br /><span class="atop-l"></span><br /><span class="atop-r"></span><br /></div><br /><div class="article-header"><br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/12237-greatest-mysteries-asteroid-belt.html">The Greatest Mysteries of the Asteroid Belt</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Adam Hadhaz<br /><br />Life's Little Mysteries<br /><br />Mon, 11 Jul 2011 12:21 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/231609-The-Greatest-Mysteries-of-the-Asteroid-Belt#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Unknown" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73532/full/asteroid_belt_ff.jpg"><img alt="" height="175" width="400" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73532/large/asteroid_belt_ff.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown<br /><br /></span></div><br /></div><br />Beyond<br />the orbit of Mars, but not as far as Jupiter, lurk the many hundreds of<br />thousands of rocky bodies collectively known as the asteroid belt.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Many solar systems are thought to contain such belts, and science<br />fiction movies and television shows often present these bands as<br />rock-clogged expanses that would challenge any celestial navigator. It<br />may be so, in other systems, but in <a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/asteroid-comet-or-meteor-1139/">our asteroid belt</a>, the rocky bodies are actually quite far apart from each other.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Humankind will soon be getting an inside look at this often overlooked<br />bit of celestial real estate, courtesy of NASA's Dawn mission. On<br />Saturday, July 16, after a four-year journey, the Dawn spacecraft will<br />reach Vesta, the second-largest body in the belt. [Photos: <a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/11540-photos-asteroid-vesta-nasa-dawn.html">Asteroid Vesta and NASA's Dawn</a>]<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />From there, Dawn will go on to orbit the belt's biggest object,<br />Ceres, in 2015. Ceres accounts for nearly a third of the asteroid<br />belt's mass, and is the largest "dwarf planet" in the solar system,<br />outranking Pluto.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Dawn will be the first spacecraft to orbit one body, let alone two, in<br />the asteroid belt. In so doing, Dawn will further characterize two<br />distinct, major objects in the belt, shedding light on some of its<br />greatest mysteries, which are:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Origin of the scattered stones</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />A major planet never formed where the asteroid belt lies, scientists<br />think, because nearby of disturbances caused by Jupiter's gravitational<br />tug. The giant planet's gravity accelerated the growing agglomerations<br />of dust in the region of the belt, interfering with the slow, step-wise<br />buildup to larger bodies, and booting some objects out entirely.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"The asteroid belt suffered from having this really bad neighbor next<br />door," said Christopher Russell, a professor of geophysics and space<br />physics at the University of California, Los Angeles, and principal<br />investigator for the Dawn mission.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Learning more about the locations of <a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/248-comets-asteroids-planets-nearby-star.html">asteroid belts in other solar systems</a> will help confirm the theory that our belt's sparse rocks are a result of the gravitational meddling of giant planets.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Dry to wet</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Although <a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/11093-photos-asteroids-deep-space-rocks.html">Vesta and Ceres</a><br />are relatively close to each other (Vesta's orbit is about 2.4 times<br />the Earth-Sun distance and Ceres' is 2.8 times that disance), the two<br />objects are strikingly different. Essentially, Vesta is "dry" while<br />Ceres is "wet."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Vesta is very much like the Moon and Earth," Russell said. "It's a<br />rocky body with an iron core." Ceres, for its part, "is more like rock<br />and water," he told Life's Little Mysteries.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Scientists' best guess as to the reason behind these contrasting<br />compositions has to do with when the bodies formed. Both Vesta and Ceres<br />are in the ballpark of 4.6 billion years old, coming together when the<br />rest of the solar system's major bodies took shape. "But exactly when<br />they were made back then, if differing by a few million years, is<br />important," said Russell.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Our solar system emerged from the collapse of a massive cloud of gas and<br />dust. An explosion of a nearby star in a supernova seeded this cloud<br />with heavy elements, including short-lived radioactive ones such as<br />aluminum-26. [<a target="_blank" href="http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/what-if-solar-system-formed-somewhere-else-milky-way-1716/">What If Our Solar System Formed Closer to Milky Way's Edge?</a>]<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Those bodies that accreted first contained more short-lived elements,<br />which then decayed and heated the surrounding matter. "The body gets to<br />the boiling point, so then water starts to boil off and that starts to<br />dry the material," explained Russell.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The thinking is that Vesta formed just a few million years before Ceres,<br />and as such became hot, molten and dried out. Ceres, instead, chilled<br />out.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Not much Vesta there, but plenty here</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />If Vesta did indeed form before Ceres, that might also explain the<br />mystery of why there are so few "V-type," or Vesta-like asteroids<br />observed in the belt. Most of those known appear to have come from Vesta<br />itself, having been blasted out by a collision long ago.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />That blast apparently sent some Vesta fragments Earth's way, too. About<br />one out of 20 meteorites - space rocks that survive passage through<br />Earth's atmosphere all the way to the ground - appear to have come<br />from Vesta, Russell said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />More puzzingly, none of the meteorites that have ever been recovered<br />appear to have originated from Ceres. Russell said this is probably<br />because the icy chunks that have been knocked off of Ceres sublimate -<br />that is, turn to gas - when subjected to sunlight or the heat of<br />entry into Earth's atmosphere, and so they never reach <em>terra firma</em>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The Dawn probe will study Ceres' surface to gauge this hypothesis.<br />Alternatively, Jupiter's gravity might again play a role, pumping much<br />more of Vesta's shrapnel our way compared to Ceres'.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Bonus boggler: Bringers of life and death?</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />While planning the Dawn mission, some scientists voiced concerns about<br />sending the probe to Ceres. "They said Ceres is an object of<br />astrobiology interest," Russell said. "If it's got water and a good<br />temperature out there under its surface, we don't want [the Dawn<br />mission] contaminating it."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Russell said his team will certainly aim to prevent Dawn from<br />accidentally crashing into Ceres. A future mission could someday assess<br />the dwarf planet's habitability.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />That Ceres or other objects in the asteroid belt might harbor life, or its ingredients, speaks to the "panspermia" theory of <a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/3511-enduring-mystery-life-origin.html">life's origins here on Earth</a>.<br />The panspermia theory suggest that life did not begin here, but rather<br />that biological entities developed elsewhere, and then a meteorite<br />delivered them to Earth. Perhaps that rock chunk chipped off Ceres, or<br />another icy asteroid, and somehow made it to Earth.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Overall, asteroids certainly appear to have had quite an impact,<br />literally and figuratively, on life on Earth. A minimum six-mile-wide<br />asteroid helped doom the dinosaurs when it crashed here 65 million years<br />ago.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Yet bombardment from icy asteroids early in Earth's history possibly<br />brought huge amounts of water and carbon-containing compounds to the<br />planet, both of which are critical for creating and supporting life.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"You're looking at two scenarios, where alternatively life was<br />negatively affected by asteroids and other times positively affected by<br />asteroids," Russell said. "Asteroids are neither bad nor good."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.metro.co.uk/news/869186-dinosaurs-killed-by-meteor-new-fossil-discovery-proves#ixzz1RzlgV815">Dinosaurs killed by meteor, new fossil discovery proves</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar"><br /><br />Metro.co.uk<br /><br />Wed, 13 Jul 2011 09:41 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/231612-Dinosaurs-killed-by-meteor-new-fossil-discovery-proves#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73541/full/800620498_14025470_596x362_131.jpg"><img title="Click to enlarge" alt="dinosaur" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73541/medium/800620498_14025470_596x362_131.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><br /><br /><span class="caption">A horn belonging to the Triceratops family appears to indicate that the dinosaurs were wiped out by a meteor.<br /><br /><br /></span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br />Archaeologists have unearthed a single 45cm-long fossilised browhorn<br />belonging to a group of herbivores that included the famous<br />Triceratops, at a geological site in the south-east of Montana, US.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />While this is, in itself, not an unusual find, it is the placement of the fossil in the rock that is most important.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The fossil was found just 13cm below the layer of rock known as the<br />Cretaceous-Tertiary - the point in rock formation that marks the<br />extinction of the dinosaurs.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Scientists now believe this offers proof that dinosaurs were<br />alive right up until the point where they suddenly disappeared - adding<br />weight to the theory that they were suddenly and abruptly killed off.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Importantly, this find bridges the three-million-year time gap between<br />the death of the dinosaurs and the impact of a giant meteor, which hit<br />the Earth near Mexico around 65million years ago.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />'This discovery provides some evidence that dinosaurs didn't slowly die<br />out before the meteor struck,' Dr Tyler Lyson of Yale University<br />explained.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />'The fact that this specimen was so close to the boundary indicates that<br />at least some dinosaurs were doing fine right up until the impact.'<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Scientists have previously identified more than 1,000 species of<br />non-avian dinosaur - however, including birds this number jumps to more<br />than 8,000.<br /></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"><br /><span class="atop-l"></span><br /><span class="atop-r"></span><br /></div><br /><div class="article-header"><br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.ntv.ru/novosti/228648/">Interview with Russian astronomer Leonid Elenin - The discoverer of Comet Elenin</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Translation by SOTT<br /><br />NTV.ru<br /><br />Wed, 11 May 2011 04:06 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><br /><br /></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© NTV" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73244/full/prtscr_capture_42.jpg"><img alt="" height="293" width="383" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73244/large/prtscr_capture_42.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NTV</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">Leonid Elenin<br /><br /></span></div><br /></div><br />The<br />following video is a full interview in the Russian language on NTV with<br />the discoverer of Comet C/2010 X1 aka 'Elenin', astronomer Leonid<br />Elenin. Below is the translation of the original interview's transcript<br />available on the Russian TV website.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><object height="360" width="400"><br /><param name="movie" value="http://www1.ntv.ru/swf/vps1.swf?xmllink=http://www.ntv.ru/vi228648/"><br /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><br /><embed src="http://www1.ntv.ru/swf/vps1.swf?xmllink=http://www.ntv.ru/vi228648/" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="400" height="360"></object></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Today rumors about the imminent end of the world, which have<br />recently appeared more frequently and spread around the world much<br />faster, are demonstrating their power to influence minds.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Thousands of residents of Rome gathered everything of value and fled the city, scared by the <a target="_blank" href="http://news.discovery.com/earth/rome-earthquake-prophecy-sparks-anic-110510.html">prophecy of a terrible earthquake</a>.<br />100 years ago, an Italian self-taught astronomer allegedly announced<br />that on May 11th, 2011 the "eternal city" would be wiped from the face<br />of the Earth.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The source of global hysteria became Comet Elenin, currently flying<br />towards Earth, and the first to be discovered by a Russian astronomer in<br />20 years. There's a massive discussion about it on the Internet, that<br />alien spaceships are hiding behind it and are approaching the Earth. The<br />governments supposedly know about this, but hide the information from<br />the public. According to another version, the planet faces a collision<br />with the comet.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />NTV correspondent Sergei Malozemoff was able to confirm that the rumors<br />are so widespread, the scientific community decided to issue its own<br />response.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The panic on the Internet began with a genuine snapshot, published by<br />one of the Argentine astronomers, and few people bothered to pay<br />attention to the date - April 1st. In the center - a comet with a<br />symbol C 2010 X1 Elenin, and on each side, wrote the scientist, -<br />something that looks very much like two alien spacecraft. They are on<br />their way! - the Internet exploded and started to await the end of the<br />world.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Roman Chelyuskin, chief editor of the blog service said: "This issue<br />continues to gain momentum. For instance, during the first week of May,<br />the number of posts about comet Elenin was 30 times higher than the<br />number of posts that were made in April.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The name of the comet discoverer - Russia's Leonid Elenin - was<br />immediately transcribed as "a catastrophe of total annihilation", and<br />also "aliens from the planet Nibiru in November." Some even recalled<br />that Leo is also the name of the protagonist from the catastrophe movie<br />about a comet, <em>Deep Impact</em>. Basically, all these 'signs' were<br />pointed out to suggest that Elenin the person doesn't actually exist.<br />Even though Platon Elenin is the second name of [Russian billionaire]<br />Boris Berezovsky. And world governments are apparently hiding the horror<br />that awaits us.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />A simple search on the open scientific sources led NTV Group to the<br />Institute of Applied Mathematics (named after M. B. Keldysh), the<br />workplace of the very same Leonid Elenin. NTV correspondent called him<br />and was convinced that he is indeed real.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />After a strong handshake and no signs of deceit, we discovered that<br />Leonid Elenin is 29 years old, he studied at the Moscow Aviation<br />Institute, then worked as a property agent, and after the crisis has<br />returned to his beloved science. To everyone who doesn't believe him, he<br />shows his institute's pass. He complains: someone already registered<br />under his name on Facebook, and promotes a cult that offers the only<br />salvation.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Leonid Elenin, researcher in the Institute of Applied Mathematics says: <strong>"I receive letters that ask me to present a passport."</strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Interviewer: "Where the letters are coming from?"<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Leonid Elenin: "Well, <strong>most of them come from the U.S.</strong>. Right now, during the last week, I was 'buried' by letters from Russia. <strong>From U.S. also came: 'We don't believe you. Show your passport.'</strong> To which I replied: Why do I have to show you anything?"<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />It happened in December. Leonid was watching the sky on a remote<br />connection using telescope of American colleagues in New Mexico, and -<br />score! - he noticed an unrecorded object. This was a new comet with a<br />diameter of about three kilometers. According to international rules,<br />the comet was immediately assigned his name. And notorious alien ships<br />in the picture, alas, have a much more prosaic explanation.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Leonid Elenin: "<strong>These are actually stars. What happens is, that<br />during a certain process of adding several frames in relation to the<br />velocity of the comet, these stars stretch into tracks. In principle,<br />any astronomer should know this.</strong>"<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Leonid Elenin" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s2/53918/full/Comet_Elenin_discovery.jpg"><img title="Click to enlarge" alt="Elenin photo" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s2/53918/large/Comet_Elenin_discovery.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Leonid Elenin</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">SpeedN-NM<br />Comet Elenin (C/2010 X1) appears as a tiny, faint smudge in this stack<br />of four 240-second exposures taken on the morning of December 10, 2010,<br />with a remote-controlled telescope in New Mexico. (The quadrupled stars<br />are due to the comet's motion between exposures.)</span></div><br /></div><br />Interviewer: "It is similar to a bright spot being smeared on the picture taken at night."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Leonid Elenin: "Yes, of course. And the discovery of a comet was my<br />dream, a childhood dream. And it was accomplished. Of course, I was<br />happy and so on. But now, all this is happening around my comet. <strong>There<br />are, for example, the following letters: 'Leonid, tell us the truth. I<br />am selling my house. And my family and I are heading for the mountains.'</strong> <span class="BoldRed">It's nothing but hysteria.</span> More so, the comet is absolutely safe for the Earth. It will pass at a distance of 34 million kilometers from the planet."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />According to Elenin's calculations, X-1 will pass the Earth in October.<br />It will be seen with binoculars or even with the naked eye. Then the<br />comet will touch the orbit of Mercury, and if it does not dissipate, it<br />will rush away from the solar system. And we will not see it again for<br />another 12 thousand years.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Supporters of doomsday, as the astronomer assured us, will have to invent a new theory.<br /></div><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>Indeed, the hysteria and lies<br />surrounding comet Elenin are ridiculous, and could be dismissed as more<br />"loony talk" if only the similar circus generated around comet Hale-Bopp<br />15 years ago hadn't led to tragic consequences. See Heaven's Gate <a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven%27s_Gate_%28religious_group%29">mass suicide</a> to understand where those pied pipers in the alt. community are leading the vulnerable.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />It's an unfortunate fact that many people do have impressionable minds,<br />easily influenced by paranoid fables bordering on the criminal. Some of<br />them are also part of deliberately orchestrated <a target="_blank" href="http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,23918.msg274341.html#msg274341">COINTELPRO campaigns</a>, which are intended to further muddy the waters. Read <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/231434-Elenin-Nibiru-Planet-X-Time-for-a-Sanity-Check">Elenin, Nibiru, Planet-X - Time for a Sanity Check</a> article for some clarity on this mess.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"><br /><span class="atop-l"></span><br /><span class="atop-r"></span><br /></div><br /><div class="article-header"><br /><div class="article-icon"><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><strong><a href="http://io9.com/5816259/100-years-ago-today-a-meteorite-possibly-vaporized-a-dog-in-egypt" target="_blank">100 years ago, a meteorite (possibly) vaporized a dog in Egypt</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Cyriaque Lamar<br /><br />IO9<br /><br />Tue, 28 Jun 2011 00:38 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/231789-100-years-ago-a-meteorite-possibly-vaporized-a-dog-in-Egypt#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73867/full/nak6.gif" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Unknown"><img alt="" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/73867/medium/nak6.gif" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span></div><br /></div><br />Here's<br />a bizarre milestone. On June 28, 1911, a meteorite fell over the<br />outskirts of Alexandria, Egypt. The meteorite broke into several smaller<br />rocks, one of which may have reduced a dog to a burnt smear.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />On that fateful morning a century ago, the Nakhla meteorite broke over<br />the village of Abu Hummus, and 40 of these fragments were recovered for<br />research.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Although the 1.3-billion-year-old rock is famous in astrogeological<br />circles for its Martian origins, the Nakhla rock also has the lurid (and<br />perhaps unearned) reputation as a dog-smusher. Explains <a href="http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/aroundthemall/2011/06/one-hundred-years-ago-today-a-mars-meteorite-fell-in-a-blaze/" target="_blank">The Smithsonian</a>:<br /><blockquote class="typ1"><br />W.F. Hume, minister of the Geological Survey of Egypt, began taking<br />eyewitness statements, and two months later published his report, "The<br />First Meteorite Record in Egypt."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />One of those statements, from a farmer who claimed to have seen a<br />fragment fall on a dog, gave rise to the popular myth that Nakhla, as<br />the meteorite would be named, was "the dog killing meteorite," an<br />unsubstantiated claim, but the dramatic account is irresistible: "The<br />fearful column which appeared in the sky at Denshal was substantial. The<br />terrific noise it emitted was an explosion which made it erupt several<br />fragments of volcanic materials. These curious fragments, falling to<br />earth, buried themselves into the sand to the depth of about one metre.<br />One of them fell on a dog...leaving it like ashes in a moment."<br /></blockquote><br />There's not a ton of scholarship devoted to whether or not a<br />dog was doomed by the heavens, but if this incident really did come to<br />pass, everything science fiction cinema's <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUlIOw4-3RM" target="_blank">taught us</a> about canines and cosmic catastrophe is terrifically wrong.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Additionally, the rock's igneous formation and <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/96/16/8835.full" target="_blank">the presence of amino acids</a><br />on the rock have led some scientists to speculate that the meteorite<br />offers potential evidence of life on Mars, but the organic molecules<br />probably ended up on the Nakhla sample as a result of terrestrial<br />contamination. In any case, hug your dog today and be happy they're not<br />on the receiving end of clumsy space detritus.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"><br /><span class="atop-l"></span><br /><span class="atop-r"></span><br /></div><br /><div class="article-header"><br /><div class="article-icon"><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><strong><a href="http://eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/51000/51349/ISS028-E-014782.jpg" target="_blank">Shoemaker Impact Structure, Western Australia</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar"><br /><br />Earth Observatory, NASA<br /><br />Sun, 17 Jul 2011 19:41 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/231915-Shoemaker-Impact-Structure-Western-Australia#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/74104/full/ISS028_E_014782.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Earth Observatory, NASA"><img height="265" width="348" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/74104/large/ISS028_E_014782.jpg" alt="Shoemaker Impact Structure" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Earth Observatory, NASA</span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br />The Shoemaker (formerly Teague) Impact Structure - located in<br />Western Australia in a drainage basin south of the Waldburg Range -<br />presents an other-worldly appearance in this astronaut photograph. The<br />Shoemaker impact site is approximately 30 kilometers (19 miles) in<br />diameter and clearly defined by concentric ring structures formed in<br />sedimentary rocks (brown to dark brown, image center). The rocks were<br />deformed by the impact event approximately 1.63 billion years ago (as<br />reported by the <a href="http://www.passc.net/EarthImpactDatabase/shoemaker.html" target="_blank">Earth Impact Database</a>). Other age-dating analyses of granitic rocks at the core of the structure call this age into question (<a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1440-0952.2003.01027.x/full" target="_blank">Pirajno et al. 2003</a>).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Several saline and ephemeral lakes - Nabberu, Teague, Shoemaker, and<br />numerous smaller ponds - occupy the land surface between the ring<br />structures. Differences in color result from both water depth and from<br />suspended sediments, with some bright salt crusts visible around the<br />edges of smaller ponds (image center). A Landsat 7 view of the <a href="http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=4648" target="_blank">Shoemaker structure</a> illustrates the extent of these ephemeral lakes, or playas, in the region.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The Teague Impact Structure was renamed Shoemaker in honor of <a href="http://astrogeology.usgs.gov/About/People/GeneShoemaker/" target="_blank">Dr. Eugene M. Shoemaker</a> (1928-1997), a pioneer in impact crater studies and planetary geology, as well as the founder of the <a href="http://astrogeology.usgs.gov/" target="_blank">Astrogeology Branch</a> of the U.S. Geological Survey.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Reference</span><br /><br /><br />Pirajno F., Hawke, P., Glikson, A.Y., Haines, P.W., and Uysal, T. (2003). <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1440-0952.2003.01027.x/full" target="_blank">Shoemaker impact structure, Western Australia.</a> <em>Australian Journal of Earth Sciences,</em> 50:775-796.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Astronaut photograph <a href="http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/scripts/sseop/photo.pl?mission=ISS028&roll=E&frame=14782" target="_blank">ISS028-E-14782</a><br />was acquired on July 6, 2011, with a Nikon D2Xs digital camera using a<br />200 mm lens, and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations<br />experiment and Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space<br />Center. The image was taken by the <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition28/index.html" target="_blank">Expedition 28 crew.</a> The image has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast. Lens artifacts have been removed. The <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/science/nlab/index.html" target="_blank">International Space Station Program</a> supports the laboratory as part of the <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/science/nlab/index.html" target="_blank">ISS National Lab</a><br />to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest<br />value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely<br />available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and<br />cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC <a href="http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/" target="_blank">Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth.</a> Caption by William L. Stefanov, Jacobs/ESCG at NASA-JSC.<br /></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a href="http://paranormaloldpueblo.com/2011/07/17/meteor-sighted-before-crashing-in-kilimambogo-kenya/" target="_blank">Kenya: Meteor Sighted Before Crashing in Kilimambogo</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Cherlyn Gardner Strong<br /><br />Paranormal Old Pueblo<br /><br />Sun, 17 Jul 2011 20:06 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/231917-Kenya-Meteor-Sighted-Before-Crashing-in-Kilimambogo#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/74141/full/ff.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Unknown"><img alt="" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/74141/medium/ff.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">Illustration only<br /><br /></span></div><br /></div><br />Residents<br />of the towns of Kilimambogo and Tala in Kenya spotted an object in the<br />sky on Saturday. Those who did not see the object, heard it, as it<br />crashed to the ground.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Residents of the nearby towns of Yatta, Kakuzi and Kangundo reported<br />hearing an explosion around 10am, which they said was comparable to a<br />plane crash or bomb explosion.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Eyewitnesses stated that the object was spinning on impact when it landed in a cornfield.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Police and military officers quickly responded to the scene and found an<br />extremely hot object, weighing in at approximately 11 pounds. They<br />eventually took the object for expert analysis.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The object was a smooth black rock, which area officials believe to be a meteor from outer space.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />There were no reported injuries from the impact of the extraterrestrial rock.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><em></em><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a href="http://www.semissourian.com/story/1743142.html" target="_blank">Hysteria<br />of cosmic proportions! Missouri, US: Cape doctor says he's not leading<br />survivalist group and has been harassed by believers in 'Planet X'</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">M.D. Kittle<br /><br />Southeast Missourian<br /><br />Sun, 10 Jul 2011 11:00 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/231961-Hysteria-of-cosmic-proportions-Missouri-US-Cape-doctor-says-he-s-not-leading-survivalist-group-and-has-been-harassed-by-believers-in-Planet-X-#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/74151/full/1504709_M.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Fred Lynch"><img alt="" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/74151/medium/1504709_M.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Fred Lynch</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">Dr. Byron Glenn at Cape Urgent Care</span></div><br /></div><br />Dr.<br />Byron Glenn of Cape Girardeau says he wants nothing to do with the<br />people he sees as online crackpots trumpeting a "conspiracy wrapped in<br />an enigma."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />He's not alone. The folks at NASA have fruitlessly tried to debunk what<br />they say are wild conspiracies involving Comet Elenin -- a "wimpy"<br />projectile expected to remain more than 20 million miles from Earth.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Glenn said he's been harassed and threatened by doomsday believers of<br />"Planet X," an idea spreading in the blogosphere and in online chat<br />rooms about a brown dwarf star, a low-mass object rapidly approaching<br />the solar system and bent on destroying much of the Earth. He said that<br />believers, apparently followers of Terral L. Croft, or "Terral03" as he<br />is known in anxiety-ridden chat rooms, have shown up at his North Mount<br />Auburn Road family practice demanding answers.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"I'm not the leader of any group. I can't tell people what to do. I don't want to," Glenn told the <em>Southeast Missourian</em><br />last week when asked about his connection to Croft's "research group,"<br />reportedly made up of people who plan to head for caves in Missouri's<br />Ozarks in the coming weeks. The plan, according to Croft and a series of<br />online correspondence in recent months, is to ride out the earthquakes,<br />floods, volcanoes and other calamities they believe to be coming,<br />thanks to the magnetic and polarizing effects of Planet X.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Croft, in letters to members of the group, describes Glenn as his good<br />friend, a man he's been acquainted with for some time. He and others say<br />Glenn is leading the Ozark survivalists. Glenn says he's never met<br />Croft, a man he describes as "out there" and "on the edge," a Revelation<br />chaser and Sept. 11 conspiracist.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"I am not the leader of any Ozark survival group," Glenn said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Others say he is -- most notably Croft, who in his more recent Internet<br />messages claims "our survival group leader and physician Dr. Byron Glenn<br />and his engineer son" saw some disturbing things in their "expensive<br />telescope."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Dr. Glenn was able to zoom in on the area of our dwarf star to realize<br />he was looking at a monster of great size. We cannot see the actual<br />dwarf star, but now he can make out the dark area and the dancing stars<br />in the background created by the gravitational leasing effect," Croft<br />wrote in his communique.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />He was not reachable at a phone number provided to the <em>Southeast Missourian</em> by a source from New York who said he fears the group may be attracting and hurting unwitting believers.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Croft believes the object will become visible as a "second sun" in early<br />September, at which time the "earthquakes, volcanoes, rogue tides, mass<br />animal deaths and the whole 9 yards are going to escalate out of<br />control in August and September for the crap to hit the fan ..."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Croft, who reportedly resides in Florida, and others say they are<br />planning to "head for the hills" around Aug. 1, and that a series of<br />photographs will clearly show the force of destruction he asserts is<br />coming. He said doctors, engineers, military special forces personnel<br />and enough trained specialists to man a small hospital will, too, be<br />heading for the Ozark caverns, apparently the safest place to survive<br />when the substellar object does its worst, Croft asserts.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />It appears survival is becoming a financial matter. In some<br />correspondence, the group talks about raising money to accommodate<br />hundreds of people looking for space in the caves, those who would not<br />be able to cover the costs otherwise.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"All of you have a place with me at the Ozark cavern location, but you<br />must have sufficient food and supplies listed in the survival video and<br />link for a six-month period," Croft writes.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Glenn claims it's all a bunch of nonsense. He said the "expensive<br />telescope" he is supposed to own is actually an 8-inch model with a<br />camera lens, and that he is nothing more than an amateur astronomer.<br />While the doctor acknowledges he did take some photos of the comet, he<br />said people in the chat room group are attaching more significance to<br />the pictures than they should. Unlike the Harold Campings of endtime<br />prophesies that caught the public's attention and scorn this year, Glenn<br />said he doesn't, nor does anyone, know the hour of the Earth's fall.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />But Glenn says he has seen something in that telescope. Something on three consecutive nights. Something that didn't go away.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />While he may not ally himself with the "research group," the Cape<br />Girardeau doctor does believe there's something very bad in the wind.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"I'm watching. I have a watchful eye," Glenn said, asserting that<br />something serious is causing a rash of volcanoes and massive<br />earthquakes, like the 9.0 quake that struck Japan in March. He claims to<br />know something, the same thing NASA knows, the president knows, the<br />Defense Department knows. But Glenn says there's no use in talking about<br />it -- and the leaders in the know can't talk about it either.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Who's going to go to work. Who's going to the power company? Think<br />about that. How much food would be on the shelf at grocery stores? How<br />jam packed would the highways be?" he said, referring to what he<br />believes would be the chaos caused if the public learns of looming<br />destruction.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"If you don't go through the ruse, people know something's up. Everybody<br />must be entertained," Glenn said, referring to a line in the movie <em>Network</em>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Absolute nonsense, said Dr. Don Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near-Earth<br />Object Program Office in California, the people who watch comets and<br />asteroids for a living.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Yeomans said there's been a lot of Internet buzz about brown dwarf stars<br />and the like in recent years, something he said began with a woman who<br />said she was channeling aliens from a star system. He said some folks<br />who apparently flunked high school science say this Planet X is<br />imminent.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />It's not, Yeomans said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"It's completely baseless," he said. If a brown dwarf were to pass by<br />the Earth and sun, as soon as Sept. 26, "it would light up the sky even<br />without a telescope now. Why haven't we seen it and why have the effects<br />not been noted by the motions of the other planets -- which they<br />haven't?"<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Comet Elenin, first discovered late last year, has been gradually moving<br />closer to the Earth, Yeomans said. It is not expected to move any<br />nearer than 22 million miles from the Earth.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"That's not even that close," Yeomans said, calling Elenin a fairly modest, mediocre comet.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"It's a bit wimpy by cometary standards," he said, noting the light makeup of comets -- dust and ice.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Yeomans said NASA has given up on trying to combat all of the misinformation online.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"So many of them, they don't talk science," he said. "They're passionate<br />believers who enjoy the publicity they get. It's whistling into the<br />wind trying to convince them otherwise."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The "research group" sees something different. And whatever Glenn knows, he's not telling.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Asked about it all, he referred to the famous line in the military tribunal movie <em>A Few Good Men</em>:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"You can't handle the truth."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><em>mkittle@semissourian.com </em><br /></div><br /><div class="article-comment"><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>This article is a good example of how a<br />group of unstable people and their hysterical actions can be used to<br />twist and ridicule valid topics. Yes, comet Elenin isn't Planet X, and<br />the end of the world is not imminent, though the science points out that<br />calamities <em>are</em> highly probable, especially the next Ice Age.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Notice how the seasonal and "heading for the mountains" loonie is being<br />called "out there" and "on the edge," due to him being a "Sept. 11<br />conspiracist". Although, in this case, the "out there" label is quite<br />justifiable, sweeping generalizations like this influence the minds of<br />others and damage efforts of genuine and reasonable people.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Earthquakes, volcanoes, rogue tides, mass animal deaths and the whole 9<br />yards" are indeed happening, and may increase in the nearest future.<br />But there is so much confusion and plain hysteria around the issue, that<br />it plays in hands of those who have a vested interest in keeping the<br />truth from the rest of us.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Read <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/231434-Elenin-Nibiru-Planet-X-Time-for-a-Sanity-Check" target="_blank">Elenin, Nibiru, Planet-X - Time for a Sanity Check</a> article for some clarity on this mess.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />For further background see:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/229777-Cosmic-Propaganda-Alert-Comet-Elenin-Just-Passing-By-With-SOTT-Commentary" target="_blank">Cosmic Propaganda Alert! Comet Elenin: Just Passing By - With SOTT Commentary</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/221672-Comet-Elenin-is-Coming-" target="_blank">Comet Elenin is Coming!</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/223438-Pole-Shift-in-March-Not-Likely-" target="_blank">Pole Shift in March? Not Likely!</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/224062-Comet-Elenin-Harbinger-of-What-" target="_blank">Comet Elenin: Harbinger of What?</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/225704-Comet-Elenin-Update-" target="_blank">Comet Elenin Update!</a><br /><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-header"><br /><span class="atop-l"></span><br /><span class="atop-r"></span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/article/211341/3/Dozens-Report-Seeing-Strange-Lights-Over-First-Coast">US: Strange Lights Seen Over First Coast, Florida</a><br /><h2><br /></h2><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Lewis Turner<br /><br />First Coast News<br /><br />Mon, 18 Jul 2011 17:40 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/232005-US-Strange-Lights-Seen-Over-First-Coast-Florida#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a title="© First Coast News" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/74261/full/110718052436_strangelightswebp.jpg"><img title="Click to enlarge" alt="Strange Lights" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/74261/medium/110718052436_strangelightswebp.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© First Coast News</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">Strange lights seen over First Coast, Michele Casey points out what she saw from Vilano Beach. </span></div><br /></div><br />Vilano Beach, Florida -- Some strange lights were seen over the First Coast by many of you early this morning.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />We had several people call us, and more chime in on our <a target="_blank" href="http://www.facebook.com/home.php#%21/FirstCoastNews">Facebook page</a> about the very bright light that appeared in the sky around 6:15 Monday morning.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Some were worried that it was a plane crashing into the ocean, but the<br />FAA hasn't reported any downed planes, so that's not the issue.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />One website, run by the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.amsmeteors.org/">American Meteor Society,</a> said the bright lights were probably a fireball. They define that as an "extra bright meteor."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"At first I thought it was an airplane coming across," said Michele<br />Casey, pointing to the portion of sky where she observed the light.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />She was having coffee on her Vilano Beach home's front porch when she saw it.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"But it moved too fast to be a plane, and then it ignited to orange."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />She said it moved over the beach and disappeared into the ocean. She<br />said it only lasted a couple seconds, and didn't make a sound.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />We heard from folks in Jacksonville, and as far north as Waverly, Georgia with reports of seeing the "fireball."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />There was no named, high rate meteor shower last night, but that, of<br />course, doesn't mean that debris from space won't enter our atmosphere.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />According to the American Meteor Society, the next best chance to see<br />frequent meteors will be the Delta Aquariids at the end of July.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110718001336.htm">Comet Hartley 2 Leaves a Bumpy Trail</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar"><br /><br />ScienceDaily<br /><br />Mon, 18 Jul 2011 00:00 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/231942-Comet-Hartley-2-Leaves-a-Bumpy-Trail#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/74133/full/110718001336_large.jpg"><img alt="" height="243" width="393" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/74133/large/110718001336_large.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">Comet<br />Hartley 2 as seen by WISE. Data from the infrared telescope revealed<br />that the comet's trail, seen here as the long, thin yellow line,<br />consists of particles as large as golf balls.</span></div><br /></div><br />New<br />findings from NEOWISE, the asteroid- and comet-hunting portion of NASA's<br />Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer mission, show that comet Hartley 2<br />leaves a pebbly trail as it laps the sun, dotted with grains as big as<br />golf balls.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Previously, NASA's EPOXI mission, which flew by the comet on Nov. 4,<br />2010, found golf ball- to basketball-sized fluffy ice particles<br />streaming off comet Hartley 2. NEOWISE data show that the golf<br />ball-sized chunks survive farther away from the comet than previously<br />known, winding up in Hartley 2's trail of debris. The NEOWISE team<br />determined the size of these particles by looking at how far they<br />deviated from the trail. Larger particles are less likely to be pushed<br />away from the trail by radiation pressure from the sun.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The observations also show that the comet is still actively ejecting<br />carbon dioxide gas at a distance of 2.3 astronomical units from the sun,<br />which is farther away from the sun than where EPOXI detected carbon<br />dioxide jets streaming from the comet. An astronomical unit is the<br />average distance between Earth and the sun.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"We were surprised that carbon dioxide plays a significant role in comet<br />Hartley 2's activity when it's farther away from the sun," said James<br />Bauer, the lead author of a new paper on the result in the <em>Astrophysical Journal</em>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />JPL manages and operates the Wide-field Infrared Survey<br />Explorer for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The<br />principal investigator, Edward Wright, is at UCLA. The mission was<br />competitively selected under NASA's Explorers Program managed by the<br />Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. The science instrument was<br />built by the Space Dynamics Laboratory, Logan, Utah, and the spacecraft<br />was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo.<br />Science operations and data processing take place at the Infrared<br />Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology<br />in Pasadena. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Journal Reference:</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />James M. Bauer, Russell G. Walker, A. K. Mainzer, Joseph R. Masiero,<br />Tommy Grav, John W. Dailey, Robert S. McMillan, Carey M. Lisse, Yan R.<br />Fernández, Karen J. Meech, Jana Pittichova, Erin K. Blauvelt, Frank J.<br />Masci, Michael F. A'Hearn, Roc M. Cutri, James V. Scotti, David J.<br />Tholen, Emily DeBaun, Ashlee Wilkins, Emma Hand, Edward L. Wright, the<br />WISE Collaboration. WISE/NEOWISE observations of comet 103P/Hartley 2.<br />Astrophysical Journal, 2011; (accepted) [<a target="_blank" href="http://arxiv.org/abs/1107.2637">link</a>]<br /></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.naukawpolsce.pap.pl/palio/html.run?_Instance=cms_naukapl.pap.pl&_PageID=1&s=szablon.depesza&dz=imprezynaukowe&dep=383448&data=&lang=PL&_CheckSum=-282122770">Bright fireball over Poland</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Translation by Sott Editors<br /><br />PAP<br /><br />Tue, 19 Jul 2011 08:30 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/232051-Bright-fireball-over-Poland#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br />Late evening of July 7th, a bright fireball lit up the sky over<br />southwestern Poland. The meteor has been registered by the Polish<br />Fireball Network (PFN).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><iframe height="349" frameborder="0" width="400" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/3zo9YzT9d1E"></iframe></div><br /><br /><br />The first images obtained by cameras placed in a station in the<br />village of Podgorzyn - operated by Tomasz Krzyzanowski - were very<br />interesting because they showed that the object crossed the greater part<br />of the sky. Recordings of the cameras working in a station in Szamotuly<br />operated by Maciej Reszelski also showed a very bright and long trace<br />at low altitude.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image to-center"><a title="© PFN" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/74369/full/Fireball_20110707_2112_2.jpg"><img alt="" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/74369/medium/Fireball_20110707_2112_2.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© PFN</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">Fireball registered by three PFN's cameras, July 7, 2011</span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br />Another camera working as a Fireball Shield in the town of Nysa also<br />registered the object. Due to the noise of the latter camera, it was<br />difficult to determine the exact coordinates of the trace in the sky.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The analysis of the collected material establish that the phenomenon<br />began in the Wroclaw area at an altitude of 88.2 km. After 1.5 seconds,<br />at an altitude of 74 km there was a flash of light of about 1 mag, after<br />which the meteor clearly brightened. Perhaps it was then that a<br />fragmentation of the object occurred.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />For the last two seconds there were two fragments clearly<br />visible moving at different speeds and with fast decreasing brightness.<br />The whole phenomenon lasted for 5.2 seconds and ended up in the vicinity<br />of the city of Zielona Gora, at an altitude of 44.5 km. Its trace had a<br />length of up to 135 km.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The initial velocity at the entrance of the object in the atmosphere was<br />27.1 km/s, and after about 3 seconds began to rapidly decline when the<br />body reached a height of 60 km. At the end it amounted to 13.6 km/s.<br />This is too fast though to make it possible for a small fragment to<br />reach the ground; the whole object burned upon entering the atmosphere.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image to-center"><a target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/74372/full/Fireball_20110707_2112_orbita.png"><img alt="" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/74372/medium/Fireball_20110707_2112_orbita.png" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><br /><br /><span class="caption">Visualization of the fireball orbit. </span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br />Experts agreed that it came from the vicinity of Jupiter.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />You can read the full report of the observation, as prepared by PKiM, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.pkim.org/?q=pl/7_lipca_2011_Bolid_nad_poludniowo_zachodnia_Polska_1564">here</a> (in Polish).<br /></div><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>According to the Polish Fireball<br />Network, the orbit of the body was similar to the orbit of the Alpha<br />Capricornids (CAP), but due to a calm nature of its changes in<br />brightness, the meteor came from the main belt of planetoids rather than<br />being cometary in nature. The approximate mass of the body was likely<br />only 0.5-1 kg.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a href="http://www.newtownabbeytoday.co.uk/news/local/fireballs_spotted_in_the_night_sky_1_2882475" target="_blank">UK: Fireballs Spotted in the Night Sky?</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar"><br /><br />Newtownabbey Times<br /><br />Thu, 21 Jul 2011 12:32 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/232195-UK-Fireballs-Spotted-in-the-Night-Sky-#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/74667/full/3145927595.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Newtownabbey Times"><img height="376" width="399" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/74667/large/3145927595.jpg" alt="Fireball" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Newtownabbey Times</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">Spotted<br />high in the sky above Ballyclare by Trevor McCusker, it's thought this<br />object may be a fireball carrying information on the ancient history of<br />the solar system.</span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br />Meteorites, fireballs or maybe something more extra-terrestrial may have been seen in the Ballyclare sky in the past fortnight.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Eagle-eyed Ballyclare man Trevor McCusker sent these pictures in of three strange objects he spotted in the night sky.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />On Tuesday, July 5, the photographer spotted what he described as a "red ball" in the sky around 11pm.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />He said: "It was like a football, It was going very fast from south west<br />to north east. It had no tail just a round ball of fire."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Then on the following Saturday, July 9, he spotted a dark object in the sky at around 9pm.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"It was a black type colour object in the sky," he said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"On the bottom left hand side of the object it was red. It was<br />coming close to earth, I ran into the house and got my camera but by<br />then it had went back up into the sky by the time I got the photograph.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"About two-and-a-half hours later I saw another red long object. It also came close to earth and went back up into the sky."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />According to the Armagh Observatory a similar report has been made of a fireball in the sky above Ballyeaston village on July 1.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Astronomer John McFarland could not verify these latest witness accounts, but said sightings were not particularly rare.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />He said: "Every year there is over 40,000 tons of space debris which<br />falls to the earth. Some of it can be as small as a grain of sand or up<br />to the size of an apple."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a href="http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/126009563.html" target="_blank">Massive Meteorite Found in China</a><br /><br /><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Kelly Beatty<br /><br />Sky & Telescope<br /><br />Fri, 22 Jul 2011 18:43 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/232267-Massive-Meteorite-Found-in-China#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/74839/full/Xinjiang_map.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Wikimedia Commons"><img style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/74839/medium/Xinjiang_map.jpg" alt="Xinjiang Region" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Wikimedia Commons</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">Although<br />the exact location of the newly found meteorite has not been announced,<br />its general location is the mountainous border region of China's<br />Xinjiang Uyghur province.</span></div><br /></div><br />As the meteorite specialist<br />for the Beijing Planetarium, Baolin Zhang gets all kinds of unusual<br />reports - like the dramatic (but ultimately specious) tale of a<br />peasant woman who recently found a blue-ice "meteorite" in her yard.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />But credible reports of a massive, oddly shaped and colored stone in the<br />remote Altai Mountains of Xinjiang Uygur province (in northwest China)<br />got his attention. So earlier this month he assembled a small team to<br />check it out firsthand. The trek was cold and arduous, involving a<br />rented jeep, borrowed horses, and even a camel to cross rugged terrain<br />and rivers still swollen with snowmelt.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />On the afternoon of July 16th, after reaching a mountainous crest 9,500<br />feet (2,900 m) up Zhang and his team finally spotted their objective: a<br />large dark-brown stone jutting from the ground. It took only moments for<br />him to realize what they'd found. "This is a huge iron meteorite," he<br />exulted as <a href="http://newscontent.cctv.com/news.jsp?fileId=113849" target="_blank">cameras recorded the scene.</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/74840/full/Xinjiang_meteorite.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Xinhua"><img height="266" width="351" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/74840/large/Xinjiang_meteorite.jpg" alt="Meteorite" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Xinhua</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">Chinese<br />researchers measure a huge iron meteorite found in a remote mountainous<br />region in July 2011. The oblong metallic object has an estimated mass<br />of 25 tons or more.</span></div><br /></div><br />Based on the size of the oblong<br />portion above ground, 7.5 feet (2.3 m) long and about half as wide,<br />Zhang thinks its mass is roughly 25 tons - and it could perhaps top 30<br />tons. Such an enormous find would rank as one of the <a href="http://www.jensenmeteorites.com/largestmeteorites.htm" target="_blank">largest meteorites known,</a> perhaps even surpassing China's current record-holder, the 28-ton Armanty iron, found in the same region in 1898.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Apparently the big stone's existence has been well known among locals<br />for decades. A few scrawls of graffiti have been cut into the exterior,<br />which also bears "saw marks" that expose the interior. As Zhang reports,<br />"The surface was shiny silver, and I can clearly see exposed not only<br />the iron-nickel composition but also the unique grid lines," called a <a href="http://www.arizonaskiesmeteorites.com/Widmanstatten/" target="_blank">Widmanstätten pattern,</a> that are common among iron meteorites.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/74841/full/Xinjiang_meteorite_graffiti.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© China Central Television"><img style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/74841/medium/Xinjiang_meteorite_graffiti.jpg" alt="Cravings on Meteorite" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><span class="tiny"><br /><br />© China Central Television</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">A dozen names, some dating to 1980, are carved into the Xinjiang meteorite.<br /></span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a href="http://gulfnews.com/news/world/usa/nasa-to-land-astronauts-where-no-man-has-gone-before-asteroids-1.842469" target="_blank">NASA to Land Astronauts Where No Man Has Gone Before - Asteroids</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar"><br /><br />gulfnews.com<br /><br />Mon, 25 Jul 2011 00:00 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/232433-NASA-to-Land-Astronauts-Where-No-Man-Has-Gone-Before-Asteroids#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/75186/full/47251569.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© AP Photo"><img alt="" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/75186/medium/47251569.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© AP Photo</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">The asteroid Vesta shot from a distance of about 15,000km by the <em>Dawn</em> spacecraft on July 17. If all goes to plan at NASA, there could be a man on one such astral body by 2025.</span></div><br /></div><br /><em>And with no Scotty to beam them up, allocated 15-year time looks daunting </em><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Houston: With the space shuttle now history, NASA's next great mission<br />is so audacious, the agency's best minds are wrestling with how to pull<br />it off: Send astronauts to an asteroid in less than 15 years.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The challenges are innumerable. Some old-timers are grousing about it,<br />saying going back to the moon makes more sense. But many NASA brains are<br />thrilled to have such an improbable assignment. And NASA leaders say<br />civilization may depend on it.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />An asteroid is a giant space rock that orbits the sun, like Earth. And someday one might threaten the planet.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />But sending people to one won't be easy. You can't land on an asteroid<br />because you'd bounce off - it has virtually no gravity. Reaching it<br />might require a NASA spacecraft to harpoon it. Heck, astronauts couldn't<br />even walk on it because they'd float away.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />NASA is thinking about jetpacks, tethers, bungees, nets and<br />spider webs to allow explorers to float just above the surface of it<br />while attached to a smaller mini-spaceship.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Such a ship - something like a <em>Star Trek</em> shuttlecraft melded<br />with a deep sea explorer with pincer-like arms - is needed just to get<br />within working distance of the rock. That craft would have to be big<br />enough for astronauts to live in for a week or two. They'd still need a<br />larger habitat for the long term.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />It would take half a year to reach an asteroid, based on current possible targets.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The deep space propulsion system to fly such a distance isn't perfected<br />yet. Football-field-sized solar panels would help, meaning the entire<br />mothership complex would be fairly large. It would have to protect the<br />space travelers from killer solar and cosmic ray bursts. And, they would<br />need a crew capsule, maybe two, for traveling between the asteroid<br />complex and Earth.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />And all those parts - mini-spaceship, habitat/living area, crew<br />capsule, solar arrays and propulsion system - would have to be linked<br />together in the middle of space, assembled in a way like the<br />International Space Station but on a smaller scale.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Beyond all those obstacles, NASA doesn't even know which asteroid would be the best place to visit.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />All this has to be ready to launch by 2025 by presidential order.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"This is the big step," said Kent Joosten, chief architect of the human<br />exploration team at Johnson Space Center. "This is out into the<br />universe, away from Earth's gravity completely... This is really where<br />you are doing the <em>Star Trek</em> kind of thing."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Source: Associated Press<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usVeWrQIYBA" target="_blank">Bright Meteor Over UK</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">UFOKanali<br /><br />YouTube<br /><br />Tue, 26 Jul 2011 17:30 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/232507-Bright-Meteor-Over-UK#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br />Caught on a security camera, July 19th, 2011. No location recorded.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><iframe height="342" frameborder="0" width="400" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/usVeWrQIYBA"></iframe></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rk9pfbh_iCM" target="_blank">Sun Grazing Comet</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar"><br /><br />Science @ NASA<br /><br />Wed, 27 Jul 2011 14:59 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/232548-Sun-Grazing-Comet#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br />A new video from NASA shows the sundiving comet of July 5th<br />interacting with the sun's atmosphere as it evaporates above the stellar<br />surface.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><iframe height="349" frameborder="0" width="400" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rk9pfbh_iCM"></iframe></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"><br /><span class="atop-l"></span><br /><span class="atop-r"></span><br /></div><br /><div class="article-header"><br /><div class="article-icon"><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/12450-unknown-comet-earth-threat-meteor-shower-evidence.html">Evidence Found for Undiscovered Comet That May Threaten Earth</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar"><br /><br />Space.com<br /><br />Wed, 27 Jul 2011 16:30 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/232559-Evidence-Found-for-Undiscovered-Comet-That-May-Threaten-Earth#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© All Sky Cameras / Peter Jenniskens" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/75559/full/february_eta_draconid_meteor_s.jpg"><img height="286" width="393" title="Click to enlarge" alt="New Comet" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/75559/large/february_eta_draconid_meteor_s.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© All Sky Cameras / Peter Jenniskens</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">This<br />February eta Draconid was filmed by Peter Jenniskens with one of the<br />low-light-level video cameras of the Cameras for Allsky Meteor<br />Surveillance (CAMS) station in Mountain View, California, at 07:59:24 UT<br />on February 4, 2011.</span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br />A surprise meteor shower spotted by skywatchers in February was<br />likely caused by cosmic "bread crumbs" left over from an undiscovered<br />comet that could potentially pose a threat to Earth, astronomers<br />announced today (July 27).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The tiny meteoroids that streaked through Earth's atmosphere for a few hours on Feb. 4 represent a previously unknown <a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/11541-2011-meteor-showers-skywatching-guide.html">meteor shower,</a><br />researchers said. The "shooting stars" arrived from the direction of<br />the star Eta Draconis, so the shower is called the February Eta<br />Draconids, or FEDs for short.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The bits of space rock appear to have been shed by a <a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/11801-amazing-comet-encounters-robot-spacecraft.html">long-period comet.</a><br />Long-period comets whiz by the sun only rarely, so it's tough to<br />predict when they last came through our neck of the woods - and when<br />they'll come back, researchers said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />That uncertainty is cause for some concern in this case, they added.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"If the meteoroids can hit us, so can the comet," said FEDs discoverer<br />Peter Jenniskens, of the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence)<br />Institute and NASA's Ames Research Center. <strong>"We don't know whether the comet has already passed us by or is still on approach."</strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Still, Jenniskens stressed that the chances of such a collision are extremely remote.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Scanning the night sky</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Jenniskens heads the Cameras for Allsky Meteor Surveillance (CAMS)<br />project, which has been monitoring the San Francisco Bay Area's night<br />skies with low-light video cameras in an effort to map meteor showers.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />CAMS cameras picked up the FEDs, bringing the tally of <a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/11541-2011-meteor-showers-skywatching-guide.html">officially recognized meteor showers</a> to 64.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The comet that produced the meteor shower is unknown. It may have last<br />zipped by the sun just a few hundred years ago, or many thousands,<br />researchers said. But it apparently came relatively close to Earth on<br />its last trip through the inner solar system.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />At that time, the comet released a cloud of dust, which is now<br />returning. Some dust grains return earlier than others, depending on how<br />elongated their orbit ended up being, and the result is a continuous<br />stream of returning dust grains that we detect only when they barrel<br />into Earth.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Earth gets hosed typically only once or twice every 60 years by such streams," Jenniskens said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Learning more about the comet</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Jenniskens teamed up with a colleague, Finnish astronomer Esko Lyytinen,<br />to investigate when the FEDs might make another pass. Lyytinen<br />calculated a possible return in 2016 or 2023, and after that not again<br />until 2076, researchers said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Whenever the FEDs come back, astronomers will study them closely. Future<br />observations of the shower may reveal key information about its parent<br />comet - including whether or not it poses a real danger of ever <a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/8590-5-reasons-care-asteroids.html">slamming into Earth.</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />But Jenniskens urged some perspective, and admonished people not to get into a panic about a potential "doomsday comet."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Chances are very small that the comet will actually hit us, as such <a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/11094-watching-asteroid-apophis-photo.html">impacts are rare</a> in Earth's history," he said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/07/27/BAR21KFRTC.DTL">Unseen Comet's Orbit Indicates Possible Crash</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">David Perlman<br /><br />San Francisco Chronicle<br /><br />Wed, 27 Jul 2011 23:38 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/232575-Unseen-Comet-s-Orbit-Indicates-Possible-Crash#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© John Sebastian Russo / The Chronicle 2010" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/75586/full/ba_litelescope21_0502115356.jpg"><img height="266" width="392" title="Click to enlarge" alt="Observatory" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/75586/large/ba_litelescope21_0502115356.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© John Sebastian Russo / The Chronicle 2010</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">The<br />Lick Observatory in San Jose, with the Fremont Peak Observatory and a<br />ground site in San Joaquin County's Lodi, monitors the sky for<br />meteoroids.</span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br />A stream of dusty fragments from a comet born in the outermost<br />reaches of the solar system has hit the Earth on a path that leads<br />astronomers to conclude the comet itself could be "potentially<br />hazardous" if it crashes into the planet.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The comet's location is unknown, making it difficult to say when it will<br />approach Earth, but "the orbits of the dust trail tells us that the<br />comet is on a path that could eventually hit us," said Peter Jenniskens,<br />an astronomer at the SETI Institute and the NASA Ames Research Center<br />in Mountain View.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"It's very unlikely," he conceded Wednesday. "Such impacts are extremely rare in Earth's history."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The trail of dust grains, known as meteoroids, were shed by the comet<br />long ago as it passed the sun and Earth on a long orbit that could have<br />taken thousands of years to complete, Jenniskens said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The comet was born billions of years ago and trillions of miles away in<br />the cold comet nursery called the Oort Cloud, and streams of the comet's<br />dusty progeny have returned to Earth once or twice every 60 years or so<br />when their orbits come under the influence of Saturn and Jupiter,<br />Jenniskens said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Eyes on the sky</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Sixty specialized cameras that operate at UC's Lick Observatory, the<br />Fremont Peak Observatory and a ground-based site, formerly in Mountain<br />View but now in Lodi under a project called Cameras for Allsky Meteor<br />Surveillance, constantly monitor the night sky for meteoroids.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Jenniskens said he was scanning the orbits of the dust stream's<br />fragments from images snapped at Fremont Peak and in Mountain View on<br />Feb. 4 when he noted a tightly linked cluster of six objects streaming<br />at nearly 80,000 mph in a shower seven hours long.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"I couldn't believe my eyes at first," he said. But once he had had<br />determined the identical orbits of the fragments he teamed with Finnish<br />astronomer Esko Lyytinen to predict that the dust trail will return in<br />2016, again in 2023, and once again in 2076.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Cold, crowded place</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The Oort Cloud where the comet was born billions of year ago is known as<br />the deeply cold birthplace of all the long-period comets that watchers<br />on Earth can rarely see because they take as long as 10,000 years to<br />orbit the sun.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The cloud lies at the outer edge of the sun's influence and may hold as<br />many as a trillion or more icy bodies, all waiting to be turned into<br />comets by the gravity tug of some unknown wandering star or by some<br />other unknown cosmic object.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The dusty comet trail discovered by Jenniskens and his Fremont Peak<br />colleagues appears to come from the direction of the yellow giant star<br />called Eta Draconis in the constellation Draco, and the International<br />Astronomical Union has named the new-found stream of fragments the<br />"February Eta Draconids."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Jenniskens' scientific report will be published by the <em>Journal of the International Meteor Organizations.</em> Its title is: "Discovery of the February Eta Draconids: the dust trail of a potentially hazardous long-period comet."<br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://hometownstation.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=25482:star-gazing-asteroid-planet-astronomy-clarita-2011-07-28-13-45&catid=26:local-news&Itemid=97">Astronomical Events Coming Your Way</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Hannah Taylor<br /><br />KHTS<br /><br />Thu, 28 Jul 2011 01:01 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/232643-Astronomical-Events-Coming-Your-Way#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a title="© Unknown" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/75722/full/night_sky_1.jpg"><img alt="" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/75722/medium/night_sky_1.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown<br /><br /></span></div><br /></div><br />We<br />can't make any promises about your wishes coming true, but we can help<br />you point them in the right direction. Some beautiful stars, planets,<br />and asteroids are going to be visible this year and your family can, at<br />the very least, learn a little bit about astronomy while enjoying the<br />night sky.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Below is a list of some astronomical events for the remainder of 2011. If you are a star gazing novice, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.skymaps.com/downloads.html">SkyMaps.com</a> offers a monthly "sky map" that can help you know where to look.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">July 28, 29</span> - Southern Delta Aquarids<br />Meteor Shower. The Delta Aquarids can produce about 20 meteors per hour<br />at their peak. The shower usually peaks on July 28 & 29, but some<br />meteors can also be seen from July 18 - August 18. The radiant point for<br />this shower will be in the constellation Aquarius. This year the thin,<br />crescent moon will be hanging around for the show, but it shouldn't<br />cause too many problems. Best viewing is usually to the east after<br />midnight from a dark location.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">July 30</span> - New Moon. The moon will be<br />directly between the Earth and the Sun and will not be visible from<br />Earth. This phase occurs at 18:40 UTC.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">August 12, 13</span> - Perseids Meteor<br />Shower. The Perseids is one of the best meteor showers to observe,<br />producing up to 60 meteors per hour at their peak. The shower's peak<br />usually occurs on August 13 & 14, but you may be able to see some<br />meteors any time from July 23 - August 22. The radiant point for this<br />shower will be in the constellation Perseus. The full moon will<br />definitely be a problem this year, hiding the fainter meteors with its<br />glare. But with up to 60 meteors per hour possible, it could still be a<br />great show. Find a location far from city lights and look to the<br />northeast after midnight.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">August 13</span> - Full Moon. The moon will be<br />directly opposite the Earth from the Sun and will be fully illuminated<br />as seen from Earth. This phase occurs at 18:57 UTC. This full moon was<br />known by early Native American tribes as the Full Sturgeon Moon because<br />the large sturgeon fish of the Great Lakes and other major lakes were<br />more easily caught at this time of year. This moon has also been known<br />as the Green Corn Moon and the Grain Moon.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">August 16</span> - Comet<br />45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova. The comet will pass 0.06 AU (according to<br />KidsAstronomy.com, an Astronomical Unit is the distance from the earth<br />to the sun) from Earth and may break naked eye visibility at > +6<br />magnitude.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">August 22 </span>- Neptune at Opposition. The<br />blue planet will be at its closest approach to Earth and its face will<br />be fully illuminated by the Sun. This is the best time to view Neptune.<br />Due to its distance, it will only appear as a tiny blue dot in all but<br />the most powerful telescopes.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">August 29</span> - New Moon. The moon will be<br />directly between the Earth and the Sun and will not be visible from<br />Earth. This phase occurs at 03:04 UTC.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">September 3</span>: Mercury reaches its best morning elongation of the year, at 18° west.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">September 12</span> - Full Moon. The moon will be<br />directly opposite the Earth from the Sun and will be fully illuminated<br />as seen from Earth. This phase occurs at 09:27 UTC. This full moon was<br />known by early Native American tribes as the Full Corn Moon because the<br />corn is harvested around this time of year. This moon is also known as<br />the Harvest Moon. The Harvest Moon is the full moon that occurs closest<br />to the September equinox each year.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">September 23</span> - September or Autumnal<br />Equinox. The September equinox occurs at 09:05 UTC. The Sun will shine<br />directly on the equator and there will be nearly equal amounts of day<br />and night throughout the world. This is also the first day of fall<br />(autumnal equinox) in the northern hemisphere and the first day of<br />spring (vernal equinox) in the southern hemisphere.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">September 25</span> - Uranus at Opposition. The<br />blue-green planet will be at its closest approach to Earth and its face<br />will be fully illuminated by the Sun. This is the best time to view<br />Uranus. Due to its distance, it will only appear as a tiny blue-green<br />dot in all but the most powerful telescopes.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">September 27</span> - New Moon. The moon will be<br />directly between the Earth and the Sun and will not be visible from<br />Earth. This phase occurs at 11:09 UTC.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">October 8 </span> - Draconids: The Draconids, a<br />generally lackluster shower, peak on this date. This shower has been<br />known to produce outbursts approaching a ZHR of +600, as happened in<br />1998. There is some talk that we may intersect an early 1900's stream<br />this year, producing another outburst centered on Western Europe.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">October 12</span> - Full Moon. The moon will be<br />directly opposite the Earth from the Sun and will be fully illuminated<br />as seen from Earth. This phase occurs at 02:06 UTC. This full moon was<br />known by early Native American tribes as the Full Hunters Moon because<br />at this time of year the leaves are falling and the game is fat and<br />ready to hunt. This will also be the smallest full moon of the year<br />because it will be near apogee, its farthest point from the Earth.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">October 21, 22</span> - Orionids Meteor Shower.<br />The Orionids is an average shower producing about 20 meteors per hour at<br />their peak. This shower usually peaks on the 21st, but it is highly<br />irregular. A good show could be experienced on any morning from October<br />20 - 24, and some meteors may be seen any time from October 17 - 25. The<br />nearly last quarter moon may hide some of the faintest meteors this<br />year. Best viewing will be to the east after midnight. Be sure to find a<br />dark location far from city lights.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">October 21</span> - Comet C/2010 Elenin. The<br />comet will reach its closest to Earth: 0.15 AU. This comet could reach<br />naked eye visibility and as this goes to press, & 'may' be the<br />surprise comet of the year.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">October 26 </span>- New Moon. The moon will be<br />directly between the Earth and the Sun and will not be visible from<br />Earth. This phase occurs at 19:56 UTC.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">October 29</span> - Jupiter at Opposition. The<br />giant planet will be at its closest approach to Earth and its face will<br />be fully illuminated by the Sun. This is the best time to view and<br />photograph Jupiter and its moons. The giant planet will be a big and<br />bright as it gets in the night sky. A medium-sized telescope should be<br />able to show you some of the details in Jupiter's cloud bands. A good<br />pair of binoculars should allow you to see Jupiter's four largest moons,<br />appearing as bright dots on either side of the planet.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">November 1</span>- Comet 2009 P1 Garradd. The comet may approach naked eye visibility and put on a show for the last half of 2011.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">November 8</span> - Asteroid 2005 YU55 Flyby. An<br />asteroid known as 2005 YU55 will make a close approach to the Earth. The<br />large space rock, about 1,300 feet in diameter will pass closer than<br />the Moon at 0.85 lunar distances. While it is not expected to pose a<br />threat to the Earth, this extremely rare event presents a unique<br />opportunity for amateur astronomers to observe the asteroid as it makes<br />it closest approach to our planet. Many astronomy groups are planning to<br />observe the event. Asteroids this large only pass close to the Earth<br />about every 30 years.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">November 10</span> - Full Moon. The moon will be<br />directly opposite the Earth from the Sun and will be fully illuminated<br />as seen from Earth. This phase occurs at 20:16 UTC. This full moon was<br />known by early Native American tribes as the Full Beaver Moon because<br />this was the time of year to set the beaver traps before the swamps and<br />rivers froze. It has also been known as the Frosty Moon.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">November 17, 18</span> - Leonids Meteor Shower.<br />The Leonids is one of the better meteor showers to observe, producing an<br />average of 40 meteors per hour at their peak. The shower itself has a<br />cyclic peak year every 33 years where hundreds of meteors can be seen<br />each hour. The last of these occurred in 2001. The shower usually peaks<br />on November 17 & 18, but you may see some meteors from November 13 -<br />20. The nearly last quarter moon may hide some of the faintest meteors<br />this year, but this should still be an excellent show. Look for the<br />shower radiating from the constellation Leo after midnight.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">November 25 </span>- New Moon. The moon will be<br />directly between the Earth and the Sun and will not be visible from<br />Earth. This phase occurs at 06:10 UTC.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">December 10</span> - Full Moon. The moon will be<br />directly opposite the Earth from the Sun and will be fully illuminated<br />as seen from Earth. This phase occurs at 14:36 UTC. This full moon was<br />known by early Native American tribes as the Full Cold Moon because this<br />is the time of year when the cold winter air settles in and the nights<br />become long and dark. This moon has also been known as the Moon Before<br />Yule and the Full Long Nights Moon.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">December 10</span> - Total Lunar Eclipse. The<br />eclipse will be visible throughout most of Europe, eastern Africa, Asia,<br />Australia, the Pacific Ocean, and the North America.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">December 13, 14 </span>- Geminids Meteor Shower.<br />Considered by many to be the best meteor shower in the heavens, the<br />Geminids are known for producing up to 60 multicolored meteors per hour<br />at their peak. The peak of the shower usually occurs around December 13<br />& 14, although some meteors should be visible from December 6 - 19.<br />The radiant point for this shower will be in the constellation Gemini.<br />The gibbous moon will definitely interfere this year by hiding the<br />faintest meteors, but with up to 60 meteors per hour possible, this<br />should still be an excellent show. Best viewing is usually to the east<br />after midnight from a dark location.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">December 22</span> - December Solstice. The<br />December solstice occurs 05:30 UTC. The South Pole of the earth will be<br />tilted toward the Sun, which will have reached its northernmost position<br />in the sky and will be directly over the Tropic of Capricorn at 23.44<br />degrees south latitude. This is the first day of winter (winter<br />solstice) in the northern hemisphere and the first day of summer (summer<br />solstice) in the southern hemisphere.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">December 24</span> - New Moon. The moon will be<br />directly between the Earth and the Sun and will not be visible from<br />Earth. This phase occurs at 18:06 UTC.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The above information was found at these websites:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.seasky.org/astronomy/astronomy-calendar-2011.html">Astronomy Calendar of Celestial Events for Calendar Year 2011</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.go-astronomy.com/solar-system/event-calendar.htm">Astronomy Events for 2011</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://astroguyz.com/2010/12/31/top-astronomy-events-for-2011/">Top Astronomy Events for 2011</a><br /></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.astronomy.com/%7E/link.aspx?_id=6fab3ae4-e58a-45c5-9683-62d612802ac3">Trail of crumbs discovered from potentially hazardous comet</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar"><br /><br />Astronomy Magazine / SETI Institute<br /><br />Fri, 29 Jul 2011 16:27 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/232687-Trail-of-crumbs-discovered-from-potentially-hazardous-comet#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© NASA-Ames" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/75826/full/ff.jpg"><img alt="" height="287" width="391" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/75826/large/ff.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA-Ames</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">This<br />+2 magnitude February Eta Draconid was filmed by Peter Jenniskens with<br />one of the low-light-level video cameras of the Cameras for Allsky<br />Meteor Surveillance (CAMS) station in Mountain View, California,<br />February 4, 2011. </span></div><br /></div><br /><em>The February Eta Draconids appear to originate from a long-period comet that passes close to Earth's orbit.</em><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The Central Bureau issued a telegram July 10 for Astronomical Telegrams<br />of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) announcing that a stream<br />of dust from a potentially dangerous comet impacted Earth for a few<br />hours last February 4.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"This particular shower happens only once or twice every 60 years," said<br />Peter Jenniskens from the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence<br />(SETI) Institute, Mountain View, California. "The stream of dust is<br />always there, but quite invisible just outside of Earth's orbit. Only<br />when the planets steer the dust in Earth's path do we get to know it is<br />there."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Since last October, the SETI Institute has teamed up with Fremont Peak<br />Observatory in San Juan Batista, California, and UCO/Lick Observatory<br />just east of San Jose, California, in monitoring the night sky with<br />low-light video cameras in an effort to map the meteor showers in the<br />sky over the San Francisco Bay Area. They triangulate the meteor<br />trajectories and determine their orbits in space.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The IAU keeps score of showers that were claimed to exist in<br />the past and now has a list of more than 300 showers that need<br />confirmation. Only 64 showers have been established so far. Jenniskens'<br />goal is to establish many more.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />While reducing the Fremont Peak and Mountain View station observations<br />from February 4, Jenniskens discovered a handful of meteoroids that<br />arrived at Earth from the exact same direction in the sky. They came<br />from the direction of the star Eta Draconis, and the shower is now<br />recognized by the IAU as the February Eta Draconids. This was the first<br />new shower discovered in the Cameras for Allsky Meteor Surveillance<br />(CAMS) project.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The meteoroids in question were moving on an elongated orbit, typical of<br />that of long-period comets such as Hale-Bopp. Unlike Hale-Bopp, this<br />one passes close to Earth's orbit. Long-period comets rarely come back<br />to the Sun, <strong>and if any one is on a trajectory to hit Earth, we could have little warning.</strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Now, Jenniskens has found the trail of crumbs of such a comet, which<br />passed close to Earth's orbit the last time it was near the Sun. That<br />could have been only a few hundred years ago, or many thousands. At that<br />time, the comet released a cloud of dust that is now returning. Some<br />dust grains return earlier than others, depending on how elongated their<br />orbit was, and the result is a continuous stream of returning dust<br />grains. That stream is detected only when it encounters Earth, when the<br />meteoroids cause a brief 2-hour meteor shower.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Earth gets hosed typically only once or twice every 60 years by such<br />streams," said Jenniskens. "Only when Jupiter and Saturn are back at<br />their original positions do they steer the dust trail in our path. The<br />trail wags in and out of Earth's path much like the Sun moves around in<br />response to the motion of these heavy planets."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The February Eta Draconids follow a short list of other such known<br />showers, which include the November 22 Alpha Monocerotids, which were<br />last seen in 1995, and the September 1 Aurigids, which created a<br />spectacular shower in 2007. Jenniskens predicted the return of those<br />showers.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Now that the February Eta Draconid shower has been discovered,<br />Jenniskens is confident that a next return can be predicted. He teamed<br />up with Finnish astronomer Esko Lyytinen to investigate. Lyytinen<br />calculated a possible return in 2016 or 2023, after that not again until<br />2076.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Future observations of this shower may bring other information about the<br />comet that caused this stream of meteoroids, which is a potential<br />danger to Earth. "<strong>If the meteoroids can hit us, so can the comet</strong>," said Jenniskens, "We don't know whether the comet has already passed us by or is <strong>still on approach</strong>."<br />To get some advance warning, one could look along the measured orbit to<br />those spots where the comet could arrive at Earth's orbit on a future<br />February 4 date.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Even then, chances are very small that the comet will actually hit us,<br />as such impacts are rare in Earth's history," Jenniskens added.<br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"><br /><span class="atop-l"></span><br /><span class="atop-r"></span><br /></div><br /><div class="article-header"><br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/12443-earth-asteroid-companion-discovered-2010-tk7.html">First Asteroid Companion of Earth Discovered at Last</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Charles Q. Choi<br /><br />Space.com<br /><br />Wed, 27 Jul 2011 14:01 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/232550-First-Asteroid-Companion-of-Earth-Discovered-at-Last#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Paul Wiegert, The University of Western Ontario" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/75542/full/trojan_asteroid_2010_tk7_orbit.jpg"><img height="513" width="389" title="Click to enlarge" alt="2010 TK7" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/75542/large/trojan_asteroid_2010_tk7_orbit.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Paul Wiegert, The University of Western Ontario</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">This<br />almost edge-on view of the Earth's orbit and that of the Trojan<br />asteroid 2010 TK7 shows (in green) the vertical motion of the asteroid<br />relative to the Earth over the course of several years. The asteroid was<br />discovered by NASA's WISE telescope and is the first confirmed Trojan<br />asteroid in Earth's Lagrange points.</span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br />The first in a long-sought type of asteroid companion to Earth has<br />now been discovered, a space rock that always dances in front of the<br />planet along its orbital path, just beyond its reach.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The asteroid, called 2010 TK7, is nearly 1,000 feet (300 meters) across<br />and currently leading the Earth by about 50 million miles (80 million<br />kilometers).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The asteroid is the first in a category known as Earth's Trojans, a<br />family of space rocks that could potentially be easier to reach than the<br />moon, even though its member asteroids can be dozens of times more<br />distant, researchers said. Such asteroids, which have long been<br />suspected but not confirmed until now, could one day be <a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/12324-asteroid-bound-animated-nasa-mission.html">valuable destinations for missions,</a> especially loaded as they might be with elements rare on Earth's surface, they added.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />To imagine where <a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/8938-asteroid-neptune-gravitational-dead-zone.html">Trojan asteroids</a><br />are, picture the sun and Earth as being two points in a triangle whose<br />sides are equal in length. The other point of such a triangle is known<br />as a Trojan point, or a Lagrangian point after the mathematician who<br />discovered them. The sun and Earth have two such points, one leading<br />ahead of Earth, known as its L-4 point, and one trailing behind, its L-5<br />point.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The sun and other planets have Lagrangian points as well, and<br />asteroids have been seen at those the sun shares with Jupiter, Neptune<br />and Mars. Scientists had long suspected the sun and Earth had Trojans as<br />well, but these companions would dwell mostly in the daytime sky as<br />seen from Earth, making them largely hidden in the sunlight.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Now, with the aid of the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/10894-wise-great-photos-nasa-sky-mapping-telescope.html">Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer</a><br />(WISE) satellite launched in 2009, astronomers have discovered Earth's<br />first probable Trojan, a rock that spends its time at the sun-Earth L-4<br />point.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© NASA" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/75543/full/trojan_wise.jpg"><img height="387" width="387" title="Click to enlarge" alt="2010 TK7_1" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/75543/large/trojan_wise.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">NASA's<br />WISE satellite has spotted Earth's first Trojan asteroid. The object,<br />asteroid 2010 TK7, orbits ahead about 50 million miles ahead of Earth in<br />the planet's orbit and is about 1,000 feet wide.</span></div><br /></div><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Earth's first Trojan asteroid</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Asteroid 2010 TK7 has a bizarre, chaotic orbit.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Trojan asteroids typically do not orbit right at the Lagrangian points<br />but in tadpole-shaped loops around them, due to the gravitational<br />attraction of other bodies in the solar system. However, 2010 TK7's<br />tadpole orbit is unusually large, at times taking it nearly as far as<br />the opposite side of the sun from the Earth.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"This one has behavior much more interesting than I thought we would<br />find," study co-author Martin Connors, an astronomer at Athabasca<br />University in Canada, told SPACE.com. "It seems to do things not seen<br />for Trojans before. Still, it had to have some kind of extreme behavior<br />to move it far enough from its Lagrangian point to get within our view."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Connors and his team began their search for an Earth Trojan using data<br />from WISE's asteroid- and comet-hunting project, called NEOWISE, named<br />after Near-Earth Objects and WISE.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The WISE telescope scanned the whole sky in infrared light from January<br />2010 to February 2011, a hunt that resulted in two candidates, one of<br />which, 2010 TK7, was confirmed to be an Earth Trojan after follow-up<br />observations at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The researchers have calculated the asteroid's orbit well enough to<br />understand where it will be over the next 10,000 years - 2010 TK7 will<br />not approach Earth any closer than 12.4 million miles (20 million<br />kilometers), which is more than 50 times the distance from Earth to the<br />moon.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"It's as though the Earth is playing follow the leader," said Amy<br />Mainzer, the principal investigator of NEOWISE at NASA's Jet Propulsion<br />Laboratory, who was not a part of the study. "Earth is always chasing<br />this asteroid around."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The fact that 2010 TK7's behavior is chaotic enough to take it quite far<br />from its rather stable Trojan point suggests it is only marginally<br />trapped there, having perhaps only recently been disturbed from its<br />original position. The researchers will run more computer models of its<br />orbit to find out what happened, Connors said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Asteroid 2010 TK7 may be the first confirmed Earth Trojan asteroid, but<br />there are several space rocks known to exist in relatively stable orbits<br />in our planet's neighborhoods. They include asteroids Cruithneand 2010<br />SO16, which have vast horseshoe-shaped orbits, and at least two others.<br />But none of these other asteroids have been conformed to be Earth<br />Trojans.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Still much unknown</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />So far 2010 TK7 does not have a formal name. "Its orbit needs to be<br />nailed down before a name is considered, so it'll take a couple of years<br />more observations before the WISE team can give it one," Connors said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />No color information of it is at yet available of 2010 TK7 to shed light<br />on its composition. In principle asteroids could have a similar makeup<br />to Earth's, but since they are smaller they would have cooled down<br />faster, meaning that heavier substances would not have had time to sink<br />to their centers as they did on our planet.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />As such, elements that are uncommon on Earth's surface <a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/12282-7-strangest-asteroids-solar-system-space-rocks.html">might be more accessible on asteroids.</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"We could be mining these things one day," Connors said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Unfortunately, 2010 TK7 is not a good target because it travels above<br />and below the plane of Earth's orbit, which means it would require large<br />amounts of propellant to reach. However, if other Earth Trojans do<br />exist, they could prove more accessible.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Now that the researchers have found one, "it makes you want to wonder if<br />there are any more," Connors said. He noted hopefully the Panoramic<br />Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) array of<br />telescopes and cameras aimed at detecting near-Earth objects could turn<br />more up.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The scientists detailed their findings in the July 28 issue of the journal Nature.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-header"><br /><span class="atop-l"></span><br /><span class="atop-r"></span><br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/189206/20110729/earth-has-a-new-trojan-asteroid-friend-to-do-the-sun-dance-with.htm">Trojan Asteroid Shares Earth's Orbit Around the Sun</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar"><br /><br />International Business Times<br /><br />Fri, 29 Jul 2011 10:23 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/232654-Trojan-Asteroid-Shares-Earth-s-Orbit-Around-the-Sun#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br />Astronomers discovered that the Earth has a Trojan asteroid friend that it does the sun dance with.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Trojans are asteroids that share an orbit with a planet and circles<br />around the sun in front of or behind the planet. They ride in the same<br />orbit as a planet and never cross its path or collide with the planet.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Asteroid 2010 TK7 was discovered by NEOWISE, the asteroid-hunting<br />section of NASA's WISE mission. It was confirmed as the first Earth<br />Trojan after follow up observations with the Canada-France-Hawaii<br />Telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii, NASA said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Scientists thought Earth should have Trojans. However, those kinds of<br />asteroids were hard to find because they are relatively small and appear<br />near the sun from Earth's point of view, according to NASA.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The new discovery can be read in the July 28 issue of the journal <em>Nature</em>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"These asteroids dwell mostly in the daylight, making them very hard to<br />see," said Martin Connors of Athabasca University in Canada, lead author<br />of a new paper. "But we finally found one, because the object has an<br />unusual orbit that takes it farther away from the sun than what is<br />typical for Trojans."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Asteroid 2010 TK7 is about 1,000 feet (300 meters) in diameter, has an<br />unusual, and is about 50 million miles (80 million kilometers) from<br />Earth. It has an extreme orbit that takes it far above and below the<br />plane of Earth's orbit. It has a well-defined orbit and for the next 100<br />years, won't come closer to Earth than 15 million miles (24 million<br />kilometers).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Trojan asteroids also share orbits with other planets in our Solar System to include Neptune, Mars and Jupiter.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Paul Wiegert, University of Western Ontario, Canada" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/75767/full/ff.jpg"><img alt="" height="299" width="392" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/75767/large/ff.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Paul Wiegert, University of Western Ontario, Canada</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">This<br />artist's concept illustrates the first known Earth Trojan asteroid,<br />discovered by WISE. The asteroid is gray and its extreme orbit is shown<br />in green. </span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br />WISE was able to spot 2010 TK7 because of its unusual orbit that<br />takes it as far as 90 degrees away from the sun, according to NASA.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />According to the space agency, the WISE telescope scanned the entire sky<br />in infrared light from last January to February this year. The NEOWISE<br />project has observed more than 155,000 asteroids in the main belt<br />between Mars and Jupiter, and more than 500 NEOs, discovering <strong>132 that were previously unknown</strong>, NASA said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"It's as though Earth is playing follow the leader," said Amy Mainzer,<br />the principal investigator of NEOWISE at NASA's Jet Propulsion<br />Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "Earth always is chasing this asteroid<br />around."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />But don't expect NASA to plan a visit to asteroid 2010 TK7 any time soon.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Earth's first Trojan wouldn't be a good target for robotic or human<br />exploration because it travels too far above and below the plane of<br />Earth's orbit, and would require large amounts of fuel to reach it.<br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">A Service of <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">Signs of the Times</a>: The most comprehensive, objective and reliable Alternative News Source on the Web. If you aren't reading <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">SOTT</a>, you don't know what's REALLY happening!</div>Keithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06011086310017706847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385115091808825739.post-46622789847261209592011-06-12T14:11:00.003+01:002011-06-12T14:26:35.898+01:00Real Science Under Attack - The Dirty Tricks of Rex Dalton<strong><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/229835-Real-Science-Under-Attack-The-Dirty-Tricks-of-Rex-Dalton" target="_blank">Real Science Under Attack - The Dirty Tricks of Rex Dalton</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Sott Editors<br /><br />Sott.net<br /><br />Sat, 11 Jun 2011 10:18 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/229835-Real-Science-Under-Attack-The-Dirty-Tricks-of-Rex-Dalton#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/69681/full/cycle_cosmic_catastrophes.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Firestone et al."><img style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/69681/medium/cycle_cosmic_catastrophes.jpg" alt="Cycles of Cosmic Catastrophe" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Firestone et al.<br /><br /></span></div><br /></div><br /><br><br />The<br />Scientific Establishment recently turned up the heat on scientist Allen<br />West and the rest of the Younger Dryas Impact Event researchers by <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228596-Bogus-Science-claims-Comet-Theory-Comes-Crashing-to-Earth-" target="_blank">unleashing their attack dog</a>,<br />Rex Dalton, whose hitpiece is being used to smear West's good name and<br />the Younger Dryas Impact Theory by proxy. While this is an unfortunate<br />turn of events, we are not entirely surprised here given what we've seen<br />of psychopaths in other quarters of society. If there is one<br />overarching point that we wish SOTT readers to understand, it's that<br />psychopaths <em>do</em> control our world - <em>all</em> of it. While<br />this should be plainly obvious when it comes to corrupt governments,<br />corporations and religious institutions, the world of science and<br />academia is no exception to this fact.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The assumption of Uniformitarianism underpins many if not all scientific<br />disciplines. Its proponents argue that the "present is the key to<br />understanding the past," that the slow gradual processes we see in<br />nature today have been constant throughout history. An enormous number<br />of scientists across many fields have staked their careers (whether<br />they're aware of it or not) on this fundamental assumption. This<br />Uniformitarianist, or gradualist, approach is used to explain things<br />like geological features, celestial events, species evolution,<br />civilization advancement, technological progress and so on. When it<br />comes to catastrophic events, the Uniformitarian-dominated sciences<br />permit only consideration of those which may have happened on a<br />timescale of millions of years, like the Cretaceous - Tertiary<br />extinction event 65 million years ago that supposedly wiped out the<br />dinosaurs. To admit that catastrophic impact events occur <strong>on the timescale of human history</strong><br />would mean surrendering the comfortable notion we live in a safe and<br />stable world that has evolved in splendid isolation, shielded from<br />cosmic intervention. Few people, even scientists, are prepared to<br />examine the overwhelming data indicating the reality of cyclic<br />catastrophism. The elite of our world have gone to enormous lengths to<br />prevent the masses from knowing this, so it's not difficult to see how<br />today's Uniformitarianist approach serves a lot of interests.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Just a little background: The group of researchers composed of<br />Richard Firestone, Allen West and Simon Warwick-Smith (usually referred<br />to as Firestone et al) put forth the evidence in their book <em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cycle-Cosmic-Catastrophes-Stone-Age-Changed/dp/1591430615" target="_blank">The Cycle of Cosmic Catastrophes</a></em><br />for a significant impact event around 13,000 BCE. Such a timeframe<br />would, of course, place the event well within the context of human<br />history, an event that may be the source for myths about the destruction<br />of an antediluvian civilization. If you've been a regular reader of<br />SOTT, you'll know that we consider the evidence gathered by Firestone et<br />al to be of vital importance in understanding the reality and magnitude<br />of impact events. Even if we may disagree with their stance on how the<br />comets arrived in the Solar System courtesy of a supernova explosion<br />(we assign higher probability to <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/142651-Something-Wicked-This-Way-Comes" target="_blank">alternative hypotheses</a><br />explaining the origin of comet clusters), the impact evidence they<br />describe is very good. Rather than the present being the key to the<br />past, as Uniformitarianists believe, understanding the past as described<br />by Firestone et al. becomes the key to understanding our future.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-small to-right"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/69682/full/rexdalton.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NatureNews"><img style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/69682/pod/rexdalton.jpg" alt="Rex Dalton" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NatureNews</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">Rex Dalton, former writer for Nature.</span></div><br /></div><br />With Firestone et al making waves in the scientific community, along comes establishment lackey Rex Dalton, a former writer for <em>Nature</em>, to attack Allen West, a retired geologist, co-author and field researcher of the aforementioned book, in a completely <em>ad hominem</em> manner. We published our own <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228596-Bogus-Science-claims-Comet-Theory-Comes-Crashing-to-Earth-" target="_blank">heavily commented version</a><br />of this slimy article, pointing out how Dalton sought to kill the<br />message by attacking the messenger. Dalton chastised West for not being<br />a formally trained geologist (Dalton himself is only a journalist, mind<br />you) and latched onto a little run-in West had with the California<br />authorities over a decade ago, before negating the majority of impact<br />evidence gathered by Firestone et al. by focusing on questions that have<br />since arisen about a tiny sliver of evidence cited in their book.<br />Unfortunately, many scientists won't see it this way, and instead spread<br />Dalton's article around as if it were gospel (this is already<br />happening). Dalton's piece is a perfect example of the disdain the<br />Scientific Establishment has for <em>real</em> science - the kind of science that could help humanity escape from the shackles of history.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Now that readers understand a little bit of the background and context<br />of this sorry tale, let's recap with some of the accusations made by<br />Dalton in his original article. Here's how the article begins:<br /><blockquote class="typ1"><br />An elegant archaeological theory, under fire for results that can't be replicated, may ultimately come undone.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />It seemed like such an elegant answer to an age-old mystery: the<br />disappearance of what are arguably North America's first people. A<br />speeding comet nearly 13,000 years ago was the culprit, the theory goes,<br />spraying ice and rocks across the continent, killing the Clovis people<br />and the mammoths they fed on, and plunging the region into a deep chill.<br />The idea so captivated the public that three movies describing the<br />catastrophe were produced.<br /></blockquote><br />So far, so good here. Now Dalton steps up and shows his real agenda:<br /><blockquote class="typ1"><br />But now, four years after the purportedly supportive evidence was<br />reported, a host of scientific authorities systematically have made the<br />case that the comet theory is "bogus." Researchers from multiple<br />scientific fields are calling the theory one of the most misguided ideas<br />in the history of modern archaeology, which begs for an <strong>independent review</strong> so an accurate record is reflected in the literature.<br /></blockquote><br />As we'll see below, many of these "researchers from multiple scientific<br />fields" have only looked at isolated evidence gathered by Firestone et<br />al. Some of these researchers Dalton quotes have no connection to any<br />part of this area of study. Their biases seem to be just thrown into<br />the mix just to give the impression of a united front against the Impact<br />Theory. The researchers who do have expertise in this area of study<br />don't appear to have looked at all the evidence; they instead seem<br />fixated on isolated aspects of the theory with no consideration of the<br />bigger picture. Could anyone from this crowd ever really give the<br />Impact Theory an independent review? Notice the double-speak here too.<br />The phrase "independent review" is implied to mean "Uniformitiarian<br />bias" by Dalton. Further down Dalton states:<br /><blockquote class="typ1"><br />Yet, the scientists who described the alleged impact in a hallowed U.S.<br />scientific journal refuse to consider the critics' evidence - insisting<br />they are correct, even though no one can replicate their work: the<br />hallmark of credibility in the scientific world.<br /></blockquote><br />This Impact Theory isn't a single experiment which can be readily<br />"replicated" and quickly verified. Think of the theory as a long list<br />of clues, or independent findings and data-points, all facing inwards at<br />the likely culprit - that Earth did collide with some large space rocks<br />sometime around 13,000 BCE. Reading the <em>Cycle of Cosmic Catastrophes</em><br />is almost like reading a detective novel, you really feel the<br />excitement of this team of researchers piecing together the clues to<br />find out who (or what) 'dunnit.' Admittedly, parts of this theory can<br />and should be verified or refuted by other open-minded researchers; it's<br />possible that some pieces might have to be thrown out and others added<br />in or explained in a different way. All healthy scientific theories go<br />through modifications over time as new data comes in. But overall,<br />there has been a lot of work put into this Impact Theory and there are<br />many more groups besides this Firestone group working on similar<br />problems which deal with geologically recent impact events. Despite<br />Dalton's deceptive presentation of a 'united front' of scientists<br />raising their 'concerns', none of these scientists have refuted all the<br />facts in favor of the Impact Theory, and some haven't even looked at the<br />data at all!<br /><blockquote class="typ1"><br />The primary authors of the theory are an unusual mix: James Kennett, a<br />virtual father of marine geology from the University of California,<br />Santa Barbara; Richard Firestone, a physicist at Lawrence Berkeley<br />Laboratory in California; and Allen West, an unknown academic from the<br />mining industry who lives in Dewey, Ariz.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"We are under a lot of duress," said Kennett. "It has been quite<br />painful." So much so, that team members call their critics' work<br />"biased," "nonsense" and "screwed up."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Such intransigence has been seen before in other cases of grand<br />scientific claims. Sometimes those theories were based on data<br />irregularities. Other times, the proponents succumbed to self-delusion.<br />But typically, advocates become so invested in their ideas they can't<br />publicly acknowledge error.<br /></blockquote><br />Perhaps instead of explaining away the Impact Theorists' duress as being<br />"intransigence" and "self-delusion", it might be useful to give their<br />side of the story fair play here? In other words, what sort of guff<br />have they had to put up with from the other side? Dalton doesn't seem<br />to be at all interested in that, however. That would be too much to ask<br />of Dalton who has already revealed his agenda at this point.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Next Dalton moves in for the kill on one of the co-authors, Allen West:<br /><blockquote class="typ1"><br />...Indeed, the team's established scientists are so wedded to the theory<br />they have opted to ignore the fact their colleague "Allen West" isn't<br />exactly who he says he is.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />West is Allen Whitt - who, in 2002, was fined by California and<br />convicted for masquerading as a state-licensed geologist when he charged<br />small-town officials fat fees for water studies.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />After completing probation in 2003 in San Bernardino County, he began<br />work on the comet theory, legally adopting his new name in 2006 as he<br />promoted it in a popular book. Only when questioned by this reporter<br />last year did his co-authors learn his original identity and legal<br />history. Since then, they have not disclosed it to the scientific<br />community.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />West's history - and new concerns about study results he was integrally<br />involved in - raise intriguing questions about the veracity of the comet<br />claim...<br /></blockquote><br />Here Dalton makes West out to be a common crook and thus nowhere near<br />the level of an 'objective' scientist. But does Dalton really have his<br />facts straight?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In his <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/229833-Younger-Dryas-Impact-theorist-Allen-West-smeared-by-Dalton-former-Nature-writer" target="_blank">defense of Allen West</a>, George Howard of <a href="http://cosmictusk.com/" target="_blank">The Cosmic Tusk blog</a> writes:<br /><blockquote class="typ2"><br />Allen West was employed 13 years ago as a consultant for a company in<br />California that contracted with several cities for water studies.<br />Geophysicists can work without a license in California under some<br />conditions. He thought they were following the law, but in this case, he<br />needed a license.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />That inadvertent mistake led to a misdemeanor and a $4500 fine. The<br />District Attorney acknowledged that there was no intent to defraud and<br />allowed the misdemeanor to be reduced to a simple infraction that was<br />subsequently removed from his record. Allen West's record in the State<br />of California is completely clean, and he has no "criminal record,"<br />contrary to the claim by Rex Dalton in his article (see 1).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>Dalton disparaged the quality of the work in question despite<br />the fact that he is aware that West's California geophysical work<br />continues to be referred to positively in 10 reports by four Federal and<br />State governmental agencies, the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S.<br />Bureau of Reclamation, the California Department of Water Resources, and<br />the California Energy Commission</strong> (see 2).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In 2005, seven years after Allen completed that work, he retired and<br />contracted to write the Cycle of Cosmic Catastrophes. Preferring<br />privacy, he chose the pseudonym "West" instead of his given name<br />"Whitt," <strong>and filed the name with the State of Arizona as a legal tradename under the designation "author"</strong><br />(see 3). He continued to use the new name in his scientific career and<br />changed his name legally, meaning it is not an "alias" as erroneously<br />reported by Dalton. <strong>People often change their names for various<br />reasons, as for example, Isaac Asimov, who changed his name from Ozimov<br />- nobody accused Asimov of deception</strong>.<br /></blockquote><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/69683/full/Allen_West.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Douglas J. Kennett"><img style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/69683/medium/Allen_West.jpg" alt="Allen West" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Douglas J. Kennett</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">University<br />of Arizona anthropologist C. Vance Haynes and geophysicist Allen West<br />look at the Black Mat Layer during a sampling excursion to the Murray<br />Springs Clovis site in Southern Arizona.</span></div><br /></div><br />As we pointed<br />out in our original commentary on Dalton's article, documents show that<br />West/Whitt had no intention of wrongdoing. In fact, it's pathetic that<br />West even needs to defend himself here at all. Wasn't Dalton's article<br />supposed to be about the shortcomings of the Younger Dryas Impact<br />Theory and not West's bureaucratic tangles from his previous employment?<br />The fact that Dalton, himself only trained as a journalist with <a href="http://www.environmentwriter.org/scienceandthenews/bios/rdalton.htm" target="_blank">no real science credentials</a>, mockingly criticizes West's lack of credentials is the height of hypocrisy. This <em>ad hominem</em><br />attack really shows Dalton's true colors, especially when we consider<br />that this attack forms the centerpiece of his article. Adding insult to<br />injury, Dalton again hits West with this false accusation further down<br />in his article. For a former writer of <em>Nature</em>, one might<br />expect more civilized behavior. This is a desperate, underhanded<br />attempt to tarnish the truly Earth-shattering findings of Firestone's<br />and West's work.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The remainder of Dalton's article is mostly a hack job, giving the<br />reader the impression that there is this 'growing concern' among<br />scientists that Firestone and West are just making up all this impact<br />evidence as they go along. Although still quite deceptive, it's really<br />the only part of his article that touches on anything even close to<br />actual science, albeit very selectively. He quotes a number of his<br />buddy scientists who have attempted to refute some aspect of the Impact<br />Theory, giving people the impression that all these 'scientists' should<br />have some working knowledge of the Impact Theory itself (which doesn't<br />appear to be the case). Here are their claims:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Wallace Broecker - 'Climate' Researcher:</span> "<em>Those who don't believe in human-produced global warming grab onto it [supposedly means the Impact Theory].</em>"<br />(Huh? What does "global warming" have to do with anything here? I<br />love how Dalton tries to tie 'global warming' deniers together with<br />Impact Theorists. Classic!)<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Todd Surovell - Archeologist:</span> "<em>Couldn't find magnetic spherules at 7 clovis sites</em>"<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Tyrone Daulton - Materials Scientist:</span> "<em>Reported that supposed nanodiamonds formed by the impact were misidentified</em>"<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Mark Boslough - Physicist:</span> "<em>Reported<br />that radio-carbon dating of a carbon spherule sample shows it is only<br />about 200 years old - an "irregularity" that indicates is it not from<br />the alleged 12,900-year-old impact time.</em>"<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Vance Holliday - Archeologist:</span> "<em>Such<br />mixing of spherules from different eras could invalidate any conclusion<br />that higher spherule counts represented evidence of a comet impact.</em>" (Referring here to the finding by Boslough above.)<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Nicholas Pinter - Geologist:</span> "<em>'[The<br />Impact Theory] is so far beyond the pale - outside of normal experiences<br />in conducting science - you can't ignore it'... Asked if he would<br />collaborate with West, he said, 'I would run screaming away.'</em>" (More defamation against West.)<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Jeffrey Severinghaus - Chemist:</span> "<em>Asked<br />if he would seek [a public inquiry of the Impact Theory], he said,<br />'Absolutely. It is really important to maintain the public trust in<br />science. That means if there is a bad apple, it is rooted out and<br />exposed.'</em>" (If there should be any inquiry, they should look into<br />the last 60 years of academia and root out all the bad apples holding up<br />real progress in the sciences. It's very telling that these bozos want<br />inquiries into Firestone et al, but were either too afraid or just<br />downright arrogant to get to the bottom of 'Climategate'.)<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Dalton's only science arguments, based on the claims by this<br />aforementioned bunch, boil down to evidence from sediment samples<br />gathered at a certain layer that Firestone and West refer to as the<br />'black mat'. This is a black layer in the sediment which indicates the<br />boundary where Clovis culture artifacts appear. Just below this layer<br />one can sometimes find tools, implements, discarded animal bones from an<br />ancient people dubbed the 'Clovis people'. Above this layer one<br />typically finds nothing, at least not for quite some time. This is also<br />the layer where mammoth fossils and other animal remains of the<br />Holocene era end, at least in North America. All this implies that this<br />'black mat' layer may hold some clues about how the Clovis people and<br />all their animal friends suddenly disappeared. (It's amazing to us that<br />geologists and archeologists have never made this connection, at least<br />not officially.)<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In fact, that's exactly the line of reasoning which Firestone and West<br />follow in their book. They hypothesize that this 'black mat' region is<br />the leftover remains of charred vegetation and other burnt matter which<br />was buried after 'something' caused a massive conflagration on the North<br />American Continent. They describe many other sediment and chemical<br />anomalies from this 'black mat' layer which indicate something more than<br />your typical uniformitarian, gradualist processes at work during this<br />time period. So when the folks above quoted by Dalton talk about<br />nanodiamonds and magnetic spherules, they're talking about the sediment<br />anomalies that West discovered in this 'black mat', the place where all<br />Holocene life met an abrupt end. These anomalies are what Firestone and<br />West believe are the result of an extra-terrestrial impact. The theory<br />behind why and how nanodiamonds, magnetic spherules could form during<br />an impact is beyond the scope of this article, but the <em>Cosmic Catastrophes</em> book does a good job of explaining it in layman's terms.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />While these sediment anomalies are certainly interesting evidence and<br />should be taken into account, they by no means represent the entire<br />Impact Theory as presented by Firestone et al in their book. The big<br />picture of Earth being impacted by comets really doesn't change with or<br />without this evidence of sediment anomalies. This is just the "icing on<br />the cake", one could say. Even if this sediment evidence can be<br />refuted, as Dalton and the other detractors claim, this still does not<br />invalidate the mass of other evidence for impacts gathered by Firestone<br />et al. It's an obvious obfuscation on Dalton's part to imply that the<br />evidence he's pointing out is 'all there is' to the Impact Theory.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Dalton cites Mark Boslough's radiocarbon dating of micro-spherules in<br />the black mat sediment layer to just 200 years old, when they obviously<br />should have been much older to refute Firestone et al's theory that they<br />could only have formed in super-heated conditions. But the authors<br />relate several times in their book just how precarious relying on<br />radiocarbon dating can be. Dalton must have missed this section,<br />otherwise he would have realized just how weak any dated evidence is<br />when attempting to confirm or refute the Impact Theory.<br /><blockquote class="typ1"><br />Exploring the radiocarbon issue further, Bill discovered that some<br />Paleo-Indian radiocarbon dates were laughably wrong. For example, dates<br />from the Paleo-Indian sites at Leavitt and Gainey, in Michigan, came<br />from layers that scientists knew were 13,000 years old; and yet the<br />radiocarbon date came back suggesting that, inexplicably, the<br />long-vanished Ice Age Indians were still hunting extinct camels when the<br />Egyptian pharaohs were building the Temple of Karnak 2,800 years ago.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Another 13,000-year-old site, at Thedford, Ontario, Canada, seemed to<br />show that the long dead Indians miraculously came back to life and lived<br />up until about the time of Jesus. In addition, the most astounding<br />Clovis-era site of all was at Grant Lake in Nunavut Province in northern<br />Canad, where the long gone Ice Age Paleo-Indians had apparently been<br />hunting mammoths during the time of the Battle of Gettysburg in the U.S.<br />Civil War!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />[<em>The Cycle of Cosmic Catastrophes</em> p12]<br /></blockquote><br />So much for Dalton's nitpicking of incorrect dates of sediment samples<br />to give the impression that the Impact Theory is maligned by<br />inconsistency! Any evidence that relies on radiocarbon dates needs to<br />be taken with a lot of salt. Radiocarbon dating might work well for the<br />last 6,000 years or so, but beyond this the assumption about the rate<br />of cosmic radiation (which determines the amount of C<sub>14</sub><br />isotope in living things) gets a bit sketchy. It's clear that Dalton is<br />going after a capillary and pretending it to be the jugular with his<br />obsessing over sediment sample dates, all the while relying on his<br />readers' ignorance of the overall evidence for the Impact Theory to fill<br />in the gaping holes that he leaves in his logic.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />So what other evidence do Firestone et al provide, which Dalton has so conveniently omitted from his article?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><span class="BoldGrey">The Story of the Carolina Bays</span></strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The Carolina Bays are the elliptical depressions concentrated along the<br />Atlantic seaboard. Typically these are not viewable from the ground;<br />people only begun to notice them after the advent of flight. There are<br />an enormous number of these 'bays' (over half a million, in fact), each<br />one rimmed with a layer of sand.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />An interesting feature of these 'bays' is that the angle of their<br />elliptical shapes all point to one of two general locations. Tracing<br />these locations back towards the west, one finds that the lines seem to<br />converge on two central points: one point is at the bottom of Lake<br />Michigan, and the other is at the lower part of Huron Bay in Canada. It<br />was later discovered that 'bay-like' depressions exist in the American<br />West, South-West and around the Great Plains regions too. Many of these<br />'bays' form 'crater chains', again pointing back to the same two<br />central locations to the north. It's likely that these locations in<br />Canada and Michigan were covered with thick sheets of ice at the time<br />when these 'bays' were formed, so an impact at these locations would<br />probably have caused an explosion of ice.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/69684/full/Carolina_bays_in_the_midwest.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© The Cosmic Tusk"><img height="337" width="397" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/69684/large/Carolina_bays_in_the_midwest.jpg" alt="Carolina Bays" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© The Cosmic Tusk</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">Showing the two general locations where the Carolina Bays and similar crater-like depressions converge.</span></div><br /></div><br />This<br />is exactly what Firestone and West propose, that these central points<br />where the tips of the Carolina Bays converge was once covered with thick<br />glaciers prior to 13,000 BCE. An impact at these ice-covered locations<br />would have sent massive chunks of ice along Southwestern and<br />Southeastern trajectories hundreds of miles long, resulting in a<br />veritable blitz of overhead explosions as half a million pieces of<br />debris exploded on re-entry into the lower atmosphere to form, thanks to<br />atmospheric explosion ablation, all these 'bays' we see along the<br />entire Eastern seaboard and in the Southwest too. An impact might also<br />explain the washed-out features or sand drumlins found in certain parts<br />of North America, like the area around Northern Minnesota and Central<br />Canada. Such an event would have likely caused a sudden surge of melted<br />freshwater to reach the oceans too, followed by rapid cooling of sea<br />temperatures, and thus plunging the Earth back into an Ice Age. It<br />might also explain the sudden rise in sea level around this time, as<br />shown in studies of coral reefs. There are still a lot of points to be<br />worked out in this theory, but the general idea of a sudden impact<br />leading to immediate geological and climate changes is pretty solid.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><span class="BoldGrey">Black Specs in Mammoth Tusks</span></strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />It might seem strange to some that evidence for cometary bombardment<br />could exist in ancient mammoth tusk fossils, but here is another<br />interesting fact which Firestone et al uncovered. After digging through<br />boxes of mammoth tusks, they discovered tiny black specs, some slightly<br />red, indicating embedded iron in some of the tusks. Upon closer<br />inspection, it became clear that something had sent tiny shards of iron<br />zipping through the air at high velocities, likely killing these animals<br />instantly. They also discovered the same black, iron specs in mammoth<br />skulls as well, indicating that these animals did indeed die by some<br />sudden, explosive event.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/69686/full/firestone_tusk080103.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Unknown"><img style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/69686/medium/firestone_tusk080103.jpg" alt="Mammoth Specs" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">Showing the black specs found in some mammouth tusks, indication of an explosive impact event.</span></div><br /></div><br />The<br />same micro-bullets of iron turned up in mammoth tusks as far away as<br />Siberia, and in antlers and flint pieces from North America as well.<br />Whatever caused this blanket of micro-sized iron bullets to spray across<br />the Northern Hemisphere continents at such incredible speeds must have<br />been an enormously explosive event. Mammoths have also been found<br />buried in ice from Alaska to Siberia with undigested food in their<br />mouths. It's pretty clear that whatever killed these creatures did it<br />instantaneously. The same event seemed to have frozen them instantly as<br />well, since many of their remains were discovered in an well-preserved<br />state. No gradual process can account for this.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />These are just some of the major clues followed by Firestone et al in<br />their book. Dalton's article mentions none of these points.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><span class="BoldGrey">Conclusion</span></strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Rex Dalton really doesn't have a leg to stand on when refuting the<br />Younger Dryas Impact Theory put forth by Firestone et al. The question<br />is, why would he sink to such low-ball tactics and risk exposing himself<br />with such shaky scientific reasoning? We've published other articles<br />by Dalton on SOTT prior to this one and most seemed fairly balanced and<br />informative (although you can be sure we will be reading with a very<br />careful eye from now on). It's interesting that another topic which<br />Dalton focuses on is Neanderthal research, an area in which we've also <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/227222-The-Golden-Age-Psychopathy-and-the-Sixth-Extinction" target="_blank">taken an interest in</a><br />due to its implications for research into the origins of<br />psychopathology. What twists of the truth are in store for us from Rex<br />in this other area of study, we wonder? Is Rex getting paid for<br />services rendered to the Cult of Uniformitarianism, or is he merely<br />seeking recognition as an attack dog, licking his masters' boots, if you<br />will? We realise these are strong words, but we feel strongly about<br />such double standards that prevail in corrupt science. We should also<br />note that Rex is not unique; there have been many of his ilk to come<br />along playing the role of disinformation peddlers in the world of<br />science, and we do our best to point them out here on SOTT.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Whatever his motives, the end result of his efforts is an attack on<br />catastrophism, at a most sensitive time in history; a time when more and<br />more people are waking up to the reality that Earth might not be as<br />safe a haven in the cosmos as we once thought. How will the people look<br />upon the Rex Daltons of the world when they understand not only that<br />the Scientific Establishment have no ability to protect civilization<br />from incoming comets, but that they knew about <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/142651-Something-Wicked-This-Way-Comes" target="_blank">the threat</a> and covered it up in service to the elite? Only time will tell...<br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">A Service of <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">Signs of the Times</a>: The most comprehensive, objective and reliable Alternative News Source on the Web. If you aren't reading <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">SOTT</a>, you don't know what's REALLY happening!</div>Keithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06011086310017706847noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385115091808825739.post-84904845728240432392011-06-12T14:01:00.001+01:002011-07-18T21:55:26.977+01:00June 2011<strong><a target="_blank" href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20110603/sc_space/trucksizeasteroidzipsclosebyearth">Truck-Size Asteroid Zips Close by Earth</a></strong><br /><div class="article-header"><strong></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Mike Wall<br /><br />Space.com<br /><br />Thu, 02 Jun 2011 13:16 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/229504-Truck-Size-Asteroid-Zips-Close-by-Earth#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a title="© ESA" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/68901/full/rosetta_asteroid_encounter_nas.jpg"><img alt="" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/68901/medium/rosetta_asteroid_encounter_nas.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© ESA</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">The European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft took this image of the asteroid Lutetia during a flyby on July 10, 2010.</span></div><br /></div><br />An asteroid the size of a small motorhome zoomed near Earth last night (June 1), coming closer to us than the moon ever does.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The 23-foot-long (7-meter) space rock, named <a target="_blank" href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/trucksizeasteroidzipsclosebyearth/41717528/SIG=11pa7bnd5/*http://www.space.com/6351-odd-asteroid-hangs-earth.html">2009 BD</a>,<br />came within 215,000 miles (346,000 kilometers) of Earth at around 8:51<br />p.m. EDT (0051 GMT on June 2). The moon's average distance from us is<br />about 239,000 miles (385,000 km).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />2009 BD never <a target="_blank" href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/trucksizeasteroidzipsclosebyearth/41717528/SIG=11sqfnjas/*http://www.space.com/10752-apophis-asteroid-hit-earth.html">threatened to hit Earth</a> on this pass, researchers said. But even if the asteroid had slammed into us, it wouldn't have been a big deal.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"2009 BD is a small object, 7 meters, & poses no threat,"<br />scientists with NASA's Asteroid Watch program tweeted yesterday. "Rocky<br />objects this size would break apart in our atmosphere & cause no<br />damage." [<a target="_blank" href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/trucksizeasteroidzipsclosebyearth/41717528/SIG=1233a2b0c/*http://www.space.com/11093-photos-asteroids-deep-space-rocks.html">Photos of Asteroids in Deep Space</a>]<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The asteroid's small size also made it a tough target for skywatchers. A<br />large telescope was necessary to see it last night, researchers said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Sticking around for a while</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />After the close pass, 2009 BD didn't recede into the depths of space<br />like most asteroids do after such encounters. Rather, it continues to<br />stick close to Earth, stalking our planet on its trip around the sun. In<br />fact, the space rock will remain within 10 lunar distances of us for<br />the next month or so, researchers said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />That's because 2009 BD is no ordinary asteroid. It's what astronomers<br />call a "co-orbital object," meaning its path around the sun roughly<br />parallels that of Earth. Just where such objects come from is an<br />intriguing question, with some researchers speculating that they may be<br />pieces ejected from the moon.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />So 2009 BD will hang around for a while, periodically sidling up<br />relatively close to Earth. The probability that it will ever actually<br />hit us is extremely remote; the latest NASA calculations peg it at<br />around 1 in 50,000.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />While 2009 BD's orbit is somewhat unusual, its recent proximity to Earth<br />isn't. NASA scientists have estimated that tiny asteroids probably pass<br />between the Earth and moon on an almost daily basis. Most are just too<br />small to be detected.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Space rocks as big as washing machines typically fall into Earth's<br />atmosphere every month or so, but most of them burn up before reaching<br />the ground, researchers say.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Learning about potentially hazardous asteroids</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Of course, nobody on Earth wants to be caught unawares by an impending impact with a <a target="_blank" href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/trucksizeasteroidzipsclosebyearth/41717528/SIG=12osct92s/*http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/will-an-asteroid-hit-earth-are-we-all-doomed-0678/">big, dangerous space rock</a>. So NASA and other astronomers routinely scan the skies for asteroids or comets that may be an impact threat to Earth.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />NASA is also taking more active measures to learn about potentially troublesome space rocks.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The agency recently announced, for example, that it's launching a sample-return mission called <a target="_blank" href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/trucksizeasteroidzipsclosebyearth/41717528/SIG=12c8oqdh7/*http://www.space.com/11788-nasa-asteroid-mission-osiris-rex-1999-rq36.html">OSIRIS-Rex </a>to the asteroid 1999 RQ36 in 2016. A probe will send pieces of the space rock home; they should reach Earth in 2023.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Scientists think these samples will contain pristine organic compounds,<br />carbon-based molecules that are the building blocks of life as we know<br />it. Studying these asteroid bits could shed light on the possibility<br />that life on Earth was seeded by an asteroid strike, as some researchers<br />believe.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />However, 1999 RQ36 is also potentially dangerous, with about a<br />1-in-1,000 chance of striking Earth in 2182. That impact would likely<br />not be trivial, since the asteroid is 1,900 feet wide (579 meters) -<br />as big as six football fields.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Studying 1999 RQ36 and its movements up-close could help scientists<br />refine their understanding of its orbit. This information could help<br />them get a better handle on the space rock's trajectory, and possibly<br />understand how to mitigate or prevent a potential Earth impact,<br />researchers said.<br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"><br /><span class="atop-l"></span><br /><span class="atop-r"></span><br /></div><br /><div class="article-header"><br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2011/06/an-asteroid-missed-earth-this-week-what-are-the-odds-that-well-always-be-lucky.html">An Asteroid Missed Earth this Week -What are the Odds that We'll Always be Lucky?</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="m-bar">The Daily Galaxy<br /><br />Fri, 03 Jun 2011 14:14 CDT</div><br /><br /><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a title="© The Daily Galaxy" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/68910/full/asteroid.jpg"><img title="Click to enlarge" alt="Asteroid" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/68910/medium/asteroid.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© The Daily Galaxy</span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br />An asteroid the size of a truck zoomed near Earth this week (June<br />1), coming closer to us than the moon ever does. The 23-foot-long<br />(7-meter) space rock, named 2009 BD, came within 215,000 miles (346,000<br />kilometers) of Earth at around 8:51 p.m. EDT (0051 GMT on June 2). The<br />moon's average distance from us is about 239,000 miles (385,000 km).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Stephen Hawking believes that one of the major factors in the possible<br />scarcity of intelligent life in our galaxy is the high probability of an<br />asteroid or comet colliding with inhabited planets.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />We have observed, Hawking points out in Life in the Universe, the<br />collision of a comet, Schumacher-Levi, with Jupiter, which produced a<br />series of enormous fireballs, plumes many thousands of kilometers high,<br />hot "bubbles" of gas in the atmosphere, and large dark "scars" on the<br />atmosphere which had lifetimes on the order of weeks.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />It is thought the collision of a rather smaller body with the Earth,<br />about 70 million years ago, was responsible for the extinction of the<br />dinosaurs. A few small early mammals survived, but anything as large as a<br />human, would have almost certainly been wiped out.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Through Earth's history such collisions occur, on the average every one<br />million year. If this figure is correct, it would mean that intelligent<br />life on Earth has developed only because of the lucky chance that there<br />have been no major collisions in the last 70 million years. Other<br />planets in the galaxy, Hawking believes, on which life has developed,<br />may not have had a long enough collision free period to evolve<br />intelligent beings.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"The threat of the Earth being hit by an asteroid is<br />increasingly being accepted as the single greatest natural disaster<br />hazard faced by humanity," according to Nick Bailey of the University of<br />Southampton's School of Engineering Sciences team, who has developed a<br />threat identifying program.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The team used raw data from multiple impact simulations to rank each<br />country based on the number of times and how severely they would be<br />affected by each impact. The software, called NEOimpactor (from NASA's<br />"NEO" or Near Earth Object program), has been specifically developed for<br />measuring the impact of 'small' asteroids under one kilometer in<br />diameter.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Early results indicate that in terms of population lost, China,<br />Indonesia, India, Japan and the United States face the greatest overall<br />threat; while the United States, China, Sweden, Canada and Japan face<br />the most severe economic effects due to the infrastructure destroyed.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The top ten countries most at risk are China, Indonesia, India, Japan,<br />the United States, the Philippines, Italy, the United Kingdom, Brazil<br />and Nigeria.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"The consequences for human populations and infrastructure as a result<br />of an impact are enormous," says Bailey. "Nearly one hundred years ago a<br />remote region near the Tunguska River witnessed the largest asteroid<br />impact event in living memory when a relatively small object<br />(approximately 50 meters in diameter) exploded in mid-air. While it only<br />flattened unpopulated forest, had it exploded over London it could have<br />devastated everything within the M25. Our results highlight those<br />countries that face the greatest risk from this most global of natural<br />hazards and thus indicate which nations need to be involved in<br />mitigating the threat."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />What would happen to the human species and life on Earth in general if<br />an asteroid the size of the one that created the famous K/T Event of 65<br />million years ago at the end of the Mesozoic Era that resulted in the<br />extinction of the dinosaurs impacted our planet.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />As Stephen Hawking says, the general consensus is that any comet or<br />asteroid greater than 20 kilometers in diameter that strikes the Earth<br />will result in the complete annihilation of complex life - animals and<br />higher plants. (The asteroid Vesta, for example, one of the destinations<br />of the Dawn Mission, is the size of Arizona).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />How many times in our galaxy alone has life finally evolved to the<br />equivalent of our planets and animals on some far distant planet, only<br />to be utterly destroyed by an impact? Galactic history suggests it might<br />be a common occurrence.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The first thing to understand about the KT event is that it was<br />absolutely enormous: an asteroid (or comet) six to 10 miles in diameter<br />streaked through the Earth's atmosphere at 25,000 miles an hour and<br />struck the Yucatan region of Mexico with the force of 100 megatons -the<br />equivalent of one Hiroshima bomb for every person alive on Earth today.<br />Not a pretty scenario!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Recent calculations show that our planet would go into another "Snowball<br />Earth" event like the one that occurred 600 million years ago, when it<br />is believed the oceans froze over (although some scientists dispute this<br />hypothesis -see link below).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />While microbial bacteria might readily survive such calamitous impacts,<br />our new understanding from the record of the Earth's mass extinctions<br />clearly shows that plants and animals are very susceptible to extinction<br />in the wake of an impact.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Impact rates depend on how many comets and asteroids exist in a<br />particular planetary system. In general there is one major impact every<br />million years -a mere blink of the eye in geological time. It also<br />depends on how often those objects are perturbed from safe orbits that<br />parallel the Earth's orbit to new, Earth-crossing orbits that might,<br />sooner or later, result in a catastrophic K/T or Permian-type mass<br />extinction.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The asteroid that hit Vredefort located in the Free State Province of<br />South Africa is one of the largest to ever impact Earth, estimated at<br />over 10 km (6 miles) wide, although it is believed by many that the<br />original size of the impact structure could have been 250 km in<br />diameter, or possibly larger(though the Wilkes Land crater in<br />Antarctica, if confirmed to have been the result of an impact event, is<br />even larger at 500 kilometers across). The town of Vredefort is situated<br />in the crater (image).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Dating back 2,023 million years, it is the oldest astrobleme found on<br />earth so far, with a radius of 190km, it is also the most deeply eroded.<br />Vredefort Dome bears witness to the world's greatest known single<br />energy release event, which caused devastating global change, including,<br />according to many scientists, major evolutionary changes.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />What has kept the Earth "safe" at least the past 65 million years, other<br />than blind luck is the massive gravitational field of Jupiter, our<br />cosmic guardian, with its stable circular orbit far from the sun, which<br />assures a low number of impacts resulting in mass extinctions by<br />sweeping up and scatters away most of the dangerous Earth-orbit-crossing<br />comets and asteroids<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Note:</span><br /><br /><br />This post was adapted from a news release issued by University of Southampton and <a target="_blank" href="http://www.rationalvedanta.net/node/131">Rational Vedanta.</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"><br /><span class="atop-l"></span><br /><span class="atop-r"></span><br /></div><br /><div class="article-header"><br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43258177/ns/technology_and_science-space/">US: Man-size meteor lights up Georgia sky</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="m-bar">Space.com<br /><br />Thu, 02 Jun 2011 07:18 CDT</div><br /><br /><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><em>Brightest meteor yet recorded by NASA's fireball-observing network. </em><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© NASA/MSFC/MEO" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/68968/full/GeorgiaMeteor_grid_6x2.jpg"><img alt="" height="292" width="400" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/68968/large/GeorgiaMeteor_grid_6x2.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA/MSFC/MEO</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">This shot from a NASA fireball-watching camera shows a meteor over Macon, Ga., on the evening of May 20, 2011.</span></div><br /></div><br />A<br />brilliant meteor blazed through the sky above Georgia recently, and two<br />NASA fireball-monitoring cameras caught the dramatic display on video.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>The meteor was caused by a human-size chunk of an unknown comet. It was the brightest meteor yet recorded</strong> by <a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/11010-nasa-tracks-meteor-fireballs-robot-cameras.html">NASA's fireball-observing network</a> - based at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. - in its nearly three years of operation, officials said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The 6-foot-wide (1.8-meter) space rock barrelled into Earth's atmosphere<br />at 10:47 p.m. EDT on May 20 (0247 GMT on May 21), about 66 miles (106<br />kilometers) above the city of Macon, Ga. [ <a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/11837-man-size-meteor-burns-georgia.html">Video of the bright Macon meteor</a> ]<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Cameras ready and waiting</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Two NASA all-sky cameras, both located in northwest Georgia, tracked the<br />resulting meteor and captured it on video. Analysis of the videos<br />allowed scientists to calculate the basics of the object's speed,<br />trajectory, mass and orbit.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />When it entered the atmosphere, the comet chunk was traveling northwest<br />at about 86,000 mph (138,404 kph), researchers said. At this velocity,<br />the boulder-size "dirty snowball" possessed an energy or striking power<br />somewhere between 500 and 1,000 tons of TNT.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />But that striking power was never realized on the ground. The Macon<br />meteoroid was too small, and made of the wrong kind of stuff, to survive<br />the trip through Earth's atmosphere, researchers said. Indeed, the<br />video shows four distinct flares emanating from the comet chunk as it<br />broke apart multiple times.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />After a last burst of light, the meteor burned up completely 38 miles (61 km) above the town of Villa Rica, Ga., officials said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The Macon meteor qualifies as a fireball, which is officially defined as a meteor that shines brighter than Venus in the sky.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><embed height="412" width="400" src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/1417334557" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashvars="videoId=969691432001&linkBaseURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.space.com%2F11837-man-size-meteor-burns-georgia.html&playerId=1417334557&viewerSecureGatewayURL=https://console.brightcove.com/services/amfgateway&servicesURL=http://services.brightcove.com/services&cdnURL=http://admin.brightcove.com&domain=embed&autoStart=false&" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="flashObj" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" swliveconnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Fireballs like the May 20 event are impressive but not terribly unusual.<br />Objects as big as washing machines typically fall into Earth's<br />atmosphere on a monthly basis, but most of them burn up before reaching<br />the ground. Many of the resulting fireballs are not seen because they<br />occur over remote areas or over oceans (which cover more than two-thirds<br />of Earth's surface).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="StoryComment"><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>Oh, yeah, nothing to worry about, NASA<br />tells us. We are always bombarded by man size meteors, they say, and<br />it's just a coincidence that there are much more frequent and visible<br />sightings above populated areas! But if our memory serves us well,<br />until not so long ago we were told that such events happen only once in a<br />while. Changing history and counting on public's short memory, anyone?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">A robotic fireball-monitoring network</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />NASA's meteor-watching network, run by the Meteoroid Environment Office<br />at Marshall, currently consists of four robotic cameras: the two in<br />Georgia, one in Huntsville, and one in southern Tennessee. These "smart"<br />cameras are linked into a computer system that automatically analyzes<br />their video, then calculates relevant information about incoming space<br />rocks' trajectories and orbits.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Researchers hope to place a total of 15 such cameras in various<br />locations throughout the eastern United States, which has few such<br />systems, NASA officials said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The overall goal of the camera system is to learn much more about the<br />pieces of space rock that strike Earth and our atmosphere - how big<br />they are, what they're made of and where they come from, researchers<br />have said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a href="http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/columnists/features/astronomy/star-points-astronomical-observation-accompanied-by-sound/article_c5ed2f84-8e19-11e0-b41a-001cc4c002e0.html" target="_blank">Star Points: Astronomical observation accompanied by sound</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Curtis Roelle<br /><br />Carroll County Times<br /><br />Sun, 05 Jun 2011 09:58 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/229573-Star-Points-Astronomical-observation-accompanied-by-sound#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s2/54524/full/green_fireball_in_US.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Unknown"><img style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s2/54524/medium/green_fireball_in_US.jpg" alt="green fireball" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown<br /><br /><br /><br /></span></div><br /></div><br />Astronomical<br />observations are based on the detection of visible light as well as<br />other energy forms all across the electromagnetic spectrum, from radio<br />waves to gamma radiation. Although certain kinds of radiation, such as<br />radio waves, may be converted electronically into sound waves, thus<br />producing hissing and humming sounds detectable to the human ear, people<br />do not tend to think of astronomers listening directly to the actual<br />sounds emanating from heavenly bodies.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I thought so, too.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />That is, until a couple of nights ago, when something strange was heard coming out of the night sky.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />A close friend owns a vacation home near the summit of one of the<br />tallest mountains in West Virginia. And of those tallest mountains, his<br />house peers down from one of the few where privately owned habitable<br />dwellings exist. The elevation of the house is 4,440 feet above sea<br />level.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />On Sunday night, we were observing planets, nebulae, star clusters and<br />galaxies with his largest telescope. The views through it were<br />tremendous thanks to the dark skies free from the garish glare from any<br />tawdry and gaudy man-made outdoor lighting fixtures, the thinner drier<br />air found at that altitude and by the light gathering power of the large<br />24-inch diameter telescope mirror.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I was up on a ladder soaking in the view when the image field<br />suddenly faded to green. Looking away from the eyepiece I noticed the<br />surroundings had suddenly become brightly illuminated as if during the<br />daytime, yet bathed in an eerie bright green light. Not as bright as<br />sunlight, the illumination was nevertheless many times brighter than the<br />full moon.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Right away I knew it was a meteor, and I looked up.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />It was brilliant.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Like a burning green emerald trailing a short tail of what appeared to<br />be sizzling orange sparks as the meteoroid was being ablated by friction<br />caused by the heat of entry into the Earth's atmosphere. It was<br />traveling from east to west and was nearly straight overhead and the<br />stars were all washed out due to its brilliance.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />When it was over, I looked at my watch. It was 11:03 p.m. The whole thing lasted less than 10 seconds.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />My friend and I both agreed we have never seen a fireball meteor as<br />bright as this one. Although we have each seen several in the past, no<br />previous sighting was nearly as bright as the one observed that night.<br />The spectacle would make it a night to long remember.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />After a minute or two, our excitement had abated. We returned to our<br />regularly scheduled observations of spring galaxies and summer Milky Way<br />objects.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Suddenly, we heard a noise from the direction where the meteor was last observed. <strong>It sounded like a distant rumbling boom and came two-to-three minutes after the fireball's disappearance.</strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />It was a first for us. Not only was this the brightest fireball we'd<br />ever seen, it was also the first one that generated a sound.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Upon returning to civilization, <strong>I checked some meteor tracking<br />websites and discovered numerous posted reports from observers in<br />several other states including Maryland, Pennsylvania, North Carolina<br />and Ohio. Several of the West Virginia based observers also reported<br />hearing noise associated with the meteor.</strong> They left various<br />descriptions of the sound, including "a static sound," "a low boom," "a<br />large explosion like boom," "a crashing sound," "loud boom, explosion"<br />and "sound like loud rolling thunder."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />It was the first time I actually heard an astronomical observation with<br />my own ears. If you have experienced sound associated with an observed<br />meteorite, please share it by sending me an email description.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Curtis Roelle is a member of the Astronomical Society. His column appears the first Sunday of each month. His website is <a href="http://www.starpoints.org/" target="_blank">www.starpoints.org</a>, and he can be reached at StarPoints (at) gmail (dot) com.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a href="http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=07&month=06&year=2011" target="_blank">A Meteor Shower In Broad Daylight - Arietid Meteor Shower Peaks This Week</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="m-bar">Space Weather<br /><br />Tue, 07 Jun 2011 12:41 CDT</div><br /><br /><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br />The annual Arietid meteor shower peaks this week on June 7th and 8th.<br />The Arietids are unusual because they are daytime meteors; the shower<br />is most intense after sunrise. People who wake up early might notice a<br />small number of Arietids during the dark hours before dawn. The real<br />action, however, occurs in broad daylight.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/69286/full/ff.gif" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Unknown"><img alt="" height="369" width="397" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/69286/large/ff.gif" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">This<br />image shows the area of sky around the Arietid radiant (indicated by a<br />red dot) as seen from mid-northern latitudes at 4 a.m. on June 7th or<br />8th. A southern hemisphere map is available, too.</span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://spaceweatherradio.com/" target="_blank">Tune into</a> the meteor radar for echoes.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a href="http://www.universetoday.com/86421/comet-elenin-just-passing-by/" target="_blank">Cosmic Propaganda Alert! Comet Elenin: Just Passing By - With SOTT Commentary</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Jason Major<br /><br />Universe Today<br /><br />Thu, 09 Jun 2011 21:21 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/229777-Cosmic-Propaganda-Alert-Comet-Elenin-Just-Passing-By-With-SOTT-Commentary#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/69544/full/earth2012.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© J. Major"><img height="200" width="397" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/69544/large/earth2012.jpg" alt="Earth Elenin" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© J. Major<br /><br /></span></div><br /></div><br />It<br />starts out innocently enough: a small speck against a field of<br />background stars, barely noticeable in the image data. But... it's a<br />speck that wasn't there before. Subsequent images confirm its existence<br />- there's something out there. Something bright, something large, and<br />it's moving through our solar system very quickly. The faint blur<br />indicates that it's a comet, an icy visitor from the outermost reaches<br />of the solar system. And it's headed straight toward Earth.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Exhaustive calculations are run and re-run. Computer simulations are<br />executed. All possibilities are taken into consideration, and yet<br />there's no alternative to be found; our world will face a close<br />encounter with a comet in mere months' time. Phone calls are made, a<br />flurry of electronic messages fly between computer terminals across the<br />world, consultations are held with top experts in the field. We are<br />unprepared... what can we do? What does this mean for civilization as we<br />know it? What will this speeding icy bullet from outer space do to our<br />planet?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The answer? Nothing.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Nothing at all. In fact, it probably won't even be very interesting to look at - if you can even find it when it passes by.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />(Sorry for the let-down.)<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="StoryComment"><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>We hate to break it to NASA and friends,<br />but comets are more than little dirty snowballs. The fact is comets are<br />charged electrical bodies, attracting a variety of material in their<br />tail and possibly causing electrical chaos for those planets that get in<br />their way. It wouldn't be a stretch <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/225704-Comet-Elenin-Update-" target="_blank">to cite</a><br />that the recent Japanese Tsunami may have been a direct result of Comet<br />Elenin acting on the Earth at a distance. What will happen if we pass<br />through Elenin's tail is anybody's guess at this point, but here's one<br />possibility:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228189-New-Light-on-the-Black-Death-The-Viral-and-Cosmic-Connection" target="_blank">New Light on the Black Death: The Viral and Cosmic Connection</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><br />There's been a lot of buzz in the past several months regarding<br />Comet Elenin, a.k.a. C/2010 X1, which was discovered by Russian<br />astronomer Leonid Elenin on December 10, 2010. Elenin spotted the comet<br />using a telescope in New Mexico remotely from his location in Lyubertsy,<br />Russia. At that time it was about 647 million kilometers (401 million<br />miles) from Earth... in the time since it has closed the distance<br />considerably, and is now around 270 million km away. Elenin is a<br />long-period comet, which means it has a rather large orbit around the<br />Sun... it comes in from a vast distance, swings around the Sun and heads<br />back out to the depths of the solar system - a round trip lasting<br />over 10,000 years. During its current trip it will pass by Earth on<br />October 16, coming as close as 35 million km (22 million miles).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Yes, 22 million miles.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />That's pretty far.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Way too far for us to be affected by anything a comet has to offer. Especially a not-particularly-large comet like Elenin.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="StoryComment"><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>The size of the comet nucleus may not<br />matter much. What's important is how much (and what kind of) matter it<br />has accreted on its way through the Solar System.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><br />Some of the doomy-gloomy internet sites have been mentioning the<br />size of Elenin as being 80,000 km across. This is a scary, exaggerated<br />number that may be referring to the size of Elenin's coma - a hazy<br />cloud of icy particles that surrounds a much, much smaller nucleus. The<br />coma can be extensive but is insubstantial; it's akin to icy cigarette<br />smoke. Less than that, in fact... a comet's coma and tail are even more<br />of a vacuum than can be reproduced in a lab on Earth! In reality most<br />comets have a nucleus smaller than 10km...that's less than a billionth<br />the mass of Earth (and a far cry from 80,000 km.) We have no reason to<br />think that Elenin is any larger than this - it's most likely smaller.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="StoryComment"><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>Maybe "icy cigarette smoke" laced with cyanide and anaerobic germs would be more accurate? (Seriously.)<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><br />Ok, but how about the gravitational and/or magnetic effect of a<br />comet passing by Earth? That's surely got to do something, right? To<br />Earth's crust, or the tides? For the answer to that, I will refer to Don<br />Yeomans, a researcher at NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office at<br />JPL:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Comet Elenin will not only be far away, it is also on the small side<br />for comets. And comets are not the most densely-packed objects out<br />there. They usually have the density of something akin to loosely packed<br />icy dirt," said Yeomans. "So you've got a modest-sized icy dirtball<br />that is getting no closer than 35 million kilometers. It will have an<br />immeasurably miniscule influence on our planet. By comparison, my<br />subcompact automobile exerts a greater influence on the ocean's tides<br />than comet Elenin ever will."<br /><blockquote class="typ1"><br />"It will have an immeasurably miniscule influence on our planet. By<br />comparison, my subcompact automobile exerts a greater influence on the<br />ocean's tides than comet Elenin ever will."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />- Don Yeomans, NASA / JPL<br /></blockquote><br />And as far as the effect from Elenin's magnetic field goes... well,<br />there is no effect. Elenin, like all comets, doesn't have a magnetic<br />field. Not much else to say there.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="StoryComment"><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>Quite telling how they mention gravity and<br />magnetism, but not electricity. Comets are electrically charged bodies<br />and attract matter and volatiles (gasses) via electrostatic forces.<br />This little discussion of gravity and magnetism only serves to dilute<br />the real issue. Think of comets as leaky vacuum cleaners, charging<br />along through space. If Earth passes through Elenin's 'mess' that it<br />leaves in its wake, that's when things might get interesting.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><br />But the claims surrounding Elenin have gone much further toward the<br />absurd. That it's going to encounter another object and change course to<br />one that will cause it to impact Earth, or that it's not a comet at all<br />but actually a planet - Nibiru, perhaps? - and is on a collision<br />course with our own. Or (and I particularly like this one) that alien<br />spaceships are trailing Elenin in such a way as to remain undetected<br />until it's too late and then they'll take over Earth, stealing our water<br />and natural resources and turning us all into slaves and/or space<br />munchies... or however the stories go.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="StoryComment"><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>This seems to be a reference to Richard<br />Hoagland (who boasts of his insider connections at NASA and JPL, by the<br />way) reintroducing the "Elenin is a giant spaceship" meme, something<br />that is worrying and downright dangerous. The last time they whipped up<br />hysteria about a comet being, or accompanied by, "mother ships", members<br />of a certain Heaven's Gate cult committed mass suicide. The fact that<br />there has been so much noise and disinformation spread about this comet<br />(including this article) is telling. It seems to indicate that there's a<br />good chance The Powers That Be know something about Elenin that they<br />don't want us to discover.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><br />(Of course the government and NASA and Al Gore and Al Gore's hamster<br />are all in cahoots and are withholding this information from the rest<br />of us. That's a given.) These stories are all just that - stories -<br />and have not a shred of science to them, other than a heaping dose of<br />science fiction.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="StoryComment"><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>Absurd! Of course they're hiding information from us. They even admit this openly!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.space.com/6829-military-hush-incoming-space-rocks-classified.html" target="_blank">Military Hush-Up: Incoming Space Rocks Now Classified</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><blockquote class="typ1"><br />"We live in nervous times, and conspiracy theories and predictions of<br />disaster are more popular than ever. I like to use the word cosmophobia<br />for this growing fear of astronomical objects and phenomena, which<br />periodically runs amuck on the Internet. Ironically, in pre-scientific<br />times, comets were often thought to be harbingers of disaster, mostly<br />because they seemed to arrive unpredictably - unlike the movements of<br />the planets and stars, which could be tracked on a daily and yearly<br />basis."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />- David Morrison, planetary astronomer and senior scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center<br /></blockquote><br />The bottom line is this: Comet C/2010 X1 Elenin is coming, and it will<br />pass by Earth at an extremely safe distance - 100 times the distance<br />from Earth to the Moon. It will not be changing direction between now<br />and then, it will not exert any gravitational effect on Earth, its<br />magnetic field is nonexistent and there are no Star Destroyers cruising<br />in its wake. The biggest effect it will have on Earth is what we are<br />able to learn about it as it passes - after all, it is a visitor from<br />the far reaches of our solar system and we won't be seeing it again for a<br />very, very long time.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="StoryComment"><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>Bottom line: Better "wait and see" on<br />this one. Comets are always a cosmic roll of the dice in terms of what<br />we'll get. We may learn far more than we bargained for this time<br />around!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><br />I'm sure we'll have found something else to be worried about long before then.<br /><blockquote class="typ1"><br />"This intrepid little traveler will offer astronomers a chance to study a<br />relatively young comet that came here from well beyond our solar<br />system's planetary region. After a short while, it will be headed back<br />out again, and we will not see or hear from Elenin for thousands of<br />years. That's pretty cool."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />- Don Yeomans<br /></blockquote><br />For more information about Elenin, <a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-135&cid=release_2011-135" target="_blank">check out</a> this JPL news release featuring Don Yeomans, and there's a special public issue of <a href="http://www.astrosociety.org/elenin/" target="_blank">Astronomy Beat</a>, a newsletter from the <a href="http://www.astrosociety.org/" target="_blank">Astronomical Society of the Pacific</a>, that features David Morrison of NASA's Ames Research Center discussing many of the misconceptions about Elenin.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />An updated chart of Elenin's orbit and statistics can be viewed <a href="http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=C%2F2010%20X1;orb=1;cad=1;cov=0;log=0#phys_par" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /></div><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>By all means read what NASA has to say about it. Then consider this...<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/210492-NASA-warns-solar-flares-from-huge-space-storm-will-cause-devastation" target="_blank">NASA warns solar flares from 'huge space storm' will cause devastation </a><br /><blockquote class="typ1"><br /><em>UK Daily Telegraph</em><br /><br /><br />Tuesday, 15 June 2010<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Britain could face widespread power blackouts and be left without<br />critical communication signals for long periods of time, after the earth<br />is hit by a once-in-a-generation "space storm", Nasa has warned...<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Senior space agency scientists believe the Earth will be hit with<br />unprecedented levels of magnetic energy from solar flares after the Sun<br />wakes "from a deep slumber" sometime around 2013.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In a new warning, Nasa said the super storm would hit like "a bolt of<br />lightning" and could cause catastrophic consequences for the world's<br />health, emergency services and national security unless precautions are<br />taken. [...]<br /></blockquote><br />...and what McCanney wrote in <a href="http://www.jmccanneyscience.com/PlanetXCometsandEarthChangesCoversandTableofContents.HTM" target="_blank">Planet X, Comets and Earth Changes</a>:<br /><blockquote class="typ1"><br />NASA is hiding data that would prove that there is another massive<br />object inbound into the solar system with potential for devastating<br />events for planet Earth. There is clear evidence that they fully intend<br />to set the world's population up to be blindsided by this object.<br />(McCanney, p.101)<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The truth is that NASA, the NSA and other government agencies are<br />prohibited by law from disclosing anything to the public that would<br />cause a national panic. So too they will try to prevent dissemination of<br />my theories about comets because it might cause a public to redirect<br />its allegiance as a new and potentially dangerous comet comes into the<br />solar system. While the government officials are using tax dollars to<br />build safety caves for their "shadow government" in case of "major<br />disaster", they are leaving the public out to dry with no forewarning or<br />protection.<br /></blockquote><br />...before getting the real lowdown on Comet Elenin from these:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/221672-Comet-Elenin-is-Coming-" target="_blank">Comet Elenin is Coming!</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/223438-Pole-Shift-in-March-Not-Likely-" target="_blank">Pole Shift in March? Not Likely!</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/224062-Comet-Elenin-Harbinger-of-What-" target="_blank">Comet Elenin: Harbinger of What?</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/225704-Comet-Elenin-Update-" target="_blank">Comet Elenin Update!</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_d-gs0WoUw&feature=player_embedded" target="_blank">Database of Near Earth Objects Grew Astronomically in 2010</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Scott Manley / Szyzyg<br /><br />Youtube<br /><br />Wed, 25 Aug 2010 21:52 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/221806-Database-of-Near-Earth-Objects-Grew-Astronomically-in-2010#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br />This is a view of the solar system showing the locations of all the<br />asteroids starting in 1980, as asteroids are discovered they are added<br />to the map and highlighted white so you can pick out the new ones.<br /><br /><br />The final colour of an asteroids indicates how closely it comes to the inner solar system.<br /><blockquote><br />Earth Crossers are Red<br /><br /><br />Earth Approachers (Perihelion less than 1.3AU) are Yellow<br /><br /><br />All Others are Green<br /></blockquote><br />Notice now the pattern of discovery follows the Earth around its orbit,<br />most discoveries are made in the region directly opposite the Sun.<br />You'll also notice some clusters of discoveries on the line between<br />Earth and Jupiter, these are the result of surveys looking for Jovian<br />moons. Similar clusters of discoveries can be tied to the other outer<br />planets, but those are not visible in this video.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />As the video moves into the mid 1990's we see much higher discovery<br />rates as automated sky scanning systems come online. Most of the surveys<br />are imaging the sky directly opposite the sun and you'll see a region<br />of high discovery rates aligned in this manner.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>At the beginning of 2010 a new discovery pattern becomes<br />evident, with discovery zones in a line perpendicular to the Sun-Earth<br />vector</strong>. These new observations are the result of the WISE<br />(Widefield Infrared Survey Explorer) which is a space mission that's<br />tasked with imaging the entire sky in infrared wavelengths.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe height="385" frameborder="0" width="400" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/S_d-gs0WoUw" type="text/html" class="youtube-player" title="YouTube video player"></iframe></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The scale of the video at 1080P resolution is roughly 1million<br />kilometers per pixel, and each second of video corresponds to 60 days.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Currently we have observed over half a million minor planets, and the<br />discovery rates show no sign that we're running out of undiscovered<br />objects, scientific estimates suggest that there are about a billion<br />asteroids larger than 100metres (about the size of a football field) .<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.csicop.org/si/show/is_the_sky_falling">Bad Science on Cosmic Steroids: Is the Sky Falling?</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">David Morrison<br /><br />Sceptical Inquirer<br /><br />Wed, 11 Jun 1997 05:35 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/229832-Bad-Science-on-Cosmic-Steroids-Is-the-Sky-Falling-#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a title="© Unknown" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/69667/full/david_morrison.jpg"><img alt="" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/69667/medium/david_morrison.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><em>A scientific consensus agrees that cosmic impacts have played a<br />major role in Earth history and that they continue to pose a significant<br />threat today. <strong>But there is a tremendous difference in the<br />estimated dangers, stretching up to, or even over, the line that<br />separates legitimate science from pseudoscience. </strong>Ten recent trade books are reviewed that span a broad range in interpretations.</em><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="StoryComment"><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>We decided to keep the following article<br />in our archives as a good example of what passes for "official<br />scientific consensus" nowadays regarding cosmic impacts threat. SOTT<br />agrees with David Morrison's assessment that there are abysmal<br />discrepancies in awareness and understanding of the cosmic threat, while<br />some of them come very close to be considered criminal and even<br />unscientific. The crucial difference is, that based on our research, we<br />see NASA and its highly regarded scientists like David Morrison as<br />perpetrators of bad science based on criminal negligence or ignorance so<br />prevalent in the scientific community.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Consider the following from <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/227366-Connecting-the-Dots-Earth-Changes-Are-Upon-Us">Connecting the Dots: Earth Changes Are Upon Us</a>:<br /><blockquote class="typ2"><br />The confusion surrounding the phenomenon of cosmic debris piercing our<br />atmosphere ultimately lies in the misguided trust we tend to place in<br />those to whom we give authority for tackling problems of global<br />proportions. Admittedly, such responsibility cannot be easy to handle.<br />However, there is a difference between honest error as a result of<br />reaching the limits of knowledge and understanding available in a<br />specific field, and a science corrupted from sacrificing truth to<br />further political agendas or certain preconceptions, in the name of<br />maintaining an illusion and a lie for which we are all about to pay with<br />our very lives.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/221574">A case</a> in point:<br /><blockquote><br />NASA's senior scientist, David Morrison, stated that 80 percent of the<br />near Earth asteroids that are 1 kilometer or larger have been identified<br />and that he could assure those gathered at the conference that "We are<br />not going the way of the dinosaurs." He also says the Spaceguard Survey<br />has not turned up any near Earth asteroids as large as the one that is<br />believed to have wiped out the dinosaurs.<br /><blockquote><br /><strong>Morrison pointed out that asteroid strikes are the only natural hazard that in principle can be completely eliminated. </strong>Thanks to the Spaceguard Survey, <strong>humanity will likely have decades of warning before an impending collision</strong>. Once alerted, missiles could be used to nudge a threatening asteroid so that it misses the earth.<br /></blockquote><br /></blockquote><br />The definition of criminal negligence is recklessly acting without<br />reasonable caution and putting another person at risk of injury or death<br />(or failing to do something with the same consequences).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />We have this nagging suspicion that David Morrison's assurances that we<br />have nothing to worry about when it comes to threats from space, and<br />that we can peacefully go on with our daily lives, filled with quiet<br />desperation on a planet where human tragedy and horrendous atrocities<br />have become as common as fruit flies, amount to a disturbingly clear<br />example of criminal negligence.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Perhaps <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/221415-About-four-seconds-warning-When-heaven-and-earth-collide">this is why</a>:<br /><blockquote><br />The experts are not remotely agreed on how worried we should be.<br />Telescopes and satellites are now in a position to detect potential<br />"planet-killers" - asteroids or comets over one kilometre in diameter -<br />many years or even decades before they might collide with the Earth.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The problem, according to Jay Tate, director of the public information resource Spaceguard UK, is that <strong>no measures are in place to avert them, and smaller objects could still "whistle through" to strike us at any time. </strong><span class="BoldRed">"Do<br />you want to know how much warning we would have of a country or<br />city-killing asteroid?" asks Tate. "About four seconds. A major impact<br />is just as likely to happen before the end of this conversation as<br />10,000 years from now."</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />A retired British Army officer and guided-weapons specialist, Tate<br />became curious about government plans to defend against meteorites after<br />the SL9 comet bombarded Jupiter in 1994, and was furious to find that<br />they didn't have a single one. He and several eminent scientists formed a<br />task force on Near Earth Objects (NEOs), presenting parliament with a<br />series of recommendations for action in 2000.[...]<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>"Very little has been done since," says Tate, from the<br />Spaceguard Centre at the former Powys Observatory in Wales. "The<br />official British line seems to be that we don't need to bother, because<br />the Americans are taking care of it. But if that's the rationale, then<br />what the bloody hell are we doing in Iraq?"</strong><br /></blockquote><br />Bloody hell, indeed, is what they created in Iraq.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />And since we can't rely on the "brightest and best" at NASA to present<br />us with an accurate assessment of cosmic threats, without muddying the<br />water or intentionally concealing crucial data (dare we call it a<br />conspiracy of cosmic proportions?), we will take a shot at the job (once<br />again), reminding you that from a historical point of view,<br /><blockquote><br />the <em>only</em> reality is that of conspiracy. Secrecy, wealth and<br />independence add up to power. Deception is the key element of warfare,<br />(the tool of power elites), and when winning is all that matters, the<br />conventional morality held by ordinary people becomes an impediment.<br />Secrecy stems from a pervasive and fundamental element of life in our<br />world, that those who are at the top of the heap will always take<br />whatever steps are necessary to maintain the status quo. [Dolan, <em>UFOs and the National Security State</em>, Vol. I]<br /></blockquote><br />And maintaining the "status quo" in science <strong>has</strong> to be one of the main objectives of the Power Elite.<br /></blockquote><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />As the millennium approaches, the media are playing up asteroid and<br />comet impacts. Ten popular-level books were published in 1995 and 1996<br />dealing with the dangers of cosmic impacts, and now we are seeing a<br />spate of television and movie productions, both factual and fictional,<br />that describe the impact threat. It is easy to dismiss all this as media<br />hype and millennial madness, but it would be a mistake to do so. While<br />some books and films may be motivated by a desire to milk public<br />credulity for a quick buck, most are serious efforts to inform the<br />public about a real danger that is recognized by the scientific<br />community. In this article, I summarize the background for the recent<br />interest in impact catastrophes and then provide a comparative review of<br />the current trade books that deal with this topic.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Background</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Most scientists first thought about the role of impacts in Earth history in response to the now-famous paper published in <em>Science</em><br />in 1981 by Luis and Walter Alvarez and their colleagues, suggesting<br />that an impact sixty-five million years ago produced the mass extinction<br />that terminated the Cretaceous era. What was new in this paper was not<br />the fact that Earth was struck by cosmic debris, but the idea that even<br />relatively modest impacts might have a catastrophic effect on the<br />environment. That Earth is subject to impacts is obvious from an<br />examination of the cratered surface of our companion in space, the Moon.<br />Planetary probes, beginning in 1964 with Mariner 4, have demonstrated<br />that impact cratering is a universal process in the solar system. A<br />heavy bombardment occurred early in planetary history, but it did not<br />end then; a lower-level "rain of rocks" continues today, as comets and<br />asteroids occasionally intersect the orbits of the planets. Those that<br />come close and can pose a danger to Earth are collectively called<br />Near-Earth Objects, or NEOs. On average, Earth should still expect to be<br />struck by a fifteen-kilometer NEO every hundred million years or so.<br />But the Alvarez paper and the research it stimulated also show that such<br />impacts generate global-scale wildfires and dust storms, and thus are<br />capable of killing most life forms and profoundly influencing the course<br />of biological evolution. Impacts are the ultimate environmental<br />disasters, more important than volcanic eruptions or other more familiar<br />events in shaping the history of life on the planet.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Fortunately for us, impacts large enough to produce mass extinctions are<br />rare, taking place at average intervals of tens of millions of years.<br />However, there is a spectrum of comet and asteroid sizes, with many more<br />small impacts than large ones. Based on what we know today, impacts<br />much larger than the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) event are possible in the<br />future (although very improbable). And impacts smaller than the K-T<br />event - say by objects one kilometer or a few kilometers in diameter -<br />occur much more frequently. The planet is struck by a one-kilometer<br />asteroid or comet at average intervals of about 100,000 years.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Another important aspect of these impacts is that they are, as far as we know, randomly distributed in time. <strong>The chances are equal that a big one could hit in 1997 or in 2248 or in any given year in the far future.</strong><br />Further, although a few teams of astronomers have been searching for<br />NEOs, the census of these objects is far from complete. For instance, of<br />the roughly two thousand kilometer-scale asteroids that are expected in<br />Earth-crossing orbits, fewer than two hundred have actually been found.<br /><strong>We are confident that Earth will not be struck in the<br />foreseeable future by any of the known objects, but we can say nothing<br />about the 90 percent that are not yet discovered.</strong> It is because<br />we have not yet carried out a comprehensive search that we must speak<br />in terms of probabilities. In reality, this is not a game of chance.<br />There either is or is not an NEO out there aimed to hit us next year or<br />in the next century. But we don't know about it yet.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>Finally, we should realize that only a small fraction of the<br />space around Earth is being monitored today and that the most probable<br />warning for a kilometer-scale impact is zero - the first we would<br />likely know of a strike is when we feel the ground shake and watch the<br />fireball rising above the horizon.</strong> While several national and<br />international observing programs have been proposed to accelerate the<br />discovery of threatening objects, so far no government funds have been<br />spent to deal with large-scale searches or any other efforts to mitigate<br />the impact threat. There has been much talk, but little action beyond<br />the efforts of a few individuals in the scientific and military<br />communities.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Current Issues</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Most of the books and TV specials deal broadly with the issues described<br />above, including graphic descriptions of the destructive potential of<br />impacts of various sizes and impact energies. The catastrophic climate<br />changes that caused the death of the dinosaurs and other species at the<br />end of the Cretaceous era are fascinating to scientists and laypersons<br />alike. Another common element is the description of the 1994 collision<br />of some twenty-three fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter.<br />This remarkable event, observed by hundreds of telescopes on Earth and<br />in space, provided direct data on the nature and consequences of cosmic<br />impacts. But a number of questions arise when we discuss the<br />contemporary impact danger and consider whether - and how - to<br />protect ourselves against future catastrophes. There is a considerable<br />divergence among scientists in how such issues are framed and discussed,<br />and an even wider disparity on the way these issues are presented to<br />the public.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Let us begin with what I call the "standard paradigm" - that of random<br />impacts on Earth by small comets and asteroids. This is the consensus<br />view of most scientists, and it is reflected in two NASA reports to the<br />U.S. Congress, the Spaceguard Survey Report of 1992 and the follow-up<br />report in 1995 inspired by public interest in the collision of<br />Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter. As the principal author of the Spaceguard<br />Survey Report and a member of the follow-up working group (chaired by<br />Gene Shoemaker), I identify with this consensus position.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The standard paradigm uses the cratering history of the Moon and other<br />evidence to deduce the average historical rate of impacts on Earth by<br />objects of different sizes or impact energies. It then assesses the<br />destructive potential of impacts of different energies on Earth today in<br />terms of probable casualties, noting in particular the existence of a<br />threshold at about one million megatons of energy (corresponding to a<br />two-kilometer asteroid) at which the global climate is severely affected<br />and everyone is at risk, independent of proximity to the impact. One<br />conclusion of such studies is that the statistical risk is greatest for<br />impacts near the global threshold, amounting to an average risk of death<br />for each individual on Earth of nearly one in a million per year,<br />comparable to the risk of other more frequent (but less catastrophic)<br />events such as earthquakes, severe storms, and volcanic eruptions. It is<br />also noted that, unlike other natural disasters, impacts can be avoided<br />entirely by deflecting an incoming object, if several years warning<br />time is available.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Although most people agree that the greatest risk is posed by objects<br />two kilometers or larger in diameter, others focus their attention on<br />smaller impactors, especially those in the 200- to 500-meter range. When<br />impacts of this size occur in the ocean, they produce tsunamis capable<br />of inundating large stretches of coastline. Although the average risk<br />for inhabitants of the planet is less from tsunamis than from the global<br />catas-trophes caused by larger impacts, the risk for persons living on<br />shorelines may be greater. <strong>This fact, together with the higher<br />frequency of smaller impacts, leads some to argue that we need a defense<br />system against any object larger than 200 meters diameter.</strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />A major divergence of opinion concerns what our response to the impact<br />threat should be. Most of the scientists involved in such assessments<br />conclude that there is a significant risk and that governments should<br />take some action (especially in searching for potential impactors), but<br />that it is premature to build any defense systems in the absence of a<br />specific identified threat. Others, the best known being Edward Teller<br />(the father of the H-bomb), argue strongly for a more aggressive<br />approach to asteroid defense. They would initiate experiments,<br />eventually to include nuclear explosives, designed to learn more about<br />how to deflect or destroy asteroids and comets. Some even advocate<br />construction of a standing nuclear defense system to deal with the<br />smaller impactors, for which the warning time might be short. But at<br />least, they assert, we should start now to develop the technology for<br />such a system.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />These arguments concerning the magnitude of the threat and the most<br />appropriate response make good TV and newspaper copy. They can lead to<br />serious analyses of the various threats that we face on Earth and of the<br />role of governments in dealing with potential disasters, both natural<br />and human. All fit within the standard paradigm. But there is another<br />viewpoint, held by a handful of British neo-catastrophists, that<br />challenges this position.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">The British Neo-Catastrophist School</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The alternative viewpoint is advocated in its extreme form by<br />astronomers Victor Clube and Bill Napier, who interpret historical<br />records as indicating that Earth has been subject to extreme battering<br />from space within the past few millennia. In their popular books <em>The Cosmic Serpent</em> and <em>The Cosmic Winter</em>,<br />they take the position that the emergence of astrology in the western<br />Mediterranean, the association of gods with planets in many ancient<br />cultures, the widespread fear of comets and belief in angels, and many<br />other aspects of our cultural and religious history are a reflection of<br />massive bombardment of the planet a few thousand years ago. <strong>They<br />further conclude that more recent historical events, including the<br />collapse of the Roman Empire, the Dark Ages, and even the English Civil<br />War, are related to climate changes induced by exceptional deposition of<br />cosmic dust in Earth's atmosphere. </strong>Although their historical<br />analysis is suspiciously similar to that of Immanuel Velikovsky, Clube<br />and Napier adamantly reject the association, arguing that unlike<br />Velikovsky they root their explanations in sound physical and<br />astronomical principles.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Supporting Clube and Napier are British astronomers Duncan Steel and Mark Bailey, who have concluded that <strong>the solar system is currently experiencing the aftermath of the break-up of a giant comet some millennia in the past.</strong><br />Our planet still intersects debris from this comet in what they call<br />the Taurid complex of dust, small comets, and asteroids. They term this<br />theory coherent catastrophism. Steel and Bailey estimate that the<br />present lull in impacts will end in about a thousand years, when our<br />orbit again crosses the denser parts of the Taurid complex, at which<br />time the impact risk will rise by at least a factor of a hundred. <strong>All<br />of these neo-catastrophists argue that urgent action is required to<br />prevent the collapse of civilization under the next cosmic onslaught.</strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Most of us find these neo-catastrophist arguments difficult to swallow.<br />Putting aside the issue of the Velikovskian interpretation of history<br />and legend, the impact rate is still constrained by the cratering<br />history of the Moon, which reflects the long-term average. If there are<br />huge "spikes" in the frequency of impacts, produced by the break-up of<br />giant comets, they must be compensated by much lower flux rates between<br />peaks. <strong>Yet Clube, Steel, and their colleagues simultaneously<br />assert that the consensus group underestimates the current impact rate,<br />and that a big spike is coming. </strong>You can't have it both ways. If<br />they are correct that almost all impacts occur during the spikes, then<br />the present danger must be very low, and we have centuries to prepare to<br />deal with the next peak. But they don't see it that way, and neither do<br />the authors of several of the recent books.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Impact Science and Pseudoscience</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />While I believe that the British neo-catastrophists are wrong about the<br />threat to Earth, their work is science, not pseudoscience. They are<br />making their case to other scientists, and time will sort out who is<br />right and who is wrong. They do, however, sometimes attract the<br />attention of fringe elements. For example, the Society for<br />Interdisciplinary Studies (SIS), a British group that espouses a<br />skeptical philosophy but includes many defenders of Velikovskian ideas,<br />is sponsoring a conference that features Clube and focuses on evidence<br />for cosmic catastrophes in the ancient world. In fact, the work of Clube<br />and Napier attracts many people who were once impressed by Velikovsky,<br />such as Leroy Ellenberger, at one time a member of the Velikovsky inner<br />circle and now one of the most outspoken critics of his current<br />followers.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Every week I receive two or three inquiries from the public asking if<br />some story they have read or heard about an imminent world-shattering<br />impact is correct. These stories are not confined to the supermarket<br />tabloids but have apparently attracted a following on the World Wide<br />Web. Some people ask about a comet called Wormwood, with obvious<br />reference to the apocalyptic vision in Revelation 8:10-11, when "the<br />third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as<br />it were a lamp. . . . And the name of the star is called Wormwood."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Then there is Comet Hale-Bopp. In November 1996 the press gave general<br />coverage to a wild claim that this comet was accompanied by a spaceship<br />and was headed toward an impact with Earth. (See Alan Hale, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.csicop.org/si/show/hale-bopp_comet_madness/">"Hale-Bopp Comet Madness," SI, March/April 1997</a>.)<br />The story apparently started when an amateur astronomer photographed<br />the comet near a moderately bright star. In a curious logical<br />progression he assumed the star was a spacecraft, that the spacecraft<br />was at the same distance as the comet, and that the over-exposed stellar<br />image represented the angular diameter of the craft, which would make<br />it comparable in size to the giant planet Saturn. Others embellished the<br />story by concluding that the spacecraft was traveling in the same orbit<br />with the comet and that the trajectory was about to shift toward Earth.<br />The mystery to me is why this fantasy was given serious media<br />attention, even on a slow news day. I fear that we may see more of this<br />sort of thing as the public becomes more aware of the threat of impacts.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Presenting the Issues to the Public</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Of the ten books reviewed here, three are strongly in the Clube/Steel<br />camp, and several of the others give their neo-catastrophism<br />considerable attention. This is perhaps understandable, since these are<br />the scientists who are most strongly claiming that the sky is falling.<br />Besides, the connections they make between impacts and the more familiar<br />fields of history and religion have an obvious public appeal.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In contrast, the public policy issues surrounding the development of a<br />space defense system and the possible testing of nuclear explosives in<br />space are barely touched on in most of these books. In part, this<br />represents the secretive nature of the defense scientists, who (unlike<br />the more gregarious astronomers) tend to avoid talking with journalists<br />or appearing in TV documentaries. But the issues are real, and the first<br />steps toward an asteroid defense are being initiated by the Pentagon's<br />just-approved Clementine 2 space mission to intercept three near-Earth<br />asteroids and fire high-speed projectiles into their surfaces. It would<br />be more useful if these policy questions, rather than the idea that<br />cosmic dust caused the English Civil War, were being prominently<br />addressed in public discussion of the impact threat.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />On the positive side, the impact issue is proving to be an excellent<br />vehicle for communicating some interesting aspects of contemporary<br />science to the public. The topic, bringing together astronomy,<br />environmental threats, and dinosaurs, is a natural. It focuses on the<br />way historical science works (how can we figure out what really made the<br />dinosaurs go extinct?), on the fragility of the environment (how can<br />one small impact have global consequences?), on the nature of evolution<br />(why were the mammals who succeeded the dinosaurs so different from<br />them?), and on the nature of probability (if big impacts take place only<br />once every million years, why worry now?). There is great potential<br />here to teach good science as well as stimulate a useful public policy<br />debate. Let's hope these lofty goals are achieved in practice.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Don Davis, NASA" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/69668/full/asteroid.gif"><img alt="" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/69668/large/asteroid.gif" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Don Davis, NASA</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">Artist’s<br />concept of a catastrophic asteroid impact with Earth. Life near the<br />impact would be instantly wiped out from the effects of high<br />temperatures and pressures. Injection of huge masses of dust (and gases)<br />into the atmosphere would effectively block out sunlight for long<br />periods of time to the point that most life could not be sustained<br />("Nuclear Winter”). </span></div><br /></div><br /><span class="BoldGrey">The Standard Reference on Impacts</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In January 1993 more than one hundred experts met in Tucson, Arizona, to<br />discuss all aspects of NEO impacts, from the extinction of the<br />dinosaurs to the nature of impact-induced tsunamis to the deflection of<br />an incoming asteroid by nuclear explosions. A wide spectrum of opinion<br />was represented, as exemplified by the appearance of old antagonists<br />Carl Sagan and Edward Teller on the same platform. In 1994 the edited,<br />refereed product of this meeting was published by the University of<br />Arizona Press, edited by Tom Gehrels, as Hazards Due to Comets and<br />Asteroids. This 1,300-page book, with 120 authors, is the definitive<br />reference on the impact hazard. Indeed, is it the only published source<br />for much of the work, which has not appeared in technical journals. This<br />is the best place to find detailed information on the subject, but more<br />current reports are also on the World Wide Web at the Asteroid and<br />Comet Impact Hazard Homepage (<a target="_blank" href="http://impact.arc.nasa.gov/">http://impact.arc.nasa.gov</a>).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Books That Represent the Standard Paradigm</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The following five books adhere generally to the standard view of the<br />NEO impact threat, as represented in the NASA reports and the refereed<br />conference volume <em>Hazards Due to Comets and Asteroids</em>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">John S. Lewis. <em>Rain of Iron and Ice: The Very Real Threat of Comet and Asteroid Bombardment</em>. Addison-Wesley, 1996, 236 pp., $25.00. </span>John<br />Lewis, professor of planetary science at the University of Arizona and<br />one of the leading proponents of the use of asteroid resources for<br />long-term space development, has written the best popular volume on the<br />impact hazard. This book is written primarily for the scientifically<br />literate lay audience, but it contains a great deal of information -<br />and no small number of pointed barbs - directed toward scientific<br />colleagues who study NEOs professionally. Lewis covers all the relevant<br />issues of the nature of NEOs, the impact history of the solar system,<br />the impact hazard, and mitigation. His writing style is compact, clear,<br />and comprehensive.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In addition to his solid coverage of the basics, Lewis probes in depth<br />three areas that are often missing in other treatments. (1) He clearly<br />places Earth impacts in their broader solar-system context, with<br />extensive discussion of the lessons learned from the cratering histories<br />of the Moon, Mercury, and Venus. (2) He places strong emphasis on the<br />long history of eyewitness reports of terrestrial bolides, meteorite<br />showers, and atmospheric detonations, many of which have done<br />considerable damage. This evidence, he stresses, is overlooked by most<br />workers in the field. (3) He uses current models of the impact flux and<br />the entry physics for impactors to "reconstruct" ten different<br />one-century scenarios, with specific details of individual impacts and<br />their damage, as a way to illustrate the variety of impact events. This<br />same list allows Lewis to address the question of which scenarios (had<br />they happened in the twentieth century) would likely have led to a<br />widespread appreciation of the impact hazard and which scenarios<br />probably would have been ignored or misinterpreted. The real history of<br />the twentieth century is intermediate; Lewis argues that had the<br />circumstances of the 1908 explosion of a 60-meter asteroid in the<br />atmosphere over Siberia's Stony Tunguska River been just a little<br />different, we might never have known about it and foolishly continued to<br />ignore the impact hazard up to the end of the century. (The Tunguska<br />explosion flattened 2,000 square kilometers of forest and created a<br />pressure wave recorded around the world.) This is the best introduction<br />to the field, standing far above any of its competitors.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Dana Desonie. <em>Cosmic Collisions</em>. Henry Holt & Co. (A Scientific American Focus Book), 1996, 128 pp., $9.95</span>.<br />The Scientific American Focus Books are inexpensive paperbacks aimed at<br />an intermediate or high school audience. Dana Desonie is a science<br />writer with a doctorate in geochemistry. Her short, well-illustrated (in<br />black and white) book is a straightforward introduction to cosmic<br />impacts, beginning with solar-system formation, moving to comets and<br />asteroids, then to Earth impacts (including the K-T event), Tunguska,<br />current ideas about the impact hazard, and possible planetary defense.<br />This is a serious, well-focused discussion that includes a lot of<br />information in a book that can be read in a couple of hours.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">David H. Levy. <em>Impact Jupiter: The Crash of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9</em>. Plenum Press, 1995, 290 pp., $25.95</span>.<br />In this delightful memoir, writer and amateur astronomer David Levy<br />provides a personal perspective on the history of Comet Shoemaker-Levy<br />9, from its discovery in the spring of 1993 until its death in July<br />1994. Writing for a lay audience, Levy tells with infectious enthusiasm<br />of his adventures and those of many colleagues dealing with both the<br />comet itself and the barrage of journalistic scrutiny it inspired. Only a<br />few chapters concern the impact hazard, and defense issues are hardly<br />mentioned, but Levy's technical explanations are simple and clear. This<br />is not a detailed reference work, and its real pleasure lies less in the<br />science than in the many personal stories and the sense of involvement<br />achieved by the diary-like presentation of events.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">John Spencer and Jacqueline Mitton, editors. <em>The Great Comet Crash: The Impact of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 on Jupiter</em>. Cambridge University Press, 1995, 118 pp.</span><br />John Spencer is a scientist at Lowell Observatory and an expert on<br />Jupiter and its satellites; Jacqueline Mitton is a writer and Public<br />Information Officer of the Royal Astronomical Society. They have<br />collaborated to produce a timely and well-edited volume on the great<br />comet impact, with chapters contributed by many of the leading<br />researchers in their fields. Of all the books discussed here, this one<br />has by far the best photographs, intelligently selected and beautifully<br />reproduced. Only about a quarter of the book deals with the impact<br />hazard, but these few chapters are by the experts and provide an<br />excellent overview.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Philip M. Dauber and Richard A. Muller. <em>The Three Big Bangs: Comet Crashes, Exploding Stars, and the Creation of the Universe</em>. Addison-Wesley, 1996, 207 pp., $25.00</span>.<br />The first third (about seventy-five pages) of this popular-level book<br />on modern astronomy is devoted to NEO impacts (and not just comets, as<br />the title implies). The authors are physicists from the University of<br />California at Berkeley, and Muller is one of the originators of the<br />Nemesis hypothesis to explain periodicities in the terrestrial<br />extinction record. Given the limited space available and the<br />nonscientist audience toward which their book is aimed, Dauber and<br />Muller do a good job of explaining the impact hazard story, with<br />emphasis on the K-T extinction event and its lessons for the impact<br />history of Earth. Both authors describe themselves as proteges of Luis<br />Alvarez, and they are at their best in describing the events associated<br />with the pioneering work that led to the identification of the<br />extraterrestrial cause of the K-T event and the grand generalization of<br />this evidence into a new theory of mass extinctions. In a few other<br />areas, however, including discussions of the current hazard and of the<br />Spaceguard Survey proposals, they oversimplify to the point of<br />significant distortion. This book is a good read, but should be taken<br />with quite a few grains of salt.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Books That Represent the British Neo-Catastrophist School</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />These three books by British authors all argue for a much higher level<br />of danger from cosmic impacts and appeal to the record of the immediate<br />past for evidence of the major role played by impacts in our history.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Duncan Steel. <em>Rogue Asteroids and Doomsday Comets: The Search for the Million Megaton Menace That Threatens Life on Earth</em>. Wiley, 1995, 308 pp., $24.95</span>.<br />Duncan Steel is well known in Australia and worldwide as a leader in<br />NEO searches, a researcher on orbits of meteor streams, and a<br />popularizer of the NEO impact risk. He writes well, and he covers all<br />the issues of the nature of NEOs, the impact history of the solar<br />system, the impact hazard, and mitigation. Roughly the first half of the<br />book is on a par with Lewis and can be recommended with equal<br />enthusiasm. In many other places, however, Steel departs dramatically<br />from the mainstream to advocate the extreme neo-catastrophist position;<br />in some places he admits that his positions are unorthodox or even<br />bizarre, but elsewhere he neglects to make this distinction. Steel feels<br />that the cratering flux is highly time-variable and states that "we are<br />now fairly certain that terrestrial craters are, up to a large extent,<br />formed during distinct periods of higher impactor flux." In dynamics, he<br />espouses the radical idea that "the main [asteroid] belt is not being<br />depleted to supply meteorites and Earth-crossing asteroids, but quite<br />the opposite." He includes a highly personal chapter on the<br />neo-catastrophist interpretation of Stonehenge that was characterized in<br />another review (in <em>Sky & Telescope</em>) as "fiction, not even<br />science fiction." Perhaps some of these unorthodox ideas are deserving<br />of serious scientific discussion, but their inclusion as fact in a<br />popular-level book detracts significantly from its overall value, since<br />the nonscientist reader has no way of separating the speculation from<br />reliable information.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Gerrit L. Verschuur. <em>Impact: The Threat of Comets and Asteroids</em>. Oxford University Press, 1996, 237 pp., $25.00</span>.<br />Gerrit Verschuur, a well-known radio astronomer, educator, and author,<br />presents a detailed (and very small print) discussion that lays out the<br />full impact story. Throughout the book, Verschuur emphasizes data and<br />interpretations that maximize the impact flux as well as the damage that<br />can be done by impactors of a given yield. Since there are substantial<br />uncertainties in many of these estimates, it is possible, by always<br />selecting the worst case, to conclude that the danger is orders of<br />magnitude greater than the values usually quoted. This is the tack taken<br />by Verschuur, in general agreement with the arguments in Steel's book<br />reviewed above. Verschuur's writing style is clear and witty, and I<br />would happily recommend the first ninety-four pages. However, I cannot<br />agree with the increasingly alarmist interpretations that dominate the<br />book after page 95, on which Verschuur first introduces Clube and<br />Napier. He argues that the "patterns in history" they have found should<br />be the basis for policy decisions on protecting Earth from cosmic<br />impacts, which he concludes produce worldwide flooding from asteroid<br />impact every five thousand years or so. He writes that "we are<br />perpetually poised on the edge of extinction and have been very lucky to<br />get this far," and "[t]he number of casualties resulting from an ocean<br />impact . . . may be 10,000 times larger than given by Chapman and<br />Morrison [in a 1994 paper in Nature]." In general, this book compares<br />well with Steel's, but with the same fatal flaw (from my perspective) of<br />its emphasis on coherent catastrophism, and an even worse tendency to<br />exaggerate the current impact hazard, often by several orders of<br />magnitude.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">John and Mary Gribbin. <em>Fire on Earth: Doomsday, Dinosaurs, and Humankind</em>. St. Martin's Press, 1996, 264 pp., $23.95</span>.<br />British science writers John and Mary Gribbin have written a general<br />overview of impacts and impact dangers for the lay public. Printed in<br />large type and presented without illustrations, the book is<br />significantly shorter than the two reviewed above, in spite of its<br />similar page count. In essence, this book is a popularization of<br />suggestions by Clube and Napier that human history has been greatly<br />influenced by cosmic apparitions and cosmic impacts. They anticipate<br />that "the world is in for another bout of fire from the heavens in about<br />a thousand years' time." This is a pretty grim picture; hence their<br />title, which literally refers to fires that may sweep Earth a few<br />centuries in the future. The book contains a number of factual errors,<br />but the main problem is that everything is slanted toward maximizing the<br />impact flux and the associated danger. They assert that<br />impact-associated atmospheric dust has been responsible for the recent<br />ice ages, and that the climate of Earth today "rests on a knife edge,"<br />ready to drop into another ice age with the smallest cosmic perturbation<br />(no worry about global warming here!). This is a well-written book, but<br />basically it adds little that is new. It seems to me that if one wants<br />to explore the ideas of the British neo-catastrophist school, then one<br />might just as well skip Gribbin and Gribbin and turn directly to the<br />primary sources, in books by Clube and Napier and by Steel.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Unacceptable Books</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The following two books should never have been published. The authors<br />seem to be covering the field, but when you look in detail you find<br />error and inconsistency on almost every page.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Patricia Barnes-Svarney. <em>Asteroid: Earth Destroyer or New Frontier?</em> Plenum Press, 1996, 292 pp., $25.95</span>.<br />Science writer and educator Patricia Barnes-Svarney has written an<br />extremely frustrating book. She has attempted the ambitious task of<br />covering for a lay audience the entire field of asteroid and comet<br />studies, impacts, solar-system history, the hazard of Earth impacts, and<br />the use of asteroids as space resources. Unfortunately, she is out of<br />her depth in most of these areas, leading her repeatedly into conceptual<br />and technical errors.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Barnes-Svarney loves technical jargon, mining the fields of astronomy,<br />geology, and meteoritics for their numerous terms and then going on to<br />invent a few of her own. Throughout the book she undercuts her own<br />conclusions with words such as perhaps, seems, and probably even when<br />she is reporting simple facts, as in the extreme example (p. 241) where<br />she writes, "Right now, the best guess seems to be that there is no<br />asteroid or comet known to be on an immediate collision course with the<br />Earth."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />There is a lot of information in the book, but frequently it is<br />presented as isolated "factoids," rather than integrated into a<br />self-consistent whole. For example, the author quotes half a dozen<br />different values for the current terrestrial impact flux, but each in<br />different units, so one cannot readily compare the results. Too often<br />she gets things entirely backwards, as in her statement (p. 240), "Space<br />scientists will tell you that everything within budgetary reason is now<br />being done to search for more near-Earth asteroids." I can't imagine<br />any of the current observers, all of them starved for support, making<br />such a statement. Barnes-Svarney also has some unusual opinions about<br />NEO impacts. Although she writes at length about the K-T impact, she<br />does not believe it played a role in the extinction of the dinosaurs;<br />and even for other species, the most she says is that this impact is<br />"thought to have helped in the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinctions." Yet she<br />credits impacts in the past with initiating plate tectonics, triggering<br />volcanism, and generating Earth's magnetic field - all highly dubious<br />assertions. The book is especially weak in all things quantitative,<br />riddled with inconsistencies and often misquoting sources.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Donald W. Cox and James H. Chestek. <em>Doomsday Asteroid: Can We Survive?</em> Prometheus Books, 1996, 338 pp., $26.95</span>.<br />The authors, popular science writer Don Cox and retired aerospace<br />engineer James Chestek, have written about the impact hazard in the<br />context of an argument for expanded human activity in space, including a<br />major effort to visit the asteroids, colonize them, and mine them for<br />space resources. Most of the factual material is from secondary sources<br />such as <em>Science News</em> and the <em>New York Times</em>. The<br />authors have obviously not attended any of the technical meetings on<br />impacts held during the 1990s, and they do not understand many of the<br />technical issues. From the beginning they tell us that the asteroids are<br />most likely the result of an exploded planet, an idea that has had no<br />scientific support for nearly fifty years. But this does not inhibit<br />them from passing harsh judgment on the various teams of scientists who<br />have participated in framing the NEO issue during the past five years. A<br />special target of Cox and Chestek is the 1992 NASA Spaceguard strategy<br />to search for asteroids, which they compare with the drunk who searches<br />for his keys under the street lamp instead of where he lost them. They<br />completely miss the point of carrying out a search to discover the<br />objects as they periodically come close to Earth, but long before they<br />actually hit. The direction from which they make their final approach is<br />irrelevant. Because of this misunderstanding, they devote most of their<br />search chapter to a simplistic argument that many impacting asteroids<br />approach Earth from the sunward side, and on this basis they insist that<br />a space system, with telescopes far from Earth, is required. The tone<br />of much of the book is bitter and negative, and the attitude of the<br />authors toward the research community is captured in the following<br />paragraph:<br /><blockquote class="typ1"><br />An early warning space telescope certainly need not cost anywhere near<br />as much money as the Hubble telescope. That was a research project, and<br />many high-priced scientists and their graduate students spent many years<br />charging their time to the project. Here we are discussing a simple<br />early warning system, which the military knows how to build. The cost<br />will only be for some engineering, not a lot of research, so it can be<br />vastly cheaper.<br /></blockquote><br />The technical errors and widespread confusion displayed by Cox and<br />Chestek in this book and by Patricia Barnes-Svarney her book reviewed<br />above suggest that the filters against bad science writing for the<br />public are not very effective. There seems to be no equivalent of peer<br />review for science books, even at top publishers. Caveat emptor.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><em>Dr. David Morrison is a NASA Senior Scientist and the Director of<br />the Carl Sagan Center for Study of the Origin of Life, which is part of<br />the SETI Institute in Mountain View CA. His primary interests are the<br />multidisciplinary science of astrobiology, the protection of Earth from<br />asteroid impacts, and science outreach and education. Morrison was<br />previously the Director of the NASA Lunar Science Institute and Senior<br />Scientist in the NASA Astrobiology Institute at Ames Research Center. He<br />has published more than 155 technical papers and a dozen books,<br />including five university-level textbooks. In 2005 he received the Carl<br />Sagan medal of the American Astronomical Society for communicating<br />science to the public. He is a Fellow of the American Association for<br />the Advancement of Science, the California Academy of Sciences, and the<br />Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Asteroid 2410 Morrison is named in his<br />honor.</em><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://cosmictusk.com/allen-west-defense">Younger Dryas Impact theorist Allen West smeared by Dalton, former Nature writer</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">George Howard<br /><br />The Cosmic Tusk<br /><br />Fri, 03 Jun 2011 14:34 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/229833-Younger-Dryas-Impact-theorist-Allen-West-smeared-by-Dalton-former-Nature-writer#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a title="© Firestone et al." target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/69681/full/cycle_cosmic_catastrophes.jpg"><img title="Click to enlarge" alt="Cycles of Cosmic Catastrophe" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/69681/medium/cycle_cosmic_catastrophes.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Firestone et al.</span></div><br /></div><br />The writer formerly employed by <em>Nature</em>, Rex Dalton, recently implied in a <a target="_blank" href="http://www.miller-mccune.com/science/comet-claim-comes-crashing-to-earth-31180/">Miller-McCune blog</a><br />that Allen West is a criminal charlatan. That is untrue. I have spoke<br />over the last month to Allen, as well as a number of his collaborators,<br />and determined the true story to the satisfaction of the Tusk. I have<br />also assembled and shared a number of primary documents linked below,<br />not identified or referenced by Dalton, et. al.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The true story is consistent with my experience that Allen West is an<br />honest-to-goodness, if imperfectly credentialed, key contributor to the<br />hypothesis and the papers.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I am very biased in this matter. For instance, Allen is my most<br />frequent (if only) house guest. My wife Pam and I have allowed Allen to<br />stay with our young family on several occasions. The little guy has<br />been a close friend for over five years. I know Allen West as well as<br />anyone on the Younger Dryas team or its collaborators.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I suppose Allen West could appear to readers of Dalton's article to be a<br />liar salting his samples at his own expense to get on TV. But I have<br />reason to believe this is untrue.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />For one, I have spoken regularly over the last decade with the<br />laboratory techs, supervising scientists and co-authors dealing with the<br />hundreds of samples from dozens of locations around the world and it<br />would simply be impossible for Allen to direct from his "laboratory" in<br />Arizona a fraud of this complexity, scale and nature.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The entire dynamic of the YDB-as-cosmic- impact-layer claim has<br />been a (somewhat ad-hoc) series of multidiciplinary "ah-ha's!" that<br />occurred with - and mostly without - Allen's involvement.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The nature, location and personalities involved in this work is not<br />directly evident in the many supporting papers - and Dalton takes<br />advantage of that. Journal articles are justifiably silent on timelines,<br />locations and the experience of dead "lab hands" impossible for Allen<br />West to manipulate. But there were plenty of them. Too many for a<br />fraud, and apparently too many for Dalton to follow-up to disprove his<br />hypothesis.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The nanodiamonds and other materials identified at UC Santa Barbara and Oregon were no Piltdown Man, James Kennett is no <a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Beringer">Johann Beringer</a> and Allen West......would have no analogy to his magical deviousness if the evidence presented were a fraud.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I have spent a month looking into the true story. Here it is:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Allen West was employed 13 years ago as a consultant for a company in<br />California that contracted with several cities for water studies.<br />Geophysicists can work without a license in California under some<br />conditions. He thought they were following the law, but in this case, he<br />needed a license.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />That inadvertent mistake led to a misdemeanor and a $4500 fine. The<br />District Attorney acknowledged that there was no intent to defraud and<br />allowed the misdemeanor to be reduced to a simple infraction that was<br />subsequently removed from his record. Allen West's record in the State<br />of California is completely clean, and he has no "criminal record,"<br />contrary to the claim by Rex Dalton in his article (see 1).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Dalton disparaged the quality of the work in question despite the fact<br />that he is aware that West's California geophysical work continues to be<br />referred to positively in 10 reports by four Federal and State<br />governmental agencies, the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Bureau of<br />Reclamation, the California Department of Water Resources, and the<br />California Energy Commission (see 2).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In 2005, seven years after Allen completed that work, he retired and contracted to write the <em>Cycle of Cosmic Catastrophes</em>.<br />Preferring privacy, he chose the pseudonym "West" instead of his given<br />name "Whitt," and filed the name with the State of Arizona as a legal<br />tradename under the designation "author" (see 3). He continued to use<br />the new name in his scientific career and changed his name legally,<br />meaning it is not an "alias" as erroneously reported by Dalton. People<br />often change their names for various reasons, as for example, Isaac<br />Asimov, who changed his name from Ozimov - nobody accused Asimov of<br />deception.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Allen's mistake 13 years ago was failing to navigate California's<br />"guild" bureaucracy. It has no bearing on the excellent science that he<br />has done, as monitored by scores of collaborators. Aspersions by Rex<br />Dalton that Allen West somehow falsified evidence of magnetic spherules,<br />nanodiamonds, and other impact markers are preposterous considering the<br />impossibility of generating these materials in one's basement.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />All of the YD impact data that Allen has produced have been<br />independently verified by other researchers. Indeed, considerable new<br />evidence will soon be published. Critics who failed to verify some<br />aspects of the work should be advised that the "absence of evidence is<br />not the evidence of its absence."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">References</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />(1) Link to dismissal of case.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />(2) Links to reports citing West's work in California. Search for "Whitt."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />a) U.S. Geologic Survey<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2004/5267/sir2004-5267.pdf">http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2004/5267/sir2004-5267.pdf</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />b) U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and Hi-Desert Water District: <a target="_blank" href="http://margosturges.com/californiadroughtupdate.html"> http://margosturges.com/californiadroughtupdate.html</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />c) Calif. Dept. of Water Resources:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.water.ca.gov/pubs/groundwater/bulletin_118/basindescriptions/7-10.pdf">http://www.water.ca.gov/pubs/groundwater/bulletin_118/basindescriptions/7-10.pdf</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.water.ca.gov/pubs/groundwater/bulletin_118/basindescriptions/7-12.pdf">http://www.water.ca.gov/pubs/groundwater/bulletin_118/basindescriptions/7-12.pdf</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.water.ca.gov/pubs/groundwater/bulletin_118/basindescriptions/7-62.pdf">http://www.water.ca.gov/pubs/groundwater/bulletin_118/basindescriptions/7-62.pdf</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />d) California Energy Commission for solar power plant installations:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.energy.ca.gov/sitingcases/genesis_solar/documents/2009-11-13_Data_Requests_Set_1A_1-227_TN-54067.pdf">http://www.energy.ca.gov/sitingcases/genesis_solar/documents/2009-11-13_Data_Requests_Set_1A_1-227_TN-54067.pdf</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.energy.ca.gov/sitingcases/solar_millennium_palen/documents/2009-12-7_Data_Requests_Set_1_TN-54349.pdf">http://www.energy.ca.gov/sitingcases/solar_millennium_palen/documents/2009-12-7_Data_Requests_Set_1_TN-54349.pdf</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.energy.ca.gov/sitingcases/genesis_solar/documents/2010-06-25_Staffs_Prehearing_Conference_Statement_TN-57332.PDF">http://www.energy.ca.gov/sitingcases/genesis_solar/documents/2010-06-25_Staffs_Prehearing_Conference_Statement_TN-57332.PDF</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.energy.ca.gov/sitingcases/genesis_solar/documents/2010-06-29_Staffs_Rebuttal_Testimony_TN-57363.PDF">http://www.energy.ca.gov/sitingcases/genesis_solar/documents/2010-06-29_Staffs_Rebuttal_Testimony_TN-57363.PDF</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.energy.ca.gov/sitingcases/genesis_solar/documents/staff_assessment/04_CEC-700-2010-006_SectC5-C9.pdf">http://www.energy.ca.gov/sitingcases/genesis_solar/documents/staff_assessment/04_CEC-700-2010-006_SectC5-C9.pdf</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />(3) State of Arizona tradename filing for name change as "author."<br /><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-top"><br /><span class="atop-l"></span><br /></div><br /><div class="article-header"><strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/06/09/science-asteroids-meteorite-organic-amino.html" target="_blank">"Unique, one of a kind meteorite": Asteroids factories for building blocks of life</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Emily Chung<br /><br />CBC News<br /><br />Thu, 09 Jun 2011 08:50 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/229947-Unique-one-of-a-kind-meteorite-Asteroids-factories-for-building-blocks-of-life#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/69935/full/sm_220_asteroid_gaspra_nasa.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA"><img alt="" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/69935/medium/sm_220_asteroid_gaspra_nasa.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">An<br />asteroid's composition depends on what materials came together to form<br />that particular asteroid, and only some contain organic molecules, a<br />class of carbon-based chemicals that living things are largely made of.</span></div><br /></div><br /><em>Click <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/06/09/science-asteroids-meteorite-organic-amino.html" target="_blank">here</a> to listen to the interview with Chris Herd. </em><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />A meteorite found in B.C. contains evidence that asteroids are<br />production sites for molecules such as amino acids that form the<br />building blocks of life, a new study says.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"What we're saying is that amino acids are actually the result of the<br />geology happening on the asteroid," said Chris Herd, the planetary<br />geologist at the University of Alberta who led the study published<br />Thursday in <em>Science</em>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"It's like a little factory. It's taking even more primitive molecules that are coming in from space and doing them up a bit."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>He added that the warmer temperatures in the asteroid and the<br />presence of water and possibly certain minerals provide a better<br />environment than interstellar space for certain chemical reactions.<br />Those reactions are needed to produce organic molecules, a class of<br />carbon-based chemicals that living things are largely made of.</strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Meteorites are pieces of asteroids that fall through the Earth's atmosphere and land on the surface. <strong>They have been suggested as possible original sources for some of the molecules necessary for life on Earth.</strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/69936/full/sm_220_tagish_meteorite_788990.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press"><img alt="" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/69936/medium/sm_220_tagish_meteorite_788990.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">The<br />Tagish meteorite was preserved in a block of ice after it was found on a<br />frozen lake in northern British Columbia in 2000 by pilot Jim Brook,<br />above. </span></div><br /></div><br />Asteroids, found mainly in a belt between Mars<br />and Jupiter, are chunks of rocky material formed from dust and gas left<br />over from the sun's early history.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Their composition depends on what materials came together to form that<br />particular asteroid, Herd said. Only some contain organic molecules.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The meteorite studied by Herd and his team landed as a few dozen<br />fragments on the snow covering Tagish Lake, which spans northern British<br />Columbia and Yukon, in the winter of 2000.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>It is a rare type of meteorite called a carbonaceous chondrite that is known to contain organic molecules such as amino acids. </strong>"They constitute a few per cent of meteorites that are known," Herd said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Uniquely pure meteorite</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Factors that make the Tagish meteorite unique are that it was never<br />contaminated with organic molecules from Earth because it landed on<br />snow, it was never touched by human hands and it was kept frozen since<br />its collection, preserving the organic molecules inside it.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Herd led a Canadian consortium in 2006 that bought the meteorite<br />fragments from the man who collected them, providing an opportunity to<br />study them in more detail.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />One of the first things he noticed is that some fragments looked different than others.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Some of them were kind of dark, very black, almost sooty with dust<br />coming off. Others were more of a salt-and-pepper look," he said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>A detailed analysis showed that the meteorite contained a much<br />wider variety of organic chemicals than seen on other meteorites and<br />that different kinds and amounts of organic molecules corresponded to<br />different appearances of the rock.</strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />An analysis showed the types of chemicals and the appearance of the rock<br />depended on how much water had percolated through as ice on the<br />asteroid melted during its early history, 4.5 billion years ago. Herd<br />said that suggested there was active organic chemistry happening on the<br />asteroid, producing and later destroying different types of compounds.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>"These things preserve different stages of the alteration by<br />water," Herd said. "That is really remarkable. There's no other<br />meteorite like that."</strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The study answers a key question about whether organic molecules found<br />on some meteorites come from interstellar space, Herd said: "This is strong evidence you're forming them on the asteroid itself."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"><br /><span class="atop-l"></span><br /><span class="atop-r"></span><br /></div><br /><div class="article-header"><br /><div class="article-icon"><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><strong><a href="http://www.9news.com/news/article/203183/188/The-meteorite-found-in-their-front-yard-" target="_blank">US: Meteorite found in Colorado front yard</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Jeffrey Wolf and Dave Delozier<br /><br />9 News<br /><br />Tue, 14 Jun 2011 16:08 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/229961-US-Meteorite-found-in-Colorado-front-yard#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br />The front yard doubles as a play area for Carlos Martinez and his<br />7-year-old son. They play football and kickball together. Now they can<br />add meteorite exploration to their list of front yard activities.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><object height="400" width="400" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,47,0" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" id="flashObj"><br /><param name="movie" value="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1"><br /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF"><br /><param name="flashVars" value="omnitureAccountID=gntbcstkusa,gntbcstglobal&pageContentCategory=video&pageContentSubcategory=&marketName=Denver, CO:kusa&division=Broadcast&SSTSCode=&videoId=991748911001&playerID=34762914001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAB_wnNRk~,WN9MweAQd_tBaI99JKgDAcW3bUx7peWv&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true"><br /><param name="base" value="http://admin.brightcove.com"><br /><param name="seamlesstabbing" value="false"><br /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><br /><param name="swLiveConnect" value="true"><br /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashvars="omnitureAccountID=gntbcstkusa,gntbcstglobal&pageContentCategory=video&pageContentSubcategory=&marketName=Denver, CO:kusa&division=Broadcast&SSTSCode=&videoId=991748911001&playerID=34762914001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAB_wnNRk~,WN9MweAQd_tBaI99JKgDAcW3bUx7peWv&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="flashObj" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" swliveconnect="true" allowscriptaccess="always" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash" width="486" height="412"></object></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />On Memorial Day, Martinez and his son were playing kickball when the<br />ball rolled near some bushes. Martinez went over to retrieve it because<br />he had seen a bull snake in that area the day before.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />This time he didn't see a snake, but he saw a rock that got his attention.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"It just caught my attention, just that it was sparkling,"<br />Martinez said. "I was like, 'Oh that's cool,' and I picked it up and put<br />in on my window sill."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The heart shape of the object also added to the intrigue. The more he looked at it, the more he began to wonder what it was.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"I went to the library, looked at books and different pictures and<br />talked to the librarians and they said maybe take it to the University<br />of Northern Colorado," Martinez said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />When Bob Brunswig, a professor at UNC, looked at the object it was obvious to him it was a meteorite.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"If it was an iron core meteorite, it is pretty easy to identify because<br />of the heaviness of it and it definitely had heavy burns on it. It had<br />obviously come through the atmosphere, so it had all the right<br />characteristics," Brunswig said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Because the meteorite was found near the surface, Brunswig theorizes it fell during a meteor shower in the last year.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"When he [Martinez] described it, he said that it was in a very shallow<br />depression in the ground which suggests that if it wasn't buried or<br />partially buried that it had come down fairly recently," Brunswig said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The meteorite was found approximately 50 feet from Martinez's home.<br />Given the speed the meteorite would be traveling at, he feels fortunate.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"I wouldn't want to get hit by one," Martinez said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"><br /><span class="atop-l"></span><br /><span class="atop-r"></span><br /></div><br /><div class="article-header"><br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2011/0615/Asteroid-Vesta-surface-of-huge-asteroid-has-mysterious-dark-spot">Asteroid Vesta: Surface of Huge Asteroid Has Mysterious Dark Spot</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar"><br /><br />Space.com<br /><br />Wed, 15 Jun 2011 00:00 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/230071-Asteroid-Vesta-Surface-of-Huge-Asteroid-Has-Mysterious-Dark-Spot#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© NASA/Reuters" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/70320/full/0614_Vesta_full_380.jpg"><img alt="" height="261" width="379" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/70320/large/0614_Vesta_full_380.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA/Reuters</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">Asteroid<br />Vesta in front of a background of stars, as seen on May 11. Vesta is<br />330 miles in diameter and the second most massive object in the asteroid<br />belt. A mysterious dark spot has been found on its surface, but the<br />asteroid is not yet in focus.</span></div><br /></div><br /><em>Asteroid Vesta has been coming into focus as NASA's</em> Dawn <em>probe comes in for close-up photos, but a mysterious dark spot has scientists scratching their heads.</em><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />A NASA spacecraft has captured new video of the huge asteroid Vesta<br />ahead of a planned rendezvous with the space rock in July, revealing an<br />odd, dark spot that has astronomers buzzing.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />NASA's <em>Dawn</em> probe will arrive in orbit around Vesta, the<br />second-largest asteroid in the solar system, on July 16. The spacecraft<br />has been taking <a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/11634-nasa-spacecraft-asteroid-photo-vesta.html">photos of Vesta</a> with its framing camera since May to help prepare for the close encounter.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The new video is actually a series of 20 photographs taken during a 30-minute period on June 1, when <em>Dawn</em><br />was about 300,000 miles (483,000 kilometers) from the giant space rock.<br />The images, which capture about 10 percent of a full rotation, reveal<br />several intriguing features on the 330-mile-wide (530-km) Vesta. [<a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/11945-dark-feature-spotted-asteroid-vesta.html">Watch the new asteroid Vesta video</a>]<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />For example, the video shows a dark blotch about 60 miles (97<br />km) wide near Vesta's equator, moving from left to right across the<br />field of view as Vesta rotates.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Like strangers in a strange land, we're looking for familiar landmarks," said Jian-Yang Li, a <em>Dawn</em><br />scientist from the University of Maryland, in a statement. "The shadowy<br />spot is one of those - it appears to match a feature, known as<br />'Feature B,' from images of Vesta taken by NASA's Hubble Space<br />Telescope."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Vesta Video Session</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The images also show Vesta's jagged, irregular shape, hinting at the<br />enormous crater known to exist at Vesta's south pole. The resolution of<br />the photos approaches that of the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/9808-asteroid-turns-hubble-spies-vesta.html">best Hubble pictures of Vesta</a>, researchers said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Before orbiting Vesta on July 16, <em>Dawn</em> will gently slow down to<br />about 75 mph (120 kph). NASA should release more images on a weekly<br />basis, with photos available more frequently once the spacecraft begins<br />collecting science at Vesta, agency officials said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Vesta is coming more and more into focus," said Andreas Nathues,<br />framing camera lead investigator, based at the Max Planck Institute for<br />Solar System Research in Germany. "<em>Dawn's</em> framing camera is working exactly as anticipated."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Next Stop: Asteroid Belt</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Vesta is located in <a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/8590-5-reasons-care-asteroids.html">the asteroid belt</a>, which lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. <em>Dawn</em><br />will orbit and study Vesta for a year, then move on to investigate the<br />belt's largest body, the dwarf planet Ceres. The spacecraft will arrive<br />at this behemoth in 2015.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Scientists hope <em>Dawn</em> will help unlock secrets of our solar system's early history by studying these two icons of the asteroid belt. <em>Dawn's</em> mission will be to compare and contrast the two giant bodies, which were shaped by different forces.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The spacecraft's science instruments will measure surface composition, topography and texture. <em>Dawn</em> will also measure the tug of gravity from Vesta and Ceres to learn more about their internal structures.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />By the end of its mission, <em>Dawn</em> will have traveled 3 billion miles (5 billion km) since its launch in September 2007.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"><br /><span class="atop-l"></span><br /><span class="atop-r"></span><br /></div><br /><div class="article-header"><br /><div class="article-icon"><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><strong><a href="http://www.k5thehometeam.com/story/14925040/youll-be-able-to-see-comet-just-discovered-by-uh" target="_blank">You'll be able to see comet just discovered by University of Hawaii astronomers</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar"><br /><br />HawaiiNewsNow<br /><br />Fri, 17 Jun 2011 11:32 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/230032-You-ll-be-able-to-see-comet-just-discovered-by-University-of-Hawaii-astronomers#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br />Astronomers at the University of Hawaii at Manoa have discovered a<br />new comet that they expect will be visible to the naked eye in early<br />2013.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Originally found by the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope on Haleakala, Maui, on<br />the night of June 5-6, it was confirmed to be a comet by UH astronomer<br />Richard Wainscoat and graduate student Marco Micheli the following night<br />using the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Mauna Kea.<br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/70239/full/ff.gif" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© University of Hawaii "><img alt="" height="272" width="343" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/70239/large/ff.gif" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© University of Hawaii </span><br /><br /><span class="caption">C/2011 L4</span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br />A preliminary orbit computed by the Minor Planet Center in<br />Cambridge, Mass., shows that the comet will come within about 30 million<br />miles of the sun in early 2013, about the same distance as Mercury. The<br />comet will pose no danger to Earth.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Wainscoat said, "The comet has an orbit that is close to parabolic,<br />meaning that this may be the first time it will ever come close to the<br />sun, and that it may never return."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The comet is now about 700 million miles from the sun, placing it beyond<br />the orbit of Jupiter. It is currently too faint to be seen without a<br />telescope with a sensitive electronic detector.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The comet is expected to be brightest in February or March<br />2013, when it makes its closest approach to the sun. At that time, the<br />comet is expected to be visible low in the western sky after sunset, but<br />the bright twilight sky may make it difficult to view.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Over the next few months, astronomers will continue to study the comet,<br />which will allow better predictions of how bright it will eventually<br />get.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13795156" target="_blank">Revealing the Secrets of Falling to Earth</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Jonathan Amos<br /><br />BBC.Co.UK<br /><br />Sun, 19 Jun 2011 15:51 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/230153-Revealing-the-Secrets-of-Falling-to-Earth#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/70500/full/image1.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© ESA/NASA"><img alt="" height="134" width="399" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/70500/large/image1.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© ESA/NASA</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">The return of Jules Verne in 2008 was subjected to a detailed observation campaign</span></div><br /></div><br />Late on Tuesday (GMT), a huge fireball will streak across the skies over the Pacific Ocean.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Not many will get to see it; it will be over an uninhabited part of the<br />world, and ships and planes have been warned to steer clear of the area.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The event is the return from orbit of <a href="http://blogs.esa.int/atv/" target="_blank">Europe's space freighter, ATV<em> Johannes Kepler</em></a>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />It has completed its mission at the International Space Station (ISS) and it's now time to come home.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The freighter took up more than seven tonnes of fuel and other supplies<br />to the orbiting outpost, but for its return it has been packed with the<br />platform's rubbish.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Little of the ship or this waste is actually expected to make it all the<br />way to the surface of the Pacific Ocean. Most will simply vaporise in<br />the intense heat generated during the descent through the atmosphere.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/70501/full/image2.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© ESA/NASA"><img alt="" height="195" width="406" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/70501/large/image2.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© ESA/NASA</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">Johannes<br />Kepler has spent the past four months attached to the back of the ISS.<br />It has been filled with all the rubbish from the space station for its<br />destructive return to Earth</span></div><br /></div><br />This is the second time a<br />European freighter has made the fall to Earth. In 2008, the maiden<br />vessel, Jules Verne, did exactly the same thing.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />On that occasion, its brilliant path across the sky was observed by US<br />and European space agency research planes. Their observations produced<br />some remarkable video and some of the most detailed analysis ever done<br />on what happens to a spacecraft when it breaks up on re-entry.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />That analysis is still ongoing; scientists continue to debate precisely<br />which components broke away, and when. But they have a broad picture.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"The break-up created a big jigsaw puzzle of pieces," said aircraft<br />observing campaign principal investigator and meteor astronomer Peter<br />Jenniskens of the Seti Institute and Nasa Ames.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"We analysed the colours of those fragments to figure out their<br />composition. The two participating airplanes provided depth perception<br />to trace the fragment paths," he told BBC News.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/70502/full/image3.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA"><img alt="" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/70502/medium/image3.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">Hardware<br />re-enters at shallow angles (<1 degree). Some 50 items weighing<br />>1 tonne re-enter a year. Major break-up occurs about 80km altitude.</span></div><br /></div><br />Jules<br />Verne was a 13-tonne object when it came back. It engaged the top of<br />the atmosphere at an altitude of about 120km, travelling at about 7.6<br />km/s.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />As it plunged deeper and deeper, it started to tumble. The solar panels<br />were the first obvious casualties - ripped from their mountings about<br />83-84km up.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />As the ship progressed downwards, it got hotter and brighter, creating a<br />multi-coloured fireball - a shower of blues, yellows and oranges.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Spectrometers on the "chase planes" picked up in this light shower the<br />signatures of the various materials in the ship burning off.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Some fragments show paint peeling off; others show aluminium melting.<br />We even see the main lithium batteries fall apart, creating four dots of<br />bright pink light," said Jenniskens.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />If you watch the video on this page, you can pick out a couple of key<br />moments that have generated much debate inside the research team.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The first is a sudden brightening at about 6" into the video. This is a major fragmentation event at 75km altitude.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The ship lets go, severing into two big pieces. It breaks into three large chunks shortly afterwards.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Interestingly, the major fragmentation event does not appear to be the result of a fuel explosion.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"It looks as though it should be," said Jenniskens, "but if it were,<br />there would have been a lot of carbon and hydrogen visible to the<br />instruments."<br /><br /><br />Advertisement<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Watch the video of Jules Verne's break-up</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><embed height="400" width="400" flashvars="&config_settings_language=default&uxHighlightColour=0xff0000&embedPageUrl=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13795156&holdingImage=http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/45064000/jpg/_45064756_verne_512.jpg&legacyPlayerRevision=293203&preroll=http://ad.doubleclick.net/pfadx/bbccom.live.site.news/news_science_content;slot=companion;sz=512x288;sectn=news;ctype=content;news=science;referrer=nonbbc;referrer_domain=www.sott.net;rsi=J08781_10139;rsi=J08781_10277;rsi=J08781_10335;rsi=J08781_10352;headline=howtofalltoearth;asset_type=correspondent_story;keyword=;tile=1&embedReferer=http://www.sott.net/article_previews/show/93565-Revealing-the-secrets-of-falling-to-Earth&config_settings_skin=silver&widgetRevision=323797&config=http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/emp/1_1_3_0_0_440234_441894_1/config/default.xml&companionType=adi&playlist=http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/emp/7640000/7644100/7644111.xml&companionId=bbccom_companion_7644111&config_plugin_fmtjLiveStats_pageType=eav2&config_settings_showUpdatedInFooter=true&size=Small&domId=emp-7644111-147301&fmtjDocURI=/news/science-environment-13795156&config_settings_showPopoutButton=false&config_settings_showShareButton=true&companionSize=300x60&config_plugin_fmtjLiveStats_edition=US&config_settings_autoPlay=false&config_plugin_fmtjLiveStats_pageType=eav6&config_settings_showPopoutButton=false&config_settings_showPopoutCta=false&config_settings_addReferrerToPlaylistRequest=true&config_settings_showFooter=true&config_settings_autoPlay=false" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/emp/external/player.swf"></embed></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Watch also for "the nose" at about 1'09".<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />You'll see one bright item move ahead of the debris field. It's very<br />distinctive, and scientists detected the presence of lithium; a spent<br />battery, perhaps?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Jules Verne's debris train eventually disappears from view at about 31km<br />altitude. The team cannot say for sure how much material survived to<br />the surface, but it's thought very little splashed down.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"The results should provide engineers with better tools to understand<br />the re-entry physics of such complicated spacecraft," said project<br />manager Jason Hatton of Esa's Estec facility in Holland.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"That in turn will feed back into better spacecraft design, especially<br />of thermal protection systems, or heatshields, and an improvement in the<br />models that are used to assess debris footprints."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />On occasions, spacecraft or old rocket stages will come back to Earth in<br />an uncontrolled manner over land, and safety concerns demand that we<br />have a good idea of where chunks of metal might hit the ground.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-small to-right"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/70503/full/image4.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Aerospace Corp"><img alt="" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/70503/pod/image4.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Aerospace Corp</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">The Aerospace Corporation's REBR is about 30cm tall and weighs just a few kilograms</span></div><br /></div><br /><em>Kepler's</em> return will not be subjected to the same level of analysis.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The type of observation campaign mounted for Jules Verne takes much preparation and analysis. Instead, <em>Kepler</em> has a "blackbox" aboard.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />This Re-Entry Breakup Recorder (REBR) will record temperature, acceleration, rotation rate, and other data as <em>Kepler</em> tumbles through the atmosphere.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In the latter moments of re-entry, it should break free from the main<br />debris cloud, right itself and then make an Iridium satellite phone call<br />to downlink everything it has learned.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The REBR is not intended to survive its impact with the ocean, although -<br />remarkably - the one fitted to the returning Japanese space freighter,<br />HTV-2, in March, did.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />It bobbed about on the water for some hours. The unit has been developed<br />by the American Aerospace Corporation, but Europe is developing its own<br />version.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In future, many spacecraft and rockets will carry these devices,<br />especially as they incorporate more composites. There is very limited<br />data on how these materials behave when they fall to Earth.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Recommended: There is <a href="http://cio.gsfc.nasa.gov/centers/ames/multimedia/podcasting/2008/ATV_reentry_behind_scenes.html" target="_blank">an interesting behind-the-scenes video of the Jules Verne descent</a> which ties together what was happening inside the chase planes with what the observers were seeing through their windows.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.dissexpress.co.uk/">UK: Meteorite Spotted in Eye, Norfolk</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar"><br /><br />Diss Express<br /><br />Sat, 18 Jun 2011 12:49 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/230168-UK-Meteorite-Spotted-in-Eye-Norfolk#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br />Responding to our meteorite story last week, Damian Harrold of Eye,<br />called to say he saw a mysterious object tearing through the sky.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Last week we reported the hole that had been made in James Barber's<br />truck in Harleston, who concluded it must have been a meteorite.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Mr Harrold said: "I think it could have been a meteorite.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"I put on Facebook at the time that I saw something going through the<br />sky. I couldn't believe it when I read in the paper about the meteorite -<br />I think it could have been the same thing.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"But nobody I spoke to at the time had seen anything at all. I wish I had taken my camera."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.dissexpress.co.uk/news/meteorite_strikes_in_harleston_1_2758187">UK: Meteorite tears through roof of lorry, driver survives</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar"><br /><br />Diss Express<br /><br />Mon, 13 Jun 2011 12:59 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/230201-UK-Meteorite-tears-through-roof-of-lorry-driver-survives#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© dissexpress.co.uk" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/70603/full/2008367032.jpg"><img alt="" height="283" width="400" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/70603/large/2008367032.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© dissexpress.co.uk<br /><br /></span></div><br /></div><br />A<br />removal man from Long Stratton believes that a meteorite tore a gaping<br />three to four inch hole in the roof of his 18-ton lorry.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />James Barber, 34, had parked his lorry at the Harleston base of<br />international removal firm Hamiltons in Speedwell Way, and believes he<br />heard the incident which caused the rupture happen as he made his way<br />back to the vehicle last Saturday afternoon.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The hole, big enough to comfortably slip a mobile phone through, was<br />done to one of the sturdy, metal-thick corner joints on the green<br />non-articulated Mercedes Benz Axor lorry.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Mr Barber said: "After walking back out in the yard to the lorry, I heard an almighty bang.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"At first I thought a tyre on my vehicle must have exploded, but after<br />giving the outside a once over, it looked like nothing had happened.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"But after going into the loading bay, I noticed just what a great big whopping hole had been made in the roof."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />A meteorite is a meteoroid, a small particle from an asteroid or comet,<br />that survives its passage through the Earth's atmosphere and impacts the<br />Earth's surface.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Around 10,000 hit the earth every year.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="StoryComment"><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>Nothing to see here folks! Move along<br />please! There's a war to be in won in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen,<br />Libya, Iraq, Iran, Syria, everywhere really! Don't mind the space rocks,<br />everything is totally normal!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><br />"It looked like a shotgun blast or something, the way it's been<br />punched clean through, but there's no way something like that could have<br />happened because of where the hole is and the fact there are no trees<br />or ledges anywhere in sight to get above the vehicles and make the shot.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Although I found nothing in the truck itself and nothing went through<br />the floor, there were brown specks of what looked and felt like soil on<br />the jagged edges.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"It went through about four feet behind I would have been sitting, and I<br />suppose you do think of the what's, if's, but's and maybe's because I<br />was on my way back to the truck when it appears to have happened."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The hole has since been repaired and the truck is now back in service.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.compassnewspaper.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8598:-us-russia-fight-over-asteroid-that-could-destroy-earth&catid=308:headlines&Itemid=600">Missing the big picture: U.S., Russia fight over asteroid "that could destroy Earth"</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar"><br /><br />Nigerian Compass<br /><br />Wed, 22 Jun 2011 00:08 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/230309-Missing-the-big-picture-U-S-Russia-fight-over-asteroid-that-could-destroy-Earth-#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a title="© Unknown" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/70840/full/storyone_backstory_2005YU551.jpg"><img alt="" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/70840/medium/storyone_backstory_2005YU551.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span></div><br /></div><br />Barely<br />two weeks after the failure of a doomsday prediction by a United States<br />(U.S.) based preacher, Russia and U.S. scientists are at war over<br />another perceived threat to human existence.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The danger this time is not an apocalyptic occurrence, but the smacking of the Earth by a giant asteroid in five months time.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The potentially perilous space rock is known as Asteroid 2005 YU55, a<br />round mini-world that is about 1,300 feet (400 metres) in diametre.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />According to U.S. scientists, this asteroid will approach the Earth within a scant 0.85 lunar distances in early November.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Due to its size, and the way it will whisk by so close to the Earth, an<br />extensive campaign of radar, visual and infrared observations are being<br />planned.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />U.S. scientists say there is no cause for alarm, but the<br />Russians have issued a report saying there's something to fear.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />NASA rejects the Russian report, calling the chances of the asteroid hitting the Earth 'minuscule'.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Asteroid 2005 YU55 was discovered by Spacewatch at the University of<br />Arizona, Tucson's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory on December 28, 2005.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />According to Spacewatch, the asteroid is "en route and headed our way,<br />the cosmic Wanderer is another reminder about life here on our sitting<br />duck of a planet'.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"The close Earth approach of 2005 YU55, on November 8, is unusual since<br />it is close and big. On average, one wouldn't expect an object this big<br />to pass this close but every 30 years," said Don Yeomans, manager of<br />NASA's Near-Earth Object Programme Office and the Jet Propulsion<br />Laboratory in Pasadena, California.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Yeomans said that with new radar capabilities at Goldstone in California<br />- part of NASA's Deep Space Network - there is a good chance of<br />obtaining radar imaging of 2005 YU55 down to the five-meter resolution<br />level. Doing so, he said, would mean obtaining higher spatial resolution<br />of the object than that attained by recent spacecraft flyby missions.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"So, we like to think of this opportunity as a close flyby mission with<br />Earth as the spacecraft," Yeomans told SPACE.com. "When combined with<br />ground-based optical and near-infrared observations, the radar data<br />should provide a fairly complete picture of one of the larger<br />potentially hazardous asteroids," he said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Asteroid 2005 YU55 is a slow rotator. Because of its size and proximity<br />to Earth, the Minor Planet Centre in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has<br />designated the space rock as a "potentially hazardous asteroid".<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"We're already preparing for the 2005 YU55 flyby," said Lance Benner, a<br />research scientist at JPL and a specialist on radar imaging of<br />near-Earth objects. He said part of the plan was to observe the asteroid<br />with radar, using both the huge Arecibo dish in Puerto Rico and<br />equipment at Goldstone.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"The asteroid will approach from the south, so Goldstone has the first<br />chance to observe it due to its declination coverage," Benner said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />To help coordinate the observing campaigns, "Radar Observations<br />Planning" websites have been set up for the unusual occasion, Benner<br />said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"This flyby will be the closest by any near-Earth asteroid with an<br />absolute magnitude this bright since 1976 and until 2028," Benner added.<br />"Nobody saw 2010 XC15 during its close flyby, within 0.5 lunar<br />distances, in 1976."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />He noted that the asteroid wasn't discovered until late in 2010.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Thus, the flyby by 2005 YU55 will be the closest actually observed by<br />something this large, so it represents a unique opportunity," Benner<br />said. "In a real sense, this will provide imaging resolution comparable<br />to or even better than a spacecraft mission flyby."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>Benner said that because the asteroid would be zooming by Earth so very close, radar echoes would be extremely strong.</strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Benner explained that initially, the object will be too close to the Sun<br />and too faint for optical observers. But late in the day on November 8,<br />the solar elongation will grow sufficiently to see it. Early on<br />November 9, the asteroid could reach about 11th magnitude for several<br />hours before it fades as its distance rapidly increases, Benner<br />explained.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Even if the Earth escapes the looming danger, Russian scientists say that there is a bigger threat called Apophis in the future.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In 2004, NASA scientists announced that there was a chance that Apophis,<br />an asteroid larger than two football fields, could smash into Earth in<br />2029. A few additional observations and some number-crunching later,<br />astronomers noted that the chance of the planet-killer hitting Earth in<br />2029 was nearly zilch.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />But reports out of Russia say that scientists there estimate Apophis<br />will collide with Earth on April 13, 2036. These reports conflict on the<br />probability of such a doomsday event.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Technically, they're correct, there is a chance in 2036 (that Apophis<br />will hit Earth)," said Donald Yeomans, head of NASA's Near-Earth Object<br />Programme Office. However, that chance is just 1-in-250,000, Yeomans<br />said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The Russian scientists are basing their predictions of a collision on<br />the chance that the 900-foot-long (270 meters) Apophis will travel<br />through what's called a gravitational keyhole as it passes by Earth in<br />2029.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The gravitational keyhole they mention is a precise region in space,<br />only slightly larger than the asteroid itself, in which the effect of<br />Earth's gravity is such that it could tweak Apophis' path.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"The situation is that in 2029, April 13, (Apophis) flies very close to<br />the Earth, within five Earth radii, so that will be quite an event, but<br />we've already ruled out the possibility of it hitting at that time,"<br />Yeomans told Life's Little Mysteries. "On the other hand, if it goes<br />through what we call a keyhole during that close Earth approach ... then<br />it will indeed be perturbed just right so that it will come back and<br />smack Earth on April 13, 2036," Yeomans said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The chances of the asteroid going through the keyhole, which is tiny compared to the asteroid, are "minuscule," Yeomans added.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />This is the scientists' description of the more likely scenario: Apophis<br />will make a fairly close approach to Earth in late 2012 and early 2013,<br />and will be extensively observed with ground-based optical telescopes<br />and radar systems. If it seems to be heading on a destructive path, NASA<br />will devise the scheme and machinery necessary to change the asteroid's<br />orbit, decreasing the probability of a collision in 2036 to zero,<br />Yeomans said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />There are several ways to change an asteroid's orbit, the simplest of<br />which is to run a spacecraft into the hurtling rock. This technology was<br />used on July 4, 2005, when Deep Impact smashed into the comet Tempel 1.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Meanwhile, October 21, 2011, has been set as another end of the world<br />date by Harold Camping, the 89-year-old retired civil engineer who has<br />built a multi-million-dollar Christian media-empire that publicises his<br />apocalyptic prediction. His last doomsday prediction failed on May 21.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Camping has preached that some 200 million people would be saved, and<br />that those left behind would die in a series of scourges visiting Earth<br />until the globe is consumed by a fireball on October 21.<br /></div><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>We won't comment on NASA's blind and<br />hardheaded wishful thinking here. It should be clear by now to everyone<br />with two neurons firing that we can't rely on "scientific authorities"<br />to provide us with straight and truthful answers, not to mention<br />solutions. But we do want to comment on a tendency of scientific bodies<br />and newspapers who quote them to miss the big picture and show abysmal<br />ignorance when it comes to threats from space. It's one thing to<br />ridicule the issue by zeroing in on loonies who declare that the end is<br />nigh, but not doing proper research and seeing that the ongoing and <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228862-From-Where-I-Sit-Raindrops-Keep-Fallin-On-My-Head">increasing threat</a> does exist, and in fact can have quite dire consequences for our civilization, is another. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"><br /><span class="atop-l"></span><br /><span class="atop-r"></span><br /></div><br /><div class="article-header"><br /><div class="article-icon"><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.universetoday.com/87035/another-asteroid-to-give-earth-a-close-shave-june-27-2011/#more-87035">"Just Found": Another Asteroid To Give Earth a Close Shave June 27, 2011</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Nancy Atkinson<br /><br />Universe Today<br /><br />Thu, 23 Jun 2011 14:12 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/230418-Just-Found-Another-Asteroid-To-Give-Earth-a-Close-Shave-June-27-2011#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© JPL Small-Body Database Browser" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/71048/full/2011_MD.jpg"><img height="219" width="397" title="Click to enlarge" alt="2011 MD" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/71048/large/2011_MD.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© JPL Small-Body Database Browser</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">2011 MD's orbital parameters.<br /><br /></span></div><br /></div><br />A<br />newly discovered house-sized asteroid will miss the Earth by less than<br />17,700 km (11,000 miles) on Monday June 27, 2011. That's about 23 times<br />closer than the Moon. The size and location of the asteroid, named 2011<br />MD, should allow observers in certain locations to take a look at the<br />space rock, even with small telescopes. It's closest approach will be at<br />13:26 UTC on June 27.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />According to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.skymania.com/wp/2011/06/incoming-new-asteroid-will-scrape-past.html">Skymania,</a> 2011 MD <strong>was found just yesterday</strong>, June 22, by LINEAR, a pair of robotic telescopes in New Mexico that scan the skies for Near Earth Asteroids.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />As of now, asteroid 2011 MD is estimated to be between 9 to 45 meters (10 to 50 yards) wide. Dr. Emily Baldwin, of <em><a target="_blank" href="http://www.astronomynow.com/">Astronomy Now</a></em><br />magazine, said there is no danger of the asteroid hitting Earth, and<br />even if it did enter the atmosphere, an asteroid this size would "mostly<br />burn up in a brilliant fireball, possibly scattering a few meteorites."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />To find out updated information on 2011 MD's ephemeris,<br />physical parameters and more, including an orbit diagram and<br />close-approach data, see this page on <a target="_blank" href="http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2011%20MD;orb=1">JPL's Solar System Dynamics website.</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/11989-quirky-comet-hartley-2-solar-system-theories.html">Quirky Comet Hartley 2 Confounds Theories on Early Solar System</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Natalie Wolchover<br /><br />Space.com<br /><br />Sat, 25 Jun 2011 17:35 CDT<br /><br /></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a title="© NASA/JPL-Caltech/UMD" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/71259/full/comet_hartley2_first_images_2a.jpg"><img title="Click to enlarge" alt="comet hartley 2" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/71259/medium/comet_hartley2_first_images_2a.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA/JPL-Caltech/UMD</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">This<br />close-up view of comet Hartley 2 was taken by NASA's EPOXI mission<br />during its flyby of the comet on Nov. 4, 2010. It was captured by the<br />spacecraft's Medium-Resolution Instrument. </span></div><br /></div><br />The small Comet Hartley 2 is an oddball, for sure.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Two craggy bulges connected by a smooth waist (somewhat like a peanut),<br />Comet Hartley 2 spews out more material than a comet just under a mile<br />wide is expected to, a new study finds. And while most comets rotate<br />slowly in one direction, Hartley spins rapidly as it tumbles.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Furthermore, Hartley 2 contains an inexplicable amount of carbon<br />dioxide, causing it to burp and even hock ice loogies into space.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The unusual comet is raising questions over some longtime assumptions by<br />scientists on how comets formed in the early solar system, said the<br />scientists involved in the new study. [Photos: Close-Up Views of Comet<br />Hartley 2]<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The new Hartley 2 discoveries are based on the latest analysis of<br />observations collected during a November 2010 flyby of the comet by<br />NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft as part of its Extrasolar Planet<br />Observation and Deep Impact Extended Investigation (EPOXI) mission.<br />During the flyby, the Deep Impact probe approached within 431 miles (694<br />km) of the comet, snapping photos all the way.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">One weird comet</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Deep Impact EPOXI mission scientists spent months reviewing the images<br />and other data collected during the November flyby. [Video: Close Flyby<br />of Hartley 2]<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Among the comets visited by spacecraft, Hartley 2 is in a class by<br />itself," the mission's principal investigator, Michael A'Hearn of the<br />University of Maryland, told SPACE.com.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />For starters, its nucleus contains an abundance of carbon dioxide (CO2 -<br />or, in solid form, dry ice). This is a volatile material - it burns<br />easily - and so scientists would expect much more of it to have burned<br />away in the 4.5 billion years since the comet formed along with the<br />rest of the solar system.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Hartley 2 swings by the sun every 6.46 years. It was discovered by astronomer Malcolm Hartley in 1986 .<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"The dry ice is what's driving the comet's hyperactivity," said Lori<br />Feaga, a UMD planetary scientist on the EPOXI team. "It drives icy<br />particles such as silicates, dust grains and water-ice out of the<br />interior of the comet."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />It does this by acting like a pent-up fire hose, Feaga explained.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"When the dry ice in the interior heats up, it changes to a gas, which<br />is much less dense. As it expands, it creates an explosive force that<br />pulls out other things with it as it tunnels through the nucleus to get<br />out," Feaga said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The result is burps of gas and solid chunks. Strangely, though, Hartley 2<br />burps twice as much from one of its bulbous sides than from the other.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The research is detailed in the June 16 edition of the journal <em>Science</em>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Theories upended</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />As icy remnants from the distant past, comets offer vital clues about<br />the nature of the solar system's formation. "Understanding how comets<br />work - what drives their activity - is crucial to the use of comets<br />in studying the early solar system," the scientists wrote in their<br />paper.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />But Hartley 2 works in mysterious ways.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"We are still trying to sort out the implications for formation,"<br />A'Hearn wrote in an email. "The biggest remaining question, or at least<br />the one that interests me most, is why there is so much CO2 in this<br />comet and why it seems to differ between the two ends. [Is there] really<br />twice as much CO2 in the small end as in the large end? And if so, does<br />this mean that the two ends formed at different distances from the<br />sun?"<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Feaga said: "Our assumptions of what drives a typical comet's activity,<br />as well as what the composition of the primordial disk was and how much<br />mixing occurred in the disk, have been turned upside down. We need to<br />re-evaluate our theories."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">A primordial collision?</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />If the burping disparity means that one of the comet's ends contains<br />twice as much dry ice as the other, then the two bulges probably were<br />formed in separate places in the early solar system, and later collided<br />and stuck, the scientists said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"In the solar system during its formation, there was a proto-planetary<br />disk that was like a large Frisbee of rotating material," Feaga said.<br />"The higher-density material like iron was closer to the sun, and the<br />lower-density materials like ices were further out. So depending on the<br />distance from the sun, we have this assumption for what existed there."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Objects composed of different materials - like the two halves of<br />Hartley 2's nucleus, perhaps - probably formed in separate places.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Alternatively, the difference in how much gas and water seems to come<br />from one end of the comet and from the other could relate to the<br />hyperactive way the comet spins. "The highly excited rotational state<br />might define some of the activity that we're seeing," Feaga said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />More study is needed to sort out which explanation is right, she added.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><em>Natalie Wolchover is a staff writer for Life's Little Mysteries, a<br />sister site of SPACE.com. Follow her on Twitter @nattyover and follow<br />@Spacedotcom and on Facebook for the latest is space science and<br />exploration.</em><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/11996-comet-earth-2013-flyby-c2011l4-pan-starrs.html">And Yet Another One: Newfound Comet Will Swing By Earth in 2013</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar"><br /><br />Space.com<br /><br />Fri, 17 Jun 2011 17:43 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/230540-And-Yet-Another-One-Newfound-Comet-Will-Swing-By-Earth-in-2013#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a title="© Institute for Astronomy/University of Hawaii/Pan-STARRS" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/71261/full/comet_c2011L4_panstarrs_first_.jpg"><img title="Click to enlarge" alt="comet C/2011 L4" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/71261/medium/comet_c2011L4_panstarrs_first_.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Institute for Astronomy/University of Hawaii/Pan-STARRS</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">Discovery image of the newfound comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS), taken by Hawaii's Pan-STARRS 1 telescope.</span></div><br /></div><br />A<br />newfound comet discovered by a telescope designed to hunt for dangerous<br />asteroids will make its closest pass by Earth in 2013 and should be<br />visible to the naked eye when it draws near, astronomers say.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Hawaii's Pan-STARRS 1 telescope detected the comet, which is called<br />C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS), on the night of June 5 and 6, and the discovery<br />was confirmed by follow-up observations with a different instrument a<br />day later. The comet will likely come within about 30 million miles (50<br />million kilometers) of the sun in February or March 2013 - about the<br />same distance as the planet Mercury, researchers said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />During its closest approach to Earth in two years, comet C/2011 L4<br />(PANSTARRS) likely to be visible low in the western sky shortly after<br />sunset, weather permitting. Skywatchers interested in seeing the<br />newfound icy wanderer should look up then, because they may never get<br />another chance to see it.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"The comet has an orbit that is close to parabolic, meaning that this<br />may be the first time it will ever come close to the sun, and that it<br />may never return," said the University of Hawaii's Richard Wainscoat in a<br />statement. Wainscoat helped confirm the comet's existence.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Right now, C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) is about 700 million miles (1.2 billion<br />km) from the sun, placing it beyond the orbit of Jupiter. It is<br />currently so faint that only telescopes with sensitive electronic<br />detectors can pick it up.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The comet's clunky moniker is slightly unusual. Comets are usually named<br />after their discoverers, but in this case such a large team of<br />researchers helped spot the icy wanderer that it took the name of the<br />telescope instead.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a title="© Rob Ratkowsk" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/71262/full/largest_digital_camera_search_.jpg"><img title="Click to enlarge" alt="PS1 Observatory comets NEO" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/71262/medium/largest_digital_camera_search_.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Rob Ratkowsk</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">The PS1 Observatory on Haleakala, Maui just before sunrise. </span></div><br /></div><br />Pan-STARRS<br />1 found the comet while scanning the sky for potentially hazardous<br />asteroids - ones that may someday hit Earth. The comet, however, poses<br />no danger to our planet, researchers said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The telescope has a 1.8-meter-diameter mirror and the largest digital<br />camera in the world at 1.4 billion pixels. Pan-STARRS 1 takes an image<br />every 45 seconds, and each of these pictures is nearly 3 gigabytes in<br />size.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) most likely originated in the Oort cloud, a<br />halo of icy objects in the far reaches of the solar system. The comet<br />was probably flung toward the sun by a distant passing star, researchers<br />said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Over the next few months, astronomers will continue to study the comet,<br />which will allow better predictions of how bright it will eventually<br />get, researchers said.<br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"><br /><span class="atop-l"></span><br /><span class="atop-r"></span><br /></div><br /><div class="article-header"><br /><div class="article-icon"><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/169561/20110625/asteroid-earth-monday.htm">How Close to the Earth Will the Asteroid Be on Monday?</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="m-bar"><br /><br />International Business Times<br /><br />Sat, 25 Jun 2011 19:02 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/230583-How-Close-to-the-Earth-Will-the-Asteroid-Be-on-Monday-#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br />On Monday, a small <a target="_blank" href="http://sanfrancisco.ibtimes.com/articles/169614/20110626/house-sized-asteroid-2011-md-fly-dangerously-close-earth-surface-monday-nasa-minor-planet-center.htm">asteroid </a>is expected to just skirt by earth. An asteroid only comes this close about once every 6 years.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />NASA scientists said the meteorite can be briefly seen from earth with a modest-sized telescope.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />It will approach its closest point to the earth at 9:30 a.m. ET and over<br />the Atlantic Ocean. NASA scientists don't expect it to hit the earth.<br />Even if does, it'll likely burn up in the earth's atmosphere because<br />it's only estimated to be at most 65 feet wide.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Also, because it's over the Atlantic Ocean, any fragments that do survive the atmosphere probably won't do much harm.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />But just how close will this meteorite get?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />NASA scientists estimate 7,500 miles, or 12,000 kilometers. This compares to:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />distance from New York, US to Mumbai, India - 7,800 miles<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />earth's diameter - 7,900 miles (in other words, the meteorite will be one earth's width away from the earth)<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />earth's circumference around equator - 24,900 miles<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />earth's average distance to moon - 238,900 miles<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Below are charts from NASA detailing the orbit of the asteroid in relation to the earth<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/71329/full/asteroid.jpg"><img alt="" height="347" width="404" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/71329/large/asteroid.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/71328/full/119761_asteroid_to_pass_earth_.jpg"><img alt="" height="347" width="404" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/71328/large/119761_asteroid_to_pass_earth_.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-top"><br /><span class="atop-l"></span><br /><span class="atop-r"></span><br /></div><br /><div class="article-header"><br /><div class="article-icon"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><strong><a href="http://sanfrancisco.ibtimes.com/articles/169643/20110626/2011-md-asteroid-when-where-giant-space-rock-visible-monday-nasa-minor-planet-center.htm" target="_blank">2011 MD asteroid: When and from where will the giant space rock be visible on Monday?</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar"><br /><br />International Business Times<br /><br />Sun, 26 Jun 2011 19:10 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/230584-2011-MD-asteroid-When-and-from-where-will-the-giant-space-rock-be-visible-on-Monday-#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/71328/full/119761_asteroid_to_pass_earth_.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img alt="" height="343" width="400" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/71328/large/119761_asteroid_to_pass_earth_.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a></div><br /><br /><br />An asteroid measuring about 16 feet to 35 feet or the size of a<br />house, will fly by Earth at a handshaking distance on Monday and a lucky<br />few people will be able to see the celestial wonder with their naked<br />eye.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The asteroid, called 2011 MD, will graze past Earth's atmosphere on<br />Monday at a distance of 7,500 miles from the Earth's surface.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />According to the ranking charts of International Astronomical Union's<br />Minor Planet Center in Massachusetts, 2011 MD will be the fifth-closest<br />asteroid to graze past Earth. In the past, three asteroids have zoomed<br />past Earth at a closer distance, including a tiny asteroid (2011 CQ1)<br />which flew by on February 4 this year after coming as close as 3,400<br />miles away from Earth's surface. The fourth, an asteroid named 2008 TC3<br />had entered Earth's atmosphere on October 7, 2008, but disintegrated<br />into tiny pieces at a height of around 23 miles off the ground.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />2011 MD will be visible to the naked eye as a bright blue light as it hurtles by in a starry background.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The actual event will take place at around 1 pm EST on Monday but very few people will be able to see it.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />According to Astro Bob's calculations, many people will be able to see<br />the asteroid come close to the Earth but only a lucky few will be able<br />to witness the actual event itself i.e. when the asteroid will be<br />closest to the Earth's surface.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Closest approach happens around 8:30 a.m. CDT Monday over the far South<br />Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Antarctica. Observers in Australia and<br />New Zealand will be able to catch it in their telescopes at around<br />magnitude 12 about a half hour before closest shave.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"In the Midwest, the asteroid will be visible as a faint 14.5 magnitude<br />speck moving at a respectable pace across the stars of Serpens low in<br />the western sky in the early morning hours Monday," Bob King said on<br />Astro Bob site.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Astro Bob has recommended sky-gazers to use at least an 8-inch or larger scope to spot 2011 MD.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Leading astronomy magazine <em>Sky & Telescope</em> also says when and from where 2011 MD will be visible best:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"It takes place in broad daylight and halfway between the southern tip<br />of South America and the northernmost point in Antarctica. The event is<br />visible fairly low in the sky in deep twilight from South Africa.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"However, the asteroid should be visible in the hours leading up to the<br />closest approach across Australia, New Zealand, southern and eastern<br />Asia, and the western Pacific. The farther south you are, the better.<br />The farther west you are within this zone, the shorter the period of<br />visibility, but the closer to Earth the asteroid will be when it<br />disappears.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"The asteroid peaks brighter than magnitude 11.0 at the places where the<br />closest approach is visible, and it's already about magnitude 12.5 -<br />fairly easy to spot in an 8-inch telescope - by 14:30 UT, 2½ hours<br />before closest approach. At that point it's visible from Southeast Asia,<br />eastern China, and Japan, as well as Australia and points between.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"The asteroid will be very hard to observe after its closest approach,<br />since it's departing more or less toward the Sun," the magazine said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.universetoday.com/87082/getting-closer-images-video-of-asteroid-2011-md/">Getting Closer: Images, Video of Asteroid 2011 MD</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Nancy Atkinson<br /><br />Universetoday.com<br /><br />Sun, 26 Jun 2011 04:14 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/230604-Getting-Closer-Images-Video-of-Asteroid-2011-MD#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Peter Lake" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/71348/full/2011_MD_26th_june_580x396.jpg"><img alt="" height="270" width="381" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/71348/large/2011_MD_26th_june_580x396.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Peter Lake</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">Asteroid 2011 MD<br /><br /></span></div><br /></div><br />Accomplished amateur astronomer and <a target="_blank" href="http://aartscope.blogspot.com/">blogger</a><br />Peter Lake, a.k.a "AstroSwanny" from Australia captured some of the<br />first images of what will be a very close pass of Earth by asteroid 2011<br />MD. He actually took the image at 07:00 UTC on June 26th with a 20 inch<br />telescope in New Mexico controlled via his iPhone, through the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.global-rent-a-scope.com/">Global Rent-A-Scope program</a>. Ahh, the wonders of technology! As Peter says, "Its not every day, that an asteroid misses by less than 3-5 earth Radii."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The asteroid, which was only detected last week, is about 25 to<br />55 feet (8 to 18 m) across, is expected to pass less than 8,000 miles<br />above Earth's surface around 1 p.m. EDT (17:00 UT) on Monday, June 27th.<br />The time of closest approach will be observable from South Africa and<br />parts of Antarctica, but the approach will be visible across Australia,<br />New Zealand, southern and eastern Asia, and the western Pacific.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Below is a video he compiled of the his observations of the pass, and used ten 120-second images for the video.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><object height="350" width="400"><br /><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/JPpOvn1MRBw?version=3&hl=en_US"><br /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><br /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><br /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JPpOvn1MRBw?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="550" height="350"></object></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Peter also noted that "Its close approach is being followed with great<br />interest, more for honing the skills and techniques of the Minor Planet<br />Center and the network of asteroid hunting astronomers, rather than<br />because it poses any real danger."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Thanks to Peter and his <a target="_blank" href="http://aartscope.blogspot.com/">Aartscope Blog</a> for sharing these views with Universe Today.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/jun/27/asteroid-poses-no-threat-earth" target="_blank">Yet another asteroid skims past Earth today!</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Ian Sample<br /><br />The Guardian<br /><br />Mon, 27 Jun 2011 12:48 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/230615-Yet-another-asteroid-skims-past-Earth-today-#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/71369/full/Asteroid_enters_Earths_at_007.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Denis Scott/Corbis"><img alt="" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/71369/medium/Asteroid_enters_Earths_at_007.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Denis Scott/Corbis</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">If the asteroid enters the Earth's atmosphere on a future pass it will burn up harmlessly.</span></div><br /></div><br /><em>Asteroid 2011 MD will make its closest approach to Earth at 6.14pm BST on Monday but is highly unlikely to hit anything</em><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />A lump of space rock the size of a small house will hurtle past Earth on<br />Monday evening in a close encounter that poses no threat to the planet,<br />astronomers said today.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The asteroid, which is 8 metres across and called 2011 MD,<strong> is due to pass within 12,000km of Earth</strong>, making its closest approach over the southern Atlantic Ocean at around 6.14pm BST on Monday evening.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />With clear skies, the asteroid may reflect enough of the sun's light as<br />it shoots past to be visible to amateur astronomers with sizeable<br />telescopes.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The rock - a fragment smashed off a much larger asteroid - was<br />spotted by astronomers last week using a pair of robotic telescopes in<br />Socorro, New Mexico.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Images from the telescopes taken at different times are<br />overlaid to reveal moving objects against the starry background.<br />Scientists estimated the asteroid's size by measuring its brightness and<br />making assumptions about its chemical composition.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Kevin Yates, manager of the Near Earth Object Information Centre in<br />Leicester, said: "This a tiny asteroid by any standards. It's at the<br />limit of what can be detected."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The asteroid is circling the sun at a speed of 29 kilometres per second<br />on a similar path to Earth's and makes a complete orbit every 396.4<br />days. Nasa officials said an object of comparable size could be expected<br />to come this close to Earth once every six years.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The asteroid will pass between the Earth and the moon's orbit, making it<br />an official "intruder" in astronomy terms. As it passes by, the rock<br />will enter a region of space around our planet known as its Hill sphere,<br />where Earth's pull is the dominant gravitational force on other<br />objects.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"As the asteroid passes by, its orbit will be changed and no one knows<br />what that means for future passes and whether it will eventually collide<br />with the Earth.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"If it does collide, the majority of it will burn up in the atmosphere<br />and we'll get a few meteorites on the ground. If those are found, they<br />will tell us something about its origins," Yates told the <em>Guardian</em>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />On Monday the asteroid will cross the orbits of geostationary<br />satellites, but the odds of the rock striking a satellite are extremely<br />low, Yates added.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Astronomers rank the danger posed by approaching asteroids on the Torino<br />scale, which ranges from zero - when there is no chance of a<br />collision, or the object is bound to burn up in the atmosphere - to<br />10, when a collision is certain and could cause a global climatic<br />catastrophe that may "threaten the future of civilisation as we know<br />it". Nasa officials have ranked asteroid 2011 MD as a zero on the scale.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The space rock will have started life billions of years ago in the<br />asteroid belt that lies between Mars and Jupiter. The asteroid could be<br />rich in carbon or may be a solid lump of iron and nickel.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Although the event will be a close shave in astronomical terms, the<br />record for a passing asteroid is held by 2011 CQ1, which came within<br />5,480km of Earth in February.<br /></div><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>Other recent near misses, nearly all of which were spotted <strong>as they flew past</strong>!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/229508-An-Asteroid-Missed-Earth-this-Week-What-are-the-Odds-that-We-ll-Always-be-Lucky-" target="_blank">An Asteroid Missed Earth this Week -What are the Odds that We'll Always be Lucky?</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/227253-Scientists-find-asteroid-with-potential-power-of-15-atomic-bombs-Heading-this-way-Tonight-" target="_blank">Scientists find asteroid with potential power of 15 atomic bombs. Heading this way. Tonight.</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/225988-House-Size-Asteroid-Zooms-Close-by-Earth" target="_blank">House-Size Asteroid Zooms Close by Earth</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/223621-Apophis-Asteroid-Heading-Toward-Earth-2011-CA7-Asteroid-Passes-Today-" target="_blank">February 11, 2011</a>: 2011 CA7 flew within 64,300 miles from Earth.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/216336-Asteroid-Will-Closely-Buzz-Earth-Tuesday-October-12" target="_blank">October 12, 2010</a>: Asteroid 2010 RD54 came within 28,000 miles (45,000 km) of Earth<br /><br /></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"><br /><span class="atop-l"></span><br /><span class="atop-r"></span><br /></div><br /><div class="article-header"><br /><strong><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/8604009/International-Space-Station-evacuated-after-debris-threatens-craft.html" target="_blank">International Space Station Evacuated After Debris Threatens Craft</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Andrew Osborn<br /><br />The Telegraph<br /><br />Tue, 28 Jun 2011 17:03 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/230688-International-Space-Station-Evacuated-After-Debris-Threatens-Craft#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/71545/full/space_1932597c.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© AFP"><img style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/71545/medium/space_1932597c.jpg" alt="Space Station" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© AFP</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">The<br />ISS, the largest space station ever built, is used for scientific<br />experiments and is in low earth orbit, an altitude cluttered with space<br />junk</span></div><br /></div><br />Fragments of space debris came perilously close<br />to colliding with the International Space Station on Tuesday, prompting<br />its crew to seek temporary refuge in two Russian-built escape craft.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The worrying incident, thought to be only the third of its kind since<br />the international project began in 1998, saw space debris pass within<br />just 820 feet of the space station at high speed and at late notice.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"The space debris was detected too late for the station to<br />perform a ducking manoeuvre," a Russian space official conceded. "The<br />six crew members were given orders to relocate to the (two) Soyuz<br />spaceships," he added. If the station had been fatally damaged by the<br />debris, the crew would have evacuated it completely, he said, but in the<br />event the debris hurtled past without incident and they were able to<br />unlock the hatches and calmly return to the station.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The two Americans, three Russians and one Japanese astronaut spent a<br />nerve-racking half an hour before mission control gave them the all<br />clear however. The station's crew is usually given more warning of<br />potential collisions by Mission Control on earth and therefore has the<br />time to use the station's thrusters to change its orbit and move it out<br />of the path of any oncoming debris.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The ISS, the largest space station ever built, is used for scientific<br />experiments and is in low earth orbit, an altitude cluttered with space<br />junk. The debris includes spent rocket stages, old satellites, metal<br />fragments created by anti-satellite weapons, and even flakes of paint.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Though small the debris represents a serious threat to the station and<br />the crew's lives due to the high speed at which it travels. The ISS<br />itself could remain in operation until 2028 and is regarded as a unique<br />testing ground for future manned missions to Mars and the Moon. It<br />orbits the earth at between 173 and 286 miles and travels at an average<br />speed of 17,227 miles per hour completing 15.7 orbits per day.<br /></div><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>Considering the attention given by NASA<br />to cataloging and tracking 'space junk', we wonder what this unexpected<br />'debris' actually was?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><br /><a href="http://www.yle.fi/uutiset/news/2011/06/light_phenomenon_excites_uusimaa_meteor_spotters_2689845.html" target="_blank">Finland: Light Phenomenon Excites Uusimaa Meteor Spotters</a></strong><br /><div class="article-header"><br /><h2><br /></h2><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="m-bar">YLE, Finland<br /><br />Tue, 28 Jun 2011 05:10 CDT</div><br /><br /><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/71561/full/meteoriittikuoppa2_415679b.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© YLE"><img height="226" width="390" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/71561/large/meteoriittikuoppa2_415679b.jpg" alt="Meteor Impact?" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© YLE</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">The granular white substance mistaken for a meteorite landing site.</span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br />An extraordinary light phenomenon was visible in the southern<br />province of Uusimaa on Monday night. Eyewitnesses described the<br />phenomenon as a yellow ball with a green trailing flash.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The sighting could have been a meteorite around the size of a football, according to Marko Pekkola, editor of the <em>Tähdet ja avaruus</em> (Stars and space) magazine.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Locals found a possible landing site for a meteorite near a beach in the<br />town of Järvenpää. The site had a white granular substance covering an<br />area around half a metre in diameter.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />A police patrol arrived on the scene and confirmed the eyewitnesses'<br />story. Later the authorities stated that the site was probably not<br />connected with the meteorite.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"><br /><span class="atop-l"></span><br /><span class="atop-r"></span><br /></div><br /><div class="article-header"><br /><div class="article-icon"><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><strong><a href="http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20110627/us_ac/8707267_astronomers_incoming_nearmiss_asteroid_calculations_wrong_1" target="_blank">Astronomers: Incoming Near-Miss Asteroid Calculations Wrong</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Saul Relative<br /><br />Yahoo Contributor Network<br /><br />Mon, 27 Jun 2011 20:15 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><br /><br /></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/71661/full/Asteroid_2011_MD.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Unknown"><img style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/71661/medium/Asteroid_2011_MD.jpg" alt="Asteroid 2011 MD" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">First Photos of Incoming Asteroid 2011 MD<br /><br /></span></div><br /></div><br />Astronomers<br />observing inbound asteroid 2011 MD found that their calculations were a<br />little off. The asteroid, which measures 15 feet by 60 feet wide, is<br />what is known as a PHA (Potentially Hazardous Asteroid), and was headed<br />toward Earth. It is just one of many that NASA's Near Earth Objects<br />Observation Program regularly tracks. But this particular massive space<br />rock was scheduled to arrive Monday morning and pass about 7,500 miles<br />above the Earth's surface. It did neither.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Getting calculations wrong by a degree or two could mean the difference<br />between a fly-by and a devastating impact. This time, the calculations<br />erred in the Earth's favor...<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />2011 MD arrived as planned, but not where or when astronomers first<br />suspected, according to the Associated Press. Updated information put<br />the asteroid passing by the Earth at just after noon (1:00 p.m. EDT). It<br />did not come as close as they thought it would, either. Calculations<br />also found the asteroid passing by the Earth at a distance of 7,600<br />miles away.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Although science fiction movies and television shows thrill us with the<br />horrors of an impending asteroid-based cosmic hit job (think: <em>Armageddon</em> and <em>Deep Impact</em>),<br />shelving the thought of an apocalyptic run-in with a gigantic space<br />rock is a distinct possibility. It is theorized -- and subsequent data<br />and studies have reinforced the theory -- that just such a collision<br />occurred 65 million years ago, slamming into the Gulf of Mexico region<br />and forming the Chixulub Crater. It is believed to be the major cause of<br />the extinction of the dinosaurs and the mass die-off at the end of the<br />Cretaceous Period, forming what scientists call the K-T boundary, the<br />geologic boundary that exists between the Cretaceous and Tertiary<br />Periods of geologic time.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />CNN reported in 2010 that researchers reaffirmed the 1980<br />theory, their findings from a Chixulub Crater which was discovered in<br />1991, indicating that an asteroid 6 miles in diameter slammed into the<br />Earth at 43,000 miles per hour. The resulting crater measured 24 miles<br />deep and 125 miles wide. It is estimated that the asteroid hit with an<br />impact comparable to a blast created by the detonation of 100 million<br />megatons of TNT.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Species-ending impacts aside, the New Earth Objects Program currently tracks nearly 800 PHAs.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />2011 MD was just the latest near miss-by an asteroid. In fact, a smaller<br />asteroid passed even closer to the Earth in January -- just 3,400 miles<br />out. In just the last week, the program tracked 10 PHAs, most passing<br />outside of an Astronomical Unit (nearly 93 million miles) from the<br />planet. This includes 65909 (1998 FH12), an asteroid that measures a<br />quarter-mile by a half-mile wide, which passed by on June 23.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><em>Source: The Associated Press</em><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>There now, don't you feel better?<br />Asteroids are itty-bitty and they only come now and again. No big rocks<br />for a couple million years or so. Back to sleep. But if you are one<br />who prefers to know what's really going on you can start here:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/151954-Meteorites-Asteroids-and-Comets-Damages-Disasters-Injuries-Deaths-and-Very-Close-Calls" target="_blank">Meteorites, Asteroids, and Comets: Damages, Disasters, Injuries, Deaths, and Very Close Calls</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a href="http://charleston.thedigitel.com/entertainment/charlestons-about-party-103rd-anniversary-tunguska-32153-0629" target="_blank">South Carolina, US: Charleston's about to party for the 103rd anniversary of The Tunguska Event</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Amanda Click<br /><br />Digitel Charleston<br /><br />Thu, 30 Jun 2011 06:13 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/230765-South-Carolina-US-Charleston-s-about-to-party-for-the-103rd-anniversary-of-The-Tunguska-Event#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/71702/full/220px_Tunguska.png" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Soviet Academy of Science "><img alt="" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/71702/medium/220px_Tunguska.png" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Soviet Academy of Science </span><br /><br /><span class="caption">Trees knocked over by the Tunguska blast.<br /><br /></span></div><br /></div><br />Charleston's about to party for the 103rd anniversary of The Tunguska Event<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />On June 30th, 1908, the largest explosion in Earth's recent history occurred near the Tunguska River in remote Siberia.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />A massive space rock traveling at a speed of 33,500 miles per hour<br />plunged into the atmosphere before detonating in the sky, releasing<br />energy equivalent to that of 185 Hiroshima bombs. Seismic shockwaves<br />were registered as far away as England. There is no direct evidence that<br />any humans perished. There are many theories abound as to what exactly<br />happened, but we may never know the entire truth.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />To celebrate the 103rd anniversary of this cataclysmic anomaly, Tivoli<br />Studios & Garden will be hosting The Tunguska Event, a celebration<br />of art, music, and mobile cuisine in an explosive setting on Thursday,<br />June 30th, from 6 to 10 p.m. The South Carolina Broadcasters will play<br />several sets throughout the evening, as live art demonstrations take<br />place around the warehouse. Roti Rolls, Diggity Donuts, and Taco Boy<br />will be on hand to feed you from their trucks. All of the artist studios<br />at Tivoli will be open to the public.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Tivoli is located below the I-26 overpass on Upper King Street,<br />across the street from the Recovery Room. Ample parking is available on<br />both sides of our building. There will be a suggested donation of $5<br />for each attendee.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The information above was pulled from the event's official Facebook<br />invite. If you'd like to see who all is planning to attend (it's already<br />up to 130 people at the time of this post) and score directions to<br />Tivoli, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=130606897018028" target="_blank">click here.</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a href="http://www.economicvoice.com/looking-for-tunguska-threats-from-outer-space/50020889#axzz1Qknwh7zB" target="_blank">Looking for threats from outer space</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar"><br /><br />Economic Voice<br /><br />Thu, 30 Jun 2011 06:30 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/230767-Looking-for-threats-from-outer-space#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/71710/full/tunguska_kulik.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Leonid Kulik Expedition, Wikipedia"><img alt="" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/71710/medium/tunguska_kulik.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Leonid Kulik Expedition, Wikipedia</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">Tunguska: The Largest Recent Impact Event<br /><br /></span></div><br /></div><br /><em>If you think that the worst that could happen to us is a run on the banks and economic meltdown then think again.</em><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />This Monday 27th June 2011 a small asteroid will pass within 8,000 miles<br />of the Earth, a mere hair's breadth by astronomical standards.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />NASA's Near Earth Object Observation Programme though is on the watch<br />for those objects that threaten to actually collide with our planet.<br />Their aim is to detect these threats as far ahead as possible, leaving<br />us many years, if not decades or more, to work out how to prevent any<br />collision.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />This month 103 years ago a large comet entered the atmosphere and caused<br />an air burst over Podkamennaya Tunguska River, Siberia. As a result<br />some 80 million trees were flattened. The trees nearest the epicentre<br />were still standing but stripped as bare as telephone poles. Although<br />no-one was reported to have died in this event in such a remote area,<br />hundreds of the reindeer the locals relied on for their livelihood were<br />killed.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />At the time the locals thought that they had been cursed by the<br />god Ogdy and their reluctance to talk about it together with<br />difficulties getting to the region meant that it took many years for<br />investigators to find out what had happened. The first scientific team<br />led by Leonid Kulik of the St Petersburg museum did not get to the area<br />for 19 years.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />According to NASA the asteroid, which weighed in at 220 million pounds,<br />hit the Earth's atmosphere at 33,500 mph. The asteroid caused the air to<br />heat to 44,500 degrees Fahrenheit and the asteroid released the energy<br />equivalent of 185 Hiroshima 'Little Boy' bombs (this figure varies<br />depending on which source you look at). The Little Boy yielded the<br />equivalent of 13-18 kilotons of TNT.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The asteroid did not actually hit the earth, but it disintegrated with<br />such force that it flattened 20,000 square kilometres of woodland.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />So next time you hear politicians warning about how critical a few banks are just give this a thought.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/8607418/Britain-in-list-of-countries-most-at-risk-if-an-asteroid-strikes.html" target="_blank">Britain in list of countries 'most at risk' if an asteroid strikes</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar"><br /><br />Telegraph UK<br /><br />Thu, 30 Jun 2011 06:42 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/230768-Britain-in-list-of-countries-most-at-risk-if-an-asteroid-strikes#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/71716/full/asteroid_falling_1570944c.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Associated Press/NASA"><img alt="" height="257" width="399" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/71716/large/asteroid_falling_1570944c.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Associated Press/NASA<br /><br /></span></div><br /></div><br /><em>Britain<br />has been identified among a host of countries scientists believe would<br />be worst affected in the event of an asteroid strike.</em><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Experts at Southampton University have drawn up a league table of<br />countries most likely to suffer severe loss of life or catastrophic<br />damage should a large asteroid hit Earth.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The list is largely made up of developed nations including China, Japan,<br />the United States and Italy, on the basis that the size of their<br />populations would mean millions of deaths.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The US, China, Indonesia, India and Japan are most in danger on this<br />basis. Canada, the US, China, Japan and Sweden are rated most at risk in<br />terms of potential damage to their infrastructure.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The report comes after a rock the size of a house came within 7,500 miles of Earth earlier this week.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The list has been compiled using software called NEOimpactor, using data from NASA's Near Earth Object programme.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"The threat of Earth being hit by an asteroid is increasingly being<br />accepted as the single greatest natural disaster hazard faced by<br />humanity," said Nick Bailey, of the University of Southampton, who<br />developed the NEOimpactor software.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"The consequences for human populations and infrastructure as a result of an impact are enormous."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />He added that the devastation wreaked by an asteroid which landed in a<br />remote spot near the Tunguska River in Russia in 1908 demonstrated the<br />impact such an event could have on a populated place.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"While it only flattened unpopulated forest, had it exploded over London<br />it could have devastated everything within the M25," he said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Our results highlight those countries that face the greatest risk from<br />this most global of natural hazards and thus indicate which nations need<br />to be involved in mitigating the threat."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />An asteroid is thought to have been responsible for the extinction of<br />the dinosaurs 65 million years ago - a rock up to 10 miles in diameter<br />hit Earth at 25,000 an hour with a force of 100 megatons, the<br />equivalent of one Hiroshima bomb for everyone on the planet.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Earth has avoided such an event since in part because of Jupiter's gravitational field which limits our exposure to space rocks.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The countries most at risk:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />China<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Indonesia<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />India<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Japan<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The U.S<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The Philippines<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Italy<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Britain<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Brazil<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Nigeria<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a href="http://hudsonvalleygeologist.blogspot.com/2011/06/peekskill-meteorite.html" target="_blank">Peekskill Meteorite</a><br /><br /><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Steven Schimmrich<br /><br />Hudson Valley Geologist<br /><br />Tue, 28 Jun 2011 14:21 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><br /><br /></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br />You may not have known it, but yesterday (Monday, June 27, 17:00 UTC) a 10 meter diameter asteroid called <a href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/06/26/rv-sized-asteroid-will-buzz-the-earth-on-monday/" target="_blank">2011 MD</a><br />passed within 12,400 km (7430 miles) of the Earth's surface. For<br />reference, that's about one Earth diameter away from us and about 31<br />times closer than the Moon. There was no danger of it hitting but<br />sometimes the Earth's gravitational field happens to catch one of these<br />space rocks. Here's the story of a much smaller meteorite which came<br />crashing into the Hudson Valley 20 years ago.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />On October 9, 1992, a meteorite entered Earth's atmosphere somewhere<br />over Kentucky, exploded into fragments, which continued over West<br />Virginia, where it was first filmed at 11:48 pm. The trajectory was<br />toward the northeast, moving as a fireball through the skies over<br />Maryland, eastern Pennsylvania, and finally crashing down to Earth<br />striking a 1989 Chevy Malibu belonging to a Michelle Knapp at 207 Wells<br />Street in Peekskill - a town in the in the lower Hudson Valley of New<br />York (across the river from Bear Mountain).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />At least 16 people in several states were able to film the meteorite<br />fragments flying through the sky that evening. The Peekskill fragment<br />was the only one found, but there were others that didn't make such a<br />conspicuous touchdown.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><object style="height: 390px; width: 400px;"><br /><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/B17TmSSb5aI?version=3"><br /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><br /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/B17TmSSb5aI?version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="550" height="335"></object></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Check out this French <a href="http://fireball.meteorite.free.fr/meteor/fr/1/1992-10-09/peekskill/video" target="_blank">website </a>with all 16 known Peekskill meteorite videos.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Here's a picture of the 12.4 kg (27 lbs) meteorite after it struck the car (notice the red paint!).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/71801/full/x1.gif" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© R.A. Langheinrich Meteorites"><img alt="" height="297" width="377" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/71801/large/x1.gif" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© R.A. Langheinrich Meteorites</span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br />The meteorite was sliced up for sale to collectors. Here's one piece that was sold.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/71802/full/x2.gif" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© R.A. Langheinrich Meteorites"><img alt="" height="255" width="387" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/71802/large/x2.gif" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© R.A. Langheinrich Meteorites<br /><br /><br /><br /></span></div><br /></div><br />The<br />meteorite was classified as an H6 chondrite - a rather ordinary<br />meteorite that wouldn't have commanded such a high price without its<br />amazing history. Meteorites are traditionally classified as either<br />iron, stony-iron, or stony. Chondrites are a type of stony meteorite<br />characterized by spherical chondrules which are believed to have<br />originated as millimeter-scale molten droplets of silicate minerals<br />(olivines and pyroxenes) freely floating in the early solar system. The<br />dust, small grains, and chondrules that make up the small asteroid<br />parent body sources of these meteorites represent some of the earliest<br />material from our forming solar system some 4.56 billion years ago.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Chondrites make up 86% of the witnessed meteorite falls, they're very<br />common. H-type chondrites are so-named because they have the highest<br />total iron content (~30%) of the stony chondrites. The 6 refers to the<br />petrologic class of the meteorite - basically the amount of thermal<br />metamorphism it experienced. We may even know where all H-type<br />chondrites come from, there's good evidence that collisions with an<br />asteroid called 6-Hebe provided the raw material for these rocks.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The wealth of observational data allowed the velocity and orbital<br />characteristics of this meteorite to be calculated. It's<br />pre-atmospheric velocity was estimated to be 14.72 km/s (almost 33,000<br />mi/hr!). Prior to colliding with the Earth, its elliptical orbit around<br />the Sun would have had a perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) of<br />0.886 AU and an aphelion (furthest distance from the Sun) of 2.1 AU (1.0<br />AU, or Astronomical Units, is the average distance of the Earth to the<br />Sun - about 150 million kilometers or 93 million miles).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />So, while having a meteorite strike your car may sound like a bad thing,<br />it's actually like winning the lottery. The car and meteorite were<br />purchased at auction from Ms Knapp for about $100,000 (back in 1992) and<br />have <a href="http://www.nyrockman.com/peekskill.htm" target="_blank">toured the world.</a> Here's a picture of the famous car and meteorite on display in a glass box (hence the reflections) in Paris.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/71803/full/x.gif" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Astronomy Picture of the Day"><img alt="" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/71803/large/x.gif" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Astronomy Picture of the Day</span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br />A meteorite is welcome to strike the back of my car any time.<br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><a href="http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/aroundthemall/2011/06/one-hundred-years-ago-today-a-mars-meteorite-fell-in-a-blaze/" target="_blank">One Hundred Years Ago Today, A Mars Meteorite Fell in a Blaze</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Arcynta Ali Childs<br /><br />Smithsonian.com<br /><br />Tue, 28 Jun 2011 15:52 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><br /><br /></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/71835/full/nakhla_metorite_natural_histor.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/71835/medium/nakhla_metorite_natural_histor.jpg" alt="meteroite" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><br /><br /><span class="caption">One<br />of the two original pieces of Nakhla sent to the Smithsonian, virtually<br />untouched since 1911. Photo courtesy of the Natural History Museum.</span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br />On the morning of June 28, 1911, somewhere between 8:30 and 9:00 in<br />the morning, a fireball was observed northwest of Alexandria, Egypt. Few<br />would realize what it was. But soon after, W.F. Hume, minister of the<br />Geological Survey of Egypt, began taking eyewitness statements, and two<br />months later published his report, "The First Meteorite Record in<br />Egypt."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />One of those statements, from a farmer who claimed to have seen a<br />fragment fall on a dog, gave rise to the popular myth that Nakhla, as<br />the meteorite would be named, was "the dog killing meteorite," an<br />unsubstantiated claim, but the dramatic account is irresistible: "The<br />fearful column which appeared in the sky at Denshal was substantial. The<br />terrific noise it emitted was an explosion which made it erupt several<br />fragments of volcanic materials. These curious fragments, falling to<br />earth, buried themselves into the sand to the depth of about one metre.<br />One of them fell on a dog. . .leaving it like ashes in a moment."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Approximately 40 stones were recovered southeast of Alexandria, near the<br />town of Abu Hummus. Of the stones recovered, Hume immediately sent two<br />of them to the Smithsonian Institution, weighing 117g and 52g (or 4.3<br />4.13 ounces and .117 1.83 ounces). They arrived in August of 1911 and<br />have been a part of the Natural History Museum's collections ever since.<br />Today, we celebrate the 100th anniversary of Nakhla's landing.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"At the time that Nakhla fell, we didn't know that any of these<br />were from Mars," says Cari M. Corrigan, a geologist in the Division of<br />Meteorites at the Natural History Museum. "All we knew was that they<br />were different from the rest of the meteorites that we had, in general."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Looking at the crystalline composition of the stones, it was clear that<br />they had come from some sort of planetary body that had seen geologic<br />processes, like volcanoes, and that the 'parent body' they came from had<br />to be big enough for that kind of igneous activity to have taken place,<br />Corrigan says.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Asteroids were ruled out, because they weren't big or complex enough, so<br />scientists started looking at other planets. "They didn't say Mars, but<br />Mars-like, or the moon, or something that size," says Linda Welzenbach,<br />collection manager of the National Meteorite Collection. Mars was a<br />theory, but there was debate about whether or not you could actually get<br />rocks, similar to what was found, off of Mars without them completely<br />melting.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"There was very little science done on this rock until the late 1960s,<br />early 1970s," says Welzenbach, and identifying it was the result of a<br />coalescence of information. A direct link was established in 1976 when<br />the Viking spacecraft analyzed the Martian atmosphere. In 1983,<br />scientists at NASA's Johnson Space Center did a study where they<br />measured some gases trapped in another Martian meteorite and compared<br />that to the Viking landed atmospheric data. Their relationship to Nakhla<br />was evident and in 1983, Nakhla was officially recognized as a piece of<br />Mars.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/71836/full/Nakhla_smaller_meteorite_300x2.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/71836/medium/Nakhla_smaller_meteorite_300x2.jpg" alt="meteroite" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><br /><br /><span class="caption">The other Nakhla meteorite sent to the Smithsonian by Hume.</span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br />"Part of the reason it is significant to us is because it's from<br />Mars and it's one of the first meteorites from Mars that we had,"<br />Corrigan says. The first meteorite from Mars was Chassigny, which fell<br />in 1815, followed by Shergotty, which fell in 1865. After Nakhla, there<br />were no other Martian rocks until 1962 when Zagami fell in Nigeria,<br />Welzenbach says.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Studying these rocks has helped us understand the geologic history of<br />Mars," says Corrigan, "the interior and the geochemistry as whole, [and]<br />how the planet evolved."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Of the two original stones sent to the museum in 1911, the smaller one<br />was eventually cut and used for scientific study, while the other has<br />remained pretty much untouched since it fell. In 1962, E.P. Henderson,<br />curator of the museum's Division of Mineralogy and Petrology, as it was<br />called at the time, wrote to the Geological Survey requesting some more<br />material. They received 480g in 1962, a big piece - almost 17 ounces -<br />and which is on display in the museum. Two smaller pieces arrived in<br />1977. The museum's total holdings of Nakhla amounts to 650g, about 23<br />ounces.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.mnh.si.edu/visit/" target="_blank">Visitors can touch</a><br />a piece of the 1.3 billion-year-old meteorite - young in comparison to<br />most of the meteorites from the asteroid belt which are 4.5 billion<br />years old - at the National Museum of Natural History.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/colourful-spectacle-lights-up-sky-over-melbournes-west/story-fn7x8me2-1226085369102">Australia: Colourful Spectacle Lights Up Sky Over Melbourne's West</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Jay Savage<br /><br />Herald Sun, Australia<br /><br />Thu, 30 Jun 2011 18:17 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/230813-Australia-Colourful-Spectacle-Lights-Up-Sky-Over-Melbourne-s-West#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br />Mysterious bright lights have been spotted in the sky over Melbourne's western suburbs this morning.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Streaks of luminous blue, green and white lit up the area shortly before 6am.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The phenomenon was most likely caused by space junk or a meteor entering<br />our atmosphere, according to Australasian Science Magazine astronomy<br />expert David Reneke.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"My favourite (possibility) is always the fireball - that is, a meteor that's on fire," he said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"It's pretty rare. I've seen two in my lifetime. You're seeing a piece<br />of rock physically melting in front of your eyes. These things are<br />pretty startling."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The lights probably moved too quickly for anyone to catch the event on camera, he said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The spectacle comes after orbiting junk came perilously close to the International Space Station on Wednesday.<br /><br /><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">A Service of <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">Signs of the Times</a>: The most comprehensive, objective and reliable Alternative News Source on the Web. If you aren't reading <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">SOTT</a>, you don't know what's REALLY happening!</div>Keithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06011086310017706847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385115091808825739.post-16440801904463879712011-05-22T20:03:00.001+01:002011-05-22T20:07:30.637+01:00From Where I Sit: Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head<strong><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228862-From-Where-I-Sit-Raindrops-Keep-Fallin-On-My-Head" target="_blank">From Where I Sit: Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Laura Knight-Jadczyk<br /><br />Sott.net<br /><br />Fri, 20 May 2011 15:56 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228862-From-Where-I-Sit-Raindrops-Keep-Fallin-On-My-Head#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/67333/full/BS_Meter.gif" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© na"><img style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/67333/medium/BS_Meter.gif" alt="BS Meter" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© na</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">The BS meter is pegged.</span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br />A friend just sent me a link to an article: <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/world/iran-accused-of-september-11-role-20110520-1ewq7.html" target="_blank">Iran accused of September 11 role</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />All I can say is: that is just PATHETIC!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Anyway, the only reason I'm writing this late is because something is bugging me.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />What struck me tonight were a number of strange juxtapositions. First<br />off, there are the items about weather and earthquake weapons that made<br />the rounds over the past week or so. The first one was about former<br />Defense Secretary Cohen openly referring to HAARP when he admitted to<br />programs that could "alter the climate, set off earthquakes, volcanoes<br />remotely through the use of electromagnetic waves." Search for it on<br />the net, you'll find it on a bunch of conspiracy sites (not that we<br />don't think there's a whole bunch of conspiring going on ourselves here<br />on SOTT.net).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Admitting to programs that can alter climate, set off earthquakes, etc.,<br />is a bit ambitious and really has nothing to do with HAARP. <strong>HAARP is for mind control</strong>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>However, earthquakes <em>can</em> be set off with EMP weapons from satellites.</strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I think these clowns would love people to think that they can control<br />climate - and maybe they can if they set off a volcano. But what they<br />are really trying to do is blow smoke around REAL Earth Changes; changes<br />that they have no weapons to stop. And these Earth Changes are what<br />could, conceivably, destroy most of life on Earth.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/67343/full/HAARP.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Unknown"><img style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/67343/medium/HAARP.jpg" alt="HAARP" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">HAARP or "High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program" facility in Alaska</span></div><br /></div><br />It<br />drives me nuts when people keep going on about HAARP and that<br />'chemtrail' nonsense, and none of them are asking about all the secret<br />space missions of the past ten years or more, nor even really using<br />their noggins to think this thing through.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The Cs have been explaining this stuff and talking about it for<br />SEVENTEEN years now! They were actually the first to talk about EMP<br />weapons... then, years later, Col. Corso revealed a few tidbits about<br />them in his book <em>Day After Roswell</em>. Some time later, there was<br />semi-official acknowledgment of their existence and then later still,<br />everybody was talking about it.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Then there was Ronnie's "star wars" remarks...<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Just recently we see this: <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228732-Atmosphere-Above-Japan-Heated-Rapidly-Before-M9-Earthquake" target="_blank">Atmosphere Above Japan Heated Rapidly Before M9 Earthquake</a><br />Which makes one wonder if focused energy from space - whether of<br />cosmic origin or induced by satellites - might play a key role in<br />setting up earthquakes.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />There's more, of course, but these are dangling threads to follow and we<br />have followed them and have written about them, but we get drowned out<br />by the nonsense that passes for research nowadays, plus the major "HAARP<br />and chemtrail" propaganda that's been funded by the Pentagon for years<br />now. Heck, the same gang that funded the first HAARP book tried to buy<br />us back in 1997. We said "no thanks".<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I sure am glad for the Cs helping me navigate this nonsense.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The next one was "<a href="http://solari.com/blog/?p=11281" target="_blank">Secret Weather Weapons Can Kill Millions, Warns Top Russian Politician</a>". As you can see by clicking the link that even Catherine Austin Fitts has been taken in by this nonsense.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Really! Just watch Zhirinovsky doing his Nikita Khruschev impersonation. I mean, what is UP with that? <strong>It is DESIGNED to create all the speculations that are racing around the net about HAARP and 'Weather Weapons'.</strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Come on, people, THINK! It's obvious that Zhrinovsky has been tasked<br />with pushing the "Weather Weapons Technology" and "Weather Wars"<br />business in an effort to cover up the REAL EARTH CHANGES that are<br />happening NOW!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Next, of course, we have Ahmadinejad <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/05/19/ahmadinejad-says-west-to-blame-for-drought-in-iran/" target="_blank">accusing the West</a><br />of weather manipulation! If there was ever proof that there is already<br />a One World Government and the leaders of all the countries on the<br />planet are in on the farce that is being played out for humanity, this<br />is it! Russia and Iran pushing the West's agenda to mask Earth Changes<br />with propaganda about Weather Wars? Think about it.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />It's getting harder and harder to cover up and distract attention away<br />from the fact that our planet is in crisis. People are noticing and all<br />this weather weapons nonsense is designed to make people think it's all<br />a 'game'. <strong>The controllers want people to think they are in<br />control because if people really could see that it is really all of the<br />long-ago-predicted Earth Changes that we are experiencing NOW, they<br />would turn on the governments and devour them.</strong> Because realizing that it is Earth Changes - and that no one can control what is happening - takes away hope. <strong>And hopeless masses are very dangerous.</strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Now, I personally think that there are earthquake weapons in space, and they would have to be <em>in space</em><br />because you can't control waves that you send out over or through the<br />planet from a fixed locator such as HAARP. The Cs explained this and<br />darned if it doesn't look like they were right, yet again!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Moving on now. The next thing that catches my eye is the fact that two<br />fairly major players on the political stage got taken out in the same<br />week: <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228817-Strauss-Kahn-simply-had-to-be-eliminated-The-Amerikan-Police-State-Strides-Forward" target="_blank">Strauss-Kahn</a> and <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228858-US-Schwarzenegger-s-mistress-photos-surface-and-media-storm-begins" target="_blank">Schwarzenegger</a>.<br />Well, I never liked either of them but it's damned strange for this to<br />have happened so synchronously. After all, the PTB take care of their<br />own. <strong>If they can make people believe they got Osama Bin Laden, then they can get Arnie and S-K off the hook IF THEY WANT TO</strong>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Next, there are the meteorite/bolide hits that have been coming down lately.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />First item: <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228468-US-Officials-Believe-Meteorite-Hit-Basking-Ridge-Lawn" target="_blank">US: Officials Believe Meteorite Hit Basking Ridge Lawn</a> More details <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228513-US-New-Jersey-Mysterious-Hole-Appears-in-Ground-in-Bernards" target="_blank">here</a> (image below).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66779/full/ff.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© AP/Bernards Police Dept."><img alt="" height="305" width="400" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66779/large/ff.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© AP/Bernards Police Dept.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">This<br />photo provided by the Bernards Police Department shows a hole in the<br />front yard of a home in the Basking Ridge section of the township.<br /><br /><br /><br /></span></div><br /></div><br />Second item: <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228502-Croatia-Gardeners-Comet-Tale" target="_blank">Croatia: Gardeners Comet Tale</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />And of course, this one: Virginia, US: <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228456-Virginia-US-Unnerving-rumble-felt-across-Hampton-Roads-remains-a-mystery" target="_blank">'Unnerving' rumble felt across Hampton Roads remains a mystery </a> which didn't remain a mystery too long because the experts pronounced it to have very likely been an exploding meteorite.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Then more meteorites landing in close proximity to humans: <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228088-Meteorite-lands-on-roof-northern-Poland" target="_blank">There was also the meteorite impact in Poland</a> (see image below).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/65668/full/meteoryt_soltmany.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Michał Rzepka"><img alt="" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/65668/medium/meteoryt_soltmany.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Michał Rzepka<br /><br /><br /><br /></span></div><br /></div><br />I'm not going to list all the recent similar events, check our "<a href="http://www.sott.net/signs/list_by_category/17-Fire-in-the-Sky" target="_blank">Fire in the Sky</a>"<br />section for that. I'm just trying to make a point here. None of these<br />events are particularly exciting except for the fact that they made the<br />news in the way they did, <strong>and there was admission by authorities that they were probably meteorite impacts</strong>. But it reminded me of this exchange from a Cs session in 2001:<br /><blockquote class="typ1"><br />VB: Can you show Laura so she can describe to us, the catastrophic situation in our future, our near future?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Laura: <strong>It seems as though it will be a progression. Like the<br />beginning of rain, when the first few big, cold drops fall; and then a<br />pause followed by a few more drops; and then, a downpour</strong>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />VB: Describe what you are seeing?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Laura: I see rocks - but they aren't very large. They are like the size<br />of your fist. Just a few. And they make something of a stir. An uproar.<br />People will be excited... very upset. It looks like just two - two small<br />rocks. And then nothing else happens for awhile, and then they forget<br />about it. It all dies down. And then, a third, a fourth, a fifth and a<br />sixth - and maybe even a seventh... isolated events, or so it seems.<br />Still small. And then, a big one. All this will go on over a period of<br />months.<br /></blockquote><br />Now, of course, there are all these Fundies whining about the <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228655-Cosmic-propaganda-alert-World-will-end-on-May-21-says-Doomsday-Code-author-Robert-Fitzpatrick" target="_blank">rapture that's supposed to happen tomorrow</a>, fer gawd's sake! <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/223438-Pole-Shift-in-March-Not-Likely-" target="_blank">Last time</a> the Fundies were carrying on about the end of the world, Japan had an 8.9 earthquake. <strong>So, either they are picking up on something that other people are not, or somebody is planting rumors and fanning them</strong>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />NOW, Iran is being blamed for 9-11? Will signs and wonders never cease?!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />As I said, the Cs predicted what is happening right now 17 years ago and<br />laid out what it is due to... and they have been shown to be right time<br />and time again. Astronomer, Victor Clube, author of <em>The Cosmic Serpent</em> and <em>The Cosmic Winter</em>, wrote in a report commissioned by the U.S. Air Force:<br /><blockquote class="typ1"><br />"<strong>We do not need the celestial threat to disguise Cold War<br />intentions; rather we need the Cold War to disguise celestial<br />intentions!</strong>"<br /></blockquote><br />The World isn't going to end tomorrow and there isn't going to be a<br />'Rapture', but that doesn't mean that the next few days aren't sensitive<br />in terms of Earth Changes of some sort. But when, where, and how they<br />may strike, only the Universe knows. The future IS open, you know. <strong>On the other hand, somebody "in the know" may actually know <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/142651-Something-Wicked-This-Way-Comes" target="_blank">Something Wicked This Way Comes</a> and have at least an approximate ETA.</strong> Maybe that's the reason the BS has been cranked up to lethal levels?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Anyhow, that's what I see from where I sit.<br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">A Service of <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">Signs of the Times</a>: The most comprehensive, objective and reliable Alternative News Source on the Web. If you aren't reading <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">SOTT</a>, you don't know what's REALLY happening!</div>Keithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06011086310017706847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385115091808825739.post-59999664328355575172011-05-02T18:47:00.000+01:002011-05-02T19:09:06.302+01:00A Pig in a Poke and the scars of a Wayward Comet<strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/227829-A-Pig-in-a-Poke-and-the-scars-of-a-Wayward-Comet">A Pig in a Poke and the scars of a Wayward Comet</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="article-date">Thu, 28 Apr 2011 06:46 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-source"><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/227829-A-Pig-in-a-Poke-and-the-scars-of-a-Wayward-Comet#"><br /><br /></a></div><br />Dennis Cox<br /><br />Sott.net<br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="StoryComment"><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>With all of the data we've gathered here on SOTT over the past several years showing an <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sott.net/signs/list_by_category/17-Fire-in-the-Sky">increase in fireball and meteor sightings</a>,<br />we believe that studying impact events and understanding the fallout<br />from such events is a pursuit of supreme importance for all of humanity.<br />While it may not be the most comforting thought to know that we live<br />at the center of a cosmic turkey shoot, having knowledge of what may<br />befall us at any time is better than having none at all. Knowledge,<br />once applied, can ultimately protect, but having knowledge first is key.<br />And mainstream geologists - who've instead chosen to bury their heads<br />in the sand - have done little in terms of helping humanity understand<br />or prepare for such disasters.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />We recently featured the article <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/227015-A-Different-Kind-of-Catastrophe-Something-Wicked-This-Way-Comes">A Different Kind of Catastrophe - Something Wicked This Way Comes</a><br />by Dennis Cox where he lays out the evidence for impacts that don't<br />conform to the usual crater formations. The following is part of an<br />exchange we had with Dennis on this topic of mutual interest, and the<br />problem of malfeasance in the Earth sciences towards catastrophic<br />events. The interested reader may want to follow up on the suggestion<br />offered at the bottom.<br /><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a title="© Unknown" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/65104/full/cat_bag.jpg"><img title="Click to enlarge" alt="Cat Bag" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/65104/medium/cat_bag.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">A<br />pig in a poke or a cat in a bag? Mainstream science offers the latter<br />when it comes to understanding catastrophic earth-changing events.</span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br />A couple of years ago, as a hobby, and pastime, I set out to see if I<br />could work out a better way of identifying potential sites to go<br />meteorite hunting. I had learned to do battle damage assessment from<br />aerial reconnaissance photos a long time ago in the Army and the blast<br />damage, and ground effects from an explosive event, are pretty much the<br />same, no matter what the source of the explosion might be. It's only a<br />question of scale, and explosive force. Visually, there is very little<br />difference in the appearance of a bomb crater, and an impact crater of<br />the same size. So the military style forensic technique of reading the<br />patterns of movement in the emplacement of blast effected materials on<br />the ground applies well in the search for potential impact related<br />geology. The quality of the image data now commonly available to anyone<br />with a good PC, an internet connection, and a copy of Google Earth, is<br />excellent. In the past five years, the publicly available image data has<br />really come into its own. And today's 21st century satellite imagery<br />allows us to study the surface of the Earth at a level of detail our<br />fathers could never have imagined.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Almost a century ago, using aerial photography, a geologist named Harlan<br />Bretz noticed evidence for the mega-floods that sculpted the Grande<br />Coulee, and the 'Channeled Scablands' of eastern Washington. What he had<br />found, were the patterns of fluid flow, like the ripples you see in the<br />sedimentary deposits of a stream bed, but these 'ripples' are hundreds<br />of feet high. He saw them as empirical evidence of a major catastrophic<br />flood event, on a scale that the standard theorists of his day thought<br />was inconceivable.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Harlan Bretz was the first to use Aerial photographs to detect,<br />and map, catastrophic mass movement of the Earth's surface materials.<br />The aerial views allowed him a perspective from which patterns of fluid<br />flow, and catastrophic mass movement of terrain materials, could be<br />perceived on a scale that had been unimaginable until he described them.<br />And most of the academic community of his time thought he had a screw<br />loose, or two. After all, most geologists by that time had already<br />decided to agree without question that sudden, catastrophic, geologic<br />changes just don't happen anymore. And that all geomorphology on the<br />surface of the Earth is the result of slow processes we see going on<br />around us today, and requiring millions of years. They believed that<br />"The present is the key to understanding the past", and that the rocks<br />of that area were all 'well defined'. They were mistaken.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>The trouble we face today, Just as Mr. Bretz did back then, is<br />that through some 19th century process of mutual-inter-assumptive<br />reasoning, and confabulation, instead of sound, experiment-driven,<br />science, and for more that 150 years, the Earth sciences have been<br />founded on that unquestioned 'Gradualist' assumption.</strong> But<br />gradualism only works until something sudden happens. And if you want to<br />understand, or predict, the nature of the planetary scarring of a<br />geologically recent catastrophic event, especially one that's different<br />from anything that's ever been studied before, that 19th century,<br />gradualist-assumptive, reasoning just won't get you there.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Apparently, being able to see the truth is no guarantee that anyone's<br />going to bother to look where you're pointing anytime soon. It wasn't<br />until 1965 that a report from an independent geologist's tour concluded<br />that Harlan Bretz was right about the catastrophic geomorphology that<br />resulted from an early Holocene event he'd called 'The Spokane Flood'.<br />And finally, in 1976, at the age of 96, he was awarded the Penrose Medal<br />of the Geological Society of America. Which is just about the most<br />prestigious award a person can get in the field of geology. <strong>Upon<br />receiving the award, Mr. Bretz is said to have complained to his son<br />that he couldn't gloat properly, because all of his enemies were dead.</strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a title="© USGS" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/65106/full/channeled_scablands.jpg"><img title="Click to enlarge" alt="Channeled Scablands" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/65106/medium/channeled_scablands.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© USGS</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">Channeled scablands in Eastern Washington.</span></div><br /></div><br />The<br />satellites of today have upped the ante. Harlan Bretz could see<br />evidence of catastrophic material movement on a statewide scale. With<br />the imagery now available through Google Earth, we can detect, and read,<br />patterns of catastrophic mass movement of terrains on a continental<br />scale. The event Bretz perceived was only implausible from a standard<br />theory viewpoint because of its size. And yet, by comparison, and in the<br />final analysis, someday it may be seen that his glacial mega flood in<br />the Pacific Northwest was only a minor little footnote in the events of<br />the early Holocene. And some of those events were far more terrible then<br />a glacial flood event.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />One of the biggest mysteries I've ever confronted is in the question of<br />how theoretical geology could be so far removed from the empirical<br />reality now clearly legible in modern satellite images. I couldn't<br />understand how the geomorphology of the catastrophic terrains of central<br />Mexico, could be almost completely unstudied, and unexplained, except<br />by fanciful speculation that just doesn't hold up to close scrutiny. To<br />be fair publicly available image data has only come into its own in the<br />past three, or four years. And many of the terrain features in question<br />are not all that visible from ground level.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The old cliches like 'buying a pig in poke', 'don't let the cat out of<br />the bag', and 'empty sack of lies' all have their roots in the same old<br />con. It went something like this: At an old country fair, a con artist<br />would approach a likely looking mark to sell him a piglet in a 'poke'<br />bag. But it's not really a pig in the bag; it's a cat. The cat wiggles,<br />and squirms, just like a little pig when you poke him through the bag.<br />And as long as the bag stays closed, the con works just fine. But as<br />soon as the bag is opened, the cat escapes. And the victim is left<br />holding nothing but an empty sack of lies.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The root problem in the Earth sciences today goes all the way back to<br />Gottfried Leibniz, in the early 18th century, and his slogan of Natura<br />Non Facit Saltus, (Nature does not jump). Leibniz may have been a<br />mathematical genius. But he wasn't worth a damn as a geologist. <strong>He wouldn't even pass a 5th grade geology test of today.</strong><br />But he had the full backing of governments, big business, and the big<br />churches. Because he believed, and taught, that the Great God of the<br />Universe had created planet Earth, with all its flora, and fauna, just<br />for us, and to do with as we damn well pleased.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a title="© Unknown" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/65110/full/leibniz.jpg"><img title="Click to enlarge" alt="Leibniz" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/65110/medium/leibniz.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">Gottfried Leibniz - The grandfather of uniformitarian thinking in geology. "Nature does not jump"</span></div><br /></div><br />Linnaeus<br />and Darwin loved Leibniz. And they quoted him verbatim. He managed to<br />almost completely eliminate any academic consideration of episodic<br />worldwide catastrophes from western thinking. And by the time James<br />Hutton, and Charles Lyell, came along, most geologists were<br />well-conditioned followers of his way of thinking. Hutten may get the<br />credit in the history books for the origin of Uniformitarianism. And<br />Charles Lyell popularized his ideas in his book 'Principles of Geology'.<br />But Hutten, and Lyell, just picked up on Leibniz's thinking, and ran<br />with it. <strong>They weren't brilliant geological thinkers either.</strong><br />But their unquestioned uniformitarian/gradualist assumption, based on<br />the idea that the earth was shaped only by slow-moving forces still in<br />operation today, and expressed in the slogan of "The present is the key<br />to understanding the past", has become the foundation postulate of the<br />Earth Sciences ever since. Governments, and big institutions, loved it. <strong>They<br />bought it like a pig in a poke. And they bought with generous funding<br />packages that came with rules that shut the door to any publication, or<br />consideration, of sudden catastrophic events, as a possible driving<br />force in the geo-morphology of this world for more than 150 years.</strong> That's a cruelly long time time to leave the poor kitty in a bag.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />It all fits a familiar theme, don't you think? I'm mindful of high<br />priests proclaiming that; "God is in complete control folks, (and by<br />extension, his priests) rest assured that the universe is unfolding<br />slowly, uneventfully, and gradually, just for you, and just as he<br />intended. Now be good sheep. Pay your taxes, and tithes, faithfully.<br />Don't ask too many questions. Put your head down. And get back to work<br />before he gets pissed off, and your crops fail."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />But the questions of just what the hell happened around 13,000 years ago<br />that caused the extinctions of the mega fauna in North America, the<br />disappearance of the Clovis culture, and a return to Ice age conditions<br />that lasted more than a thousand years, has caused us to take a closer<br />look, and I'm afraid we've let the cat out of the bag.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The trouble, is that at least with regards to central Mexico, and much<br />of the American south west, their unquestioned assumptions that<br />significant, and geologically recent, catastrophic events just don't<br />happen, or at best are highly unlikely, can be shown to be as naive, and<br />just plain wrong, as flat world theory. And by extension, almost every<br />geologic theory that's been founded on that unquestioned assumption<br />becomes suspect, needing re-evaluation. And the whole edifice comes<br />tumbling down.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />As an autodidact I was both startled, and amazed, at how much the voices<br />of authority don't really know at all, but have merely assumed to be<br />true, based on the opinions of others. And which reasoning, and<br />assumptions, were themselves based on faulty, yet unquestioned<br />assumptions, of generations before them.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Unfortunately, it turns out that much of what we have been taught to<br />believe about the geo-history of our world is not based on sound,<br />experiment-driven science. <strong>But is founded instead, on an<br />antiquated system of mutual-inter-assumptive confabulation that is<br />rooted in that unquestioned uniformitarian paradigm.</strong> In other<br />words, the very foundation postulate behind the reasoning that produced<br />their geologic theories was wrong from the beginning. So many<br />catastrophic possibilities have been denied, or ignored, that when a<br />geological question regarding catastrophic geology gets answered with a<br />phrase that begins with the words, <strong>"Well, most geologists agree<br />that______", (fill in the blank) it should carry the same weight as,<br />"Well, most high priests, and scribes, agree that the world is a large<br />flat disk, carried through the universe on the back of a giant turtle,<br />while the sun, moon, and stars, dance merrily across the heavens above."</strong><br />The first time I heard that one was when I was a kid, and I wondered<br />what was holding the turtle up. I forget who told me it was turtles all<br />they way down. But the way I see it, most uniformitarian/gradualist<br />based theoretical geology, especially with regards to the consequences<br />of a catastrophic impact event is also turtles all the way down,<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The reason that there are few documented impact structures is not<br />because impacts, or their resulting structures are rare. It is because<br />we didn't know what happens to the ground in a very large airburst. It<br />has long been assumed that impact events only make craters. The role of<br />the atmosphere has been vastly underestimated. And airburst phenomena,<br />and the potential for ablative geomorphology in a very large airburst<br />has been completely overlooked. <strong>Until we saw the fragments SL-9 hit Jupiter no one could have imagined such energies coming from the sky.</strong> And no one could have imagined that there might be such a thing as a geo-ablative airburst event. Or a cluster impact event.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Nor could they have imagined what 1.1 billion tons of cometary debris,<br />all falling in the space of an hour, or less, might do to the ground.<br />But it works out to something like 10,000 examples of Mark Boslough's<br />simulation. And most of it was in two clusters that only took a few<br />seconds each.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />But the reason that no seismic, tomographic, deep penetrating radar, or<br />any other data has ever revealed, or confirmed, the existence of even<br />one of the giant, magic trap door rifts of the so called "Mid Tertiary<br />Ignimbrite Flare Up" that opened, and closed without a trace, or the<br />supergiant magma chambers, is simply because It never happened. In fact,<br />there is no such thing. Now that we know what an ablative airburst can<br />do, we can make the case that The Chihuahuan Ignimbrites of central<br />Mexico, and most sheet ignimbrite deposits, anywhere in the world where<br />the volcanic source remains a mystery are, in fact, probably the work of<br />an ablative airburst storm. Once you know what to look for, the scars<br />of these things are as common as craters on the moon. In other words,<br />the mystery of the missing craters is solved.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a title="© Crater Hunter" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/65107/full/Chihuahuan_Ignimbrites.jpg"><img title="Click to enlarge" alt="Chihuahuan Ignimbrites" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/65107/medium/Chihuahuan_Ignimbrites.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Crater Hunter</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">Chihuahuan "Ignimbrites" - evidence of impact.</span></div><br /></div><br />I've<br />often been told that to really flesh my theories of the planetary<br />scarring of a geo-ablative airburst event, and cluster impact events, I<br />really need to get some field work done. Heck those folks are preaching<br />to the choir. But to tell you the truth, I'm as poor as a church mouse.<br />And the funding for all the field work has been so far out of my reach<br />that I haven't really allowed myself to dwell on it much... Too<br />depressing. Sometimes I wish I could meet a semi retired someone with a<br />big RV, some time on his hands, and a desire to see some of the<br />damnedest terrains on this continent that they don't tell you about on<br />the maps, or travel brochures. And maybe even carve out a place in the<br />history books. Heck, if someone's going to tour the country anyway, why<br />not make it count for something?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />But to do a cheap round robin trip to a few of the main regions I'm<br />studying would entail a road trip of a little over 5000 miles. At a<br />conservative average cost of $1.50 a mile, transportation logistics, and<br />fuel costs, would be in the neighborhood of $7,500.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Extra instrumentation, such as portable GPS, ruggedized, laptops and<br />good cameras to document every thing would be critical. A portable<br />satellite dish to allow communication from remote campsites would be<br />also be helpful. And a portable XRF analyzer would be almost priceless.<br />Also helpful to study some of the small craters in west Texas, and New<br />Mexico, would be a portable ground penetrating radar unit. Although the<br />trip could still be a success without one. That trip for two, with<br />portable electronics included would run somewhere between $10,000, and<br />$15,000.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The trip would go to some of the craters, and airburst scars, in New<br />Mexico, and locations southwest, and west Texas, then to swing north up<br />into northern Minnesota to get specimens from the some of hydrothermal<br />burns where the LIS got hit. Especially some of the black splash of melt<br />near Upper Red Lake. From there we go to Southwestern Montana to get<br />specimens from some of the oval craters in the Rock Rock River Valley.<br />On the way, we could visit a couple of amazing places in Wyoming I<br />haven't mentioned online yet. And then down through Northern Nevada, to<br />get specimens from the oblique craters in a dry lake there.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The ideal scenario would be to use the business plan of doing the road<br />trip as a documentary. And take a good film crew along. As a film<br />production, overhead costs could easily triple. But the locations, and<br />terrains are interesting enough to make an exceptional documentary film.<br />Even if detailed analysis of specimens were to fail to produce a single<br />ET signature.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />One way it's money spent on doing good science in the field. The other<br />way it's money invested in the entertainment value of doing good science<br />in the field. <strong>But either way the focus needs to be on doing<br />good science, no matter what. And no matter the outcome the resulting<br />data might describe.</strong> So that even if the field data disagrees<br />with me, and my theories of airburst geomorphology, we still end up with<br />a documentary film that can provide a return on money invested for<br />field work.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />So I'm not talking about just a paradigm shift, or a new kind of<br />catastrophic event. I'm talking about a complete revolution in the Earth<br />sciences from the bottom up.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Sometimes I feel like I am a little guy treading water in the deep end<br />of the pool. And some of the big kids want to drown me. The high priests<br />of the Church of the Grand Uniformitarian Confabulation are going to<br />hate me for this. But I'm not interested in redecorating the holy of<br />holies with new curtains. Or tossing out a few beggars. I want to tear<br />down the whole damn temple, and build a new school from the ruins.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://craterhunter.wordpress.com/">Dennis Cox Website</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image to-center"><a title="© Unknown" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/65105/full/Tunguska.jpg"><img title="Click to enlarge" alt="Tunguska Artist" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/65105/medium/Tunguska.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">An artist's depiction of the Tunguska explosion.</span></div><br /></div><br /><div class="StoryComment"><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>It's pretty clear that humanity needs good<br />science if we are to survive and it is equally clear that we can no<br />longer rely on mainstream institutions to do good science for the<br />people. Good science doesn't mean taking an assumption and working<br />backwards to prove it, as uniformitarianists have done for the last 150<br />years, leading to a virtual dead-end. As Dennis states in his<br />previously featured <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/227015-A-Different-Kind-of-Catastrophe-Something-Wicked-This-Way-Comes">article</a>, "<strong>if you can describe a beast, you can predict its footprints.</strong>"<br />And understanding those footprints could mean a lot to the survival of<br />the human race. Now that you know what Dennis is trying to do - good<br />science - and what he needs to do it, would you consider contributing<br />toward his work on this supremely important issue that affects us all?<br />If so, you can contribute via Paypal to rickrak77(at)yahoo.com<br /><br /><br /></div><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">A Service of <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">Signs of the Times</a>: The most comprehensive, objective and reliable Alternative News Source on the Web. If you aren't reading <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">SOTT</a>, you don't know what's REALLY happening!</div>Keithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06011086310017706847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385115091808825739.post-51633174853861524972011-05-02T18:42:00.002+01:002011-06-12T14:01:02.369+01:00May 2011<strong><a target="_blank" href="http://jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/402148/mike-prangley/2011-05-01/fireball-confirmed-friday-night-more-trails-fire-sky">Fireball confirmed Friday night with more trails of fire in the sky this week! A new month will bring a new weather pattern!</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="article-date">Sun, 01 May 2011 10:45 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-source"><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/227978-Fireball-confirmed-Friday-night-with-more-trails-of-fire-in-the-sky-this-week-A-new-month-will-bring-a-new-weather-pattern-#"><br /><br /></a></div><br />Mike Prangley<br /><br />Jacksonville.com<br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/65469/full/beach_chairs.jpg"><img alt="" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/65469/medium/beach_chairs.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a></div><br /><br /><br />Here is what it looked like Friday night in our sky at about 10:15<br />p.m. The nice festive weather was not the only talk of the town this<br />weekend, that is for sure! The bluish-white streak of light with a green<br />tail and red fragments was a fireball or bolide which raced east in<br />about 8 seconds. Here is a file picture of what a bolide actually looks<br />like. It lit the sky up and was much brighter than last month's super<br />moon. It was a simply stunning sight. We had several e-mails in from<br />Camden County Georgia last night of folks saying they have never seen a<br />meteor that bright and it was so intense that a sonic boom was heard<br />about 2 minutes after it passed near the horizon. It did look like it<br />may have made it to the ground but there is no confirmation on this as<br />of yet. It was seen as far west as Alabama and as far north as South<br />Carolina!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />This is a rare type of meteoroid or shooting star that happens when a<br />much larger space rock that meets our atmosphere. Usually meteoroids are<br />the size of grains of sand this one was likely larger and maybe the<br />size of one or two of my weather clickers which I showed on Good Morning<br />Jacksonville to give you some more perspective. The trailing reddish<br />tail that seemed to be burning up was caused by this space rock igniting<br />due to extreme friction when it met the earth's atmosphere traveling at<br />close to 100,000 mph! The blue and green colors tell us its chemical<br />composition was made of copper. The reddish color was a sign that it was<br />also made of silicate.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />This type of event is rare and only occurs about once every year. This<br />week we will keep our eyes to the sky for more shooting stars. We have<br />the Eta Aquarids meteor shower that peaks on Thursday night and Friday<br />morning. Expect about 10 shooting stars per hour and they are known to<br />also leave fiery trails since these meteors making up this shower are<br />known to move at a whopping 150,000 mph. Make sure to look to the east<br />southeast about an hour or two before dawn on Friday morning. This<br />shower is caused by the earth going through the dust trail of Halley's<br />comet which will not be visible to earth until mid-2061 and was last<br />seen our sky in 1986. Enjoy the show.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Nature is also lighting up the skies this week with more storms<br />which are breaking out across some of the tornado ravaged areas of the<br />deep south. While severe weather is likely it will not be nearly as<br />widespread as last week. Here at home this weather system will warm us<br />up to well above average temperatures over the next couple days. By time<br />it arrives late Tuesday night and Wednesday it looks like it will not<br />have much wind shear or moisture to work with limiting instability. This<br />means do not expect another squall line of storms, just isolated shower<br />or thunderstorm activity.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />If there is good news the long-range models for the rest of May keep our<br />average high temperatures at least closer to normal after our warmest<br />April in 9 years. More importantly rainfall should start picking up as<br />well and end closer to normal. This pattern change is being caused by<br />many factors including pressure changes across the globe. This includes a<br />much weaker Bermuda high pressure in the southeast and a stronger high<br />pressure near Greenland. This set up brought us beneficial rains to<br />start the new year. This is welcome news but for this week no help for<br />our plants but we will have a nice reinforcing shot of Spring weather by<br />late week! </div><br /><div class="article-top"><br /><span class="atop-l"></span><br /><span class="atop-r"></span><br /></div><br /><div class="article-header"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><a href="http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com/2011/05/fireball-meteor-or-space-debris-over.html" target="_blank">Fireball Meteor or Space Debris over Doha, Qatar, Saudi Arabia</a></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar"><br /><br />Lunar Meteorite Hunters<br /><br />Sun, 01 May 2011 15:32 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228044-Fireball-Meteor-or-Space-Debris-over-Doha-Qatar-Saudi-Arabia#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Fireball Meteor or space debris over Doha, Qatar 10.30pm. 30 APR 2011</span><br /><br /><br />Low horizontal trajectory with flaming tail. First thoughts it was<br />flame from aircraft engine but no noise then i could see it breaking or<br />burning up over the sea. Did not think meteors would travel in what<br />seemed horizontal path in an easterly direction. <em>- Nicholas Couts</em><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Bahrain at approximately 9pm</span><br /><br /><br />My friend and I saw it in Bahrain at approximately 9pm. It was very<br />bright and moving extremely quickly. At first we thought it might be a<br />firework, but realised it was much too bright and fast moving. We west<br />facing west and it was moving in a north to south direction. The<br />following day, I saw a programme on the History Channel about meteors<br />and meteorites and have no doubt what we saw was a very bright meteor. <em>Regards, John</em><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Janabiyah, Bahrain 9pm, 30th April 2011</span><br /><br /><br />My neighbors and I saw it approximately 9pm, 30th April 2011 in Bahrain.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I just thought it was a huge shooting star at first, but then my<br />neighbors said it had to be a meteor. It was traveling horizontally in<br />an easterly direction and quite slow, so there was enough time to see it<br />properly. It looked like a bright white fireball which had a tail and<br />it eventually disintegrated and disappeared. We had never seen anything<br />like this before., what an amazing experience! :) <em>Regards, Anna </em><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Bylo said...</span><br /><br /><br />i saw that fire ball .. but time was not 10:30 .. it's about 9:00pm .. and it was so clear and long ..same like <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrL-cWaYdno&feature=related" target="_blank">this one</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Mette said...</span><br /><br /><br />I saw that fire ball - white ball with a long tale and not 10:30 is was about 9:00 pm<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Scott said...</span><br /><br /><br />Yep, we saw it too, same as described...definitely closer to 9:00<br />than 10:30. We were looking east out toward the Pearl and it moved from<br />south to north across the horizon.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Anonymous said...</span><br /><br /><br />yes this was around 9pm and it's long clear fire ball in the sky.. great indeed..<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a href="http://www.examiner.com/ufo-in-national/green-fireball-reported-over-lafayette-indiana-7" target="_blank">US: Green fireball reported over Lafayette, Indiana</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Roger Marsh<br /><br />UFO Examiner<br /><br />Mon, 02 May 2011 15:37 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228045-US-Green-fireball-reported-over-Lafayette-Indiana#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/65565/full/greenfireball_350_0.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Examnier / File illustration"><img style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/65565/medium/greenfireball_350_0.jpg" alt="Green fireball artists impression" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Examnier / File illustration</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">The green fireball - which may be a natural phenomena - has been spotted all across the U.S.</span></div><br /></div><br />An<br />Indiana couple driving along old Route 231 near McCutcheon High School<br />in Lafayette, watched a "very bright green-ish, glowing ball falling<br />towards the Earth," according to May 1, 2011, testimony from the Mutual<br />UFO Network (MUFON) witness reporting database.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"It scared both of us very bad, but was also exciting," the reporting<br />witness stated. "Instead on stopping and turning at our road to our<br />neighborhood, we decided to keep going down the road to see if we could<br />see it again because it went behind the treeline."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The couple did not see the object again.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Lafayette is the county seat of Tippecanoe County, population<br />67,140. No images or videos were included with the MUFON report, which<br />was filed on May 1, 2011. The event occurred on April 30, 2011. On the<br />same date, we also covered: <a href="http://www.examiner.com/ufo-in-national/green-fireball-reported-over-jacksonville-florida" target="_blank">Green fireball reported over Jacksonville, Florida</a>.<br />The green fireball sighting has been seen in many parts of the U.S.<br />over the past few years - and may be Mother Nature. We also personally<br />watched one of these: <a href="http://www.examiner.com/ufo-in-national/ufo-examiner-files-a-ufo-report" target="_blank">UFO Examiner files a UFO report</a> and <a href="http://www.examiner.com/ufo-in-national/green-fireball-sighted-again-over-pennsylvania" target="_blank">Green fireball sighted again over Pennsylvania</a>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Lafayette was also the town named in a March 31, 2011, report: <a href="http://www.examiner.com/ufo-in-national/indiana-ufo-jumps-from-one-cloud-to-the-next" target="_blank">Indiana UFO 'jumps' from one cloud to another</a>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Indiana is a current UFO ALERT 5 rating, with a low number of UFO<br />sightings nationally. Indiana had 11 UFO reports in April 2011 - while<br />California had 46 sightings, the highest reporting state in the nation.<br />Indiana is listed as a "Watch State" this month.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />You can read more details about other recently reported cases at the UFO Examiner <a href="http://www.examiner.com/ufo-in-national/ufo-in-national/ufo-in-national/ufo-in-national/ufo-in-national/ufo-in-national/ufo-in-national/ufo-in-national/ufo-in-national/ufo-in-national/ufo-in-national/ufo-in-national/ufo-in-national/ufo-in-national/ufo-in-national/ufo-in-national/ufo-in-national/ufo-in-national/roger-marsh" target="_blank">home page</a>. The most up-to-date UFO information can be heard at web radio show <a href="http://ufotrafficreport.com/" target="_blank">UFO Traffic Report</a><br />every Wednesday, 9 - 10:30 p.m. EST, which includes a UFO Witness<br />Testimony Program segment, and an update of the UFO ALERT national<br />rating system. Past shows are available at the Archive page.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The following is the unedited and as yet uninvestigated report filed<br />with MUFON. Please keep in mind that most UFO reports can be explained<br />as something natural or manmade. If Indiana MUFON State Director <a href="http://mufon.com/MapPages/IN.html" target="_blank">Stewart Hill</a> investigates and reports back on this case, I will release an update. Please report UFO activity to <a href="http://mufon.com/" target="_blank">MUFON.com</a>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">IN, April 30, 2011 - bright greenish fire ball falling from sky. <a href="http://mufoncms.com/cgi-bin/manage_sighting_reports.pl?mode=view_long_desc&id=28895&rnd=978101304348689" target="_blank">MUFON Case # 28895</a>.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Me my husband and my daughter wer driving home on old 231 heading toward<br />mccution high school in lafayette indiana and we were about to make a<br />left turn into our neighborhood when all of a sudden we both saw to or<br />right way up in the sky a a veryyyy bright greenish glowing ball falling<br />towards the eath.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />As it was happening both me and my husband just kept saying OMG!OMG! It<br />scared both of us very bad but was also exciting.Instead on stoping and<br />turning at our road to our neighborhood we decided to keep going down<br />the road to see if we could see it again because it had went behind the<br />treeline.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />We drove up the road to a clear spot and stoped on the side of the road<br />to see if it would show up again.It never showed up again though.WE<br />ended up going bach home and the whole rest of the night I kept getting<br />goosebumps.This happened at exactly 11:30pm.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"><br /><span class="atop-l"></span><br /><span class="atop-r"></span><br /></div><br /><div class="article-header"><br /><strong><a href="http://www.examiner.com/ufo-in-national/green-fireball-reported-over-jacksonville-florida" target="_blank">US: Green fireball reported over Jacksonville, Florida</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar"><br /><br />UFO Examnier<br /><br />Tue, 03 May 2011 16:02 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228048-US-Green-fireball-reported-over-Jacksonville-Florida#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br />A Jacksonville, FL, witness reports watching a "green fireball fall<br />down to Earth" at 10:05 p.m. on April 29, 2011, according to testimony<br />from the Mutual UFO Network (<a href="http://mufon.com/" target="_blank">MUFON</a>) witness reporting database.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"I was jogging toward the north when, in the corner of my eye, I saw a<br />green flash in the sky," the witness stated. "I stopped to watch as my<br />first instinct was that it might be a passenger jet with a serious<br />problem. For about 5 seconds I watched a green fireball fall down to the<br />Earth. This was toward the west. The event only lasted about 5 seconds<br />before it disappeared in a bright flash."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />No images or videos were included with the MUFON report, which<br />was filed on April 29, 2011. Jacksonville is the largest city in<br />Florida, in Duval County, population 821,784.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Florida is a current UFO ALERT 3 rating, with a high number of UFO<br />sightings nationally. Florida had 23 UFO reports in March 2011 - while<br />California had 45 sightings, the highest reporting state in the nation.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />You can read more details about other recently reported cases at the UFO Examiner <a href="http://www.examiner.com/ufo-in-national/ufo-in-national/ufo-in-national/ufo-in-national/ufo-in-national/ufo-in-national/ufo-in-national/ufo-in-national/ufo-in-national/ufo-in-national/ufo-in-national/ufo-in-national/ufo-in-national/ufo-in-national/ufo-in-national/ufo-in-national/ufo-in-national/ufo-in-national/roger-marsh" target="_blank">home page</a>. The most up-to-date UFO information can be heard at web radio show <a href="http://ufotrafficreport.com/" target="_blank">UFO Traffic Report</a><br />every Wednesday, 9 - 10:30 p.m. EST, which includes a UFO Witness<br />Testimony Program segment, and an update of the UFO ALERT national<br />rating system. Past shows are available at the Archive page.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">FL, April 29, 2011 - Green fire ball falling<br />toward the west followed by a pastel colored bubble ship appearing<br />toward the south. <a href="http://mufoncms.com/cgi-bin/manage_sighting_reports.pl?mode=view_long_desc&id=28861&rnd=545201304138898" target="_blank">MUFON Case # 28861</a>.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I was out jogging threw my neighborhood at about 10:05 on 4/29/2011 here<br />in JAX FL U.S.A. I was jogging toward the North when in the corner of<br />my eye I saw a green flash in the sky , I stopped to watch as my first<br />instinct was that it might be a passenger jet with a serious problem.<br />For about 5 seconds I watched a green fireball fall down to the Earth,<br />this was toward the west. The event only lasted about 5 seconds before<br />it disappeared in a bright flash.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />After seeing the first event I then turned around now heading south in a<br />hurry to get my family outside in case there was more to see. I then<br />noticed a pastel colored object that resembled a symmetrical gathering<br />of light bubbles. I then watched this for about 15 seconds before it<br />disappeared.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />A few things to note, we get a lot of air traffic here where I live and I<br />am very use to seeing aircraft of all types as I go walking at night<br />often. This includes shooting stars as well.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Also early on about 2 minutes or so before I viewed the fireball I<br />noticed a group of lights which resembled a plan heading south that<br />performed a sharp U-turn to the north/west. It seemed to sharp a turn<br />for your average passenger plane.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><a href="http://www.thenews.pl/national/artykul154669_meteorite-lands-on-roof--northern-poland.html" target="_blank">Meteorite lands on roof, northern Poland</a></strong><br /><h2><br /></h2><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">thenews.pl<br /><br />Wed, 04 May 2011 13:45 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228088-Meteorite-lands-on-roof-northern-Poland#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/65666/full/img_5443_334440_50047.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Unknown"><img alt="" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/65666/medium/img_5443_334440_50047.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span></div><br /></div><br />A<br />meteorite weighing about a kilogramme smashed into the roof of a<br />Masurian agro-tourism farm in the village of Sołtmany, near Kruklanki,<br />northern Poland.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Nobody was hurt but some damage was done to the roof.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Parts of the meteorite, which descended on Saturday causing some damage<br />to a barn roof, was recovered by astronomers from Olsztyn, and will be<br />examined by Professor Tadeusz Przylibski from Wrocław Technical<br />University. Then it will be handed over to the Nicolas Copernicus Museum<br />in Frombork or to the Planetarium in Olsztyn.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The meteorite, the biggest piece of which is about the size of a human<br />fist, has also caused a stir in the Polish scientific community as it is<br />the first planetoid fragment in 17 years to be recovered immediately<br />after its fall to Earth.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Probably the specimen is a chondrite, a fairly common type of meteorite,<br />derived from the belt of planetoids between Mars and Jupiter.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The last time Polish researchers recovered a chondritic<br />meteorite immediately after it fell was in 1994, in Baszkówka near<br />Warsaw.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />This was also Poland's only chondrite which did not fall apart after its passage through Earth's atmosphere.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/65668/full/meteoryt_soltmany.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Michał Rzepka"><img alt="" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/65668/medium/meteoryt_soltmany.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Michał Rzepka</span></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><a href="http://valdostadailytimes.com/top-local-news/x928072800/Possible-meteor-or-space-debris-event-seen-felt-across-South" target="_blank">US: Possible Meteor or Space Debris 'Event' Seen, Felt Across South</a></strong><br /><h2><br /></h2><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Dean Poling<br /><br />The Valdosta Daily Times<br /><br />Sun, 01 May 2011 12:37 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228164-US-Possible-Meteor-or-Space-Debris-Event-Seen-Felt-Across-South#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br />Valdosta - A meteorite or space debris may have been the cause of<br />fireballs reportedly seen in South Georgia skies Friday night and the<br />resulting impact felt from one end of Lowndes County to the other.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Meanwhile, similar reports of fireballs were filed throughout the state<br />and in other states, according to the American Meteor Society.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The Lowndes County 911 Center reported Saturday that an exact cause of<br />the phenomenon was never located. Authorities received several calls<br />Friday night reporting debris landing in specific regions, but nothing<br />was ever located.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Moody Air Force Base reported no sonic booms, an effect caused when an aircraft breaks the sound barrier, and no downed planes.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The reports started at approximately 10 p.m. Friday. Authorities continued responding to related calls reportedly past midnight.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Officials believe space debris may have been the cause of the<br />disturbance, said Paige Dukes, Lowndes County public information<br />officer.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The majority of 911 calls came from south Lowndes County as people<br />reported seeing either a fiery object or fiery objects falling from the<br />skies. People also reported a "boom" or series of "booms" rattling<br />windows and shaking houses.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Some people reported sounds similar to tapping on their windows, a pounding on doors, or a limb falling on a roof.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />These lights and booms were not isolated to south Lowndes<br />County. Authorities also received reports up through north Lowndes<br />County. On Facebook, posters reported seeing the lights in Albany,<br />feeling the impact in Cook and Echols counties.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Yet, the reports of a fireball Friday night were not simply a South<br />Georgia occurrence. The American Meteor Society clocked numerous reports<br />of a fireball seen through Georgia, Florida, Alabama and the<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Carolinas. These accounts all occurred within a 15-minute period from 10-10:15 p.m. Friday throughout all of these states.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The society website includes reports from the sightings in Valdosta and Ray City.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Night time so didn't see smoke however the fire ... trail was the most<br />impressive thing I've ever seen," wrote the unidentified Ray City<br />observer. "The head was white, followed by red and yellow edges and<br />tail. - 10 seconds after pass over we heard a 'sonic' boom."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />A Valdosta resident wrote on the Society site: "My gaze was first drawn<br />to the sky by fast, white ... flashing which I mistook for lightning<br />reflected off the trees/ground/house next to me, even though I knew<br />there was zero cloud cover and lightning was highly improbable. I<br />immediately looked straight up. My initial impression on seeing this<br />fireball was that I was seeing a stray firework that had never exploded<br />and was errantly shooting over me ... I doubted that this was a real<br />meteor until I heard a boom several seconds later. ... It did not sound<br />like it came from the sky, but rather from a point on the eastern<br />horizon past my line of sight (and also obstructed from my view). ..."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Another Valdosta witness posted on the AMS site: "... was very bright<br />and much larger than any other shower I have ever witnessed, by far the<br />largest and brightest I've ever seen. It disappeared in the atmosphere<br />so that leads me to believe it was a fireball. Hard to describe,<br />happened so fast. The body I know was orange and white. Only noticed it<br />because I could see blue lights reflected off the back of my car and I<br />thought it was police lights and looked up and saw it. Still not too<br />sure if that's what it was though."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Dr. Martha Leake, a Valdosta State University professor who teaches<br />astronomy and earned her doctorate in planetary sciences, said the<br />phenomenon could possibly be a meteorite or space debris.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />A bolide sometimes does explode upon entering the atmosphere and looks<br />like it is burning, she said. A bolide is a meteor-type that is often<br />considered synonymous with "fireball;" usually this term is used for a<br />very bright fireball.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Or it could have been space debris, a term referring to orbiting<br />human-created items that no longer serve any purpose. These items<br />occasionally return to earth.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Space debris usually appears as a burning trail of objects coming through the atmosphere, the VSU professor said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />This week, from May 4-8, a meteor shower should be clearly visible in<br />South Georgia's sky during the early morning hours, but that may have no<br />connection as a possible cause for Friday night's occurrence.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />She is merely speculating on possibilities based on reports given to her<br />by The Times. Leake was unaware of the reports until The Times called<br />her Saturday afternoon.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />However, at approximately 10 p.m. Friday, she heard what sounded like a<br />tree limb landing on her roof. But like so many other people who heard<br />something Friday night, she found everything secure while the cause of<br />the impact remained unexplained.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/987006--giant-asteroid-to-pass-between-earth-and-moon?bn=1" target="_blank">Giant asteroid to pass between earth and moon in November</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Lesley Ciarula Taylor<br /><br />Toronto Star<br /><br />Fri, 06 May 2011 11:51 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228192-Giant-asteroid-to-pass-between-earth-and-moon-in-November#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/65975/full/asteroid_impact.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© unknown"><img style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/65975/medium/asteroid_impact.jpg" alt="asteroid earth" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© unknown</span></div><br /></div><br />An<br />asteroid a little smaller than the CN Tower is hurtling toward earth<br />and astronomers have their cameras ready for a spectacular glimpse.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Called 2005 YU55, the asteroid will nudge closer to earth than the moon, passing by just 325,000 kilometres away.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Although modern technology will give astronomers the best-ever look at<br />the travelling piece of cosmological history, there is no fear it will<br />actually smack into earth.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"At one time we had classified 2005 YU55 as a potential threat," said<br />Steve Chesley, a scientist at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory's<br />Near-Earth Object Program Office.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Radar tracking last month, with the asteroid 2.3 million kilometres<br />away, meant "we were able to rule impacts out entirely for the next 100<br />years."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Asteroids have been this close before. But "nobody has seen<br />asteroid 2055 YU55 at four-metre resolution yet," JPL scientist Lance<br />Benner told the <em>Star</em> in an email.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"We did not have the foreknowledge and technology to take advantage of<br />the opportunity," said JPL scientist Barbara Wilson "When it flies past,<br />it should be a great opportunity for science instruments on the ground<br />to get a good look."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />YU55 is due to arrive "from a sunward direction" on Nov. 8 and the best time to see it will be later that day and into Nov. 9.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"This is a C-type asteroid, and those are thought to be representative<br />of the primordial materials from which our solar system was formed,"<br />Wilson said in a NASA release.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"This flyby will be an excellent opportunity to test how we study,<br />document and quantify which asteroids would be most appropriate for a<br />future human mission."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />A long-distance view in 2010 revealed "a dark, rocky object with a<br />composition similar to those of carbonaceous chondrite meteorites," said<br />Benner.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />This time, "we might see large boulders, possibly craters, hills and<br />valleys and perhaps some features that haven't been seen before."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Discovered in December 2005, the asteroid is about 400 metres wide.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a href="http://www.suite101.com/content/may-7-2011--georgia-visited-by-another-bright-meteor-a369946" target="_blank">U.S.: May 7, 2011- Georgia Visited by Another Bright Meteor!</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Steve Farmer<br /><br />Suite101.com<br /><br />Sat, 07 May 2011 21:29 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228264-U-S-May-7-2011-Georgia-Visited-by-Another-Bright-Meteor-#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66080/full/3222473_com_fireball_bolide.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Steve E. Farmer Jr."><img style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66080/medium/3222473_com_fireball_bolide.jpg" alt="boldie" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Steve E. Farmer Jr.</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">Georgia Fireball Bolide</span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br />Once again, on May 7, 2011, Georgia's night skies are lit up by a bright meteor - also known as a Bolide or Fireball.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />On the night of Monday May 2, 2011, sightings of a bright meteor<br />appearing over Georgia, Alabama, Florida, and other states were reported<br />to news stations and <a href="http://www.amsmeteors.org/" target="_blank">meteor reporting organizations</a>.<br />According to the reports, around 10:00 PM EST a very bright meteor made<br />its appearance high in Earth's atmosphere and produced quite a light<br />show for those fortunate enough to witness the event. Five day's later;<br />Georgia was once again visited again by another bright Bolide. This time<br />it was captured on video.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Video of the actual event can be found at the following link: May 7, 2011 <a href="http://www.cometary.net/Bolide_050711.mov" target="_blank">Bolide Over Georgia</a>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />A Sandia National Laboratories Fireball Camera, located in Ty Ty, Georgia on the site of the <a href="http://www.cometary.net/" target="_blank">Red Barn Observatory</a><br />was able to capture this particular event. The meteor appeared on May<br />7, 2011 at 1:01 AM EST and lasted for nearly seven seconds before<br />finally "burning out" near the eastern horizon. As of now, no other<br />observations of this fireball have been reported.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">2011 Eta Aquarids - Meteor Shower</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />During the Month of May each year, the Eta Aquarids, a meteor shower<br />that peaks each year on May 5th, provides spectators an opportunity to<br />observe meteors as they enter the Earths atmosphere - producing a stream<br />of light and often a smoke trail. While it is possible that this<br />particular fireball could have been associated with the Eta Aquarid<br />meteor shower, it's more likely that this meteor was a sporadic meteor.<br />Eta Aquarids are extremely fast meteors and last night's fireball<br />appeared to move very slow.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Bolides and Meteors</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Bolides, meteors that produce a flash or outburst, are not as common as<br />the "standard" meteor that can be seen on a near-nightly basis. On<br />average, five to six meteors can be observed per hour under clear, dark<br />skies - whereas bolides average about one per month. Bright bolides,<br />similar to the one that were observed on May 2, only average about one<br />per year. The Bolide that entered the atmosphere over Georgia on May 7<br />is slightly more common and can be observed three to four times per<br />year.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Meteoroids are generally described as the leftover fragments from the<br />time our Solar System was created. Once they enter Earth's atmosphere<br />and we see the trail of light they produce, they are known as Meteors.<br />Those that are lucky enough to make it to Earth's surface are known as a<br />Meteorite.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Observing Meteors</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />With two bright meteors in only a week and the Eta Aquarid meteor shower<br />ending, this could be a great time to get out and watch the night skies<br />for meteors. Observing meteors is simple. Find a comfortable spot<br />outside away from bright lights, relax, and watch the night skies. While<br />the Eta Aquarids are coming to an end, there's still the opportunity to<br />see sporadic meteors and possibly that rare Bolide!<br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a href="http://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/report_comets-gases-may-have-led-to-titan-s-atmosphere_1541145" target="_blank">Comets gases may have led to Titan's atmosphere</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar"><br /><br />Daily News & Analysis<br /><br />Mon, 09 May 2011 10:27 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228285-Comets-gases-may-have-led-to-Titan-s-atmosphere#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66118/full/titan_cassini.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Unknown"><img alt="" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66118/medium/titan_cassini.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">Saturn's Moon Titan</span></div><br /></div><br />A<br />study has suggested that comets blasting gases out of its icy crust<br />could have created the unique atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Several theories have come up earlier behind the origin of Titans<br />nitrogen-rich air. Titan is the only moon in the solar system with much<br />atmosphere.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Some theories suggest that volcanic activity might have belched it out,<br />or sunlight may have broken up a primordial atmosphere's ammonia<br />molecules. But these suggestions assume that the young Titan was a warm<br />world, whereas measurements by the Cassini spacecraft imply that Titan<br />has always been fairly cold.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The latest idea is that the atmosphere was created 3.9 billion years ago<br />in a period known as the late heavy bombardment, when comets swarmed<br />through the solar system.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Huge amounts of cometary bodies would have collided with outer icy<br />satellites, including Titan," New Scientist quoted Yasuhito Sekine of<br />the University of Tokyo, Japan, as saying.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />To mimic the effects of such high-speed impacts, Sekine and his<br />colleagues fired projectiles into a mixture of ammonia and water ice<br />similar to Titan's crust.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The impacts converted some of the ammonia into nitrogen gas, and<br />Sekine's team calculated that ancient comet impacts could have liberated<br />enough nitrogen to build Titan's atmosphere.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The study has been published in the journal <em>Nature Geoscience</em>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a href="http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-05-comet-elenin-preview.html" target="_blank">Comet Elenin: Preview of a Coming Attraction</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar"><br /><br />Physorg<br /><br />Thu, 05 May 2011 12:32 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228133-Comet-Elenin-Preview-of-a-Coming-Attraction#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/65767/full/cometeleninp.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA/JPL-Caltech"><img height="213" width="393" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/65767/large/cometeleninp.jpg" alt="Comet Elenin" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA/JPL-Caltech</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">Trajectory of comet Elenin.</span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br />You may have heard the news: Comet Elenin is coming to the<br />inner-solar system this fall. Comet Elenin (also known by its<br />astronomical name C/2010 X1), was first detected on Dec. 10, 2010 by<br />Leonid Elenin, an observer in Lyubertsy, Russia, who made the discovery<br />"remotely" using the ISON-NM observatory near Mayhill, New Mexico. At<br />the time of the discovery, the comet was about 647 million kilometers<br />(401 million miles) from Earth. Over the past four-and-a-half months,<br />the comet has - as comets do - closed the distance to Earth's<br />vicinity as it makes its way closer to perihelion (its closest point to<br />the sun). As of May 4, Elenin's distance is about 274 million kilometers<br />(170 million miles).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"That is what happens with these long-period comets that come in from<br />way outside our planetary system," said Don Yeomans of NASA's Near-Earth<br />Object Program Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena,<br />Calif. "They make these long, majestic, speedy arcs through our solar<br />system, and sometimes they put on a great show. But not Elenin. Right<br />now that comet looks kind of wimpy."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />How does a NASA scientist define cometary wimpiness?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"We're talking about how a comet looks as it safely flies past us," said<br />Yeomans. "Some cometary visitors arriving from beyond the planetary<br />region - like Hale-Bopp in 1997 -- have really lit up the night sky<br />where you can see them easily with the naked eye as they safely transit<br />the inner-solar system. But Elenin is trending toward the other end of<br />the spectrum. You'll probably need a good pair of binoculars, clear<br />skies, and a dark, secluded location to see it even on its brightest<br />night."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Comet Elenin should be at its brightest shortly before the time<br />of its closest approach to Earth on Oct. 16 of this year. At its<br />closest point, it will be 35 million kilometers (22 million miles) from<br />us. Can this icy interloper influence us from where it is, or where it<br />will be in the future? What about this celestial object inspiring some<br />shifting of the tides or even tectonic plates here on Earth? There have<br />been some incorrect Internet speculations that external forces could<br />cause comet Elenin to come closer.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Comet Elenin will not encounter any dark bodies that could perturb its<br />orbit, nor will it influence us in any way here on Earth," said Yeomans.<br />"It will get no closer to Earth than 35 million kilometers [about 22<br />million miles]."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Comet Elenin will not only be far away, it is also on the small side<br />for comets," said Yeomans. "And comets are not the most densely-packed<br />objects out there. They usually have the density of something akin to<br />loosely packed icy dirt.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"So you've got a modest-sized icy dirtball that is getting no closer<br />than 35 million kilometers," said Yeomans. "It will have an immeasurably<br />miniscule influence on our planet. By comparison, my subcompact<br />automobile exerts a greater influence on the ocean's tides than comet<br />Elenin ever will."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Yeomans did have one final thought on comet Elenin.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"This comet may not put on a great show. Just as certainly, it will not<br />cause any disruptions here on Earth. But there is a cause to marvel,"<br />said Yeomans. "This intrepid little traveler will offer astronomers a<br />chance to study a relatively young comet that came here from well beyond<br />our solar system's planetary region. After a short while, it will be<br />headed back out again, and we will not see or hear from Elenin for<br />thousands of years. That's pretty cool."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />NASA detects, tracks and characterizes asteroids and comets passing<br />relatively close to Earth using both ground- and space-based telescopes.<br />The Near-Earth Object Observations Program, commonly called<br />"Spaceguard," discovers these objects, characterizes a subset of them,<br />and predicts their paths to determine if any could be potentially<br />hazardous to our planet.<br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><a href="http://daily.bhaskar.com/article/SCT-FTR-what-if-an-asteroid-crashes-near-you-2081852.html" target="_blank">UK: What if an Asteroid Crashes Near You?</a></strong><br /><div class="article-header"><br /><h2><br /></h2><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Daily Bhaskar<br /><br />Fri, 06 May 2011 00:00 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228178-UK-What-if-an-Asteroid-Crashes-Near-You-#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/65948/full/deepimpact_6504_f.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank"><img style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/65948/medium/deepimpact_6504_f.jpg" alt="asteroid impact, meteor, earth" title="Click to enlarge" /></a></div><br />What if a giant asteroid crashed into the area near your home?<br />Scientists have come up with an 'impact effects calculator' that lets<br />you work out what would happen if an asteroid hits our planet.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Users can type in the size of their hypothetical asteroid, its speed,<br />what it will hit, its angle of entry and even how far they are from the<br />blast, the <em>Daily Mail</em> reported.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />For those who cannot visualise how big their asteroid could be, there is<br />even a helpful drop-down menu of pre-set sizes which include 'school<br />bus', 'humpback whale', 'Empire State Building', all the way up to the<br />ominous-sounding 'small planet'.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The website's algorithms then calculate what the effects of the<br />asteroid's impact would be on the earth's axis, whether there would be a<br />fireball - and what chance of surviving any bystanders would have.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />It even tells you how far you should be from the impact to avoid being<br />buried in the material thrown up from any crater that is left behind.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The website, called Impact Earth!, is the brainchild of<br />scientists from Purdue University in the US and Imperial College London.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />It is an update of a calculator which was originally devised in 2004 and based on scientifically-sound calculations.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The new version includes extra elements such as the height of resulting<br />tsunami waves and it comes with an entertaining animation that shows the<br />asteroid hurtling from space towards the earth.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The asteroid is identical to the Hartley 2 comet that NASA's <em>Deep Impact</em> spacecraft flew by last week.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Imperial College's Gareth Collins told the BBC: "One of the major new<br />additions is the estimates for tsunami wave height at a given distance<br />away from an ocean impact."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />On average, an object about the size of a car will enter the earth's<br />atmosphere once a year, producing a spectacular fireball in the sky.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />An asteroid collision with the earth is believed to have wiped out the dinosaurs.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/05/09/x-crater-first-class/" target="_blank">X Crater: First Class</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar"><br /><br />Discover - Bad Astronomy<br /><br />Mon, 09 May 2011 13:36 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228293-X-Crater-First-Class#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br />When an asteroid or comet impacts a planet, the explosion ejects huge<br />amounts of material, sending it flying in all directions. But there are<br />also plumes of material, long fingers of rock and dust that stream out<br />as well. The boulders and such inside this plume then fall back to the<br />ground, making liner chains of secondary craters. We see lots of these<br />on our Moon, moons in the outer solar system, and Mercury, too.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />If these features are long enough, it's inevitable two chains from two<br />different primary craters would cross somewhere. And it turns out this<br />has been seen... but where?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Well, X marks <a href="http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/gallery/sciencePhotos/image.php?gallery_id=2&image_id=484" target="_blank">the spot</a>!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66148/full/ff.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA/MESSENGER"><img alt="" height="392" width="392" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66148/large/ff.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA/MESSENGER</span></div><br /></div><br />This<br />MESSENGER image of Mercury shows exactly that: two crater chains from<br />two separate impacts crossing over each other (and a third, shorter<br />chain is at the bottom, too). They're almost exactly perpendicular to<br />each other, which is cool, and the intersection happens to lie in a big,<br />shallow crater about 120 km (72 miles) across that fills this image.<br />Unfortunately, MESSENGER hasn't been orbiting Mercury long enough to<br />have surveyed the whole planet yet, so I wasn't able to find the source<br />craters of these two chains.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Interestingly, both chains have elongated craters at their<br />ends, one on the upper left and the other at the top. That indicates a<br />very low-angle impact; anything hitting the ground from an angle above<br />about 10° tends to make a circular crater. However, the one on the left<br />appears to be right on the big crater's rim, so the elongation may be<br />due to the ground angle changing. The other may be coincidence; both are<br />far too small to have been the source craters for the chains.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I'm not sure there's any real scientific value in knowing these crater<br />chains intersect or examining the intersection in detail. Still. They're<br />fun to look at, fun to explore, and they're just seriously nifty.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />UNLESS... <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyZ42Csl4Xw" target="_blank">hmmm</a>.<br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a href="http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=10&month=05&year=2011" target="_blank">Mars, Jupiter, Venus and Mercury are aligning at dawn May 11th</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar"><br /><br />Space Weather<br /><br />Tue, 10 May 2011 10:32 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228345-Mars-Jupiter-Venus-and-Mercury-are-aligning-at-dawn-May-11th#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br />No coffee? No problem. To wake up any morning this week, all you need<br />to do is look out the window. Mars, Jupiter, Venus and Mercury are<br />aligning in the eastern sky for a spectacular dawn conjunction. Mariano<br />Ribas photographed the gathering on May 9th from his home in Buenos<br />Aires, Argentina:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66212/full/ff.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Mariano Ribas"><img alt="" height="296" width="396" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66212/large/ff.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Mariano Ribas</span></div><br /></div><br />"It<br />was an awesome morning with an unforgettable view: four planets packed<br />in just a 7º piece of sky," says Ribas. "The very compact<br />Venus-Mercury-Jupiter triangle was simply hypnotic. And Mars, below<br />them, was faint but still clearly visible to naked eye. Marvelous<br />planetary gathering, but the best is yet to come."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Indeed, on May 11th, Venus and Jupiter, the two brightest planets in the<br />Solar System, will converge to form a pair less than 1/2 degree apart.<br />Set your alarm for Wednesday morning and begin the day with an<br />eye-opener--no caffeine required.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />More images: from <a href="http://www.spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Danny-Ratcliffe-Image00001_1304934811.jpg" target="_blank">Danny Ratcliffe</a> of Deception Bay, Queensland, Australia; from <a href="http://www.spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Alan-Dyer-Four-Planet-Conjunction-May-7-2011-50mm-7D_1304782245.jpg" target="_blank">Alan Dyer</a> near San Pedro de Atacama, Chile; from <a href="http://www.spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=M.-Ratid-Tueral-jupiter-venusk_1304827343.jpg" target="_blank">M. Raþid Tuðral</a> of Ankara, Turkiye<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a href="http://www.openminds.tv/fireball-ufo-photographed-in-scotland-678/" target="_blank">Fireball or UFO photographed in Scotland?</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Jason McClellan<br /><br />OpenMinds<br /><br />Wed, 11 May 2011 11:16 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228397-Fireball-or-UFO-photographed-in-Scotland-#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br />A picture of a UFO was taken yesterday by a photographer in Melrose,<br />Scotland. The photographer, who asked to remain anonymous, supplied the<br />UFO photo to the <em>Border Telegraph</em>. He described the object in<br />the picture as "moving pretty fast at around 45 degrees towards the sky<br />- as you can see by the close up it appears to have a tail showing the<br />direction." The <em>Border Telegraph</em> contacted both the Met Office<br />(the UK's national weather service) and the Ministry of Defence (MOD)<br />to see if either group could shed any light on the UFO in question. The<br />Met Office had no record of a weather balloon in the area, and the MOD<br />declined to comment.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66358/full/ff.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Border Telegraph"><img alt="" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66358/large/ff.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Border Telegraph</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">UFO in Scotland. Zoomed image in lower left. </span></div><br /></div><br />Fireball<br />UFOs certainly aren't a new phenomenon, and they have been seen all<br />around the world. While meteorites and other debris entering Earth's<br />atmosphere can account for some of the observed fireball objects, some<br />of these UFOs reportedly display unusual behavior like directional<br />changes, shape-shifting, and color changes.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The cameraman who photographed the fireball in Scotland doesn't know what he saw, but he told the <em>Border Telegraph</em>, "It was probably nothing, but I still don't understand what could explain something like that in the sky."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a href="http://www.wavy.com/dpp/news/local_news/meteor-likely-caused-mysterious-boom" target="_blank">Virginia, US: Meteor Likely Caused Mysterious Boom</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Lori Crouch<br /><br />WAVY.com<br /><br />Wed, 11 May 2011 18:10 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228441-Virginia-US-Meteor-Likely-Caused-Mysterious-Boom#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br />Virginia Beach is a city full of sound. Waves crash at the Oceanfront<br />and fighter jets scream overhead. However, a boom Tuesday night caught<br />hundreds of normally unfazed residents from Virginia Beach to the<br />Eastern Shore completely off-guard.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"It shook my house," said one man.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"It almost felt like an earthquake and then I had to think about it.<br />We're in Virginia Beach we don't get earthquakes," said Pam Trotter.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />10 On Your Side called the military, the U.S. Geological Survey and the<br />Department of Energy. Turns out the answer may be found out of this<br />world.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"It's most consistent with a meteor coming into the Earth's atmosphere<br />and creating a large sonic boom," said NASA scientist Dr. Joe Zawodny.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Dr. Zawodny said sonic booms are not uncommon. Two years ago, hundreds<br />of people across the region heard a similar boom most likely caused by a<br />meteor.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />This just happens to be a popular time of year for them said Dr. Zawodny.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"We're on the tail end of a meteor shower here which peaked last week. It could be associated with that," he said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />It is easy for some to blame the jets. "With the jets and everything<br />flying they're always setting off car alarms and things like that with<br />the military base who knows, you know?" said one bike vendor.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Some things actually do make more noise.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"The first thing I did was look up in the sky and check, thought it<br />might be a meteor or something but I didn't see anything," said Trotter.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Dr. Zawodny said even something as small as a golf ball could cause a big boom if was traveling fast.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a href="http://hamptonroads.com/2011/05/rumble-felt-across-hampton-roads-remains-mystery" target="_blank">Virginia, US: 'Unnerving' rumble felt across Hampton Roads remains a mystery</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Kristin Davis<br /><br />The Virginian-Pilot<br /><br />Thu, 12 May 2011 11:30 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228456-Virginia-US-Unnerving-rumble-felt-across-Hampton-Roads-remains-a-mystery#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br />We may only ever know it as The Night the Earth Rattled.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The seconds-long reverberation at approximately 7:20 p.m. Tuesday sent<br />neighbors to porches, piqued slumbering pets and launched a thousand<br />theories. But nobody can say for sure what it was - not police or<br />seismologists or meteorologists or NASA or Oceana Naval Air Station or<br />the Virginia National Guard.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"No clue," said Scott Mohr, a spokesman for Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />People reported feeling it from Suffolk to Newport News to the Eastern<br />Shore and beyond. The intensity of the grumble was perhaps greatest in<br />Virginia Beach, where five calls came in to 911 and firefighters set out<br />in search of the source of an explosion.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />None was found, said Lori Stiles, communications operations manager for<br />the city. She felt it, too, from her home in Dam Neck, a sensation like<br />that of an approaching storm that caused the house to creak.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe height="350" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" width="400" src="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=213941050333936411608.0004a2f6ecabd728ccb96&t=h&ll=37.451627,-75.910378&spn=1.504056,1.132279&output=embed" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0"></iframe><br /><small><br /><br />View <a style="color: #0000ff; text-align: left;" href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=213941050333936411608.0004a2f6ecabd728ccb96&t=h&ll=37.451627,-75.910378&spn=1.504056,1.132279&source=embed">Loud Boom on 05/10/11</a> in a larger map</small></div><br /><br /><br /></div><br />Dawn West thought for sure she was in the midst of an<br />earthquake at her home in the Bayview area of Norfolk, and she ought to<br />know: "I was in the great quake of 1989 in San Francisco," she wrote in<br />an email, "and yes, the feelings come right up when we heard and felt<br />what we did last evening!"<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Only it wasn't anything seismic, as far as the U.S. Geological Survey National Earthquake Information Center can tell.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"I don't know what it's related to," said John Bellini, a geophysicist<br />at the Golden, Colo., center. "We get a lot of reports like this out of<br />northern North Carolina and along the southern coast of Virginia, and<br />we're not usually able to determine the cause."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Bellini said he's heard of military bombing off the coast. "I'm not<br />saying that's what it was, but these types of reports seem to come up a<br />lot in that area."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Two seismographs in Richmond and Virginia Beach might have held the<br />answer. But both were offline Tuesday evening. Richmond's machine,<br />operated by Virginia Tech, was experiencing power problems. Tidewater<br />Community College had shut its seismograph off at its Beach campus<br />because of nearby construction.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Doug Otto felt his house on 70th Street in Virginia Beach rattle at 7:19 p.m. for a good five seconds:<strong> "This is literally earthshaking - like a giant picked up your house and just sat it down."</strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>It did shift his empty hot tub about 6 inches, Otto said. "I<br />tried to jump on it to put it back down. I'm 200 pounds and can't get<br />the thing to budge."</strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />His Google search on seismic activity turned up nothing, of course.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"I'm sitting there thinking of conspiracy theories," he said. "Maybe the Navy is working on some new stealth thing."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Based on what's been described, it's probably an acoustic disturbance,"<br />said Martin Chapman, director for Virginia Tech's earthquake<br />observatory.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Basically, an explosion a couple of miles offshore could be heard on<br />land because sound waves can travel great distances over water, he<br />explained. "I don't know what causes it, but I suspect it might have<br />something to do with the military."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />If all else fails, it seems, blame the military.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Patrick Daugherty, who lives off Birdneck Road in Virginia Beach, said he heard no planes take off or land.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Normally on Tuesday, the jet noise occurs every few minutes. All I<br />heard within the hour was a few helicopters coasting in the distance,"<br />Daugherty wrote in an email. "I just want to know what that was and get<br />to the bottom of it."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />That is unlikely, if history is any indication.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In late March 2009, dozens of people reported bright lights in the sky<br />and a boom that shuddered houses in Norfolk and Virginia Beach.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>Scientists said it was most likely a part of a rocket or a meteor falling to Earth.</strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />But nobody knows for sure.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The Pilot's Mike Hixenbaugh and Meredith Kruse contributed to this report.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Kristin Davis, (757) 222-5131, kristin.davis@pilotonline.com<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://baskingridge.patch.com/articles/officials-believe-meteorite-hit-basking-ridge-lawn">US: Officials Believe Meteorite Hit Basking Ridge Lawn</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Linda Sadlouskos<br /><br />Basking Ridge Patch<br /><br />Wed, 11 May 2011 17:01 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228468-US-Officials-Believe-Meteorite-Hit-Basking-Ridge-Lawn#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br />Township officials believe a small meteorite impacted the front lawn<br />of a township home last Friday morning at about 11:35 a.m., creating a<br />trench and spewing dirt and debris on the lawn, driveway and street near<br />the residence.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The residents were not home at the time, members of the Township<br />Committee said when discussing the event at Tuesday night's meeting,<br />although police later said the homeowner was on the property, but heard<br />nothing. No one was injured, Township Mayor John Malay and other<br />officials said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The address of the home has not been released. However, Township<br />Committeeman John Carpenter said the home is in the southern end of the<br />township.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image to-center"><a title="© Bernards Township Police" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66500/full/a_trench_created_on_township_l.jpg"><img title="Click to enlarge" alt="a trench created on township lawn" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66500/medium/a_trench_created_on_township_l.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Bernards Township Police</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">A trench created on a township lawn believed to have been created by a small meteorite. No One was injured, officials said.</span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />An official police report issued on Wednesday said police had<br />responded at about 2:26 p.m. to a report of property damage to a<br />residence located along the Mount Airy Road corridor, south of Lyons<br />Road. Police said they are withholding the address for the privacy of<br />the residents.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Sgt. Scott Ward arrived at the home and observed a hole in the ground at<br />the front of the property, police said. The hole was approximately<br />seven feet long, four feet wide and 18 inches deep, according to the<br />police report.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In addition, dirt and rock debris were strewn approximately 100 feet<br />from the hole, police said. Police said the homeowner stated that he had<br />been home all day and did not see or hear anything that he believed may<br />have caused the hole. The homeowner noticed the hole at about 2:15<br />p.m., according to police.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image to-center"><a title="© Bernards Township Police" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66501/full/lawn.jpg"><img title="Click to enlarge" alt="Township lawn where meteorite landed" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66501/medium/lawn.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Bernards Township Police</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">Township home where the lawn is believed to have been hit by a small meteorite on Friday, May 6th.</span></div><br /></div><br />Neighboring<br />residents were also questioned and none of those neighbors reported<br />seeing or hearing anything out of the ordinary. The following agencies<br />responded to investigate what may have caused the hole: Liberty Corner<br />fire chief Peter Aprahamian, Public Service Electric & Gas and<br />Jersey Central Power & Light. It was determined that no gas lines or<br />underground electrical wires were in the area and therefore not<br />responsible for creating the trench.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Malay said no trace of a meteorite was found, but the material may have<br />disintegrated upon impact. "It must have been traveling pretty darn<br />fast," he said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The mayor said a seismograph based at the <a target="_blank" href="http://baskingridge.patch.com/listings/william-annin-middle-school">William Annin Middle School</a> detected an "event" that day at about 11:35 a.m.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In order to rule out the possibility that an explosive device was<br />responsible for creating the hole, the New Jersey State Police Bomb<br />Squad was contacted and responded to the residence. The NJSP Bomb Squad<br />determined that no evidence of an explosive device was present.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-small to-left"><a title="© Nathan Susanj" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66502/full/John_Malay.jpg"><img title="Click to enlarge" alt="John Malay" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66502/pod/John_Malay.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Nathan Susanj</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">Deputy Mayor, John Malay.</span></div><br /></div><br />Based<br />on tree damage near the hole and media reports of increased meteor<br />shower activity that was present on the morning of May 6, it is believed<br />that the hole may have been caused by a meteorite.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Officials expressed relief that the flying object did not hit a house, or injure anyone.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=12&month=05&year=2011">Comet and a CME</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar"><br /><br />Space Weather<br /><br />Thu, 12 May 2011 18:50 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228471-Comet-and-a-CME#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br />A comet dove into the sun on May 11th and seemed to trigger a massive<br />eruption--emphasis on seemed. Watch the movie below, then scroll down<br />for further discussion.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><iframe height="349" frameborder="0" width="400" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/WeN-rkXkEC0"></iframe></div><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />A comet goes in; a CME comes out. Coincidence? Probably, yes, the<br />sequence was coincidental. The comet disintegrated as much as a million<br />kilometers above the stellar surface. There's no known way that the<br />wispy, vaporous remains of a relatively lightweight comet could cause a<br />billion-ton cloud of hot plasma to fly away from the sun at 400 km/s<br />(the observed speed of the CME). Moreover, NASA's Solar Dynamics<br />Observatory photographed the eruption that did propel the CME into<br />space. There's no comet in the field of view of this <a target="_blank" href="http://www.spaceweather.com/images2011/12may11/eruption.mpg?PHPSESSID=tuisbcv67p2c8pvbaetlpqbnm5">must-see movie.</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>Bonus:</strong> The bright comet pictured above had a dim companion. Can you <a target="_blank" href="http://www.spaceweather.com/images2011/12may11/finder.jpg?PHPSESSID=tuisbcv67p2c8pvbaetlpqbnm5">find it?</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><em></em><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>Unfortunately, Space Weather's<br />commentator does not take into account the idea that there is an<br />electrical discharge phenomena taking place here which can easily<br />explain why the eruption began before the physical arrival of the comet.<br />If a comet in the far reaches of the solar system can induce Solar<br />discharge events - which is part of the Electric Universe theory - then<br />certainly, a discharge event can begin to manifest as the comet<br />approaches.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />From our recent review of <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/226166-Planet-X-Comets-and-Earth-Changes-by-J-M-McCanney"><em>Planet-X, Comets and Earth Changes</em> by J.M. McCanney</a>, we understand solar discharge events as follows:<br /><blockquote><br />Basically, electrons' movement is slightly retarded in the Sun's corona,<br />with solar flares hurling out an excess number of protons. The excess<br />protons in the solar wind creates a separation of charge throughout the<br />entire solar system - a giant capacitor with a positively charged,<br />doughnut-shaped nebular cloud of dust and gases stretching to the far<br />reaches of the solar system, and the negatively charged the surface of<br />the Sun. An electrical potential exists between these two poles and any<br />object moving through plasma regions of varying charge density will<br />become charged, depending on its size and relative velocity.<strong><br />When new bodies (e.g., comets) enter this plasma region from outer<br />space, they ignite and begin to discharge the solar capacitor.</strong><br /></blockquote><br />Given the electrical nature of the Sun and comets, there is likely more than just "coincidence" at play here.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a href="http://www.croatiantimes.com/news/Around_the_World/2011-05-13/19240/Gardeners_Comet_Tale" target="_blank">Croatia: Gardeners Comet Tale</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar"><br /><br />Croatian Times<br /><br />Fri, 13 May 2011 12:32 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228502-Croatia-Gardeners-Comet-Tale#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66550/full/meteorite.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Europics.at"><img style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66550/medium/meteorite.jpg" alt="Meteorite" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Europics.at</span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br />A Romanian man planting potatoes almost died when a meteorite<br />believed to be from the tale of Halley's Comet thudded into the ground<br />inches from where he was working.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Dumitru Zvanca, 58, said: "I heard a brief whoosh of air and then<br />something hit the ground just to one side of me with an enormous thud. I<br />didn't see a meteor, but I saw the small crater of earth it made and<br />whatever had hit the ground had sunk into the earth.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"I thought there might be more so I ran inside and waited until the next day - then I went out and dug it up."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The gardener from Suharau commune, in Botosani country in northern<br />Romania contacted geologist Sorin Grindei, from Botosani, who said: "It<br />had fallen 50-70 centimetres into the garden. It was like a black round<br />ball, like a pool ball.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"The meteorite ended up in two equally sized halves and he kept<br />one - the other has been sent for tests at the Geology Faculty in Lasi.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Mr Zvanca saw a very rare event - many people see falling stars but<br />only rarely do people get a chance to see it so up close and personal.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"In the period when it happened - 3-5 May - there was a meteor shower and we think it may be a part of Halley's Comet tail."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Manager of the Botosani Environmental Protection Agency, Dana Boariu,<br />said: "Tests confirm it is a micro-meteorite, 7 cm wide and it is not<br />radioactive."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Specialists say that the meteorite had been 10 times bigger when it<br />entered the atmosphere but had been burned as it fell to earth.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a href="http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/05/possible_meteroite_appears_in.html" target="_blank">US, New Jersey: Mysterious Hole Appears in Ground in Bernards</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar"><br /><br />Associated Press<br /><br />Fri, 13 May 2011 14:06 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228513-US-New-Jersey-Mysterious-Hole-Appears-in-Ground-in-Bernards#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br />Officials and experts in one New Jersey town are scratching their<br />heads over a mysterious hole that appeared in a yard last week.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />For now, it appears the small crater that splayed debris across a<br />100-foot area wasn't caused by a meteorite. Beyond that, it's a mystery.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66779/full/ff.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© AP/Bernards Police Dept."><img alt="" height="299" width="392" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66779/large/ff.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© AP/Bernards Police Dept.</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">This<br />photo provided by the Bernards Police Department shows a hole in the<br />front yard of a home in the Basking Ridge section of the township. </span></div><br /></div><br />"It's<br />just really, really weird," said Jerry Vinski, director of nearby<br />Raritan Valley Community College's planetarium, who conducted tests on<br />the site. "We dug around and couldn't find anything. We used metal<br />detectors because all meteors have metal in them, and we couldn't find<br />anything, large or small."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Bernards Township Police Capt. Edward Byrnes said whatever hit the front<br />yard in the Basking Ridge section left a crater about 18 inches deep<br />and roughly the size of a coffee table. Rocks and soil were scattered<br />around the yard and driveway.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />A State Police bomb squad ruled out explosives, Byrnes said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />According to Byrnes, no one in the neighborhood heard or saw anything at<br />the time of the May 6 incident. The homeowner called police upon<br />arriving home.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"The weather was clear, there were no reports of lightning strikes;<br />nobody reported seeing anything," Byrnes said. "I've never seen anything<br />like this in 23 years."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66572/full/9575115_large.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© New Jersey.com"><img style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66572/medium/9575115_large.jpg" alt="Map" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© New Jersey.com</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">A map view of Lafayette Lane, where officials are trying to figure out what caused a mysterious hole to appear in the ground.</span></div><br /></div><br />Vinski<br />said that the hole could have been caused by an object falling from a<br />plane. He said if the object was a meteorite, the impact would have been<br />significant and would have been felt nearby.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"When you see meteor showers in the upper atmosphere, they're traveling<br />50 miles a second," he said. "Even if it's slowing down through the<br />atmosphere, you're still going to have a sonic boom. And it would have<br />left something behind, it wouldn't have completely disintegrated."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a href="http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/05/13/stunning-video-comet-collides-sun/#ixzz1MLquXVhd" target="_blank">Stunning Video: Comet Collides With the Sun</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar"><br /><br />Fox News<br /><br />Fri, 13 May 2011 21:12 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228598-Stunning-Video-Comet-Collides-With-the-Sun#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br />Now <em>That's</em> a close encounter.<br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66743/full/CometC2_May2011.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA/SOHO"><img alt="" height="218" width="389" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66743/large/CometC2_May2011.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA/SOHO</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">NASA<br />captured a stunning video showing this fairly bright white comet as it<br />dove towards the Sun -- and was never heard from again.</span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br />NASA's solar observatory captured a stunning video of a comet<br />streaking towards the sun between Tuesday and Wednesday -- and the<br />aftermath when it collided with the tremendous ball of plasma.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The video, captured by NASA's Solar & Heliospheric Observatory<br />(SOHO), appears to show a fireball jet out following the collision.<br />That's not quite what happened, NASA explained. Instead, a coronal mass<br />ejection coincidentally blasted out to the right just as the comet<br />approaches and is vaporized by the sun.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The comet is probably part of the Kreutz family -- remnants of a single<br />giant comet that broke up many centuries ago, and crash against its<br />surface from time to time. It was discovered by amateur astronomer<br />Sergey Shurpakov, the space agency said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In this coronagraph, an opaque disk blocks the glare of the sun like an<br />artificial eclipse, revealing faint objects that no Earth-bound<br />telescope could possibly see. It's intended to allow scientists to view<br />the faint structures in the sun's corona -- but it also reveals<br />sungrazing comets like this one.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />NASA has discovered hundreds of such comets over the years --<br />but none that have ended their existence in such an eye-opening fashion.<br />In late December, 2010, the sun dealt with an entire storm of icy<br />comets that dove into its heart and died a similar, fiery death.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"The storm began on Dec 13th and ended on the 22nd," said Karl Battams<br />of the Naval Research Lab in Washington, DC. "During that time, the<br />Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) detected 25 comets diving into<br />the sun. It was crazy!"<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Scientists have yet to find a convincing physical connection between<br />sun-grazing comets and coronal mass ejections, according to NASA.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><embed height="363" width="400" flashvars="intl_lang=en-us&photo_secret=ffce0fbd83&photo_id=5715631317" allowfullscreen="true" bgcolor="#000000" src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=71377" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.miller-mccune.com/science/comet-claim-comes-crashing-to-earth-31180/">Bogus Science claims "Comet Theory Comes Crashing to Earth"</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Rex Dalton<br /><br />Miller-McCune<br /><br />Sat, 14 May 2011 22:28 CDT</div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="StoryComment"><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>Most of what the reader will find in this article are misinformed opinions and <em>ad hominem</em><br />attacks directed at those scientists who have the gall to mention the<br />reality of comet catastrophes. This is not entirely surprising given<br />the attacks that <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/220765-The-Science-Cartel-vs-Immanuel-Velikovsky">other Catastrophists</a> have endured in the past.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The interested reader may want to compare what's written here to the<br />actual evidence amassed by Firestone, et al. described in this article:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/134637-The-Younger-Dryas-Impact-Event-and-the-Cycles-of-Cosmic-Catastrophes-Climate-Scientists-Awakening">The Younger Dryas Impact Event and the Cycles of Cosmic Catastrophes - Climate Scientists Awakening</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a title="© NSF" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66667/full/comet_impact_large_thumb_640xa.jpg"><img title="Click to enlarge" alt="Comet Impact" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66667/medium/comet_impact_large_thumb_640xa.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NSF</span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><em>An elegant archaeological theory, under fire for results that can't be replicated, may ultimately come undone.</em><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />It seemed like such an elegant answer to an age-old mystery: the<br />disappearance of what are arguably North America's first people. A<br />speeding comet nearly 13,000 years ago was the culprit, the theory goes,<br />spraying ice and rocks across the continent, killing the Clovis people<br />and the mammoths they fed on, and plunging the region into a deep chill.<br />The idea so captivated the public that three movies describing the<br />catastrophe were produced.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />But now, four years after the purportedly supportive evidence was<br />reported, a host of scientific authorities systematically have made the<br />case that the comet theory is "bogus." Researchers from multiple<br />scientific fields are calling the theory one of the most misguided ideas<br />in the history of modern archaeology, which begs for an independent<br />review so an accurate record is reflected in the literature.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"It is an impossible scenario," says <a target="_blank" href="http://est.sandia.gov/staff/markb.html">Mark Boslough</a>,<br />a physicist at Sandia Laboratory in Albuquerque, N.M., where he taps<br />the world's fastest computers for nuclear bomb experiments to study such<br />impacts. His computations show the debris from such a comet couldn't<br />cover the proposed impact field. In March, a "requiem" for the theory<br />even was published by a group that included leading specialists from<br />archaeology to botany.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Yet, the scientists who described the alleged impact in a<br />hallowed U.S. scientific journal refuse to consider the critics'<br />evidence - insisting they are correct, even though no one can<br />replicate their work: the hallmark of credibility in the scientific<br />world.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The primary authors of the theory are an unusual mix: <a target="_blank" href="http://www.geol.ucsb.edu/faculty/kennett/Home.html">James Kennett</a>, a virtual father of marine geology from the University of California, Santa Barbara; <a target="_blank" href="http://ie.lbl.gov/rbfcv.html">Richard Firestone</a>, a physicist at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in California; and <a target="_blank" href="http://www.miller-mccune.com/science/comet-claim-comes-crashing-to-earth-31180/allendale-expedition.net/publications/comet.pdf">Allen West</a>, an unknown academic from the mining industry who lives in Dewey, Ariz.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"We are under a lot of duress," said Kennett. "It has been quite<br />painful." So much so, that team members call their critics' work<br />"biased," "nonsense" and "screwed up."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Such intransigence has been seen before in other cases of grand<br />scientific claims. Sometimes those theories were based on data<br />irregularities. Other times, the proponents succumbed to self-delusion.<br />But typically, advocates become so invested in their ideas they can't<br />publicly acknowledge error.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />A new look at the comet claim suggests all of these phenomena may be in<br />play, apparently creating a peculiar bond of desperation as the theory<br />came under increasing attack. Indeed, the team's established scientists<br />are so wedded to the theory they have opted to ignore the fact their<br />colleague "Allen West" isn't exactly who he says he is.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />West is Allen Whitt - who, in 2002, was fined by California and<br />convicted for masquerading as a state-licensed geologist when he charged<br />small-town officials fat fees for <a target="_blank" href="http://www.geology.ca.gov/consumers/enforcement/jonkerwhitt.shtml">water studies</a>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="StoryComment"><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>According to the link:<br /><blockquote class="typ2"><br />An investigation by the Board for Geologists and Geophysicists (BGG) has<br />led to the convictions in San Bernardino County Superior Court of two<br />men on charges of obtaining money by false pretenses (pursuant to P.C.<br />532(A)). The Board's inquiry concluded that Kevin Lee Jonker and Allen<br />Whitt had practiced geophysics without a license. <strong>A third<br />individual, Richard Van Blaricom, surrendered his geophysicist's license<br />on April 25 as a result of the same investigation</strong> (see previous Enforcement Action posting).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The Board's investigation concluded that in April 1999, Van Blaricom<br />signed his name and stamped a groundwater supply survey report for the<br />Joshua Basin Water District near Palm Springs that was in fact prepared<br />by Jonker and Whitt. Neither was licensed to practice geophysics for<br />others. State law prohibits licensees of the BGG from signing and using<br />their Registered Geophysicist stamp on reports they do not supervise or<br />prepare themselves.<br /></blockquote><br />While it certainly sounds like Whitt/West displayed poor judgment, this <a target="_blank" href="http://www.geology.ca.gov/consumers/enforcement/vanblaricom.pdf">other document</a><br />makes it sound like Blaricom was actually the one at fault when he<br />"aided and abetted" Whitt and Jonker "to act as Licensed Geophysicists<br />and/or Registered Geologists in the data collection, interpretation, and<br />preparation of a groundwater survey report." The interaction between<br />these three men is a little unclear making the accusation against Whitt<br />weak at best.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In any case, one should note the desperation of the Scientific<br />Establishment in their attempt to discredit the groundbreaking<br />implications of West's work by such a vague accusation.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><br />After completing probation in 2003 in San Bernardino County, he<br />began work on the comet theory, legally adopting his new name in 2006 as<br />he promoted it in a popular book. Only when questioned by this reporter<br />last year did his co-authors learn his original identity and legal<br />history. Since then, they have not disclosed it to the scientific<br />community.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />West's history - and new concerns about study results he was<br />integrally involved in - raise intriguing questions about the veracity<br />of the comet claim. His background is likely to create more doubts<br />about the theory. And the controversy - because it involves the<br />politically sensitive issue of a climate shift - is potentially more<br />broadly damaging, authorities suggest.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"It does feed distrust in science," says <a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallace_Smith_Broecker">Wallace Broecker</a>,<br />a geochemist at Columbia University and an international dean of<br />climate research. "Those who don't believe in human-produced global<br />warming grab onto it."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />West is at the nexus of almost all the evidence for the original comet<br />claims. His fieldwork is described in the 2006 book he authored with<br />Firestone, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/Cycle-Cosmic-Catastrophes-Stone-Age-Changed/dp/1591430615">The Cycle of Cosmic Catastrophes</a>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />To show the comet's deadly plume, West collected various sediment<br />samples from 25 archaeology sites across the United States. He used a<br />magnet to find iron flecks reportedly from the comet, scooped up carbon<br />spherules reflecting subsequent fires, and argued that high<br />concentrations of such material at particular sedimentary levels<br />supported their theory.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The team has argued a 4-kilometer comet tumbled into ice sheets 12,900 years ago, leading to the so-called <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/abrupt/data4.html">Younger Dryas</a>, when the temperature cooled for more than a thousand years.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The flying debris appeared to answer questions about the Clovis peoples'<br />disappearance that had defied prior explanation. The supposed remnants<br />of the comet hadn't received intense scrutiny by researchers previously<br />probing sediments at archaeology sites. And water from melted ice<br />flowing into the oceans could explain the precipitous temperature drop.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />But all these claims have been sharply disputed in a series of scientific articles over the last 18 months. Examples include:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />University of Wyoming archaeologist <a target="_blank" href="http://uwacadweb.uwyo.edu/SUROVELL/">Todd Surovell</a> and his colleagues couldn't find increased magnetic spherules representing cosmic debris at seven <a target="_blank" href="http://www.pnas.org/content/106/43/18155.abstract?sid=49d79c32-625b-4cdd-bbb2-3ff3254f8a46">Clovis sites</a>. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.geology.siu.edu/people/pinter/index.html">Nicholas Pinter</a> and his colleagues at Southern Illinois University Carbondale argue the carbon spherules are organic residue of fungus or <a target="_blank" href="http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2010/2010GL043345.shtml">arthropod excrement</a>. And <a target="_blank" href="http://physics.wustl.edu/people/daulton_tyrone-l">Tyrone Daulton</a> of Washington University in St. Louis and his colleagues reported that supposed <a target="_blank" href="http://www.pnas.org/content/107/37/16043">nanodiamonds formed by the impact were misidentified</a>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Speaking of the various reports, Surovell said, "We all built a critical mass of data suggesting there was a serious problem."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Now, Boslough and colleagues have conducted new analysis of purported<br />comet debris samples that raises even more troubling credibility<br />questions.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="StoryComment"><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>Mark Boslough has certainly presented some<br />interesting work modeling comet impact scenarios using supercomputers<br />at Sandia National Laboratories, but can he really be trusted as an<br />unbiased source of knowledge concerning the hypothetical Younger Dryas<br />Impact Event discussed here? His <a target="_blank" href="http://www.csicop.org/author/markboslough">bio</a><br />on the CSIOP website - an organization known for it's vociferous<br />'debunking' of any scientific ideas that fall outside mainstream<br />theories - states:<br /><blockquote class="typ1"><br />Mark Boslough is a physicist at Sandia National Laboratories and adjunct<br />professor at the University of New Mexico. His work on comet and<br />asteroid impacts has been the subject of many recent TV documentaries<br />and magazine articles. <strong>He believes that the impact risk - at its<br />core - is primarily a climate-change risk, and he has turned his<br />attention to climate change as a looming national security threat.</strong> The opinions expressed here are his own.<br /></blockquote><br />And in this statement, the implication is that he is very much on the<br />"pro" side in the Anthropocentric Global Warming debate. An example<br />would be this <a target="_blank" href="http://www.csicop.org/si/show/mann_bites_dog_why_climategate_was_newsworthy">CSIOP article</a> where he attempts to defend climate scientists against those pesky Global Warming "denialists."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Given the data we've gathered here on SOTT, it's difficult to see how<br />one could put the risk of man-made 'Global Warming' at a higher level<br />than extraterrestrial impacts, and this calls into question Boslough's<br />objectivity in the matter. Like many American scientists, Boslough<br />seems unable to see the forest for the trees; catastrophic impact events<br /><em>have</em> likely happened on the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/145683-New-Light-on-the-Black-Death-The-Cosmic-Connection">timescale of human history</a>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><br />On March 25, Boslough reported that radio-carbon dating of a carbon<br />spherule sample shows it is only about 200 years old - an<br />"irregularity" that indicates is it not from the alleged 12,900-year-old<br />impact time.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />This means that a sample from a layer purporting to show a high<br />concentration of spherules at the inception of the Younger Dryas<br />actually only was about as old as the Declaration of Independence.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />About two years ago, as his doubts on the theory were building, Boslough<br />contacted West to secure carbon spherule samples for analysis. West<br />sent him 16 spherules, purportedly from the Younger Dryas boundary<br />sediment layer at an archaeology site called Gainey in Michigan - a<br />location with the highest spherule count of studied locations.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Boslough subsequently forwarded the unopened package of spherules to the<br />National Science Foundation-funded radio-carbon laboratory at the<br />University of Arizona in Tucson. There, a dating specialist randomly<br />selected a spherule - the one ultimately found to be about 200 years<br />old. Boslough reported these results at an American Geophysical Union<br />conference in Santa Fe, N.M.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Afterward, Boslough said: "I don't think there is any reason to accept<br />what West reported. I have a serious problem with everything from him."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Did someone salt a sediment layer to increase the spherule count? Or did<br />the 200-year-old sample inadvertently get mixed in somehow? Boslough<br />says he can't provide an answer, but there was some form of<br />"contamination."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />But an answer is needed, he said: "I wouldn't sweep it under the rug."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />After his presentation, West wrote Boslough that he believed that the<br />questioned sample somehow got mixed naturally over time into a lower<br />sediment layer. Both Kennett and Firestone agreed.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />But <a target="_blank" href="http://geog.arizona.edu/people/holliday.php">Vance Holliday</a>,<br />a University of Arizona archaeologist who has studied Clovis sites for<br />30 years, found this explanation nonsensical. Such mixing of spherules<br />from different eras could invalidate any conclusion that higher spherule<br />counts represented evidence of a comet impact.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"I suspect something very odd is going on," adds Holliday, who also has become a <a target="_blank" href="http://arizonageology.blogspot.com/2010/10/vance-holliday-impact-did-not-end.html">critic of the comet theory</a>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />After the theory was first announced in 2007 in Acapulco, Mexico,<br />Holliday had attempted to collaborate with Kennett to test the idea. But<br />Kennett effectively blocked publication of the study last year after<br />the results didn't support the comet theory.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />And those results were blindly analyzed by an independent reviewer<br />selected by Kennett himself. That independent reviewer was none other<br />than <a target="_blank" href="http://eps.berkeley.edu/development/view_person.php?uid=90">Walter Alvarez</a> - an esteemed University of California, Berkeley, geologist and son of <a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Walter_Alvarez">Luis Alvarez</a>,<br />the Nobel Prize-winning physicist who first proposed an asteroid struck<br />the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico about 65 million years ago, wiping out<br />the world's dinosaurs and most life.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The Holliday-Kennett study has never been presented publicly. The<br />results were obtained independent of the two authors. Holliday then<br />agreed to discuss events; Kennett also answered questions about the<br />study but didn't reach the same conclusions as his colleague.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />For decades, Holliday has studied a Clovis site at<a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lubbock_Lake_Landmark"> Lubbock Lake Landmark State Historical Park</a><br />in Texas, just east of the original location where the Clovis people's<br />distinctive fluted projectile points were first discovered in New<br />Mexico. After a visit there in the summer of 2007, Holliday examined<br />sediments from an exposed section that included the signature of the<br />inception of the Younger Dryas. He then took samples from six<br />sedimentary layers within a 35-centimeter section encompassing the<br />Younger Dryas.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The study then worked like this: Based on analyses of the layers, both<br />Kennett and Holliday sent to Alvarez their predictions on which layer<br />reflected the geochemical characteristics for the beginning of the<br />Younger Dryas. But neither Kennett nor Alvarez knew the order of the<br />sediment layers; not knowing this order would add credibility to their<br />conclusions.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In a surprise, Kennett's analysis included sedimentary counts for what<br />he called nanodiamonds - which his group says were produced by the<br />enormous energy from comet explosion.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Holliday accurately predicted what layer was associated with the Younger<br />Dryas boundary. But Kennett did not. Kennett's selected<br />nanodiamond-rich layer was 25 centimeters above the Younger Dryas<br />boundary - meaning it was about 1,000 years younger than the claimed<br />impact time. To Alvarez, this indicated a comet-impact hypothesis was<br />incorrect.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="StoryComment"><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>Given that the sedimentary counts for<br />nanodiamonds is just one piece of evidence in a much larger hypothesis,<br />claiming that this result invalidates the comet-impact hypothesis is<br />akin to throwing the baby out with the bathwater.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><br />After considerable behind-the-scenes arguing, Holliday said, Kennett<br />ultimately complained last summer that the study was "fundamentally<br />flawed" and wouldn't allow him to publish his results. Now, Kennett<br />says, he is continuing to analyze the data.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"It is very peculiar," Holliday said. "They propose an idea, a study<br />contradicts it, then they criticize the scientists or the work."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Both Kennett and Columbia's Broecker, are elected members of the<br />prestigious U.S. National Academy of Science; near age peers, they are<br />also old friends. Years ago, Broecker noted, Kennett published seminal<br />discoveries on ancient climate shifts by studying cores drilled deep<br />into the ocean floor.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Speaking graciously of Kennett, Broecker lauded his friend's early<br />climate studies as extremely important. But when the comet theory came<br />along, Broecker immediately was highly skeptical. Kennett repeatedly<br />called him to lobby for the comet until Broecker cut him off saying he<br />didn't want to hear about the theory anymore.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"It is all wrong," said Broecker, if not "very likely total nonsense. But he never gives up on an idea."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Kennett seems fixated on the Younger Dryas, Broecker added, "He won't listen to anyone. It's almost like a religion to him."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Acknowledging the dispute, Kennett said, "I know he thinks I'm wrong; maybe he'll change his mind someday."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />About 20 years ago, Broecker noted Kennett had proposed a similarly<br />wayward theory that a burst of methane from the ocean floor -<br />sometimes called "a methane gun" - warmed the climate, ending the<br />Younger Dyras.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"He pushed the methane-gun theory for years," said Broecker. "He<br />predicted an enormous methane peak would be reflected in ice-core<br />records. But there wasn't one; it was a ridiculous idea to begin with."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Then he switched to the beginning of the Younger Dryas, Broecker added,<br />"He was determined to make a splash; it blinded his judgment."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Ironically, he may be making a different type of impact with his odd-couple collaboration with West.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />West has no formal appointment at an academic institution. He has said<br />he obtained a doctorate from a Bible college, but he won't describe it<br />further. Firestone said West has told him he has no scientific doctorate<br />but is self-taught. West's Arizona attorney refers to him in writing<br />as: "A retired geophysicist who has had a long and distinguished<br />career."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In the early 1990s, a new-age business West was involved in Sedona,<br />Ariz., failed, and his well-drilling company went bankrupt. Then he ran<br />afoul of California law in small Mojave Desert towns in a scheme with<br />two other men, with court records saying they collected fees up to<br />$39,500 for questionable groundwater reports.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />He originally was charged with two felonies for falsely representing<br />himself as a state-licensed geologist but agreed to a no contest plea to<br />a single misdemeanor of false advertising as part of plea bargain in<br />which state records say he was fined $4,500. Two other men in the scam<br />also were sanctioned.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Acknowledging he made a mistake, West has sought to downplay the<br />9-year-old conviction. And last September, after his impact theory<br />colleagues learned of it, he went back to court in Victorville, Calif.,<br />convincing a judge to void the old plea.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="StoryComment"><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>And what, exactly, does a 9-year-old<br />conviction have to do with any of the scientific data that West has<br />collected anyways? Again, we see that instead of tackling <em>all</em> of the data presented by West, Firestone, et al., they've chosen to discredit the messenger in a <em>ad hominem</em> style attack.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><br />After earlier denying any impropriety with his Younger Dryas work,<br />West declined a recent interview request. Last month, he wrote a letter<br />charging it was "<strong>highly prejudicial and distorted</strong>" to<br />bring up his legal past in the context of his current studies. He is a<br />member of "a group of two dozen dedicated scientists performing<br />cutting-edge, although controversial, research," he wrote.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Initially last year, Kennett was speechless when confronted with West's<br />history. He and Firestone learned of it because of this reporter's<br />questions. Since then, he has continued to collaborate and publish<br />research with West. Within weeks of learning of West's background,<br />Kennett pushed for news coverage last September of an article contending<br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.igsoc.org/journal/56/199/j09j103.pdf">nanodiamonds in Greenland</a> supported their comet theory. But the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100914143626.htm">article</a> didn't sway critics.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>Today, Kennett won't discuss West's criminal past at all -<br />saying West is "wonderful, an absolutely remarkable researcher."<br />Firestone acknowledges West "did some strange things" but continues to<br />defend that his work is above reproach.</strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Among the theory's critics, there are decidedly differing opinions.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"This is so far beyond the pale - outside of normal experiences in<br />conducting science - you can't ignore it," Southern Illiois' Pinter<br />said. Asked if he would collaborate with West, he said, "I would run<br />screaming away."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />And the three years and research dollars spent on the claim leave a<br />bitter memory for some. "My response is not publishable," said Pinter.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Some academic institution needs to thoroughly examine the issue and<br />answer the obvious questions that abound, critics say. Several said they<br />already would have reported the events to administrators at their<br />respective universities.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />UCSB is the most likely institution to conduct a review, since Kennett<br />used an NSF grant there on comet studies. But this will mean questioning<br />an esteemed faculty member - Kennett - who is seen as having helped<br />put the campus on the international scientific map.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Among those who believe a formal inquiry should be initiated to determine if there was any misconduct is <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sio.ucsd.edu/Profile/jseveringhaus">Jeffrey Severinghaus</a>,<br />an isotopic chemist at the University of California, San Diego's<br />Scripps Institution of Oceanography. An inquiry is the first level of<br />such scrutiny; an investigation that could lead to sanctions would<br />follow if the inquiry finds evidence of impropriety. Such probes have<br />sniffed out questionable data from cases such as the rejected <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/254/5038/1582.full.pdf?sid=4bd3e495-79ee-4499-a1a2-bd8b167c945a">cold fusion claim</a> and the false Korean assertion of cloning human embryos from <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/315/5810/317.1.full">stem cells</a>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Wow," said Severinghaus upon hearing of the latest developments in the<br />comet theory, which he initially doubted because of his earlier ice-core<br />studies. "It certainly sounds like there is sufficient evidence to<br />justify an initial inquiry."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Asked if he would seek such a move, he said, "Absolutely. It is really<br />important to maintain the public trust in science. That means if there<br />is a bad apple, it is rooted out and exposed."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="StoryComment"><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>These bozos lost the public trust when they let Climategate pass without demanding an inquiry. Talk about double standards!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/199212-Climategate-Goes-SERIAL-Now-the-Russians-Confirm-that-UK-Climate-Scientists-Manipulated-Data-to-Exaggerate-Global-Warming">Climategate Goes SERIAL: Now the Russians Confirm that UK Climate Scientists Manipulated Data to Exaggerate Global Warming</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/201701-Climategate-CRU-Was-But-the-Tip-of-the-Iceberg">Climategate: CRU Was But the Tip of the Iceberg</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/227651-Lobbyists-who-cleared-Climategate-academics-funded-by-taxpayers-and-the-BBC">Lobbyists who cleared 'Climategate' academics funded by taxpayers and the BBC</a></div><br /><br /><br />Bruce Hanley, UCSB's director of research compliance, declined to be<br />interviewed, although in an email he wrote that UCSB "is extremely<br />interested in maintaining a high level of integrity" in research, and<br />has a formal process for review of "unacceptable research practices."<br />Such a review is done confidentially.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Meanwhile, the next stop for the comet proponents' road show is Bern,<br />Switzerland. In July, they are scheduled to present research to a <a target="_blank" href="http://www.inqua2011.ch/">major international conference</a> that studies the last 2.5 million years, the quaternary.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />With many leading impact scientists in Europe equally skeptical of the<br />theory, their welcome may be as icy as that period often was.<br /></div><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1386943/Close-encounter-NASA-say-earth-shattering-boom-prompting-hundreds-911-calls-just-meteorite.html#ixzz1MLqJVV2a">NASA says earth shattering boom just meteorite</a></strong><br /><div class="article-header"><br /><h2><br /></h2><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">DailyMail.Co.Uk<br /><br />Sat, 14 May 2011 13:38 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228600-NASA-says-earth-shattering-boom-just-meteorite#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br />With some predicting the end of the world next Saturday, residents of<br />Virginia Beach could be forgiven for fearing the worst when they heard a<br />loud boom on Tuesday night.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />But according to NASA scientists, the earth shattering explosion was<br />nothing more than a meteorite exploding as it entered the earth's<br />atmosphere.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The incident, which was loud enough to rattle homes in Virginia Beach,<br />Norfolk, Suffolk and other areas prompted a flurry of calls to 911 from<br />concerned residents.<br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Alamy" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66745/full/comet1.jpg"><img alt="" height="334" width="388" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66745/large/comet1.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Alamy</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">Boom: Residents of Virginia Beach and other areas called 911 in their droves after hearing the explosion</span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br />Speaking to WAVY-TV, NASA scientist Joe Zawodny said the boom is<br />most consistent with the space rock and is probably associated with a<br />meteor shower that peaked last week.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Mr Zawodny says an object as small as a golf ball could cause such a loud bang if it was travelling fast enough.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />'A sonic boom is pressure wave, and it mimics an explosion.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />'They can be quite forceful, and can definitely rattle walls and windows.'<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Speaking to the station, Pam Trotter of Virginia Beach said the boom felt almost like an earthquake.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />According to experts, there are many different types of meteor.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Some are iron meteorites, which melt and burn on their way down but remain intact, Mr Zawodny said.<br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Alamy" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66746/full/comet2.jpg"><img alt="" height="251" width="398" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66746/large/comet2.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Alamy</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">Timing:<br />According to experts meteorite explosions are niot uncommon, happening<br />in the continental U.S. at least a dozen times a year</span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br />The noise heard on Tuesday was most likely a made of iron, travelling at around 1,000 mph.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />As it entered the atmosphere it would have left a trail of sonic booms as it disintegrated quite close to the ground.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Speaking to website Lifes Littel Mysteries, Mr Zawodny said there was one other remote possibility.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />He said: 'The only other thing that I've been holding open as<br />possibility - and this would be quite rare - is this could be a result<br />of an atmospheric ducting phenomenon.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />For ducting to work, ideal weather conditions create layers in the<br />atmosphere that channel sound waves from one place to another.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />He added: 'We've had the right temperature profile in the area.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />'There could have been an offshore Navy thing that made sound that travelled along the duct inland.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />'It would have had to be a really huge sound, though.'<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://craterhunter.wordpress.com/2011/05/16/if-not-by-impact-then-what/">If not by impact, then what?</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Dennis Cox<br /><br />A Catastrophe of Comets<br /><br />Mon, 16 May 2011 20:24 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228648-If-not-by-impact-then-what-#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br />One of the large regions that tweaks my curiosity about impact events<br />in a very big way is an area that extends from eastern New Mexico to<br />just the other side of Odessa, and Midland, Texas.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In the image below we see a small part of that area near Vaughn, New<br />Mexico. Using Google Earth's historical image feature, we can view the<br />same place from about 15,000 feet, in images taken at different times of<br />the year.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Unknown" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66867/full/impact1.jpg"><img height="263" width="394" title="Click to enlarge" alt="Impact 1" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66867/large/impact1.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span></div><br /></div><br />As you can see, there are numerous craters. You get a different set of colors in the late summer.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Unknown" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66868/full/impact2.jpg"><img height="263" width="393" title="Click to enlarge" alt="Impact 2" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66868/large/impact2.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The early black & white images are sometimes even more telling.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Unknown" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66869/full/impact3.jpg"><img height="263" width="393" title="Click to enlarge" alt="Impact 3" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66869/large/impact3.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span></div><br /></div><br />These next few are little closer to Vaughn.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Unknown" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66870/full/impact4.jpg"><img height="284" width="395" title="Click to enlarge" alt="Impact 4" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66870/large/impact4.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span></div><br /></div><br />Here it is in the late summer.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Unknown" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66871/full/impact5.jpg"><img height="282" width="393" title="Click to enlarge" alt="Impact 5" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66871/large/impact5.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span></div><br /></div><br />And in black & white.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Unknown" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66872/full/impact6.jpg"><img height="284" width="395" title="Click to enlarge" alt="impact 6" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66872/large/impact6.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span></div><br /></div><br />Crater fields of comparable fragment sizes can be found in scattered, locally dense, clusters all the way to central Texas.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Anyone can Google up some images of the Odessa crater, in west Texas.<br />But the big mystery I'm struggling with is, what about all the others?<strong><br />In the world according to Google Earth, the Odessa crater is only one<br />of thousands liberally scattered among the oil fields of west Texas.</strong><br />In the image you see below, the white lines are dirt roads about 7, or<br />8, meters wide. And each of the clearings that show up as little<br />rectangles of a half an acre, or so, are the location of an oil well<br />pump.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Unknown" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66873/full/impact7.jpg"><img height="283" width="394" title="Click to enlarge" alt="Impact 7" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66873/large/impact7.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span></div><br /></div><br />Let's zoom in close to one of them. It's almost 190 meters wide.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Unknown" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66874/full/impact8.jpg"><img height="282" width="393" title="Click to enlarge" alt="Impact 8" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66874/large/impact8.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span></div><br /></div><br />The early black & white view is interesting too.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Unknown" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66875/full/impact9.jpg"><img height="282" width="393" title="Click to enlarge" alt="impact 9" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66875/large/impact9.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span></div><br /></div><br /><strong>On<br />any other planetary surface in the solar system no one would hesitate<br />to trust their eyes, and call these these what they look like: impact<br />craters.</strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I asked NASA's David Morrison what he thought of these things. He<br />expressed his doubts that so many craters could be all the same age. He<br />said he thought that a cluster impact event would be "Highly unlikely".<br />Under the prevailing uniformitarian/gradualist geophysical paradigm,<br />his views are typical of most mainstream planetary scientists.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />But in March, 2010, W. M. Napier published a paper in the journal <em>Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society</em>, and titled, "Paleolithic extinctions and the Taurid Complex". In it professor Napier points out that:<br /><blockquote class="typ2"><br />"<strong>The fragmentation of comets is now recognized as a major route<br />of their disintegration, and this is consistent with the numerous<br />sub-streams and co-moving observed in the Taurid complex.</strong>"<br /></blockquote><br />And in an earlier 2009 paper by professor Napier, and titled "<a target="_blank" href="http://journalofcosmology.com/Extinction117.html">Comets, Catastrophes, and Earth's History</a>" we read,<br /><blockquote class="typ2"><br />"The evidence that an exceptionally large (50-100 km) comet entered a<br />short-period, Earth-crossing orbit during the upper Paleolithic, and<br />underwent a series of disintegrations, now seems compelling. The idea is<br />not new, but it has been strengthened by an accumulation of evidence<br />from radar studies of the interplanetary environment, from the LDEF<br />experiment, from numerical simulations of the Taurid complex meteoroids<br />and 'asteroids', and from the latter's highly significant orbital<br />clustering around Comet Encke.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>The disintegration of this massive Taurid Complex progenitor<br />over some tens of thousands of years would yield meteoroid swarms which<br />could easily lead to brief, catastrophic episodes of multiple<br />bombardment by sub-kilometer bolides, and it is tempting to see the<br />event at ∼ 12,900 BP as an instance of this.</strong> Whether it<br />actually happened is a matter for Earth scientists, but from the<br />astronomical point of view a meteoroid swarm is a much more probable<br />event than a 4 km comet collision."<br /></blockquote><br />Most of the academic community assume that large clusters of cometary<br />debris don't hit the Earth. At least, not in the geologically recent<br />past. And they will entertain almost any fantastical theory for the<br />formation of these depressions; as long as that theoretical geologic<br />process does not involve a sudden catastrophic impact event. When<br />looking for answers, the typical party line is that they are all<br />probably karst sinkholes, because they are all in limestone.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />But there's just too darn many of them. And in too large a variety of<br />terrains. Any given karst sinkhole is representative of a partial<br />collapse of a much larger cave system beneath. And if we work from the<br />uniformitarian postulate that these holes in the ground appeared, over a<br />great span of time, our thinking is still stuck in a box. They are all<br />in exactly the same almost pristine condition. So it's completely non<br />sequitur to say they represent a long series of repeated events.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />There are many thousands of them, in many different terrains. They can<br />be found in a large variety of sizes in a vast region that includes<br />almost all of eastern New Mexico, and West Texas. And they average about<br />100 meters in diameter.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Take your pick. Which is more plausible? A giant series of<br />inter-connecting cave systems covering tens of thousands of square<br />miles, with too many large sinkholes as big as a large sports stadium,<br />all breaking the surface, and collapsing, at nearly the same time to<br />count? Or the giant crater fields caused by the almost simultaneous,<br />late Pleistocene - early Holocene impacts of a very large cluster of<br />cometary fragments?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I've been asking around, and digging for evidence that someone has<br />actually done some real science on these things. And all I've been able<br />to get are wimpy answers that begin with; "Well, most geologists agree<br />that______", or words to that effect. Heck, I don't care what they've<br />all decided to agree about. I want to know what they've proven.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />As for me, and until proven otherwise, I prefer to trust my own eyes.<br />Those surfaces we see those things in all date to the late Pleistocene.<br />And I'm working from the postulate that they are related to the impact<br />storms of the Younger Dryas Impacts.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />There's a few more to be seen in this gallery called <a target="_blank" href="http://www.dropbox.com/gallery/2268163/1/CraterField?h=c40610">Craterfield</a>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.dailytownsman.com/article/20110517/CRANBROOK0101/305179990/-1/cranbrook01/huge-meteorite-crosses-cranbrook-sky">Canada: Huge Meteorite crosses Cranbrook Sky</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Sally MacDonald<br /><br />The Townsman<br /><br />Tue, 17 May 2011 08:04 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228665-Canada-Huge-Meteorite-crosses-Cranbrook-Sky#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a title="© College of the Rockies" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66909/full/bilde.jpg"><img alt="" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/66909/medium/bilde.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© College of the Rockies</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">A<br />meteor that looked as big as the moon swooped over Cranbrook early on<br />Saturday morning. This photo shows the view through the College of the<br />Rockies meteor camera. The image is taken through a fish-eye lens with<br />the horizon shown as a rim around the edge of the circle. North is at<br />the right of the image, west at the bottom, south to the left and east<br />at the top.</span></div><br /></div><br />Witnesses describe a fireball that looked as big as the moon.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />An enormous meteor was caught on video as it flew over Cranbrook early on Saturday morning.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />A video camera on the roof of the College of the Rockies caught the<br />meteor's flight in a nine-second clip that you can view on the <em>Townsman's</em> <a target="_blank" href="http://www.facebook.com/TownsmanBulletin">Facebook page</a>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Physics lab technician Rick Nowell described the sky as the meteor passed over us.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"The dark night sky of Cranbrook was lit up like daylight early<br />Saturday morning at 2:17 a.m. when a huge meteor rocketed overhead.<br />Appearing as a dim dot at first, high to the north, it rapidly grew into<br />a big, white ball as big as the moon, with a tail behind it," described<br />Nowell.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"It flared into brilliance, lighting up the whole sky and layers of<br />white clouds to the south-western horizon. Within four seconds the flare<br />sank as it moved a bit south of west, sinking down into the clouds,<br />towards the setting moon and Creston. Then a dull rumble of thunder<br />followed after it."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The fireball was seen east in Cochrane, south in Coeur d'Alene and<br />Spokane, and west in Nelson, Kamloops and Penticton. Most eye-witnesses<br />described a greenish blue orb that looked as big as the moon. <strong>It<br />lit up the sky as bright as day, and one person even said the automatic<br />street lights switched off for a few minutes as they registered the<br />light.</strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Eyewitnesses in Cranbrook and Nelson heard a distant boom, like a<br />far-off thunderstorm, after the meteor sank over the horizon. That's an<br />indication that the meteor broke apart and fell to the ground somewhere<br />between the two cities, according to Dr. Alan Hildebrand, head of the<br />Canadian Fireball Reporting Centre at the University of Calgary.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Those booms can be explosions as the meteor was fragmenting late in<br />flight or if you're close you can hear the sonic booms from individual<br />fragments," said Dr. Hildebrand.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />From the angle of the meteor's flight path, Hildebrand estimated that<br />meteor fragments may have landed somewhere north of Creston along<br />Kootenay Lake. However, he said, another video taken west of the meteor<br />would help pinpoint where it came down.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Part of an asteroid, the meteor fragments would not have caused damage<br />when they fell - unless it came down right on top of a home.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"It's a rock moving pretty good, so it would punch a hole in your roof<br />but that's all we're talking about," said Dr. Hildebrand. "And you'd be<br />lucky if it happened. Then you'd have a meteorite landed in your house.<br />It would more than pay for fixing the roof."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />An estimated 500 meteorites fall to the Earth's surface each year,<br />although only five or six are recovered and reported to scientists each<br />year. Meteorites can be worth up to $1 million.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />However, the landscape between Creston and Nelson could easily hide meteorites, Hildebrand said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"This country is mountainous and forested in large part with relatively<br />narrow valleys with some cleared land and lakes occupying valley<br />bottoms. The described fireball characteristics and all-sky record<br />indicate a rock with an initial mass of around 100 kilograms," he said.<br />"The general area has a lot of tough ground to search for meteorites, as<br />most of B.C. is - spectacular scenery generally equals tough meteorite<br />searching."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />If you saw or heard the meteorite, the <em>Townsman</em> would love to<br />hear your account. Call 250-426-5201. You can also report the sighting<br />at the Canadian Meteorites and Impacts Advisory Committee <a target="_blank" href="http://www.miac.uqac.ca/">here</a>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.bclocalnews.com/kootenay_rockies/crestonvalleyadvance/news/122163958.html">Meteorite may have landed along Kootenay Lake</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar"><br /><br />Nelson Star<br /><br />Wed, 18 May 2011 12:04 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228777-Meteorite-may-have-landed-along-Kootenay-Lake#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a title="© Courtesy College of the Rockies/Cranbrook Daily Townsman" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/67172/full/36269westernstarMeteorite.jpg"><img alt="" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/67172/medium/36269westernstarMeteorite.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Courtesy College of the Rockies/Cranbrook Daily Townsman</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">A<br />meteor that looked as big as the moon swooped over Cranbrook early<br />Saturday. This photo shows the view through the College of the Rockies<br />meteor camera. The image is taken through a fish-eye lens with the<br />horizon shown as a rim around the edge of the circle. </span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br />A meteorite that flew over the Kootenays on Saturday morning was<br />seen in Nelson and caught on video by a camera on the roof of the<br />College of the Rockies in Cranbrook.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />It lit up the night sky at 2:17 a.m., according to physics lab technician Rick Nowell.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Appearing as a dim dot at first, high to the north, it rapidly grew<br />into a big, white ball as big as the moon, with a tail behind it," he<br />says.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"It flared into brilliance, lighting up the whole sky and<br />layers of white clouds to the south-western horizon. Within four seconds<br />the flare sank as it moved a bit south of west, sinking down into the<br />clouds, towards the setting moon and Creston."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />A dull rumble of thunder followed.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The fireball was seen as far east as Cochrane, Alberta; south as Coeur<br />d'Alene and Spokane; and west in Nelson, Kamloops and Penticton.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Most witnesses described a greenish blue orb that looked as big as the<br />moon. It lit up the sky as bright as day, and one person even said the<br />automatic street lights switched off for a few minutes as they<br />registered the light.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Witnesses in Cranbrook and Nelson heard a distant boom, like a far-off<br />thunderstorm, after the meteor sank over the horizon - an indication<br />the meteor broke apart and fell to the ground somewhere between the two<br />cities, according to Dr. Alan Hildebrand, head of the Canadian Fireball<br />Reporting Centre at the University of Calgary.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />From the angle of the meteor's flight path, Hildebrand estimates meteor<br />fragments may have landed somewhere north of Creston along Kootenay<br />Lake.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />However, the landscape between Creston and Nelson could easily hide<br />meteorites, Hildebrand said. "The general area has a lot of tough ground<br />to search ... spectacular scenery generally equals tough meteorite<br />searching."<br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www2.imperial.ac.uk/blog/reporter/2011/05/18/sugar-grain-sized-meteorites-rocked-the-climates-of-early-earth-and-mars/">Bombardments of 'micro-meteorites' on Earth and Mars four billion years ago</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Colin Smith<br /><br />Imperial College<br /><br />Wed, 18 May 2011 17:12 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228746-Bombardments-of-micro-meteorites-on-Earth-and-Mars-four-billion-years-ago#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a title="© Unknown" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/67063/full/asteroids_73687960.jpg"><img alt="" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/67063/medium/asteroids_73687960.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span></div><br /></div><br />Bombardments<br />of 'micro-meteorites' on Earth and Mars four billion years ago may have<br />caused the planets' climates to cool dramatically, hampering their<br />ability to support life, according to research by Imperial scientists<br />published on 1 April in the journal Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Micro-meteorites, the size of sugar grains, come from the rocky<br />asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and are dragged by gravity<br />towards Earth and Mars. As they enter the planets' upper atmospheres,<br />they heat up to temperatures of approximately 1,000 degrees Celsius and<br />release gases, including sulphur dioxide. This sulphur dioxide forms<br />aerosols consisting of solid and liquid particles, which deflect<br />sunlight away from the surface, making the planets cooler.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The researchers studied the effects of the Late Heavy Bombardment, a<br />period of time in the early solar system, when meteorite showers lasting<br />around 100 million years barraged Earth and Mars.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />They believe that the high sulphur dioxide levels, together with a Sun<br />30 per cent weaker than today's, could have plunged Earth into an Arctic<br />winter lasting millions of years, and making conditions for primitive<br />microbial life extremely difficult.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/people/r.court">Dr Richard Court</a> (<a target="_blank" href="http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/earthscienceandengineering">Earth Science and Engineering</a>),<br />lead author of the study, said: "These sugar grain sized meteorites are<br />left over material from the construction of our early solar system,<br />helping to build rocky planets such as Earth and Mars. Our study is<br />helping us to see how these tiny space rocks could also bring<br />environmental devastation on a global scale to early Earth and Mars.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/features/print/4330/ancient-scars?page=0%2C3">Ancient Scars</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Alex Bevan and Ken McNamara<br /><br />Cosmos Magazine<br /><br />Tue, 01 Mar 2011 00:00 CST</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228813-Ancient-Scars#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a title="© Tourism Western Australia" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/67224/full/20110519_Wolfe_Creek.jpg"><img alt="" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/67224/medium/20110519_Wolfe_Creek.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Tourism Western Australia</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">The Wolfe Creek crater in Western Australia.</span></div><br /></div><br /><em>Only<br />recently has science recognised craters for what they really are:<br />evidence of sudden impacts from long ago. Geologists Alex Bevan and Ken<br />McNamara explore our rich heritage of fossil collisions.</em><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Travelling south from Halls Creek in Western Australia, the hilly<br />country of the southeastern Kimberley quickly gives way to the flat sand<br />plains of the Great Sandy Desert.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Some 90 km south of Halls Creek, we see on the horizon a break in the<br />monotony: an apparently flat-topped hill. In these endless plains, it is<br />hard to judge the hill's height and distance, but after another 10 km<br />we are almost there.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The fascinating story of the Wolfe Creek Crater begins to be revealed as<br />we approach the slopes of the hill: the quartzite country rock becomes<br />increasingly broken and disarranged. Rusty-red areas of iron oxide<br />soils, which cap the quartzite, become increasingly fragmented.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Then, curious objects begin to appear. Close to the top of the hill, on<br />its western slopes, rusty balls of rock lie scattered on the ground,<br />sometimes fused into the laterite, and at other times lying loose.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Reaching the top of the hill, we gasp from something other than<br />shortness of breath - for before us lies one of the most startling<br />geological features in Australia: Wolfe Creek Crater.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Between 870 and 950 m in diameter, Wolfe Creek Crater is almost<br />circular. Originally it would have been 120 m deep, but is now largely<br />filled with sand and is only 25 m below the plains of sand.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />There are thousands of circular structures on Earth's land surface, and<br />many of these can be explained by the action of well-understood<br />geological processes such as volcanism.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />A number of these structures do not occur in volcanic terrains, nor are<br />they associated with volcanic material. In the past, scientists<br />described them as 'cryptovolcanic' or 'cryptoexplosion' structures,<br />believing they were the result of explosive eruptive activity or that<br />the cause of the explosion is unknown.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In the past 50 years, many features thought to be volcanic have now been shown to have an impact origin.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In 1965, researchers found 1,343 grams of iron meteorites some 3.9 km<br />southwest of Wolfe Creek Crater, making it one of only five craters in<br />Australia where meteorites have been found.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Meteorites only survive if the impact is small, producing a crater only a<br />few hundreds of metres across. In larger impacts, the projectile is<br />completely melted and vaporised. So, without the meteorite itself, what<br />other than the circularity of such structures leads us to believe they<br />were formed by impact?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The telltale evidence of a meteoritic origin falls into three main<br />categories: structural, mineralogical and chemical. Geophysical surveys<br />of many suspected impact structures show that they do not have<br />deep-seated roots.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />For example, Gosses Bluff, about 175 km west of Alice Springs,<br />has a limit to the depth of severely disrupted rocks at around 4 km<br />below the ground, indicating that the cause of the disruption could not<br />have come from below, as in volcanic eruptions.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />But the vital piece of evidence that distinguishes impact craters from<br />other geological formations is the presence of shock-altered minerals.<br />Shock waves cause microscopic transformations to occur in certain<br />minerals.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The diagnostic features of true impact structures include multiple sets<br />of microscopic planar deformation features in quartz, a mineral that in<br />its unaltered form has no natural cleavage.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Significantly, impact cratering is the only geological process known to<br />produce these so-called 'shock-metamorphic' effects abundantly.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Other features include impact glasses - melted and rapidly solidified<br />rock - and the rare minerals stishovite and coesite, which were formed<br />by the intense compression of the mineral quartz.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In some impact structures - such as Popigai in Russia and the Nördlinger<br />Ries structure in Germany - the rocks are shot with tiny diamonds<br />formed by the shock-compression of graphite (or carbon); some of these<br />diamonds may even have condensed from the vapour created by the impact.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Since they survive over great periods of geological time, impact<br />diamonds are additional useful indicators in the identification of<br />impact structures.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Recently, tiny diamonds of impact origin have been recognised within<br />impact glass at the Henbury craters, 13 to 14 craters about 150 km<br />southwest of Alice Springs.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />On a larger scale, other diagnostic features of intensely shocked rocks<br />are shatter cones, which are produced by the sliding of rocks along<br />cone-shaped fractures. Like accusing fingers, the apex of each cone<br />always points toward the point of impact.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Shatter cones have not been found at Wolfe Creek, but it is likely that<br />erosion has not yet penetrated deeply enough to expose the shatter<br />cones, which may lie beneath the crater.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Evidence of giant impacts occasionally presents itself in places other<br />than at the site of collision. Rocks thrown great distances from craters<br />go on to land in alien terrain, and flying glass such as tektite (far<br />from the crater) or impactite (close to the crater), remain as<br />incriminating evidence of impacts.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Asteroids hitting seas and oceans raise giant tsunamis that break on<br />land, depositing muddy sediments and other debris as they flow across<br />hundreds of kilometres. Ejecta in the form of breccias - broken bits of<br />rock cemented together - are either hurled, or flow considerably far<br />from the crater from which they were ejected.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Pseudotachylite is an unusual kind of impact breccia that occurs deep in<br />the target rocks of some large impact structures. In composition,<br />pseudotachylites correspond closely to their adjacent host rocks,<br />indicating that they formed from them by grinding, and sometimes<br />frictional, melting.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Pseudotachylites can occur as thin, millimetre-sized veins, or bodies up<br />to many tens of metres thick. They can contain numerous large and small<br />rounded inclusions of milled target rock, set in a dense matrix that is<br />generally black to blackish-green in colour. Pseudotachylite-like rocks<br />are not exclusive to impact structures but also occur in zones of<br />intense deformation, such as faults. They can result from sharp tectonic<br />movements.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Bodies of tectonic pseudotachylite tend to be linear and less than a few<br />metres thick, whereas impact-produced pseudotachylites can form large,<br />more irregular bodies developed over wide areas.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Pseudotachylites then, are themselves not necessarily diagnostic of<br />impacts unless they are accompanied by other evidence of<br />shock-metamorphism. When pseudotachylites are present in impact<br />structures, the melt-rich varieties offer a means of absolute age dating<br />of the impact event.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In many impact craters, gas from the vapourised projectile can be<br />injected into the target rocks, leaving a distinctive chemical<br />signature.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The type of signature depends on the make-up of the meteoritic culprit,<br />and it has been possible in some cases to identify the type of impacting<br />meteorite from analysis of the melted rocks that form the impact<br />structure.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />An example of telltale signs of a giant impact occurring in a place<br />other than the impact site is the recognition of the Lake Acraman<br />structure in the Gawler Ranges of South Australia as a huge scar of<br />extraterrestrial origin.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In 1983, geologists, including Vic Gostin working in the Flinders Ranges<br />some 300 km east of Lake Acraman, discovered a layer of shattered<br />volcanic rock fragments, some up to 30 cm across, encased in<br />600-million-year-old shales in the Pichi Richi Pass and other spots<br />throughout the ranges.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Dating of the 'foreign' rocks showed that they were around one billion<br />years older than the shales in which they had become embedded.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Recognising that the rock fragments were typical of ancient volcanic<br />rocks found at the Gawler Ranges, near Lake Acraman, the geologists<br />deduced that they must have come from there: but how?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Independently, in 1979, another geologist, George Williams, had<br />discovered abundant evidence of shocked mineral grains and shatter cones<br />in the volcanic rocks exposed on the shores of the nearly circular Lake<br />Acraman, and concluded that it was an impact structure.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Eventually, the geologists compared notes and realised that the rock<br />fragments found in the Flinders Ranges represented some of the debris<br />hurled from the impact at Lake Acraman. The estimated age of the host<br />shales pinned down the time of the impact to around 600 million years<br />ago.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />At the time of the Lake Acraman impact, a shallow sea existed in the<br />area now occupied by the Flinders Ranges. Debris from the impact rained<br />down on the sea and sank into the muddy seabed, which later became<br />buried by other sediments.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Subsequent upheavals raised and contorted the accumulated sediments that<br />now form the Flinders Ranges, and erosion has exposed the 'fossilised'<br />remains of the fallout from the Acraman impact.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The original Acraman crater, which formed some one or two kilometres<br />above the present land surface, was at least 30 km in diameter; but<br />circular fractures around the impact indicate that the final collapse<br />crater could have been as much as 40-90 km in diameter. This makes it<br />one of the 10 largest known impact structures in the world, and the<br />energy released during its formation was around a million times greater<br />than at Wolfe Creek.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Recently, satellite photography and extensive geophysical exploration<br />have revealed some 200 circular structures that may have been formed by<br />giant meteorite impacts on Earth's surface and beneath the oceans.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Many circular features, some up to 100 km or more in diameter, have been<br />observed as ghostly outlines in some of the oldest rocks on Earth.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Like Australia, other ancient continental landscapes such as the<br />Canadian Shield, South Africa, Siberia and the Scandinavian Shield<br />display faint circular scars that testify to the impact of huge<br />asteroids millions of years ago.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>Once earth's geological history has been detailed, it can reveal<br />how often these potentially destructive bodies strike Earth.<br />Crater-forming meteoroids - those weighing a few hundred tonnes or more -<br />would be expected to strike Earth's land surface every 20 years or so.</strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Theoretically, a meteoroid big enough to produce a crater the size of<br />Wolfe Creek - tens of thousands of tonnes - should arrive on Earth about<br />once every 5,000 years.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />However, a crater-forming impact on this scale has not occurred in<br />historical times. The reason is that Earth is not without its natural<br />defences, and there are a number of factors that work in our favour.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Since three quarters of Earth's surface is covered by water, most<br />meteorites fall into the sea. Also, the majority of meteorites are<br />brittle objects and break up in the atmosphere to fall as many small<br />objects rather than one large one.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Studies of craters show that many were made by the impact of iron<br />meteorites, which are less prone to break-up in the atmosphere, but far<br />less common than stony meteorites.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />When all the factors are taken into account, impact-producing structures<br />on the scale of Wolfe Creek are predicted to occur perhaps once every<br />25,000 years, while collisions on the Lake Acraman and Gosses Bluff<br />scale only about once every 15 million years. Potentially catastrophic<br />global events like the Chicxulub impact, which might cause extinctions,<br />may only occur on a time scale of 50-100 million years.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>Realistically, what are the chances of a catastrophic impact on<br />Earth? If the fossil-cratering record is anything to go by, over the<br />vast time-scale of geological history, catastrophic impacts have<br />certainly occurred and are indeed likely to occur again in the future.</strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Humanity's written history is very short - a few thousand years or so;<br />this pales into insignificance against the 4.6 billion years of Earth's<br />geological history. And just because large-scale cratering has not<br />occurred during historical times, this does not mean it will not happen<br />in the future.<br /><blockquote class="typ1"><br />CAN WE STOP THE NEXT ONE?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Since 1998, there's been a coordinated hunt for Near Earth Objects, or<br />NEOs: asteroids or comets that cross the Earth's orbit and are up to 195<br />million km from the Sun (Earth is 150 million km from the Sun).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Australian astronomers use the 0.5 m Uppsala Schmidt Telescope at Siding<br />Spring Observatory, in Coonabarabran, New South Wales - the only survey<br />in the southern hemisphere.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Multiple images of the same patch of sky are taken 15 minutes apart and<br />compared - enough time to spot a NEO crossing the frame. Unfortunately,<br />only NEOs 1 km in diameter or more are easily detectable, and the work<br />is funded by NASA since Australian funding dried up over a decade ago.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />To date, the surveys have found 7,679 NEOs. Of these, 1,180 asteroids<br />are classed as 'potentially hazardous': passing within 7.5 million<br />kilometres of Earth and being at least 110 m in diameter. Each new NEO's<br />orbit is calculated to establish if it will collide with Earth in the<br />future.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />If one was identified as a threat, existing technology might be able to<br />deflect it. One technique suggested is to set off hydrogen bombs above<br />its surface: high-speed neutrons from the blast would irradiate one side<br />of the asteroid, causing material to expand and blow off.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The asteroid would recoil, producing a small change in velocity - enough<br />to make it eventually miss Earth. Blowing up the asteroid entirely<br />would create an even bigger problem, since all the pieces would still be<br />headed for Earth. Another idea is to attach large solar sails to the<br />object, allowing the pressure of sunlight to redirect the object away<br />from Earth.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />There may even be a commercial spin-off from NEO studies: the<br />potentially hazardous comets and asteroids are the ones that could most<br />easily be captured in Earth's orbit and mined for metals such as<br />platinum and cobalt.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />It's estimated that a metallic asteroid 1.6 km in diameter might contain<br />more than US$20 trillion worth of exploitable resources. - Nina Pace<br /></blockquote><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2009/06/04/did-a-meteor-bring-down-air-france-447/">Did a meteor bring down Air France 447?</a><br /><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">John<br /><br />Discover Magazine<br /><br />Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:59 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228885-Did-a-meteor-bring-down-Air-France-447-#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a title="© Unknown" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/67418/full/Timeline_of_Air_France_447.png"><img alt="" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/67418/medium/Timeline_of_Air_France_447.png" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span></div><br /></div><br />Back in 1996, after the initially very mysterious explosion and <a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWA_Flight_800">crash of Flight 800</a><br />from JFK to Rome, there were numerous eyewitness accounts of a "streak<br />in the sky" just before the crash. This led to the "missile theory" of<br />the crash, which was eventually attributed to the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ntsb.gov/Publictn/2000/AAR0003.pdf">explosion of the center fuel tank</a><br />by the NTSB. But, also at the time, it was suggested that a meteor of<br />sufficient size could have struck the plane, bringing it down.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>Could a meteor have brought down Air France 447? Today we are<br />starting to see reports that there actually may have been a meteor:</strong><br /><blockquote class="typ2"><br />However, both pilots of an Air Comet flight from Lima to Lisbon sent a<br />written report on the bright flash they said they saw to Air France,<br />Airbus and the Spanish civil aviation authority, the airline told CNN.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Suddenly, we saw in the distance a strong and intense flash of white<br />light, which followed a descending and vertical trajectory and which<br />broke up in six seconds," the captain wrote.<br /></blockquote><br />Obviously for any given flight the chances are very, very small<br />that a meteor will bring down an airliner, but as Hailey and Helfand <a target="_blank" href="http://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/19/opinion/l-in-twa-800-crash-don-t-discount-meteor-386081.html">pointed out</a> in a letter to the <em>NYT</em><br />in 1996, the correct question to ask is this: "What is the probability<br />that, for all flights in history, one or more could have been downed by a<br />meteor?" <strong>They concluded that there was a 1-in-10 chance that this could happen...</strong>let's use their logic, brought up to date somewhat, for 2009, for Flight 447.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="StoryComment"><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>And judging from the recent <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228862-From-Where-I-Sit-Raindrops-Keep-Fallin-On-My-Head">increased activity</a>, the chances are probably even higher than that.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><br />Helfand, an astronomer, is presumably the one who estimated that<br />"approximately 3,000 meteors a day with the requisite mass strike<br />Earth". This is a difficult number to get. How much mass? How fast does<br />it need to be moving? But let's assume that this number is correct; it<br />translates to 125 meteors per hour.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Next we need to know the total number of flight hours at altitude for all commercial planes. In 2000 there were about <a target="_blank" href="http://www.boeing.com/commercial/safety/pf/pf_howsafe.html">18 million flights per year</a>.<br />Clearly in the past 20 years (which we'll take as our reference, since<br />it spans 1989-2009, with both flights 800 and 447) it was not always<br />so...but let's take a guess that the 18 million figure is roughly<br />correct for that 20 year period. That would yield 360 million commercial<br />airline flights from 1989-2000. Hailey and Helfand assumed that each<br />flight was two hours in duration. Again, a tough number to find on line,<br />so we'll take it at face value, giving us 720 million flight hours in<br />our reference period.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />They also claim that if there were 3500 planes in the air at any time,<br />this would correspond to covering two-billionths of Earth's surface. Now<br />the earth's surface area is 5×10<sup>14</sup> m<sup>2</sup>. Using my trusty HP-15c, I get that this would imply an average target area for a commercial airliner of 291 m<sup>2</sup>, which is reasonable. Each plane, that is, covers 5.7×10<sup>-13</sup> of Earth's surface. If a meteor hits the earth it has that probability of hitting a given plane on average.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />So, in our reference 20-year period we have 720 million hours of flight time, times 125 meteors per hour, times 5.7×10<sup>-13</sup><br />= 0.051, which we can take as the average number of airliners struck by<br />meteors in the period 1989-2009. That's a one-in-twenty chance of some<br />plane going down for this reason in that 20 year period. Extrapolating<br />to all flights ever would require a better estimate of total flight<br />hours, but it's not twenty times the number in the past 20 years, for<br />sure - that is, it's not yet close to one.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Obviously there are a lot of uncertainties in this estimate; perhaps a<br />factor of two from the number of meteors of sufficient mass per day, the<br />average flight duration and number of flights?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Anyway the meteor idea is not crazy, though not likely. The weather<br />seems more likely to be at the root of the tragedy...but we may never<br />know. One thing, though, is clear: if we keep flying big planes at high<br />altitude, eventually one will get hit by a meteor.<br /></div><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>Actually, SOTT called this one when it happened! The reader is invited to take a look at <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/186672-What-are-they-hiding-Flight-447-and-Tunguska-Type-Events">What are they hiding? Flight 447 and Tunguska Type Events</a>,<br />that clearly demonstrates the possibility of Flight 447 being hit by a<br />meteorite or a shockwave from an exploding comet fragment. </div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><small></small> </div><br /></div><br /><small></small><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-top"><br /><span class="atop-l"></span><br /><span class="atop-r"></span><br /></div><br /><div class="article-header"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/watchtheskies/macon.html" target="_blank">US: NASA Sky Cameras Capture Man-Sized Meteor Over Macon, Georgia</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Janet Anderson<br /><br />NASA<br /><br />Mon, 23 May 2011 13:28 CDT<br /><br /></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe height="349" frameborder="0" width="400" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-8v8-nQoRNk"></iframe></div><br /><br /><br />Astronomers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center have recorded the<br />brightest meteor seen by their network in almost three years of<br />operation. On May 20, 2011, at 9:47 p.m. CDT, a six-foot diameter<br />fragment of an unknown comet entered the atmosphere approximately 66<br />miles above the city of Macon, Ga., traveling northwest at a speed of<br />some 24 miles per second (86,000 mph). At this velocity, the<br />boulder-sized "dirty snowball" possessed an energy or striking power<br />somewhere between 500-1000 tons of TNT.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />This was seen by many eyewitnesses in Georgia and Alabama; the American Meteor Society has some of the reports <a href="http://www.amsmeteors.org/fireball2/public.php?start_date=2011-05-01&end_date=2011-05-31&state=&event_id=511&submit=Find+Reports" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />It was tracked by two NASA all sky cameras, one located in Chickamauga,<br />Ga., and the other at the Tellus Science Museum in the town of<br />Cartersville, Ga. Analysis of the video data from these cameras enabled<br />the Meteoroid Environment Office to estimate the trajectory, speed, mass<br />and orbit of the meteor. More information on these cameras and a log of<br />recent meteor events can be found <a href="http://fireballs.ndc.nasa.gov/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/67759/full/551057main_bright4_lg.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Google"><img height="243" width="398" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/67759/large/551057main_bright4_lg.jpg" alt="Meteor Ground Track." title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Google</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">Ground track of meteor's path.</span></div><br /></div><br />Fortunately<br />the atmosphere provided us with excellent protection, as the video<br />illustrates. Because the video is slowed to one-third of the actual<br />real-time speed, it's easy to spot the large fragments coming off in the<br />wake after the flares.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The video shows four distinct flares caused by the meteor breaking apart<br />in its fiery final few seconds. You can see fragments coming off in the<br />meteor's wake after three of these flares. After a last burst of light,<br />the meteor ablated -- or "burned up" -- 38 miles above the town of<br />Villa Rica, Ga., located on the border between Carrol and Douglas<br />counties in Georgia.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"><br /><span class="atop-l"></span><br /><span class="atop-r"></span><br /></div><br /><div class="article-header"><br /><strong><a href="http://deathby1000papercuts.com/2011/05/mystery-boom-causes-panic-in-northeast-philadelphia-video/" target="_blank">And the Drops Keep Falling! US: Mystery Boom Causes Panic in Northeast Philadelphia</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">LBG1<br /><br />DBKP - Death By 1000 Papercuts<br /><br />Sat, 28 May 2011 15:04 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/229238-And-the-Drops-Keep-Falling-US-Mystery-Boom-Causes-Panic-in-Northeast-Philadelphia#"><br /><br /></a></div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><em>One witness: 'It sounded like something above you, fell down.'</em><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/68301/full/Mystery_Booms_Heard_in_Philade.png" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Unknown"><img alt="" height="210" width="399" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/68301/large/Mystery_Booms_Heard_in_Philade.png" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">Firefighters, EMS respond to mystery booms heard in Philadelphia, May 28, 2011</span></div><br /></div><br />A<br />mystery 'boom' that 'may not have been explosion' caused panic in<br />northeast Philadelphia and Lower Bucks County at approximately 9:30 PM,<br />May 27, 2011, according to a local NBC report, with multiple fire<br />trucks, EMS, and power companies racing to the 'scene'. After reaching<br />the area, no one could locate the source of an explosion. Also reported,<br />house's shook which led to speculation it may have been an earthquake.<br />According to NBC 7 the USGS was unable to confirm the boom was an<br />earthquake. Other speculation, a sonic boom which was heard in only<br />northeast Philadelphia and Lower Bucks County.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />NBC 10 Philadelphia video news report:<br /><blockquote class="typ2"><br />'Calls and emails flooded NBC 10 News after reports of several loud<br />bangs. This is in northeast Philadelphia and Lower Bucks County. Fire<br />and emergency units raced to the scene but it is still not clear what<br />has happened here.'<br /></blockquote><br />The local NBC reporter:<br /><blockquote class="typ2"><br />'This is a very strange situation out here you can see behind me there<br />are multiple crews from the fire department and the police department as<br />well as crews from PICO and PGW. This is the area of 9th and Fairdale<br />Rd. in Northeast Philadelphia. Here's what we know, at about 9:30<br />tonight the fire department started getting multiple calls of what some<br />people described as a possible explosion. Some people I've been talking<br />to at the scene said that it actually felt like a minor earthquake.<br />Whatever it was at this point investigators have not been able to<br />determine what that explosion was or if it even was an explosion but<br />people said it lasted only a few seconds.'<br /></blockquote><br />One witness: 'It sounded like something above you, fell down.'<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Another witness: 'It sounded like something hit the building, like a<br />car. It was just a shake and that's when the cops and everything were<br />here. And someone said a house blew up and everyone came running out and<br />no one knows what it is.'<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><embed height="324" width="400" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="v=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nbcphiladelphia.com%2Fi%2Fembed_new%2F%3Fcid%3D122759629%26path=${encodedPath}" src="http://media.nbcphiladelphia.com/designvideo/embeddedPlayer.swf"></embed></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"><br /><span class="atop-l"></span><br /><span class="atop-r"></span><br /></div><br /><div class="article-header"><br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://craterhunter.wordpress.com/2011/05/28/an-open-letter-to-allen-west-and-r-b-firestone-et-al/">An Open Letter to Allen West, and R.B. Firestone et al.</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="l-bar"></div><br /><div class="m-bar">Dennis Cox<br /><br />A Castastrophe of Comets<br /><br />Sat, 28 May 2011 11:03 CDT</div><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="StoryComment"><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>For the background behind this letter see:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/228596-Bogus-Science-claims-Comet-Theory-Comes-Crashing-to-Earth-">Bogus Science claims "Comet Theory Comes Crashing to Earth"</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a title="© George Grie/neosurrealismart.com" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/68324/full/353d_Final_Frontier_B.jpg"><img alt="" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/68324/medium/353d_Final_Frontier_B.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© George Grie/neosurrealismart.com</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">"Final<br />Frontier Voyage" - when will today's equivalents of yesterday's flat<br />world theorists wake up and see what's on the horizon?</span></div><br /></div><br />Hi Dr. West,<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I've been following the latest news. And I thought you could use a bit of moral support.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />It probably sounds crazy for a certified welding inspector and<br />ironworker to retire and pursue impact research full-time. Especially<br />since I'm pretty much a nobody. But like many others, I'm looking to<br />identify the planetary scarring and blast-affected materials of the<br />impact storms of the Early Holocene. A little military training in<br />battle damage assessment from aerial photography and a copy of Google<br />Earth goes a long way here.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />And being a nobody makes me especially sensitive to <em>ad hominem</em><br />attacks. I am prepared to debate the science I propose with the big<br />kids. But as an autodidact, an outsider and a complete nobody, I have no<br />defense if the attacks are personally about me, and not the science. So<br />whenever I'm reading along and one side or another, in any given<br />debate, sinks to <em>ad hominem</em>, I have a policy of looking past it<br />at the science that's being ignored or smoke-screened. I tend to<br />mentally disqualify any debater who sinks to such small-minded tactics,<br />and ignore further comments from them in the future. And from what I see<br />of it, the science of yours I see smoke-screened by all the <em>ad hominem</em> crap in the popular press lately is, nevertheless, as good as it gets.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Like you and the others of Firestone <em>et al</em>, what I've been able<br />to find pretty much flies in the face of the kind of<br />Uniformitarian/Gradualist assumptive reasoning that's been the<br />foundation postulate of the Earth Sciences since Sir Charles Lyell<br />published <em>Principles of Geology</em> back in 1830. And regarding the<br />events of the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, I'm ready to make the<br />case that the foundation geologic principle in the Earth sciences,<br />expressed in the slogan, "The present is the key to the past", is almost<br />as <em>naïve</em> as flat-world theory.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The principles of Uniformitarianism, and Gradualism, only work<br />as long as nothing sudden, and chaotic happens. Harlan Bretz was able to<br />use aerial photography to identify, and map, catastrophic mass movement<br />of terrain materials. And in his work on the Channeled Scablands of<br />Eastern Washington, and the glacial Mega floods of the early Holocene,<br />Bretz showed us that if you want to understand the planetary scarring of<br />a geologically recent catastrophic event that's different from anything<br />anyone's ever studied before, and more violent than anything that's<br />ever been imagined before, that 19th century gradualist assumptive<br />reasoning just won't get you there.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />And when you crank up the violence from a glacial flood, to a continental scale, mass extinction impact event, <strong>Sir Charles's 19th century <em>Principles of Geology</em> becomes completely useless, and obsolete</strong>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The biggest flaw I see in Firestone <em>et al</em> isn't related to your<br />part in it anyway. It's in the objection raised by Mark Boslough that<br />it's impossible to construct a model with a four mile wide bolide that<br />has enough time in the atmosphere to break up completely, and scatter<br />fragments over such a large area without making a large crater<br />somewhere. Mark's right about that. But that doesn't invalidate the YD<br />(Younger-Dryas) impact hypothesis. It just means that Firestone <em>et al</em> weren't working from a valid astronomical model for the event.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />But his concerns are more than answered in Clube, and Napier's work on the Taurid Complex. In <a target="_blank" href="http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/1003/1003.0744v1.pdf">Paleolithic extinctions, and the Taurid Complex</a>,<br />Bill Napier points out that the breakup of comets is now a well<br />recognized path to their destruction. And if we look at images of the<br />fragments of Comet LINEAR, or Comet Scwassmann-Wachmann 3, both typical<br />daughters of the Taurid Complex, we can see he's probably right. The YD<br />impact events were the debris of the Taurid progenitor. And it was<br />already a very large cloud of cometary debris before it got anywhere<br />near the Earth.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© NASA and M. Weaver" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/68306/full/cometlinear.jpg"><img height="324" width="399" title="Click to enlarge" alt="Comet Linear" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/68306/large/cometlinear.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA and M. Weaver</span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© NASA, ESA, H. Weaver" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/68307/full/rascomet25.jpg"><img height="446" width="401" title="Click to enlarge" alt="RAS Comet" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/68307/large/rascomet25.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA, ESA, H. Weaver</span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br />When you plug a workable, and probable, astronomical model into the<br />YD impact hypothesis it becomes a full blown theory that can predict the<br />planetary scarring.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>If you can describe a beast you can predict it's footprints</strong>.<br />I asked David Morrison what he thought of the idea of a cluster impact<br />event, and he was understandably skeptical. He said he thought it was<br />"highly unlikely" But when you consider the typical fragile, often<br />fragmented, and sometimes volatile, nature of many of the Taurid family<br />objects we've been able to image, and study so far, you'll see that, in<br />fact, a cluster event of small fragments should thought of as the most<br />likely kind of catastrophic impact event. Not a single, large bolide.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />And when you toss Sir Charles's unquestioned, 19th century<br />uniformitarian assumptive reasoning out the window, stop pretending that<br />catastrophic impact events don't happen, and go looking for the<br />geologically recent planetary scarring of large clusters of smaller<br />fragments. That planetary scarring is not hard to find.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Google" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/68308/full/nmc91.jpg"><img height="299" width="402" title="Click to enlarge" alt="NMC 91" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/68308/large/nmc91.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Google<br /><br /><br /><br /></span></div><br /></div><br />I'm staring to feel like the outside observer in the story of the blind man and the elephant. <strong>And I see a few great scientists bickering, and seemingly disagreeing, who are all correct.</strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In the geophysical world according to me, Firestone <em>et al</em> were<br />right. The YD was caused by an impact event. But they were mistaken, in<br />that they didn't realize that it wasn't a single large bolide when it<br />first hit the atmosphere. They also didn't realize that the Great lakes<br />region was only one of two major impact zones. The other was central<br />Mexico, and much of the American southwest. <strong>In the final analysis I think it will be determined that they were too conservative in their estimate of only 10<sup>9</sup> megatons of destruction.</strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I think we can also show that Clube & Napier were right that the<br />parent comet was the Taurid progenitor. They put the estimate at<br />something like 1.1 billion tons that impacted in those multiple fragment<br />impact storms as a "reasonably probable" event. They are correct that<br />the most probable scenario for a catastrophic impact event is a large<br />cluster of smaller fragments. And not a single large bolide.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Bill Napier told me that he had a problem with the figure of temps as high as 10<sup>7</sup><br />°C. He said that even if something hits at 30 km/s, and 100% of it's<br />kinetic energy was translated to heat in the atmosphere it's hard to get<br />more than 10<sup>5</sup> °C. But when you think it through from the<br />perspective of a large cluster of fragments like the fragments of comet<br />linear, then you get to a situation where only the first fragments to<br />fall actually fall into cold atmosphere. The rest are falling into the<br />already superheated impact plumes of the ones before them. And they just<br />crank up the heat. The temps given in Firestone <em>et al</em> don't seem such a stretch when you look at it like that.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Finally, Mark Boslough, and Horton Newsom are correct about the geo-ablative potential of large airbursts.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The blast effected materials of a geo-ablative airburst are similar in<br />form to a pyroclastic flow. But where the motive force during the<br />emplacement for a volcanogenic flow is gravity, the motive force during<br />the emplacement of a formation of airburst melt is the ablative winds of<br />the airburst. In both cases, and while in motion, the particles, and<br />fragments of rock, are in atmospheric suspension, in a fluidized flow,<br />or density current. But the different motive forces involved result in<br />different patterns of movement, and flow. And those patterns are as<br />visually distinct as the differences between dogs, and cats.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Forensically speaking, it doesn't matter if it's volcanogenic, or<br />exogenic. As a component of a pyroclastic density current, that stuff is<br />the blast effected material of an explosive event. And if you want to<br />understand an explosive event, you begin by studying the motions of the<br />blast effected materials.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />When you find orphan deposits of ignimbrites in pristine condition, and<br />the source remains a mystery. And from a high altitude you see<br />wind-driven patterns of movement, and flow, like the debris laden froth,<br />and foam, on a storm tossed beach, you've found the footprints of a<br />geo-ablative monster.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Geologically the Chihuahuan ignimbrites are almost completely unstudied.<br />And less than 100 miles along the highway between Chihuahua City, and<br />El Paso has even been mapped. But in north central Mexico, and the<br />Sierra Madre Occidental mountains you will find more than 350,000 cubic<br />miles of pristine ignimbrites that look like they just cooled last year.<br />Less than 15% can be attributed to a volcano. And the 'Orphan'<br />materials all display wind-driven patterns of flow in their emplacement.<br /><strong>And the reason that generations of geologists haven't been able<br />to locate a volcanic system to blame all that stuff on is because it<br />didn't come out of the ground.</strong> The direction of flow is as<br />legible as spilled paint in a driveway. The source locations are the<br />simply the bare areas behind the flows.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I doubt that I'll live long enough to see the Earth sciences toss Sir<br />Charles's obsolete uniformitarian conditioning. But the planetary<br />scarring of the YD impacts is only a few thousand years old. The<br />emplacement of the pristine blast effected materials can be read at a<br />resolution of better than 1 meter per pixel. And it's not hard to spot.<br />Except by those who can't believe in catastrophic events, and won't<br />look.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In spite of the hype of the popular press, I see the scientific legacy<br />of you, and your colleagues, as having a comfortable place in the<br />History books.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Simply because you were right.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Deepest regards,<br /><br /><br />Dennis Cox<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-header"><strong><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/breaking/Mystery-Boom-Caused-by-Earthquake--122775629.html">No Surprises There: Philadelphia, US: Mystery Boom Caused by Earthquake: USGS</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="m-bar">NBC Philadelphia<br /><br />Sat, 28 May 2011 16:18 CDT</div><br /><br /><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Chopper 10" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/68305/full/Firetrucks_Police_Cars_Northea.jpg"><img alt="" height="231" width="397" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/68305/large/Firetrucks_Police_Cars_Northea.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Chopper 10</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">People<br />were out on the sidewalks as emergency vehicles blocked off streets --<br />everyone trying to figure out what caused loud bangs in Northeast Philly<br />Friday night.</span></div><br /></div><br />A loud bang in Northeast Philadelphia on Friday night was caused by a 1.7 magnitude earthquake, <a target="_blank" href="http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsus/Quakes/ld60017566.php#details">according to the U.S. Geological Survey.</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="StoryComment"><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>Interesting. Considering U.S. Geological<br />Survey's claims, we have to ask how come Japan's 9.8 magnitude<br />earthquake wasn't followed by terrible and deafening explosions? And we<br />are not talking about the consequences of the devastating tsunami. Is it<br />really too hard to consider the possibility that the earthquake was<br />caused by the "loud bang" and not the other way around?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><br />The USGS reports that the depth of the quake was 4.2 km (2.6 miles).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The site also says that it hit 2 miles from Cornwells Heights-Eddington,<br />PA, 4 miles from Beverly, NJ, 5 miles from Riverton, NJ and 10 miles<br />from Philadelphia.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>People all over the Northeast and in nearby places like<br />Bensalem, Pa. were reporting having heard an explosion or boom in the<br />area of Knights and Fairdale Road around 9:35 p.m., according to the<br />Philadelphia Fire Department.</strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Some witnesses even claimed to feel their houses shake.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"The house vibrated several times," said witness Phil Steinman.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />As of midnight there was no apparent damage or signs of an explosion.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Its not the first time a quake hit the area this month. A magnitude 1.9 quake was reported by the USGS near <a target="_blank" href="http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/bulletin/neic_ktdb.html">Mount Holly, N.J. around 4:20 a.m. on May 10</a>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="StoryComment"><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>Then, was it also followed by a loud explosion?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><br />Chopper 10 caught dozens of emergency vehicles rushing towards and<br />in the area of the scene -- near the Franklin Mills Mall -- but there<br />were no visible signs of any explosion despite the reports.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />As of 11 p.m. PGW had found no leaks, officials said. And PECO had no reports of power outages in the area.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />There were no immediate reports of injuries.<br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-top"><br /><span class="atop-l"></span><br /><span class="atop-r"></span><br /></div><br /><div class="article-header"><br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/11838-photo-comet-plunges-sun-solar-storm.html">Another Comet Plunges Into Sun During Solar Storm</a></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="m-bar">Space.com<br /><br />Tue, 31 May 2011 17:21 CDT</div><br /><br /><br /><div class="r-bar"></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© NASA" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/68625/full/comet_sun_solar_storm.jpg"><img height="398" width="399" title="Click to enlarge" alt="Comet Plunges into Sun" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/68625/large/comet_sun_solar_storm.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="caption">Soon<br />after a huge solar storm erupted on May 20-21, 2011, a comet (bright<br />streak at lower right) plunged into the sun. This shot is a still from a<br />video taken by one of NASA's twin STEREO spacecraft. </span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br />A sun-watching spacecraft has recorded views of an ill-fated comet<br />plunging into the sun just after a huge solar eruption - the second<br />time in 10 days that a comet dive-bombed Earth's star during a solar<br />storm.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Over May 20 and 21, the sun unleashed a big <a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/10904-solar-storm-astronauts-health-space-station.html">coronal mass ejection</a><br />(CME), an immense burst of plasma that sent solar particles streaking<br />into space at fantastic speeds. Shortly thereafter, a kamikaze comet<br />barreled into the sun. And one of NASA's twin STEREO spacecraft caught<br />it all on video, agency officials announced last week.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Soon after [the eruption], as a bonus visual, a sun-grazing comet came<br />streaking in (from the right) heading for the sun," NASA officials said<br />in a May 27 statement. "Its tail could be seen elongating substantially<br />as it approached the sun and apparently disintegrated."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />This dramatic series of events followed closely on the heels of a<br />similar spectacle less than two weeks earlier. Between May 10 and May<br />11, NASA's SOHO spacecraft spotted a different comet diving toward the<br />sun, never to be seen again. A massive CME erupted at about the same<br />time.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><embed height="412" width="400" src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/1417334557" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashvars="videoId=942950591001&linkBaseURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.space.com%2F11661-comet-dives-sun-solar-eruption.html&playerId=1417334557&viewerSecureGatewayURL=https://console.brightcove.com/services/amfgateway&servicesURL=http://services.brightcove.com/services&cdnURL=http://admin.brightcove.com&domain=embed&autoStart=false&" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="flashObj" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" swliveconnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed></div><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>Scientists think the confluence of solar storms and suicidal<br />comets is purely coincidental. There is no evidence of any physical<br />connection between the two, NASA officials have said.</strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Both of the recent kamikaze comets are thought to belong to the<br />so-called Kreutz family of comets. Kreutz comets have orbits that<br />approach within a few hundred thousand miles of the sun.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />All Kreutz comets are thought to be the remains of one giant comet that<br />broke apart several centuries ago. They are named after 19th century<br />astronomer Heinrich Kreutz, who first demonstrated that such comets were<br />related.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Coronal mass ejections shoot charged particles from the sun over several<br />hours. Such solar eruptions can spew up to 10 billion tons of plasma<br />and expand away from the sun at speeds topping 1 million mph, NASA<br />officials have said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />When these solar particles hit Earth's magnetic field, they can cause<br />massive "geomagnetic storms," which have the potential to wreak<br />long-lasting havoc on power and communications infrastructure around the<br />globe.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />But the effects of CMEs are not all bad. The particles can also produce the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/156-amazing-auroras-2010.html">spectacular light shows</a> that we know as auroras (in the Northern Hemisphere, these displays are called the aurora borealis, or northern lights).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The sun is in the midst of an active phase of its 11-year solar weather cycle. The current cycle is known as Solar Cycle 24.<br /></div><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>The mental gymnastics NASA scientists must undergo to really believe their own nonsense is breathtaking!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Are they just willfully ignorant? Or are they intentionally covering up<br />the glaringly obvious truth that comets interact electrically with our<br />Sun, causing it to discharge enormous amounts of energy in the form of<br />solar flares, CMEs, etc.?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In his book<em> Planet X</em>, McCanney claims that NASA personnel are<br />"prohibited from disclosing to the public anything that would cause a<br />national panic" (p.83) Like the 'in the interest of national security'<br />excuse cited in the War on Terror™, this excuse about 'not wanting to<br />cause a national panic' is wearing a little thin. So thin, in fact, that<br />it has become transparent and, thanks to researchers and real<br />scientists like James McCanney, we can see straight through it.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/226166-Planet-X-Comets-and-Earth-Changes-by-J-M-McCanney">Planet-X, Comets and Earth Changes by J.M. McCanney</a><br /><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">A Service of <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">Signs of the Times</a>: The most comprehensive, objective and reliable Alternative News Source on the Web. If you aren't reading <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">SOTT</a>, you don't know what's REALLY happening!</div>Keithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06011086310017706847noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385115091808825739.post-64455975939972808792011-04-04T23:33:00.003+01:002011-05-02T18:40:41.094+01:00April 2011<strong><a target="_blank" href="http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/31mar_springfireballs/">NASA says spring is fireball season</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="article-date">Fri, 01 Apr 2011 06:21 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-source"><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/226646-NASA-says-spring-is-fireball-season#"><br /><br /></a></div><br />Dr. Tony Phillips<br /><br />Science@NASA<br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br />What are the signs of spring? They are as familiar as a blooming<br />Daffodil, a songbird at dawn, a surprising shaft of warmth from the<br />afternoon sun. And, oh yes, don't forget the meteors. "Spring is<br />fireball season," says Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment<br />Center. "For reasons we don't fully understand, the rate of bright<br />meteors climbs during the weeks around the vernal equinox."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© NASA" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/62710/full/ff.jpg"><img alt="" height="301" width="400" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/62710/large/ff.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">A spring fireball recorded by a NASA all-sky camera located at the Marshall Space Flight Center on March 16, 2009.</span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br />Click <a target="_blank" href="http://science.nasa.gov/media/medialibrary/2011/03/31/springfireball.wmv">here</a> to watch movie.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In other seasons, a person willing to watch the sky from dusk to dawn<br />could expect to see around 10 random or "sporadic" fireballs. A fireball<br />is a meteor brighter than the planet Venus. Earth is bombarded by them<br />as our planet plows through the jetsam and flotsam of space--i.e.,<br />fragments of broken asteroids and decaying comets that litter the inner<br />solar system. In spring, fireballs are more abundant. Their nightly rate<br />mysteriously climbs 10% to 30%. "We've known about this phenomenon for<br />more than 30 years," says Cooke. "It's not only fireballs that are<br />affected. Meteorite falls--space rocks that actually hit the ground--are<br />more common in spring as well1."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Researchers who study Earth's meteoroid environment have never come up<br />with a satisfactory explanation for the extra fireballs. In fact, the<br />more they think about it, the stranger it gets.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Consider the following:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />There is a point in the heavens called the "apex of Earth's way." It is,<br />simply, the direction our planet is traveling. As Earth circles the<br />sun, the apex circles the heavens, completing one trip through the<br />Zodiac every year.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The apex is significant because it is where sporadic meteors are<br />supposed to come from. If Earth were a car, the apex would be the front<br />windshield. When a car drives down a country road, insects accumulate on<br />the glass up front. Ditto for meteoroids swept up by Earth.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Every autumn, the apex climbs to its highest point in the night sky. At<br />that time, sporadic meteors of ordinary brightness are seen in<br />abundance, sometimes dozens per night.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Read that again: Every autumn.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Autumn is the season for sporadic meteors," says Cooke. "So why are the<br />sporadic fireballs peaking in spring? That is the mystery."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Meteoroid expert Peter Brown of the University of Western Ontario notes<br />that "some researchers think there might be an intrinsic variation in<br />the meteoroid population along Earth's orbit, with a peak in big<br />fireball-producing debris around spring and early summer. We probably<br />won't know the answer until we learn more about their orbits."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />To solve this and other puzzles, Cooke is setting up a network of smart<br />meteor cameras around the country to photograph fireballs and<br />triangulate their orbits. As explained in the Science@NASA story <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/225179-What-s-Hitting-Earth-">What's Hitting Earth?</a>,<br />he's looking for places to put his cameras; educators are encouraged to<br />get involved. Networked observations of spring fireballs could<br />ultimately reveal their origin.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"It might take a few years to collect enough data," he cautions.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Until then, it's a beautiful mystery. Go out and enjoy the night sky. It is spring, after all.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42385570/ns/travel-news/">Suspected meteorite impact? Arizona, US: Plane makes emergency landing; hole reported</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="article-date">Sat, 02 Apr 2011 01:02 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-source"><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/226682-Suspected-meteorite-impact-Arizona-US-Plane-makes-emergency-landing-hole-reported#"><br /><br /></a></div><br />MSNBC.com<br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><em>Passengers say blast heard on Southwest flight before safe emergency landing</em><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a title="© via NBC news" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/62791/full/onboard.jpg"><img alt="" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/62791/medium/onboard.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© via NBC news</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">This picture was taken by a passenger aboard the Southwest flight as it prepared to make an emergency landing.</span></div><br /></div><br />Yuma,<br />Ariz. - A Southwest Airlines passenger jet flying from Phoenix to<br />Sacramento, Calif., made an emergency landing in Yuma, Ariz., Friday<br />after a hole opened up in the roof, officials said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Flight 812, carrying 118 passengers, landed safely at Yuma Marine Corps<br />Air Station/International Airport at 4:07 p.m. after experiencing "rapid<br />decompression," the FAA said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Upon safely landing in Yuma, the flight crew discovered a hole in the<br />top of the aircraft," Southwest said in a statement. "There are no<br />reported customer injuries. One of the flight attendants, however,<br />received a minor injury upon descent."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The cause of the decompression was not known, FAA spokesman Ian Gregor<br />said. An FAA inspector from Phoenix was en route to Yuma.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Terrorism was not suspected because an FBI spokesman in Sacramento, Steve Dupre, said "it appears to be a mechanical issue."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Some passengers aboard the plane recounted moments of terror<br />after landing in Yuma. They said they heard what sounded like an<br />explosion that opened a hole in the cabin.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"They had just taken drink orders when <strong>I heard a huge sound</strong> and oxygen masks came down and we started making a rapid descent," <a target="_blank" href="http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2011/04/01/flight-southwest-yuma-decompression/">a passenger named Cindy told Sacramento TV station CBS13</a>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"They said we'd be making an emergency landing. <strong>There was a hole in the fuselage about three feet long</strong>. You could see the insulation and the wiring. You could see a tear the length of one of the ceiling panels."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"You can see daylight through it," a passenger identified as Brenda Reese told Sacramento TV station KCRA by cellphone.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />A Sacramento resident told CBS13 she received a text message from her<br />husband, who was aboard the flight: "Plane going down. Love you."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />She said she heard from her husband a few minutes later after the plane<br />landed safely. The woman's husband said there was an explosion or a hole<br />in the plane, the TV station said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Shawna Malvini Redden, another passenger aboard the flight, tweeted<br />after landing: "One flight attendant was injured and a couple passengers<br />passed out but nothing major."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Passengers became aware there was a problem when they heard a noise and<br />felt the rush of wind and oxygen masks started dropping in the cabin,<br />according to Reese.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />She said a few people passed out "because their oxygen wasn't working. It was scary."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Reese said flight attendants went around the cabin aiding passengers.<br />Emergency medical technicians were on board the plane treating<br />passengers after it landed in Yuma.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Gina Swankie, a spokeswoman for Sacramento International Airport, said<br />Southwest was sending another plane to Yuma to take the passengers to<br />Sacramento.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"I want to get home and hold my three children," Reese said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Southwest said it will work with the Federal Aviation Administration and<br />the National Transportation Safety Board to investigate the cause of<br />the mishap.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><em>This story contains information from The Associated Press and NBC News.</em><br /></div><br /><div class="article-comment"><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>In a separate report on this incident:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe height="360" frameborder="0" width="400" title="Twitvid video player" class="twitvid-player" type="text/html" src="http://www.twitvid.com/embed.php?guid=VH8SG&autoplay=0"></iframe></div><br /><strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/30/usairways-idUSN3012744720110330">Bullet or Micrometeoroid? FBI probes possible bullet hole in US Air plane</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="article-date">Sat, 30 Apr 2011 02:38 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-source"><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/226686-Bullet-or-Micrometeoroid-FBI-probes-possible-bullet-hole-in-US-Air-plane#"><br /><br /></a></div><br />Kyle Peterson<br /><br />Reuters<br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br />The FBI is investigating what might be a bullet hole, discovered in<br />the side of a US Airways Group Inc (LCC.N) plane this week, the airline<br />said on Wednesday.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The small hole in the Boeing (BA.N) 737-400 was found by a pilot on<br />Monday at the Charlotte/Douglas International Airport in North Carolina.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"The pilot was doing his standard, pre-flight walk-around and noticed a<br />small hole in the rear, left fuselage," said US Airways spokeswoman<br />Michelle Mohr.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />An FBI spokeswoman in Charlotte was not immediately available to comment on the investigation.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The aircraft had arrived in Charlotte from Philadelphia carrying 84<br />passengers and was scheduled to fly to Hartford, Connecticut, when the<br />hole was found.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The plane, designed to carry 144 passengers and five crew members, was<br />taken out of service on Monday and was scheduled to be back in service<br />on Wednesday, Mohr said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-04-sugar-grain-sized-meteorites-climates-early.html">Sugar-grain sized meteorites rocked the climates of early Earth and Mars</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="article-date">Sat, 02 Apr 2011 07:32 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-source"><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/226698-Sugar-grain-sized-meteorites-rocked-the-climates-of-early-Earth-and-Mars#"><br /><br /></a></div><br />Imperial College London<br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br />Bombardments of 'micro-meteorites' on Earth and Mars four billion<br />years ago may have caused the planets' climates to cool dramatically,<br />hampering their ability to support life, according to research published<br />today in the journal <em>Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta.</em><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Scientists from Imperial College London studied the effects of the Late<br />Heavy Bombardment (LHB), a period of time in the early Solar System when<br />meteorite showers lasting around 100 million years barraged Earth and<br />Mars. This bombardment discharged sulphur dioxide into the upper<br />atmospheres of both planets and the researchers' analysis suggests that<br />this may have had a catastrophic impact on their environments.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Micro-meteorites come from the rocky asteroid belt between Mars and<br />Jupiter. These space rocks, which are the size of sugar grains, get<br />dragged by gravity towards Earth and Mars. As they enter the planets'<br />upper atmospheres, they heat up to temperatures of approximately 1000<br />degrees Celsius, releasing gases including sulphur dioxide. Sulphur<br />dioxide in the atmosphere forms aerosols, consisting of solid and liquid<br />particles, which deflect sunlight away from the surface, making planets<br />cooler.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The authors of the new study have calculated that showers of<br />micro-meteorites delivered approximately 20 million tonnes of sulphur<br />dioxide each year into the upper atmosphere of Earth during the LHB. The<br />team deduced that on Mars, these micro-meteorites delivered up to half a<br />million tonnes of sulphur dioxide each year for the same period of<br />time.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Professor Mark Sephton, an author of the study from the Department of<br />Earth Science and Engineering at Imperial College London, says:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Far less of the Sun's energy was reaching Earth 4 billion years ago,<br />which would have made it hard for early life to emerge. Recently denied<br />of its protective magnetic field and constantly subjected to large<br />meteorite impacts, Mars was also starting to lose its greenhouse gases<br />at this time, causing global cooling. The influx of sulphur dioxide into<br />the Mars's atmosphere would have dealt a further blow to a planet<br />already on the ropes, making conditions for life even more of a<br />challenge."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The team say that such a large influx of sulphur dioxide into early<br />Earth's atmosphere had the same cooling effect on the climate as if<br />there was an eruption of the size of the 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption<br />every year for 100 million years. The 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption<br />released 17 million tonnes of gases, including sulphur dioxide, into the<br />atmosphere, preventing 10 percent of sunlight from reaching Earth and<br />cooling the planet by half a degree Celsius.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />On Mars during the LHB, the scientists predict that the cooling effects<br />of sulphur dioxide on the red planet's atmosphere would have been the<br />equivalent of an eruption 1/34th the size of Mount Pinatubo occurring<br />every year for 100 million years.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The scientists say that the environmental consequences of sulphur<br />dioxide in Earth's atmosphere could have been disastrous. At this time,<br />the Sun's energy was 30 percent weaker than it is today, meaning less<br />energy was reaching the surface. The team believe that a weaker Sun,<br />combined with increasing levels of sulphur dioxide from<br />micro-meteorites, could have plunged Earth into an Arctic winter,<br />lasting millions of years and making conditions for primitive microbial<br />life extremely difficult.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />On Mars, being further away from the Sun, the scientists suggest the<br />environmental consequences would have been even more dramatic. High<br />levels of sulphur dioxide would cause temperatures to plunge and water<br />on the surface, in the form of lakes and rivers, to disappear, turning a<br />warm wet world into a cold arid one.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Dr Richard Court, who is lead author of the study from the Department of<br />Earth Science and Engineering at Imperial College London, adds:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"These sugar-grain sized meteorites are left over material from the<br />construction of our early Solar System, helping to build rocky planets<br />such as Earth and Mars. Our study is helping us to see how these tiny<br />space rocks could also bring environmental devastation on a global scale<br />to early Earth and Mars."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The researchers came to their conclusions by simulating what happens to<br />micro-meteorites as they entered the atmosphere, using a technique<br />called flash pyrolysis to heat rock fragments that were identical to<br />micro-meteorites to 1000 degrees Celsius. They then used infrared<br />spectroscopy to measure the amount of sulphur dioxide released from<br />these rocks. The team then used their results and calculations of<br />meteorite in-fall rates during the LHB to determine how much sulphur<br />dioxide was delivered to Earth and Mars from micro-meteorites.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />This study is a continuation of earlier work by the team who have<br />discovered that meteorites are not the source of the present-day methane<br />in the atmosphere of Mars, raising hopes that the methane is being<br />generated by life on the red planet. Their work has also shown that<br />meteorites delivered other important gases to Earth during its early<br />history that would have made it more habitable. In the future, the team<br />will assess the contributions gases from meteorites on planets outside<br />of the Solar System.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />More information: "The contribution of sulphur dioxide from ablating<br />micro-meteorites to the atmospheres of Earth and Mars", 1 April 2011, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12954335">Micrometeoroid? Small cracks found in three Southwest Airlines jets</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="article-date">Mon, 04 Apr 2011 09:07 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-source"><br /><br /><br />BBC News<br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a title="© BBC News" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/62977/full/plane_holes.jpg"><img title="Click to enlarge" alt="Plane Holes" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/62977/medium/plane_holes.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© BBC News</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">Tests on Southwest's 79 other 737-300s are expected to be completed by Tuesday evening</span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><em>Small, sub-surface cracks have been found in three more<br />Southwest Airlines planes like those thought to have caused another to<br />develop a hole in its cabin roof mid-flight, officials say.</em><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The National Transportation Safety Board said it had been informed there<br />were additional crack indications in the lap joints on the Boeing<br />737-300s.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Nineteen other 737-300s showed no problems and will return to service.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The plane with the ruptured fuselage landed safely in Arizona on Friday.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Some of the 118 people on board the flight, which had just taken off from Phoenix, <strong>reported hearing a loud bang</strong> as a 1.5m-long gash appeared.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The hole caused a sudden drop in cabin pressure, forcing pilots to make a<br />controlled descent from 10,485m (34,400ft) to a military base. No-one<br />was seriously injured, though a flight attendant was slightly hurt.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">'New and unknown issue'</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />On Sunday, a section of the 737-300's ruptured fuselage was removed and<br />sent to NTSB headquarters in Washington for in-depth analysis.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />NTSB investigators also conducted inspections of other portions of the<br />lap joint along the fuselage and found evidence of additional cracks.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© BBC News" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/62978/full/plane_holes2.jpg"><img height="233" width="400" title="Click to enlarge" alt="Plane Holes 2" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/62978/large/plane_holes2.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© BBC News</span></div><br /></div><br />Passengers on board the Southwest Airlines flight described what happened<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Later, the federal agency said in a statement that it had been informed<br />by Southwest that "crack indications in the lap joints have been<br />identified on three airplanes they have inspected".<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Southwest cancelled 600 flights over the weekend to allow engineers to<br />carry out a special test developed by Boeing on 79 of its aircraft.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Tests on the 57 remaining jets are expected to be completed by Tuesday<br />evening. Further flight cancellations are likely until all are back in<br />the air.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The NTSB said Boeing would be drafting a "service bulletin" to describe<br />the inspection techniques that they would recommend carrying out on<br />similar planes with comparable flight cycles (take-offs and landings) as<br />the one involved in the accident over Arizona, which was 15 years old.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />There are 931 such models in service worldwide, 288 based in the US.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"<strong>What we saw with Flight 812 was a new and unknown issue</strong>," said Mike Van de Ven, Southwest's executive vice-president and chief operating officer.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Prior to the event regarding Flight 812, we were in compliance with the<br />FAA-mandated and Boeing-recommended structural inspection requirements<br />for that aircraft," he added.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"We regret any customer inconveniences as a result of the inspections<br />currently under way. Delays and cancellations are never the preference,<br />however we are taking every precaution we can to ensure that our<br />operation is safe."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Southwest changed its maintenance programme after metal fatigue caused a<br />similar accident on another of its jets in 2009. Before then, the<br />airline paid millions of dollars to settle charges that it was skipping<br />inspections.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In 1988, cracks caused a hole to open in an Aloha Airlines plane over Hawaii. In that accident, a flight attendant died.<br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.hindustantimes.com/Micro-meteorites-rocked-Earth-s-climate/Article1-680482.aspx" target="_blank">A history doomed to be repeated? Micro-meteorites rocked Earth's early climate</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="article-date">Sat, 02 Apr 2011 06:25 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-source"><br /><br /><br />Hindustan Times<br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/63148/full/potential_meteorites_painting_.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© iStockphoto / duuuna"><img style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/63148/medium/potential_meteorites_painting_.jpg" alt="meteorite" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© iStockphoto / duuuna</span></div><br /></div><br /><strong>A<br />new research has claimed that bombardments of 'micro-meteorites' on<br />Earth and Mars four billion years ago may have caused the planets'<br />climates to cool dramatically, hampering their ability to support life.</strong><br />Scientists from Imperial College London studied the effects of the Late<br />Heavy Bombardment (LHB), a period of time in the early Solar System<br />when meteorite showers lasting around 100 million years barraged Earth<br />and Mars.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />This bombardment discharged sulphur dioxide into the upper atmospheres<br />of both planets and the researchers'' analysis suggests that this may<br />have had a catastrophic impact on their environments.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Micro-meteorites come from the rocky asteroid belt between Mars and<br />Jupiter. These space rocks, which are the size of sugar grains, get<br />dragged by gravity towards Earth and Mars.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />As they enter the planets' upper atmospheres, they heat up to<br />temperatures of approximately 1000 degrees Celsius, releasing gases<br />including sulphur dioxide. Sulphur dioxide in the atmosphere forms<br />aerosols, consisting of solid and liquid particles, which deflect<br />sunlight away from the surface, making planets cooler.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The authors of the new study have calculated that showers of<br />micro-meteorites delivered approximately 20 million tonnes of sulphur<br />dioxide each year into the upper atmosphere of Earth during the LHB.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The team deduced that on Mars, these micro-meteorites delivered up to<br />half a million tonnes of sulphur dioxide each year for the same period<br />of time.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The study has been published in the journal <em>Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta</em>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20110406/sc_livescience/45billionyearoldantarcticmeteoriteyieldsnewmineral">4.5-Billion-Year-Old Antarctic Meteorite Yields New Mineral</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="article-date">Wed, 06 Apr 2011 09:47 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-source"><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/226852-4-5-Billion-Year-Old-Antarctic-Meteorite-Yields-New-Mineral#"><br /><br /></a></div><br />Jeanna Bryner<br /><br />Yahoo News<br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br />A meteorite discovered in Antarctica in 1969 has just divulged a modern secret: a new mineral, now called Wassonite.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The new mineral found in the 4.5-billion-year-old meteorite was tiny -<br />less than one-hundredth as wide as a human hair. Still, that was enough<br />to excite the researchers who announced the discovery Tuesday (April<br />5). [<a target="_blank" href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/livescience/sc_livescience/storytext/45billionyearoldantarcticmeteoriteyieldsnewmineral/40976556/SIG=12dpclljm/*http://www.livescience.com/13581-antarctic-meteorite-mineral-wassonite.html">Image of new mineral</a>]<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Wassonite is a mineral formed from only two elements, sulfur and<br />titanium, yet it possesses a unique crystal structure that has not been<br />previously observed in nature," NASA space scientist Keiko<br />Nakamura-Messenger said in a statement.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The mineral's name, approved by the International Mineralogical<br />Association, honors John T. Wasson, a UCLA professor known for his<br />achievements across a broad swath of meteorite and impact research.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Grains of Wassonite were analyzed from the meteorite that has<br />been officially designated Yamato 691 enstatite chondrite. Chondrites<br />are <a target="_blank" href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/livescience/sc_livescience/storytext/45billionyearoldantarcticmeteoriteyieldsnewmineral/40976556/SIG=1289bf4b7/*http://www.livescience.com/3613-searching-meteorites-deserts-oman.html">primitive meteorites</a><br />that scientists think were remnants shed from the original building<br />blocks of planets. Most meteorites found on Earth fit into this group.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Yamato 691 likely originated from <a target="_blank" href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/livescience/sc_livescience/storytext/45billionyearoldantarcticmeteoriteyieldsnewmineral/40976556/SIG=12c1i6d1t/*http://www.space.com/51-asteroids-formation-discovery-and-exploration.html">an asteroid</a><br />orbiting between Mars and Jupiter. It was discovered along with eight<br />other meteorites by members of the Japanese Antarctic Research<br />Expedition on the blue ice field of the Yamato Mountains. They<br />constituted the first significant recovery of Antarctic meteorites.<br />Follow-up searches by scientists from Japan and the United States have<br />recovered more than 40,000 specimens, including rare <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/Martian%20and%20lunar%20meteorites.">Martian and lunar meteorites.</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The research team used NASA's transmission electron microscope to<br />isolate the Wassonite grains and figure out their chemical makeup and<br />atomic structure.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />When meteors hit the ground they are called meteorites. Most are<br />fragments of asteroids (space rocks that travel through the solar<br />system), and others are mere cosmic dust shed by comets. Rare meteorites<br />are impact debris from the surfaces of the moon and Mars.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Meteorites, and the minerals within them, are windows to the formation<br />of our solar system," said co-discoverer Lindsay Keller, space scientist<br />at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "Through these kinds of<br />studies we can learn about the conditions that existed and the processes<br />that were occurring then."<br /></div><br /></div><br /><strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=06&month=04&year=2011" target="_blank">"Newly Discovered" Double Asteroid Flyby Today</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="article-date">Wed, 06 Apr 2011 10:44 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-source"><br /><br /><br />Space Weather<br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/63164/full/ff.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Unknown"><img alt="" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/63164/medium/ff.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><a href="http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=07&month=04&year=2011" target="_blank">US: "Ripping Fireball" over New Mexico</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="article-date">Thu, 07 Apr 2011 14:08 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-source"><br /><br /><br />Space Weather<br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/63237/full/ff.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Unknown"><img alt="" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/63237/medium/ff.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span></div><br /></div><br />"There<br />was a rippingly fine fireball over north central New Mexico on April<br />5th at 01:50 am MDT," reports amateur radio astronomer Thomas Ashcraft.<br />"Signals from distant radio stations bounced off the meteor's trail as<br />it shredded the ionosphere. Here is a <a href="http://spaceweather.com/swpod2011/07apr11/ashcraft.mp4?PHPSESSID=ov5qld22bhbqlebon3apo65t93" target="_blank">movie</a> I made with the radio echo in stereo at two frequencies. The full radio reflection lasted more than two minutes."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><a href="http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=08&month=04&year=2011" target="_blank">US: Tennessee Fireball Caught on Video</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="article-date">Thu, 07 Apr 2011 23:47 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-source"><br /><br /><br />SpaceWeather<br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br />Space rocks have landed in Tennessee. That's the conclusion of<br />researchers who recorded a brilliant fireball streaking over the Smoky<br />Mountain state on Wednesday evening. Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid<br />Environment Office reports: "On April 6th at 8:21:57 CDT, NASA all-sky<br />meteor cameras detected a very bright fireball moving north across the<br />state of Tennessee. First detected 52 miles above the Arnold Air Force<br />base near Tullahoma, the meteor was brighter than crescent Moon and was<br />approximately 2 feet in diameter, with a weight of 200 lbs. It was last<br />recorded 30 miles above the town of Woodbury, Tennessee, moving at a<br />speed of approximately 9 miles per second (32,400 mph)."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Cooke continues: "The NASA Meteoroid Environment Office has reasonable<br />confidence that some fraction of this meteor survived to the ground as<br />one or more meteorites. Calculations are underway to determine the<br />general impact location, which may lie close to the Kentucky border.<br />Eyewitnesses to the fireball are encouraged to make a report to the <a href="http://www.amsmeteors.org/2011/04/large-fireball-event-reported-4611/" target="_blank">American Meteor Society</a> or to the <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/offices/meo/home/index.html" target="_blank">Meteoroid Environment Office.</a>"<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The smart cameras of Cooke's fireball network are able to<br />calculate the orbits of incoming fireballs and backtrack their<br />trajectories into the solar system. "The orbit of this interloper<br />indicates that it came from the Asteroid Belt, with an aphelion well<br />beyond the orbit of Mars."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><embed height="385" width="400" flashvars="file=http://spaceweather.com/swpod2011/08apr11/ev_20110407_012157A_03A.mov?PHPSESSID=fm9g37bg8vtj3ak0jt8vj9kdn2&autostart=false" allowfullscreen="false" allowscriptaccess="sameDomain" src="http://www.sott.net/signs/player.swf"></embed></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-footer"><br /><div class="article-icon-bar"><br /><small></small></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1374054/Earth-joined-giant-asteroid-sun-unusual-horseshoe-pattern.html#ixzz1Ixx6zedP">Match made in heaven: Earth finds new companion as giant asteroid joins its path around the sun</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="article-date">Thu, 07 Apr 2011 08:55 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-source"><br /><br /><br />The Daily Mail<br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><em>But this asteroid orbits the sun in a highly unusual horseshoe pattern.</em><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Earth has found a new companion that has joined its orbit around the sun, scientists have revealed.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />It may not have the most romantic of names, but Asteroid 2010 SO16 could<br />pursue Earth for anywhere between the next 120,000 to a million years.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />And at a few hundred metres across, it is the largest space rock ever discovered so close to earth.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© NASA" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/64159/full/article_1374054_0B8198BB000005.jpg"><img alt="" height="405" width="399" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/64159/large/article_1374054_0B8198BB000005.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">Very<br />unusual: Rather than follow its new friend all the way round, SO16<br />orbits the sun in a horseshoe shape, playing a constant game of catch up<br />with Earth</span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />But there is something unusual about SO16, say Apostolos<br />Christou and David Asher who discovered the giant floating rock last<br />September at the Armagh Observatory in Northern Ireland.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Rather than follow its new friend all the way round, SO16 orbits the sun<br />in a horseshoe shape, playing a constant game of catch up with Earth,<br />they say.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The closer to the sun an object is, the faster it will orbit.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />So when SO16 entered the sun's orbit, it was further away than Earth and therefore slower.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />When Earth finally caught up with the asteroid, instead of overtaking<br />it, its gravitational pull drew it closer to the sun sending it back<br />round at a faster pace.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Image Source/Corbis" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/64160/full/article_1374054_0BB450C5000005.jpg"><img alt="" height="274" width="401" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/64160/large/article_1374054_0BB450C5000005.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Image Source/Corbis</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">Match made near heaven: Asteroid 2010 SO16 could pursue Earth for anywhere between the next 120,000 to a million years</span></div><br /></div><br />Now<br />quicker than Earth, SO16 speeds round its shorter orbit until it<br />catches Earth again and is this time pulled away from the sun, slowing<br />it down.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />More simply, from the point of view of the Earth, the asteroid has a<br />horseshoe-shaped orbit, constantly moving towards and away from the<br />Earth without ever passing it.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />But from the asteroid's point of view, it orbits the Sun continuously in<br />the same direction, more quickly in smaller orbits and more slowly in<br />bigger ones.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Christou and Asher say this process is repeated over and over again until the asteroid dies.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />At the moment SO16 is travelling at one of its closest approach points<br />and will be visible in the evening sky for several decades to come.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://craterhunter.wordpress.com/a-different-kind-of-catastrophe-2/">A Different Kind of Catastrophe - Something Wicked This Way Comes</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="article-date">Sat, 09 Apr 2011 14:37 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-source"><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/227015-A-Different-Kind-of-Catastrophe-Something-Wicked-This-Way-Comes#"><br /><br /></a></div><br />Dennis Cox<br /><br />The Crater Hunter<br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a title="© Comet Storm" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/63439/full/tunguskablast2.png"><img title="Click to enlarge" alt="Tunguska Blast" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/63439/medium/tunguskablast2.png" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Comet Storm</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">Tunguska Blast</span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br />In June 1908, an explosion rocked a remote, swampy area in central<br />Siberia, in Russia; it came to be known as the "Tunguska event." A later<br />expedition to the site found that 20 miles of trees had been knocked<br />down and set alight by the blast. And today, it is understood that<br />Tunguska's devastation was caused by a 100-foot asteroid that had<br />entered Earth's atmosphere, causing an airburst.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Some 13,000 years earlier, just after the end of the last ice age, the<br />Earth's climate had begun to warm up to temperatures like we enjoy<br />today, when an occurrence thought by some researchers to be an<br />extraterrestrial impact set off an "impact winter". And caused a return<br />to ice age conditions that lasted another thousand years, or so. The<br />"Younger Dryas event," as it is known, coincided with the end of the<br />prehistoric Clovis culture. And the mass extinction of almost all of the<br />giant animals that lived on North America at the time.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Before the Younger Dryas event, much of north America had an ecology<br />similar to what we see today in the lush African savanna. And after the<br />YD event more then 35 genera had vanished. The giant sloth, short faced<br />bear, dire wolves, saber toothed cats, a species of camel, horses, and<br />two species of elephant were wiped out by the YD event. And that's just<br />the short list. All of that astonishing biodiversity was blown away.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Perhaps the single most important paper on the subject of the Younger<br />Dryas, is the 2007 paper by R.B. Firestone et al, and titled: <a target="_blank" href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2268163/Firestone%2B25_2007.pdf">Evidence<br />for an extraterrestrial impact 12,900 years ago that contributed to the<br />megafaunal extinctions and the Younger Dryas cooling.</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In that paper, a team of twenty six scientists, studying sedimentary<br />deposits presented a whole suite of compelling evidence for a massive<br />impact event of a comet that appears to have broken up, and scattered,<br />fragments all across North America. The multiple, air bursts are thought<br />to have triggered wide spread bio mass burning on a continental scale.<br />As well as causing a return to ice age conditions, and the extinction of<br />many species. Including the mega fauna like mastodons, wooly mammoths,<br />and giant sloths.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />That paper caused a pretty good stir in the academic<br />community. And it has become the 'Flagship', so to speak, of the Younger<br />Dryas impact hypothesis. But while they had good evidence from the<br />ground that a very large impact had occurred in the recent past, it was<br />clear that the event was vastly different from anything that had been<br />studied before. And without an astronomical model that could confidently<br />describe the nature of the impactor/s, they were were at an impasse.<br />"Where's the crater?" became a rallying cry of opponents to the<br />hypothesis.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />But in fact, impact research is an infant science. Who is to say what a<br />full suit of impact markers should be? And what of airburst blast<br />effects? Who says the event had to produce a crater?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Tunguska of 1908 was the largest impact event in recorded history. And<br />yet, the blast affected materials at ground zero do not qualify it as an<br />impact structure. Indeed, if there hadn't been any eye witnesses, our<br />impact scientists would be in complete denial of an ET origin for all<br />the violence there that day. There is no reason to think Tunguska was an<br />isolated event. Or even a big one, on the grand scale of such things.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />At Sandia Labs, Mark Boslough used their 'Red Storm' supercomputer to<br />simulate the airburst and impact of a 120-meter diameter stony asteroid.<br />The colors in the simulation we see below are graded by temperature.<br />White = 5800K; Red = 2000K. Dr Boslough tells us that, in it, we see<br />the ablated meteoritic vapor mixes with the atmosphere to form an opaque<br />fireball with a temperature of thousands of degrees. As it hits the<br />ground, the hot vapor cloud expands to a diameter of 10 km within<br />seconds, remaining in contact with the surface, with velocities of<br />several 100m/s. And at temperatures exceeding the melting temperature of<br />quartz for more than 20 seconds. Moreover, the air speed behind the<br />blast wave exceeds several hundred meters per second during this time.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><iframe height="400" frameborder="0" width="400" title="YouTube video player" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/mCCKW_STVqE"></iframe></div><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />For comparison, an ordinary oxy-acetylene cutting torch in a steel shop<br />uses a thin stream of hot gases at only about 900 degrees C. and 40PSI<br />to cut steel. The speed of that stream of hot gasses is only a little<br />bit more than a stiff breeze. But that's all it takes to turn solid iron<br />into a melted, aerosol, spray. And to blow it away in runnels of melt<br />into heaps of slag.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Dr Boslough tells us that: "Simulations suggest strong coupling of<br />thermal radiation to the ground, and efficient ablation of the resulting<br />melt by the high-velocity shear flow."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />We have its existence predicted in peer reviewed literature. But so far I<br />haven't heard anyone attempt to describe the form that such<br />geo-ablative melt might take as it is emplaced. While in motion, any<br />ablated materials from a large, geo-ablative, airburst like that would<br />be in atmospheric suspension, in a density current similar to a<br />pyroclastic flow. And when everything comes to rest, the resulting rock<br />form might be visually indistinguishable from ordinary volcanic tuff, or<br />ignimbrite. If so, we face a conundrum in the Earth sciences. Because<br />it has always been assumed without question that only terrestrial<br />volcanism can melt the rocks of the Earth, or produce 'Tuff'.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />If very large airbursts can produce formations of geo-ablative melt,<br />instead of craters, then almost every last pebble of airburst melt on<br />this fair world of ours has been mis-defined as volcanogenic.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Astronomers Victor Clube, and William Napier, had been talking about the giant comet they described as the progenitor of the <a target="_blank" href="http://star.arm.ac.uk/%7Eaac/zetataur.html">Taurid Complex</a> since 1982, in their book <a target="_blank" href="http://www.pibburns.com/catastro/clubenap.htm"><em>The Cosmic Serpent.</em></a><br />But no one had connected the dots, and put the Younger Dryas comet, and<br />the Taurid Progenitor together. Except in private, speculative, emails,<br />and letters. And to the best of my knowledge there was nothing in<br />refereed literature.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Then, In early 2010 Professor Napier published a paper in the <em>Journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society</em> titled, <a target="_blank" href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2268163/Paleolithic%20extinctions.pdf">Paleolithic extinctions and the Taurid Complex</a> in it we read:<br /><blockquote><br />"The proposition that an exceptionally large comet has been undergoing<br />disintegration in the inner planetary system goes back over 40 years<br />(Whipple 1967), and the evidence for the hypothesis has accumulated to<br />the point where it seems compelling. Radio and visual meteor data show<br />that the zodiacal cloud is dominated by a broad stream of largely<br />cometary material which incorporates an ancient, dispersed system of<br />related meteor streams. Embedded within this system are significant<br />numbers of large NEOs, including Comet Encke. Replenishment of the<br />zodiacal cloud is sporadic, with the current cloud being substantially<br />overmassive in relation to current sources. The system is most easily<br />understood as due to the injection and continuing disintegration of a<br />comet 50-100 km in diameter. The fragmentation of comets is now<br />recognized as a major route of their disintegration, and this is<br />consistent with the numerous sub-streams and co-moving observed in the<br />Taurid complex. The probable epoch of injection of this large comet,<br />~20-30 kyr ago, comfortably straddles the 12.9 kyr date of the Younger<br />Dryas Boundary.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The hypothesis that terrestrial catastrophes may happen on timescales<br />~0.1 Myr, due to the Earth running through swarms of debris from<br />disintegrating large comets, is likewise not new (Clube & Napier,<br />1984). However the accumulation of observations has allowed us to build<br />an astronomical model, closely based on the contemporary environment,<br />which can plausibly yield the postulated YDB catastrophe. The<br />interception of ~1015 gm of material during the course of disintegration<br />is shown here to have been a reasonably probable event, capable of<br />yielding destruction on a continental scale.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The object of this paper is not to claim that such an encounter took<br />place at 12,900 BP - that is a matter for Earth scientists - but to<br />show that a convincing astronomical scenario can be constructed which<br />seems to give a satisfactory match to the major geophysical features of<br />the Younger Dryas Boundary data.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />If indeed the YDB event was an astronomical catastrophe, its occurrence<br />bears little relation to current impact hazard assessments derived from<br />NEO surveys."<br /></blockquote><br />It was indeed an astronomical catastrophe. And the nature of the event<br />bears no resemblance whatsoever to anything in any NEO hazard<br />assessments, or anything in current impact theory.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />With Professor Napier's work specifically proposing in refereed<br />literature that the Taurid Progenitor was the Younger Dryas comet, he<br />changed the game completely. Because he didn't just give us a convincing<br />astronomical model of the event. We also have a pretty good picture of<br />the physical properties of the thing that did the disastrous deed. And<br />if you can describe a beast, you can predict its footprints.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />It is important to note here that the astronomical model of the Taurids<br />implies that most catastrophic impact events are probably the result of a<br />very large cluster of smaller fragments, and cometary debris. And not a<br />single, large bolide.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Mark Boslough's simulations predict the temps, pressures, flow<br />directions, and rotation speeds, of a single impact down-blast vortex.<br />And since we are working from postulate that the events of the YDB were<br />caused by the impact storms, of the debris streams, of the fragmented<br />Taurid progenitor. The YD impact hypothesis as it stands, describes tens<br />of thousands of such airbursts in a little over an hour. And<br />accompanied by clouds of particles down to the size dust grains falling<br />into the atmosphere at something like 30 km/per second, as the Earth<br />crossed through the orbital path of the giant fragmented comet's debris<br />stream.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Firestone, and friends proposed destructive forces equivalent to as much as 10<sup>9</sup><br />megatons of TNT. And at temps hotter than the surface of the sun. (a<br />half pound of TNT will blow a hole in the ground you could lose a small<br />car in)<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Professor Napier states "The interception of ~10<sup>15</sup> gm of<br />material during the course of disintegration is shown here to have been a<br />reasonably probable event, capable of yielding destruction on a<br />continental scale." Using a gram scale to weigh a giant comet is like<br />giving the distance to moon in inches. The total mass of the fragments<br />that hit the Earth that day works out to well over 1.1 billion tons. 10<sup>9</sup> mega tons TNT of destruction doesn't seem like such a stretch, when you work out how big the parent comet was.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a title="© CraterHunter" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/63433/full/cometlinear5.jpg"><img title="Click to enlarge" alt="Comet Linear" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/63433/medium/cometlinear5.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© CraterHunter</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">Comet Linear</span></div><br /></div><br />The <a target="_blank" href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/deepimpact/media/deepimpact_water_ice.html">Deep Impact</a><br />mission to comet TEMPEL 1 showed the head of that comet to have the<br />consistency of a dirty snow bank. It also showed that the object is a<br />geologically active body. <a target="_blank" href="http://today.ucla.edu/portal/ut/photo/holmes_animation.gif">Comet HOLMES</a> is unstable, and prone to violent outbursts. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.solarviews.com/eng/linear.htm">Comet LINEAR,</a><br />and Comet Scwassmann-Wachmann 3, shown here make it abundantly clear<br />that total, explosive, fragmentation of a comet can occur spontaneously<br />at any time. And it can happen before it even gets close to a planet. It<br />doesn't need the atmosphere to do that.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />If you can describe a beast, you can predict its footprints. Since the<br />YD impact hypothesis has become a fully fledged theory that gives a<br />specific description of the exact nature of the impactors, then it<br />follows that we should also be able to predict the nature, and severity,<br />of the blast effected materials. Only the first fragments to fall would<br />have fallen into cold atmosphere. The rest would have fallen into<br />already superheated atmosphere, and just cranked up the heat, and<br />pressure. So we're not necessarily looking for craters where solid<br />bolides hit the ground. We are looking for the signatures, whatever they<br />might be, of a 'Perfect Storm' of ablative airbursts, with winds<br />gusting to supersonic, and downdrafts hotter than the surface of the<br />sun. In the impact zones, the surface of the Earth didn't get smashed<br />and broken by the event. It was flash melted, and blown away.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Extraordinary hypotheses require extraordinary proofs. If the Younger<br />Dryas Impacts were, in fact, the multiple airburst impact storms of the<br />Taurid Progenitor, then there should be hundreds of thousands of cubic<br />miles of flash melted rock, and blast effected materials, on this<br />continent, as pristine as the day they first cooled. And with no giant<br />volcanic system to account for them. And in fact, such continental<br />scale, orphaned materials do indeed exist. And they can be found in two<br />large geologically recent, multiple airburst, impact zones. One is <a target="_blank" href="http://craterhunter.wordpress.com/the-planetary-scaring-of-the-younger-dryas-impact-event/a-minnesota-impact-event/">The Northeast Impact Zone,</a><br />extending from the Great Lakes to the Arctic circle. And the other<br />major impact zone can be found in central Mexico, and extends up into<br />west Texas, and New Mexico.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The <a target="_blank" href="http://craterhunter.wordpress.com/notes-on-ignimbrite-emplacement/part-two/">Chihuahuan Ignimbrites of central Mexico</a><br />have always been a mystery as to their source. Generations of<br />geologists have assumed they must be volcanogenic. And one typically<br />hears the excuse that it could take decades to find the vents, and magma<br />chambers it all came from. But of more than 350,000 cubic miles of<br />pristine pyroclastic materials in the Chihuahuan Desert, and the Sierra<br />Madre Occidental mountains, less than 15% can be attributed to a<br />volcanic system. And when we use modern high resolution satellite<br />imagery to view the typical <a target="_blank" href="http://craterhunter.wordpress.com/the-planetary-scaring-of-the-younger-dryas-impact-event/a-thermal-airburst-impact-structure/">Airburst Impact structure</a><br />at 29.702168, -105.686617 we can see why. That structure, and the<br />geo-ablative curtain of airburst melt surrounding it, is typical of more<br />than 50,000 square miles. And terrestrial volcanism had nothing to do<br />with it.<br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a title="© CraterHunter" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/63434/full/rascomet25.jpg"><img title="Click to enlarge" alt="Comet Scwassmann-Wachmann 3" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/63434/medium/rascomet25.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© CraterHunter</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">Comet Scwassmann-Wachmann 3.</span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br />The high resolution satellite imagery that's become available in the<br />past decade has revealed a new perspective that hasn't been available<br />to geologists of the past. Answering the question of where those<br />pyroclastic materials came from is easy when you can read the patterns<br />of movement, and flow, that were frozen in time from the moment of their<br />emplacement. And as easily as following splashes of spilled paint back<br />to a can.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The most startling revelation will come from studying those perfectly<br />legible patterns of flow. And when you realize that gravity pulling them<br />down a slope, and away from a vent, was not the motive force while they<br />were in motion. And that you are looking at wind-driven patterns of<br />movement, and flow, during the emplacement event, like the froth, and<br />foam on a storm tossed beach. And when you begin to see that those<br />pyroclastic flows describe a completely different kind of non-volcanic<br />catastrophe from anything ever imagined before.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />What kind of naturally occurring, non-volcanic, event can flash melt,<br />and ablate, the surface of the Earth, and turn more than 50,000 miles<br />into a single random colliding, inter-flowing, wind-driven, sheet of<br />pyroclastic flows, and ablated landforms? Or suddenly blast away a large<br />section of an ice sheet as big as the continental United States?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Imagine along with me for a moment. What say we take a great big comet,<br />say 50 to 100 km wide, out of the Oort Cloud, or the Kuiper belt, and<br />inject it into the inner solar system. And we park it an elliptical,<br />Earth crossing orbit, and break it up into not so little pieces. Let's<br />give it enough time for tidal forces to break it up completely, and<br />stretch it out into a very long debris stream of particles, and<br />fragments. Our average fragment size was about the size of the Tunguska<br />object. But they ranged from more than a half mile wide, all the way<br />down to clouds of dust.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />As the Earth's orbit brings it across orbital path of the giant,<br />fragmented comet's debris streams, the fragments begin to fall into the<br />atmosphere from the south at a low angle. And more than 30 km/sec. The<br />first fragments to hit will produce atmospheric temps well over 100,000<br />degrees C. And they are just cheerleaders, twirling batons in front of a<br />parade. The rest fall into already superheated impact plasma, and just<br />crank up the heat, and pressure. In this way, almost 100% of the kinetic<br />energy of the fragments gets translated to heat, and pressure in the<br />atmosphere. And that heat, and pressure, hits the ground as an almost<br />continuous, supersonic, stream of airbursts, hotter than the surface<br />sun.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />With just a few short minutes of that, I'll bet we could sterilize the<br />whole lush, African Savanna, and make it look just like central Mexico,<br />and the American Southwest. And in fact, according to the fossil<br />record, every mega-faunal ecological niche we see in the African<br />Savanna, and more, is represented in the fossils below the Younger Dryas<br />Boundary layer. But not above it. All that astonishing biodiversity was<br />burned, and blown away in seconds.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Sound Crazy? Not so fast. The 2007 Firestone paper cited Toon et al when they proposed temps as high as 10<sup>7</sup>degrees<br />C. There's that exponential thing again. That's 10 million degrees<br />Celsius. But Professor Napier pointed out for me that even if a bolide<br />hits the atmosphere at 30 kilometers per second, and all of its kinetic<br />energy is translated to heat in the atmosphere, it is difficult to get<br />more than 100,000<sup>o</sup> C. But that's ok. Because either way, even<br />with the more conservative figure, we are still describing temperatures<br />that are more than enough to vaporize any known substance on the<br />surface of the Earth. And to blow it away like wax under a high pressure<br />blowtorch.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />A compelling, almost conclusive, case can be made for the argument that<br />the Younger Dryas cooling, the mega faunal extinctions of the early<br />Holocene, and the demise of the Clovis people were all caused by the<br />same event. It was the multiple, thermal airburst, impact showers of<br />the fragments of the Taurid Progenitor soon after its complete breakup.<br />And the thermal explosive catastrophe its debris stream brought, was<br />more violent than anything ever imagined.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In the simulation we see above, Dr Boslough simulated a single bolide.<br />The blast effected materials of the event describe a giant stream of<br />fragments such as that, accompanied by clouds of particles down to the<br />size of dust grains.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />No one has ever found a crater that can be dated to the event. But that<br />much heat, and pressure, only goes away peacefully in children's<br />bedtime stories. And no craters, does not mean there are no planetary<br />scars.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Because it was already broken up before the Earth encountered its debris<br />stream. The atmosphere translated nearly all of the kinetic energy into<br />heat. But it didn't dissipate it. It transferred the heat directly to<br />the ground in an almost continuous rain of devastating supersonic,<br />geo-ablative, down-blasts.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The eastern end of the Laurentide Ice sheet got hit in an area from<br />Northern Minnesota, and the Great Lakes to the Arctic Circle. When the<br />first down-blasts of thermal impact plasma hit the Laurentide Ice sheet<br />they caused titanic, hot and powerful, hydrothermal explosions (steam)<br />that lofted huge icebergs hundreds of miles in all directions.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />A few short minutes later, those flying chunks of ice were the<br />impactites that formed the thousands of oval depressions all over the<br />eastern side of the continent called the "Carolina Bays". And the signs<br />of massive flooding that have been attributed by generations of<br />geologists to the bursting of ice damns holding back <a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glacial_Lake_Agassiz">Glacial lake Agassiz </a>are, in fact, the flood effects of the flash melting of major portions of the eastern end of the <a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurentide_ice_sheet">Laurentide ice sheet.</a><br />In a matter of minutes, much of the eastern end of the LIS was<br />obliterated. Much of which probably went into the atmosphere as steam.<br />The immense hydrothermal explosions also lofted the iceberg sized chunks<br />of ice that produced the <a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolina_bays">Carolina Bays</a> when they fell back to Earth.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The other much larger cluster of fragments hit in central Mexico, and<br />the American southwest. The Earth was probably in the path of the<br />devastating streams of high velocity, air bursting comet fragments for<br />about an hour. And out of tens of thousands of large, air-bursting,<br />fragments there is not one single impact structure that bears any<br />resemblance to what standard impact theory might expect. Or a "full<br />suite of impact hallmarks" all of the planetary scarring of the event<br />has been mis-defined as volcanogenic. And most of the ages of those<br />blast effected materials have been over estimated by orders of<br />magnitude.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The most devastating geo-ablative effects were in central Mexico, and<br />the American Southwest. In seconds all of central Mexico was pulverized<br />into a surreal, and blasted, landscape of heavily ablated, and melted<br />terrains, like a Salvador Dali painting. It generated a post impact mega<br />tsunami of thermal impact plasma taller than the atmosphere, hundreds<br />of miles wide, and hundreds of miles from front to back, that rushed<br />downrange to the northwest at supersonic speeds. And it sterilized the<br />western half of the continent on a swath from Mexico to the Arctic,<br />along a storm front extending from California to the great plains.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The Mexican cluster of fragments was approximately 500 miles wide. As<br />the first of the fragments hit they detonated high in the atmosphere.<br />But the explosions retained their momentum. And they hit the ground as<br />devastating supersonic down blasts hotter than the surface of the sun.<br />And as I said, only the very first fell into cold atmosphere. The rest<br />of the fragments just piled on in, and added to the heat, and pressure.<br />The overpressures from the blast waves were so powerful they blasted<br />whole mountain ranges aside like clumps of flour on a bakers table. And<br />still, they continued to pile in. And the heat, and overpressures,<br />continued to build.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The blast wind would've incinerated everything it passed over. In the<br />hottest part of the impact zone, vast quantities of stone were<br />vaporized, and whipped up into the storm, where the atmosphere worked<br />like a refining tower. And in a fiery rain the materials precipitated<br />out of the plasma storm down wind according to their condensation<br />temperature, and specific gravity. This was like nothing ever imagined<br />in our most frightening nightmares of disaster, or catastrophe. During<br />the impacts, and for a few minutes after, most of North America from<br />Mexico to the Arctic, and from California, to the plains of the Midwest,<br />was engulfed in what might best be described as a full blown<br />magneto-hydro-dynamic plasma storm. Like something we should only expect<br />to find on the surface of the sun. And there is not one square inch of<br />the surface terrains of western North America in its path that doesn't<br />bear the scars of that blast of heat.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In fact look closely in modern satellite images. You see that all of the<br />high ridges of the mountain ranges of California, Colorado, Utah,<br />Wyoming, and Montana that had glaciers at the time bear clear and<br />obvious signs of the heat. And a profound feature that is easy to spot<br />is melted glacial ridges, blown over to the north and northwest like<br />runnels of melted wax on the side of a candle. And we typically see high<br />glacial valleys below those melted ridges that have all of the material<br />that was once suspended in the Glacier lying exactly below where it was<br />in the glacier. Indicating that the ice evaporated so fast there was no<br />flow of water down slope to move any of the glacial till. So we see<br />that the glacial till dropped out so fast it's as if the ice just<br />vanished in a quick puff of steam.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Almost at the same time Mexico was getting hit, the eastern end of the<br />ice sheet was getting pounded just as hard. But the ice added another<br />factor to consider in understanding the blast effects. Under the thermal<br />airburst down-blasts, the ice reacted explosively, like reactive armor<br />on a battle tank. The impacts into the ice sheet triggered titanic<br />hydrothermal explosions that lofted huge berg sized chunks of ice for<br />hundreds of miles forming the 'Carolina Bays'.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The ice sheet impacts evaporated millions of acre feet of water directly<br />into the atmosphere. There was probably much more of the ice sheet that<br />went up as steam, only to rain down in the days, and weeks, that<br />followed than was melted to flow into the sea. As North America burned,<br />the storms around the world raged. It rained everywhere for weeks.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Sea levels rose as the blasted, and melted ice sheet flowed in mega<br />floods to the sea. And just as today, most of the larger populations<br />would have been in low lying areas. The seas rose too fast or anyone,<br />and anything, living in coastal areas anywhere in the world, to escape.<br />Every coastline all over the world was effected. And everywhere it would<br />have been much like a giant tsunami. But this time, the flood waters<br />rose and never receded.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Much of an ice sheet bigger than the Continental United States was<br />destroyed. The whole world was shaken to the core. And, like taking<br />weight from a floating barge, the sudden shift of the weight of so much<br />ice caused a massive uplift of the middle of the continent. Coupled with<br />the powerful detonations of so many exploding comet fragments, it<br />caused earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions all over the world. And<br />global seismic activity was the worst in many millions of years.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />While the mega floods from the blasted ice sheet were still flowing into<br />the sea. Most of the biomass of western North America was burned away<br />and much of the resultant smoke, and soot was blown high above the<br />atmosphere where it blocked sunlight for years. There was an immediate<br />sharp drop in temperatures world wide. It was the worst kind of 'Perfect<br />Storm'. Made all the worse because at the same time the destruction of<br />the LIS caused a sudden rise in sea levels world wide. It it may have<br />caused a shutdown of the thermal haline cycle which brings tropical<br />warmth to the North Atlantic. Be that as it may, Northern Europe quickly<br />cooled to arctic temperatures. And the cold remained for centuries.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The Clovis people, and whole species, and ecosystems, were annihilated<br />in seconds. Most of the western half of the continent was incinerated,<br />and sterilized. The other half was devastated. The food chain of the<br />entire northern hemisphere was severely compromised. And except for<br />rare, and random, patches here, and there, that remained somehow<br />unscathed like the one surviving undamaged house in a neighborhood hit<br />by a tornado. The lush savannah the giant animals of North America<br />depended on for food was gone down to the last blade of grass. Those<br />giant animals that survived in the southeast corner of the continent<br />faced a drastically altered, and reduced food supply. And they simply<br />starved. The specialist predators that depended on those animals for<br />food perished as well. The species that survived extinction were the<br />most adaptable, the smaller ones that didn't eat much, and those that<br />were just plain lucky.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />If there were any human survivors of that day, anywhere in the western<br />hemisphere, they were hiding in a deep cave somewhere well south of the<br />impact zone. And they were cringing in terror as their world was erased<br />and made new again. Any who peeked out of the cave without getting<br />themselves killed, may have told stories of fire breathing dragons<br />remaking the world with breath so hot it could melt mountains.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The progression of the event was a result of the Earth's movement along<br />its orbital path, as it crossed through the orbital path of the giant<br />comet's debris stream. Not a product of the Earth's rotation. So that,<br />in a daytime event, the fragments are outbound from perihelion. The<br />airburst storms would begin in the west, and progress to the east. As<br />the Earth Crosses the debris stream. In a night time event, the debris<br />stream would be inbound towards their perihelion, and the opposite would<br />be true.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Using modern satellite imagery, a very compelling case can be made that<br />the scenario described above is very close to the exact truth. The<br />remaining debris of the Taurid Complex is still out there. And there are<br />still fragments of significant size in Earth crossing orbits. It is<br />almost a certainty that the next major impact event will be an airburst.<br />And it is a certainty that we haven't seen the last catastrophic impact<br />of the Taurid Complex.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Something wicked this way comes.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><a href="http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Bright_Fireball_Leads_To_Meteorite_Search_In_Tennessee_999.html" target="_blank">US: Bright Fireball Leads To Meteorite Search In Tennessee</a></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="article-date">Fri, 08 Apr 2011 10:24 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-source"><br /><br /><br />Space Daily<br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/63311/full/fireball_meteor_tullahoma_apri.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© NASA/MSFC/University of Tennessee Space Institute/Hands-On Science Center"><img alt="" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/63311/medium/fireball_meteor_tullahoma_apri.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA/MSFC/University of Tennessee Space Institute/Hands-On Science Center</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">False-color image of a bright fireball meteor over Tullahoma, Tenn., on the night of April 6, 2011.</span></div><br /></div><br />Did you see a bright flash in the sky over Tullahoma, Tenn., last night? Have we got a scavenger hunt for you...<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />At approximately 08:21:57 p.m. CDT on April 6, 2011, NASA all-sky meteor<br />cameras located at the University of Tennessee Space Institute, in<br />conjunction with the Hands-On Science Center in Tullahoma, Tennessee,<br />and at the Walker County Science Center in northwest Georgia detected a<br />very bright fireball moving north across the state of Tennessee.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />First detected 52 miles above the Arnold Air Force base near Tullahoma,<br />the meteor was brighter than crescent moon and was approximately two<br />feet in diameter, with a weight of 200 lbs. It was last recorded 30<br />miles above the town of Woodbury, Tenn., moving at a speed of<br />approximately nine miles per second, or 32,400 mph.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The NASA Meteoroid Environment Office has reasonable confidence<br />that some fraction of this meteor survived to the ground as one or more<br />meteorites. Calculations are underway to determine the general impact<br />location, which may lie close to the Kentucky border.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Eyewitnesses to the fireball are encouraged to make a report to the<br />American Meteor Society at www.amsmeteors.com, or to the Meteoroid<br />Environment Office.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />More information will be forthcoming at the completion of the impact<br />zone calculations, which may take some time. The orbit indicates that<br />this interloper was from the Asteroid Belt, with an aphelion well beyond<br />the orbit of Mars.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42494593/ns/technology_and_science-space/" target="_blank">Earth to Get Very Close Look at a Huge Asteroid</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="article-date">Fri, 08 Apr 2011 11:34 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-source"><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/226964-Earth-to-Get-Very-Close-Look-at-a-Huge-Asteroid#"><br /><br /></a></div><br />Leonard David<br /><br />MSNBC/Space.com<br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/63352/full/ff.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Arecibo Observatory / Michael Nolan "><img alt="" height="188" width="398" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/63352/large/ff.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Arecibo Observatory / Michael Nolan </span><br /><br /><span class="caption">The<br />near-Earth asteroid named 2005 YU55 — on the list of potentially<br />dangerous asteroids — was observed with the Arecibo Telescope's<br />planetary radar on April 19, 2010, when it was about 1.5 million miles<br />from the Earth, which is about six times the distance to the moon.</span></div><br /></div><br /><em>Flyby in November sparks extensive campaign for all kinds of observations</em><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Mark your calendars for an impressive and upcoming flyby of an asteroid<br />that's one of the larger potentially perilous space rocks in the heavens<br />- in terms of smacking the Earth in the future.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />It's the case of asteroid 2005 YU55, a round mini-world that is about<br />1,300 feet in diameter. In early November, this asteroid will approach<br />Earth within a scant 0.85 lunar distances.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Due the object's size and whisking by so close to Earth, an extensive<br />campaign of radar, visual and infrared observations are being planned.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Asteroid 2005 YU55 was discovered by Spacewatch at the University of<br />Arizona, Tucson's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory on Dec. 28, 2005. En<br />route and headed our way, the cosmic wanderer is another reminder about<br />life here on our sitting duck of a planet.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Close and Big</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"The close Earth approach of 2005 YU55 on November 8 is unusual since it<br />is close and big. On average, one wouldn't expect an object this big to<br />pass this close but every 30 years," said Don Yeomans, manager of<br />NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office and the Jet Propulsion<br />Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Yeomans said that with new radar capabilities at Goldstone in California<br />- part of NASA's Deep Space Network - there is a good chance of<br />obtaining radar imaging of 2005 YU55 down to the 5-meter resolution<br />level. Doing so, he said, would mean obtaining higher spatial resolution<br />of the object than that attained by recent spacecraft flyby missions.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"So we like to think of this opportunity as a close flyby mission with<br />Earth as the spacecraft," Yeomans told Space.com. "When combined with<br />ground-based optical and near-infrared observations, the radar data<br />should provide a fairly complete picture of one of the larger<br />potentially hazardous asteroids," he said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Asteroid 2005 YU55 is a slow rotator. Because of its size and proximity<br />to Earth, the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Mass., has designated<br />the space rock as a "potentially hazardous asteroid."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Dishing It Out</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"We're already preparing for the 2005 YU55 flyby," said Lance Benner, a<br />research scientist at JPL and a specialist on radar imaging of<br />near-Earth objects. He said part of the plan is to observe the asteroid<br />with radar using both the huge Arecibo dish in Puerto Rico and equipment<br />at Goldstone.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"The asteroid will approach from the south, so Goldstone has the first<br />chance to observe it due to its declination coverage," Benner told<br />Space.com.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />To help coordinate the observing campaigns, "Radar Observations<br />Planning" websites have been set up for this unusual occasion, Benner<br />said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"This flyby will be the closest by any near-Earth asteroid with an<br />absolute magnitude this bright since 1976 and until 2028," Benner added.<br />"Having said that, nobody saw 2010 XC15 during its close flyby within<br />0.5 lunar distance in 1976," he said, noting that this asteroid wasn't<br />discovered until late in 2010.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Thus, the flyby by 2005 YU55 will be the closest actually observed by<br />something this large, so it represents a unique opportunity," Benner<br />said. "In a real sense, this will provide imaging resolution comparable<br />to or even better than a spacecraft mission flyby."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Radar Paint </span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Benner said that because the asteroid is zooming by Earth so very close,<br />radar echoes will be extremely strong. One facility at Goldstone will<br />be used to transmit and "radar paint" the object ... another Goldstone<br />dish is on tap to snag the reflected echo of radar data.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">What Can Radar Do? </span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Information collected by this technique, for example, can be transformed<br />into 3-D shapes, with surface features and spin rates identified. The<br />asteroid's roughness and density also can be assessed. Furthermore,<br />radar can improve the whereabouts of the object. By greatly shrinking<br />uncertainties for newly discovered meandering NEOs, that in turn enables<br />motion prediction for decades to centuries.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />As for seeing the asteroid with small telescopes, start getting your gear ready.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Initially, the object will be too close to the sun and too faint for<br />optical observers. But late in the day (Universal Time) on Nov. 8, the<br />solar elongation will grow sufficiently to see it. Early on Nov. 9, the<br />asteroid could reach about 11th magnitude for several hours before it<br />fades as its distance rapidly increases, Benner explained.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><em>Leonard David has been reporting on the space industry for more than<br />five decades. He is past editor-in-chief of the National Space<br />Society's</em> Ad Astra <em>and</em> Space World <em>magazines and has written for Space.com since 1999.</em><br /></div><br /><div class="article-comment"><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>The reader may be interested in <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/226166-Planet-X-Comets-and-Earth-Changes-by-J-M-McCanney" target="_blank"><em>Planet-X, Comets and Earth Changes</em> by J.M. McCanney</a>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><a href="http://www.mymotherlode.com/news/local/1270000/Loud-Mysterious-Sound-Heard-In-County.html" target="_blank">US: Loud Mysterious Sound Heard In Calaveras County, California</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="article-date">Tue, 12 Apr 2011 07:23 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-source"><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/227160-US-Loud-Mysterious-Sound-Heard-In-Calaveras-County-California#"><br /><br /></a></div><br />Tina Falco<br /><br />mymotherlode.com<br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br />Calaveras County Sheriff's Detectives are investigating a loud<br />explosive sound that was reported in several communities yesterday.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />According to the Sheriff's Office, at around 8:50 am, the Sheriff's<br />dispatch received multiple 9-11 calls from San Andreas, Mokelumne Hill,<br />Mountain Ranch, Railroad Flat and West Point. <strong>All of the callers said that heard a single loud explosion type noise</strong>, but there were no reports of fire or smoke being seen and no specific location given.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Several callers also stated that a plane had flown overhead just prior<br />to the loud explosion and they suspected it was a sonic boom. Sheriff's<br />Dispatch checked with the FAA and Calaveras County Airport who had <strong>no reported planes in distress in the area</strong>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The Sheriff's Office will also follow-up with local military contacts in<br />an attempt to confirm the possible sonic boom that was heard by many<br />county residents.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><em></em><br /></div><br /><div class="article-comment"><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>Sott.net has picked up many reports of similar mysterious booms recently:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/225612-Ohio-US-Newark-Police-Puzzled-By-Mystery-Boom-" target="_blank">Ohio, US: Newark Police Puzzled By Mystery 'Boom'</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/225588-Mushroom-shaped-light-and-loud-boom-rocks-remote-Siberia" target="_blank">'Mushroom-shaped light and loud boom' rocks remote Siberia</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/222286-US-Boom-Heard-Across-Southeast-Oklahoma" target="_blank">US: 'Boom' Heard Across Southeast Oklahoma</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/221473-US-Big-Boom-Remains-a-Mystery" target="_blank">US: Big Boom Remains a Mystery</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/221405-US-Mysterious-Boom-Rocks-Region" target="_blank">US: Mysterious Boom Rocks Region</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/219723-California-US-Source-of-Loud-Boom-Continues-to-be-Mysterious" target="_blank">California, US: Source of Loud Boom Continues to be Mysterious</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/218752-US-Mystery-Sonic-Boom-Rattles-Georgia" target="_blank">US: Mystery Sonic Boom Rattles Georgia</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/218618-US-Mystery-Blast-Likely-a-Sonic-Boom-Official-Says" target="_blank">US: Mystery Blast Likely a Sonic Boom, Official Says</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><a href="http://gchbryant.tripod.com/Articles/darkages0999.htm" target="_blank">The Dark Ages: Were They Darker Than We Imagined?</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="article-date">Thu, 14 Apr 2011 08:50 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-source"><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/227226-The-Dark-Ages-Were-They-Darker-Than-We-Imagined-#"><br /><br /></a></div><br />Greg Bryant<br /><br />dchbryant.tripod.com<br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/63862/full/ff.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Unknown"><img alt="" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/63862/medium/ff.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Unknown</span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><em>Published in the September 1999 issue of</em> Universe.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />As we approach the end of the Second Millennium, a review of ancient<br />history is not what you would normally expect to read in the pages of <em>Universe</em>.<br />Indeed, except for reflecting on the AD 837 apparition of Halley's<br />Comet (when it should have been as bright as Venus and would have moved<br />through 60 degrees of sky in one day as it passed just 0.03 AU from<br />Earth - three times closer than Hyakutake in 1996), you may well wonder<br />what we could learn from any astronomical events that occurred more than<br />a thousand years ago.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Any history text will say that the Dark Ages refers to the period after<br />the fall of the Roman Empire in the middle of the 1st Millennium (it was<br />not sponsored by the International Dark Sky Association). It was a time<br />when European civilisation stagnated - even that term is a generous<br />description of the living standards and social setting of the next few<br />centuries. In a broader sense, however, "Dark Ages" can be applied to a<br />few eras of social upheaval over the last several thousand years, which<br />fits in nicely with what you're about to read - stay with me, as the<br />possible astronomical implications will soon become apparent.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Physical Aspects Of The Dark Ages</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Let's first look at the onset of "the" Dark Ages in the sixth century<br />AD. The Roman Empire was finished, nothing was happening in the<br />sciences, and worse was happening in nature. The Italian historian<br />Flavius Cassiodorus wrote about conditions that he experienced during<br />the year AD 536:<br /><blockquote><br />"The Sun...seems to have lost its wonted light, and appears of a bluish<br />colour. We marvel to see no shadows of our bodies at noon, to feel the<br />mighty vigour of the Sun's heat wasted into feebleness, and the<br />phenomena which accompany an eclipse prolonged through almost a whole<br />year. We have had a summer without heat. The crops have been chilled by<br />north winds, [and] the rain is denied."<br /></blockquote><br />Other writers of the time described similar conditions:<br /><blockquote><br />Procopius : "...during this year a most dread portent took place. For<br />the Sun gave forth its light without brightness...and it seemed<br />exceedingly like the Sun in eclipse, for the beams it shed were not<br />clear."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Lydus : "The Sun became dim...for nearly the whole year...so that the fruits were killed at an unseasonable time."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Michael the Syrian : "The Sun became dark and its darkness lasted for<br />eighteen months. Each day it shone for about four hours, and still this<br />light was only a feeble shadow...the fruits did not ripen and the wine<br />tasted like sour grapes."<br /></blockquote><br />Was this a local phenomenon? According to the book <em>Volcanoes of the World</em>,<br />Dr. Timothy Bratton has noted that there was a small eruption of the<br />volcano Mt. Vesuvius in AD 536. Could this be the cause? It may well<br />have contributed to the scene (although the eruption was much smaller<br />than the big one of AD 79), but it can not really account for the<br />similar conditions that were experienced around the world.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In China, "the stars were lost from view for three months". Records<br />indicate that the light from the Sun dimmed, the expected rains did not<br />eventuate, and snow was seen in the middle of summer. Famine was<br />widespread, and in the midst of the turmoil, the Emperor abandoned the<br />capital.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Bad luck tends to get bunched together, and thus came the<br />plague. The Justinian Plague, named after the Byzantine Emperor of the<br />time, is reported to have begun in central Asia, spread into Egypt, and<br />then made its way through Europe. By some accounts, it was as bad as the<br />Black Death which "plagued" Europe in the Middle Ages.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">A Different Branch Of The Picture</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Mike Baillie is Professor of Palaeoecology at Queens University,<br />Belfast, Northern Ireland. He is an authority on tree rings and their<br />use in dating ancient events (every year, a tree adds a "ring" to its<br />trunk as it grows - good years are represented by thick rings while bad<br />years are represented by thin rings). He conducted a complete (and<br />continuous) review of annual global tree growth patterns over the last<br />5,000 years and found that there were five major environmental shocks<br />that were witnessed worldwide. These shocks were reflected in the ring<br />widths being very thin. Wanting to know more, he turned to human<br />historical records, and found that the years in question (between 2354<br />and 2345 BC, 1628 and 1623 BC, 1159 and 1141 BC, 208 and 204 BC, and AD<br />536 and 545) all corresponded with "dark ages" in civilisation.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The minimal growth of trees around 2350 BC has been associated in the<br />past with the eruption of a volcano in Iceland. Yet, the period in<br />question is also associated with floods, the creation of new lakes, and<br />even the start of Chinese history. Furthermore, Marie-Agnes Courty, an<br />archaeologist from France, has claimed new data regarding a catastrophe<br />said to have occurred in the Middle East. Samples from three separate<br />regions all appear to contain a calcite material found only in<br />meteorites, and analysis of debris show what seems to be a combination<br />of "a burnt surface horizon and air blast."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Indeed, some 40 cities throughout North Africa, the Middle East, Europe,<br />and Asia are thought to have been devastated, or even disappeared,<br />about the same time in a series of catastrophes.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The twelfth century BC is associated with the "Greek Dark Ages", the end<br />of the Hittite civilisation in the Near East, the end of Bronze Age<br />Israel, and the end of the Bronze Age Shang dynasty in China. Ancient<br />Chinese history has the notion of "mandate from heaven", where the<br />rulers were essentially subject to the whims of the sky above. Strange<br />sights in the sky would not be seen as good news for Chinese Emperors.<br />Indeed, around this time, Chinese records speak of:<br /><blockquote><br />"...many gods and spirits were annihilated in this battle, and several<br />stellar dignitaries were replaced by newcomers to the celestial<br />domains."<br /></blockquote><br />What could cause such global shocks? A likely answer, which has a good<br />fit to the evidence, was what the European and Chinese observers<br />described at the time as "dragons in the sky" - comets! We're not<br />talking about an intact large comet (if that had hit in the last several<br />millennia, we would not be here today), but rather fragments from a<br />disintegrating comet or asteroid (small pieces like that which hit<br />Tunguska in 1908). These would throw up dust that would envelope the<br />world and dim our view of the Sun and skies.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />All this sounds like an interesting theory, but is there any evidence<br />"above us" that fits in with the scenario. How do we account for so many<br />impacts over the last several millennia when the consensus today in<br />astronomy is that impacts causing global consequences (mild as well as<br />major) are very rare?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Enter The Astronomers</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Independently of Baillie's studies, British astronomers were putting<br />together an explanation of the Taurid meteors that we see. The Taurids<br />are related to comet Encke, as first shown by Fred Whipple, best known<br />for proposing the "dirty snowball" model of comets. Mark Bailey, Victor<br />Clube (brother of my rugby coach at school!), and Bill Napier put<br />forward the theory that Encke and the Taurid meteors originated from a<br />giant comet that fragmented some 40,000 years ago after entering the<br />inner Solar System. The idea of a comet splitting up into smaller pieces<br />is nothing new (witness Shoemaker-Levy 9 in 1994 and the return this<br />year of the fragmented periodic comet Machholz 2), and indeed Dr. Brian<br />Marsden of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory is the originator<br />of the idea that the bulk of sungrazing comets we see come from a large<br />comet that perhaps originally split a few centuries before Christ, and<br />has split again - this family of comets is known as the Kreutz<br />sungrazers.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The astronomers noted that Chinese records of meteor observations over<br />the last two thousand years revealed significant surges in the number of<br />meteors observed every few centuries. These tended to be observed at<br />the same time every year - we now know of them as the Taurids, which has<br />a nighttime display in October/November (the Taurids South and Taurids<br />North - see the end of the article), and a daytime appearance in June<br />(Beta Taurids). Both meteor showers are linked. The Taurids South and<br />Taurids North are what Earth encounters as the Taurid meteor stream<br />heads towards perihelion, whilst the Beta Taurids are encountered as the<br />meteor stream heads away from perihelion.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Unlike the most prominent annual meteor showers, the Taurids are not<br />known for being spectacular because the stream is too broad. Whatever<br />caused the Taurids must have been huge, as it was suggested many years<br />ago as the primary source for dust in the inner Solar System. It is<br />argued that comet Encke itself is a fragment of this larger, inactive<br />comet.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Such a scenario implies that there are other objects in the Taurid<br />stream, much larger than dust, that are unobserved because they are<br />inactive. Is there any evidence for large objects in the Taurids hitting<br />Earth in recent history? Consider the following:<br /><ul><br /> <li> In late June, 1178, an English monk reported the observation by<br /> five men of what is believed to have been an impact on the Moon. The<br /> American astronomer-geologist Jack Hartung has argued that this reported<br /> impact created the Giordano Bruno crater, known to be one of the<br /> youngest craters on the Moon. The timing of this event, late June, is<br /> consistent with the Beta Taurids.<br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br /> </li><br /> <li> In his book <em>Rogue Asteroids and Doomsday Comets</em>,<br /> former AAO astronomer Duncan Steel describes the fall of a meteorite on<br /> 25th June, 1890 near Farmington, Kansas. Besides its obvious timing with<br /> the Beta Taurids, the meteorite is most notable for being the youngest<br /> meteorite known (in terms of exposure to space). Dating of the meteorite<br /> has revealed it was separated from its parent less than 25,000 years<br /> ago (a factor of ten younger than the next youngest meteorite).<br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br /> </li><br /> <li> Tunguska : On 30th June, 1908, a fragment believed to be less<br /> than 100m in diameter exploded over the Tunguska river in Siberia. It is<br /> the most well-known impact we know of in modern times. It is generally<br /> believed that the timing of the impact is consistent with it originating<br /> from the Beta Taurids.<br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br /> </li><br /> <li> When the astronauts went to the Moon, they placed seismometers<br /> on the Moon's surface. At the end of June, 1975, they registered their<br /> major series of lunar impacts. The impacts were detected only when the<br /> nearside of the Moon (where the astronauts landed) was facing the Beta<br /> Taurid radiant. At the same time, there was a lot of activity detected<br /> in Earth's ionosphere, which has been linked with meteor activity.<br /> </li><br /></ul><br />Obviously, given the presence of comet Encke, and the additional fact of<br />various known Apollo-class asteroids which are observed to have orbits<br />that resemble those of the Taurids, there is more in the Taurid meteor<br />stream than just dust. According to Duncan Steel, some of the discovered<br />Apollo-class asteroids that are in the Taurid meteor stream have<br />diameters in excess of one kilometre. How many other Tunguska-type<br />bodies are in it? Are they isolated, or do they exist in swarms?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Meteor streams orbit the Sun, like the planets, but their orbits tend to<br />be perturbed by the planets. The astronomers calculated how the orbit<br />of the Taurids has changed over the centuries.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In "Lessons from Jupiter" (<em>Southern Sky</em> magazine, January/February 1995), Clube and David Asher wrote:<br /><blockquote><br />"Calculations based on an orbit related to that of P/Encke reveal<br />intersections with the Earth's orbit around AD 600 and before that AD<br />400, so that a swarm would have been near the Earth's orbit for a<br />duration of a few centuries around that epoch, the time of the European<br />Dark Age. This then is a critical extended period when we might well<br />expect several multi megaton [explosive] events, indeed a great many if<br />we consider the globe as a whole. The perspective is evidently one in<br />which we expect the Roman Empire to have gone into decline owing to<br />multiple-Tunguska bombardment causing great tracts of land to be<br />deserted and whole communities or nations to be suddenly dislocated. Of<br />necessity, the period becomes one of barbaric movements."<br /></blockquote><br />Chinese historical records of AD 540 say:<br /><blockquote><br />"Dragons fought in the pond of the K'uh o. They went westward....In the places they passed, all the trees were broken. "<br /></blockquote><br />The calculations for the Taurids suggest that we pass through the core<br />of the meteor stream approximately every 2,500 years - today, we are<br />passing through the outer edges. The last two occasions when we passed<br />through the core were in 2200 - 2000 BC and in AD 400 - 600. The epoch<br />around AD 3000 looks like being a fun time too - the Y2K doomsayers can<br />always say they just got the millennium wrong.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In 1983, the orbiting IRAS infra-red satellite discovered cometary<br />"trails" (not tails), representing debris along the path of various<br />short-period comets. These trails consist of debris, most of which would<br />be microscopic in size, but how many large objects are there in the<br />trails? If there are many large objects in these trails, then Duncan<br />Steel notes in his above-mentioned book:<br /><blockquote><br />"A large fraction of the objects on Earth-crossing orbits, of all<br />dimensions, are the daughter products from the break-up of a giant comet<br />some time during the past 100,000 years, dynamical studies suggesting<br />around 20,000 years as likely. All that is suggested here is a break-up<br />similar to that undergone by P/Shoemaker-Levy 9 in 1992, except by a<br />comet at least 100 kilometres across and in an orbit crossing from<br />Jupiter to the Earth.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The core of the complex...evolves to have a node near 1 AU every<br />millennium or so, at which time the Earth is bombarded by many [large]<br />objects in episodes at certain times of year. It is these events that<br />dominate the hazard to humankind. Such an episode would last for a<br />century or two."<br /></blockquote><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Concluding Thoughts</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Ben Rudder, an anthropologist who reviewed in <em>New Scientist</em> magazine a recently published book by Baillie on the subject, wrote:<br /><blockquote><br />"If Baillie is right, history has overlooked probably the single most<br />important explanation for the intermittent progress of civilisation.<br />Worse, our modern confidence in benign skies is foolhardy, and our<br />failure to appreciate the constant danger of comet "swarms" is the<br />result of a myopic trust in a mere 200 years of "scientific" records."<br /></blockquote><br />Baillie himself notes that:<br /><blockquote><br />"There is, I feel, a strong case for the contention that we do not<br />inhabit a benign planet. This planet is bombarded relatively often. If<br />this story is correct, we have been bombarded at least three times - and<br />probably five times - since the birth of civilisation some 5,000 years<br />ago. And each time, the world was changed."<br /></blockquote><br />In their book <em>The Origin Of Comets</em>, Bailley, Clube, and Napier write:<br /><blockquote><br />"the destruction and chaos accompanying the fate of the Roman empire<br />[midway through the First Millennium] was all but total, the almost<br />complete breakdown of the old order leading to a loss of the accumulated<br />knowledge and wisdom of antiquity which was far from temporary."<br /></blockquote><br />Some of these ideas you may have heard of before. In the 1950s, Immanuel Velikovsky published a number of books, in particular <em>Worlds In Collision</em>,<br />which suggested that a huge comet had come near to Earth, and had<br />indeed settled into an orbit around the Sun between Mercury and Earth.<br />Velikovsky was claiming that Venus was a large comet!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Naturally, his ideas were rubbished. They had no scientific foundation.<br />The problem today, as Duncan Steel notes, is that astronomers have<br />become so entrenched in their rightful criticism of Velikovsky's<br />nonsense, they are rejecting today's scientifically-founded discoveries<br />that the myths and records of ancient civilisations may contain<br />important information about what was happening in the sky.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Only now are we seriously contemplating the view that "near-Earth space"<br />is anything but safe. Is it possible that the ancients were not<br />entirely ignorant in their beliefs of the appearance of comets being a<br />bad omen? Fragments hitting the ground would cause earthquakes and blast<br />damage, as well as start forest fires (fire storms?) and perhaps<br />volcanoes - which in turn would amplify the environmental effects<br />through the release of soot into the air. Fragments hitting the water<br />would generate tsunamis which would flood coastal and inland regions.<br />Would it surprise you to learn that, according to Baillie, the ancient<br />Celtics had an oath which translates as:<br /><blockquote><br />"We will not move from this place until the stars fall from the sky, the earth quakes and the sea comes over the land."<br /></blockquote><br />In "Lessons from Jupiter", Clube and Asher wrote:<br /><blockquote><br />"We do not of course deny a general background of [Earth-crossing<br />asteroids] from the asteroid belt but it is these meteoroidal streams,<br />harbouring swarms of super-Tunguska debris, which are now perceived as<br />the source of high-level dust veils and low-level airbursts in the<br />atmosphere, essentially controlling climate and extinction on Earth and<br />punctuating the course of evolution."<br /></blockquote><br />If our eyes weren't opened to the danger of fragmenting bodies after we<br />saw Shoemaker-Levy 9, they should be now. Observatories are conducting<br />surveys of the sky to discover and track near-Earth asteroids. The<br />consensus of the astronomical community, however, still remains that the<br />threat to Earth comes from random asteroids and comets. The idea of the<br />inner Solar System being different now to from what it was 50,000 years<br />ago has not been widely accepted. Nevertheless, more astronomers are<br />open to the dangers associated with an object (currently known or to be<br />discovered) that fragments in the future. Dealing with any incoming<br />fragments, however, still remains a problem. You might think that<br />"planetary defence" is a recent idea. Yet, readers of the poetry of Lord<br />Byron might be interested to know that in 1822, when he was living in<br />Pisa, he wrote:<br /><blockquote><br />"Who knows whether, when a comet shall approach this globe to destroy<br />it, as it often has been and will be destroyed, men will not tear rocks<br />from their foundations by means of steam, and hurl mountains, as the<br />giants are said to have done, against the flaming mass? And then we<br />shall have traditions of Titans again, and of wars with Heaven."<br /></blockquote><br /><span class="BoldGrey">An Observing Postscript</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Although Comet Encke is only visible every 3.3 years (it returns next<br />year), we can observe the Taurid meteor stream every year. As mentioned<br />above, they have a broad display rather than a well-defined peak.<br />Although their activity spans the period 1st October to 25th November,<br />there are two separate maxima. The Taurids South maximum lasts for about<br />a week around 5th November, while the Taurids North maximum similarly<br />lasts for about a week around 12th November - the two virtually overlap<br />each other to produce a plateau.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The rates aren't high (at best, about 5 per hour) but they are easily<br />seen, slow moving, and they have a reputation for producing very bright<br />fireballs - a fact that has apparently been observed for thousands of<br />years! The Taurids are visible during this period from late evening<br />onwards, and with New Moon occurring on Monday 8th November, there will<br />be no moonlight interference - the shower is well timed for the<br />Society's monthly star party at Wiruna. Regardless of whether you're at<br />Wiruna or elsewhere, if the weather is good, why not step outside and<br />keep an eye on the sky - it will only be a week or two before the<br />Leonids.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />One thing is for certain: debris from the Solar System does hit Earth.<br />If it didn't, we wouldn't see meteors every night! The astronomical<br />community (in particular, those who specialise in comets and/or<br />asteroids) is not yet convinced as a whole about the notion of the inner<br />Solar System currently suffering from periodic bombardment from the<br />remains of a fragmented giant comet. Nevertheless, David Morrison,<br />principal author of NASA's Spaceguard Survey Reports in 1992 and 1995,<br />and a critic of the British viewpoint, does admit that:<br /><blockquote><br />"While I believe that the British neo-catastrophists are wrong about the<br />threat to Earth, their work is science, not pseudoscience. They are<br />making their case to other scientists, and time will sort out who is<br />right and who is wrong."<br /></blockquote><br />Regardless of whether the specific theories referred to in this article<br />turn out to be correct, observing comet debris hitting Earth's<br />atmosphere now seems to take on a whole new perspective in our<br />"enlightened ages".<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><a href="http://www.standard.net.au/news/local/news/general/the-truth-is-out-there/2134806.aspx" target="_blank">Australia: The Truth is Out There</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="article-date">Thu, 14 Apr 2011 14:28 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-source"><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/227231-Australia-The-Truth-is-Out-There#"><br /><br /></a></div><br />Shane Fowles & Matt Neal<br /><br />The Standard, Warrnambool, Australia<br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br />Everyone in the south-west yesterday had their own big bang theory.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Was it an earthquake? Did Tower Hill erupt into action? Did a meteor shower crash to earth, or was it an alien invasion?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The "big bang" was heard about 1am yesterday, with reports of an "explosion" shaking homes in Winslow, Warrnambool and Terang.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"The whole house shook and there was an almighty noise, like a roar," one Warrnambool resident said yesterday.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"It had my curtains moving and set my car alarm off."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The noise was said to be accompanied by flashes of light that were<br />variously described as being pink, orange and yellow, and seen as far<br />away as Mortlake and Heywood.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Perry Vlahos, media liaison for the Astronomical Society of Victoria<br />(ASV), said it was likely that the bang and the flashes of light were<br />caused by a meteor.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"It was most likely a meteor exploding in the atmosphere," Mr Vlahos said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"(The sound) could be a sonic boom or (a meteor) coming through the<br />atmosphere and exploding. Even though these flashes or sound appear<br />close, it might be quite a distance above our head."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Don Ward, an ASV member from Gorae West, said the cloudy conditions would have made it difficult to spot a meteor.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"But this talk of lights suggests it might have been an<br />explosion above the cloud level and it illuminated the clouds," Mr Ward<br />said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"(As for the bang), you would get that as the meteor reached a certain<br />level and the air resistance and friction results in disintegration.<br />Then if it falls to earth in pieces, that is what we call a meteorite."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Mr Ward said a lack of meteorite pieces or a smoking crater did not<br />invalidate the theory, as the meteor could have turned to ashes, or they<br />could have gone into the sea.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><em>The Standard</em> confirmed that it wasn't an earth tremor, with<br />Geoscience Australia reporting that no seismic activity had been<br />recorded in the region.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In the absence of a definitive answer - and without any reports of<br />damage - rumours, pranksters and conspiracy theorists began swirling<br />early yesterday.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />A tsunami was heading towards Lady Bay, an earthquake recording 5.3 on<br />the Richter Scale caused "extensive minor damage" and a passing defence<br />force plane had created a sonic boom.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Some seriously questioned if it was alien life or a sign pointing towards a looming apocalypse.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />On <em>The Standard's</em> online poll, which had attracted more than<br />1100 responses last night, more than half thought the "big bang" was<br />from visiting extraterrestrials.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><a href="http://www.news.com.au/technology/sci-tech/scientists-find-asteroid-with-potential-power-of-15-atomic-bombs-heading-this-way-tonight/story-fn5fsgyc-1226039534091" target="_blank">Scientists find asteroid with potential power of 15 atomic bombs. Heading this way. Tonight.</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="article-date">Fri, 15 Apr 2011 06:56 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-source"><br /><br /><br />News.com.au<br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/63965/full/2011GP59.gif" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Nasa/JPL"><img alt="" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/63965/medium/2011GP59.gif" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Nasa/JPL</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">2011 GP59 orbit.</span></div><br /></div><br />Amateur astronomers across the world have fallen for a cheeky asteroid that passed the Earth on Monday night.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Asteroid 2011 GP59 was caught winking at our planet from a distance away barely 10 times that of the moon.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The "winking" bit which is getting spacefans so hot and bothered stems<br />from the fact that the asteroid is cigar-shaped and spinning madly<br />end-to-end, comparatively speaking.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Usually, when we see an asteroid strobe on and off like that, it means<br />that the body is elongated and we are viewing it broadside along its<br />long axis first, and then on its narrow end as it rotates," said Don<br />Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office at the Jet<br />Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"GP59 is approximately 50m long, and we think its period of rotation is about seven-and-a-half minutes.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"This makes the object's brightness change every four minutes or so."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Don't believe Don? Check out Essex star-botherer <a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/videos/asteroids/20110414/asteroid20110414-640.mov" target="_blank">Nick James's video</a> of 2011 GP59 cruising past some 3,356,000km away.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />That's about 10 lunar distances - our moon is 384,400km away - but tomorrow morning, about 5am, things get a little crazy.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />For start, Monday's night's discovery of GP 59 was just that - a discovery.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />It was picked up by astronomers at the Observatorio Astronomico de<br />Mallorca in Andalusia, Spain, who've since determined that it's heading<br />towards us.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Tonight, it will pass just outside the moon's orbit - again,<br />comparatively speaking because this is space, folks - at a distance of<br />533,000km.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />However, Mr Yeomans, whose office is responsible for a program called<br />Spaceguard, which tracks and characterises asteroids and comets and is<br />supposed to protect us from this sort of thing, says there's no need to<br />be concerned.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Although newly discovered, the near-term orbital location of asteroid 2011 GP59 can be accurately plotted," he said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"There is no possibility of the small space rock entering Earth's atmosphere during this pass or for the foreseeable future."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Which is good news, because although 50m might sound smallish, it's<br />still five times bigger than an asteroid that exploded 15km above<br />Indonesia in October, 2009.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />That blast released as much energy as three atomic bombs, <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18046-asteroid-blast-reveals-holes-in-earths-defences.html" target="_blank">according to <em>New Scientist</em></a>, who are supposed to know about such things.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Take comfort in the fact that in 2009, no one saw that asteroid coming.<br />At least we were given three days' notice this time around.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />So that's something.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe height="390" frameborder="0" width="400" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/O7wsAZNr56E?rel=0" title="YouTube video player"></iframe></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-footer"><br /><div class="article-icon-bar"><br /><small></small></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.universetoday.com/84886/april-9th-fireball/">US: Happen to see the April 9th Fireball?</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="article-date">Fri, 15 Apr 2011 14:42 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-source"><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/227257-US-Happen-to-see-the-April-9th-Fireball-#"><br /><br /></a></div><br />Jon Voisey<br /><br />Universe Today<br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br />In my time watching the skies, I've seen quite a few meteors,<br />fireballs, and bolides. The truly notable ones are few and far between,<br />but last Saturday, I caught one that was among the most interesting I've<br />seen. It was a slow moving, bright green one with a nice smoke trail<br />that was easily as bright as Venus from where I saw it in the suburbs of<br />St. Louis. I tweeted about it briefly but didn't think much more about<br />it until I got a response from another person that saw it along with a<br />link to a collection of observations. As nice as the observation was for<br />me, it was nothing compared to the view some others got.<br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Starlight Cascade Observatory" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/64088/full/ff.jpg"><img alt="" height="307" width="401" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/64088/large/ff.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Starlight Cascade Observatory</span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br />Heading over to the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.amsmeteors.org/fireball2/public.php?start_date=11-04-01&end_date=11-04-30&state=&event_id=393&submit=Find+Reports">American Meteor Society</a><br />page for a meteor around this time, it looks like a meteor matching<br />the one I saw generated a pretty good number of reports from across the<br />country. Several have reactions similar to my initial one: This must be a<br />firework. Many reports confirm the smoke trail and fragmentation as<br />well. But the reports that are really fantastic are the ones from<br />Canada.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />At the <a target="_blank" href="http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com/2011/04/ontario-green-fireball-130-am.html">Lunar Meteorite Hunters blog,</a><br />several reports have been collected. Several of these reports from<br />various locations in Ontario report the meteor being as bright as a full<br />moon and lighting up the entire sky! One even notes that they could<br />hear a fizzling noise, a rare phenomenon thought to occur when the<br />passage through the atmosphere creates an ionized path that interacts<br />with the Earth's magnetic field creating radio waves that could induce<br />physical vibrations in the air around the observer. Another comment<br />reports a sonic boom around the same time (although sonic booms would<br />occur well after the meteor was visible due to the sluggish nature of<br />sound waves, much like the delay between lightning and thunder).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />It doesn't look like NASA's <a target="_blank" href="http://fireballs.ndc.nasa.gov/">All Sky Fireball Network</a> caught this fireball, but an amateur observatory equipped with an all sky camera for detecting fireballs <a target="_blank" href="http://starlightcascade.ca/blog/2011/04/allsky-event-2011-04-10-0048/">did catch the event.</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The green color for such meteors is uncommon but not unprecedented. The<br />presence of magnesium ions is responsible for this color. Interestingly,<br />another famous meteor, the <a target="_blank" href="http://uregina.ca/%7Eastro/mb_5.html">Peekskill meteor,</a><br />also had a green color and rivaled the full moon in brightness. This<br />meteor became famous because it was independently captured in at least<br />sixteen videos (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B17TmSSb5aI">here's one showing the green tint</a>) as well as for surviving intact to the ground and damaging a car.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Meteors of this intensity are quite rare but bright fireballs like this<br />seem to peak around the vernal equinox. In the weeks surrounding that<br />day, the rate of such events increases around 10-30%.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-04-astronomers-unusual-asteroid.html">Astronomers Study Unusual Asteroid</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="article-date">Fri, 15 Apr 2011 00:00 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-source"><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/227391-Astronomers-Study-Unusual-Asteroid#"><br /><br /></a></div><br />Peter Gwynne<br /><br />PhysOrg<br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a title="© NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/PSI" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/64233/full/protoplanet.jpg"><img title="Click to enlarge" alt="Protoplanet" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/64233/medium/protoplanet.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/PSI</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">This<br />image shows a model of the protoplanet Vesta, using scientists' best<br />guess to date of what the surface of the protoplanet might look like. It<br />was created as part of an exercise for NASA's <em>Dawn</em> mission<br />involving mission planners at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and<br />science team members at the Planetary Science Institute in Tuscon,<br />Arizona</span></div><br /></div><br />You've heard of Pluto, once a full-scale<br />planet that astronomers now classify as a dwarf planet. Now meet 4 Vesta<br />-- or Vesta for short -- an asteroid that may not be a real asteroid.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The 330-mile diameter object sits in the asteroid belt, a collection of<br />large and small pieces of rubble that circles the sun between the orbits<br />of the planets Mars and Jupiter. But Vesta, numbered 4 because it was<br />the fourth member of the asteroid belt to be discovered, is larger than<br />most of its asteroid companions and also differs from them geologically.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />An unmanned NASA spacecraft called <em>Dawn</em> is now heading for Vesta to explore those differences.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"There are at least two classes of objects that have been called<br />asteroids," said Thomas McCord, director of the Bear Fight Institute in<br />Winthrop, Washington. "The real asteroids are broken up pieces of rock<br />100 kilometers (62 miles) in diameter or smaller. <strong>The others are more like small planets.</strong>"<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In addition to Vesta those others include Ceres, the largest asteroid<br />and first to be discovered, and Pallas, the second asteroid to be<br />spotted. Ceres is now classified as a dwarf planet like Pluto.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />However, Vesta is unique in several respects. It is denser than Ceres and Pallas. <strong>It also appears to be differentiated into a rocky surface and an iron core</strong>,<br />like the terrestrial planets Earth, Mars, and Venus. And it is<br />continually shedding material from its surface as a result of collisions<br />with small asteroids.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"There are little pieces of Vesta all over the asteroid belt," said Tim<br />Spahr, director of the Minor Planet Center at the Harvard-Smithsonian<br />Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Astronomers have already had a close-up view of some of those pieces<br />because some of them have landed on the Earth's surface as meteorites.<br />Scientists recognized their provenance by studying their spectra, which<br />indicates their chemical composition, and comparing them with Vesta's<br />spectrum.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Ceres and Pallas, which differ from Vesta geologically, shed less<br />debris. "Whatever they are made of doesn't travel well," said<br />Christopher Russell, professor of geology at the University of<br />California, Los Angeles.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Telescope observations by McCord in 1972 revealed that Vesta's surface<br />consists of a rock called basalt, which on Earth is made from cooled<br />magma.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"The basalt would make it unique in that category of objects," Spahr said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"We think of it as a very large asteroid that is very Earthlike -- called Vesta, the smallest terrestrial planet," Russell said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Astronomers believe that Earth and similar planets formed when a series<br />of small bodies coalesced. "We think that these bodies were around in<br />large numbers and came together to build planets," Russell explained.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />McCord added that the problem with Vesta is that "it didn't find a<br />companion to become a piece of a bigger object that would coalesce with<br />other companions." So it remained by itself, a kind of time capsule from<br />an early era in our solar system.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Russell oversees the Dawn mission with McCord as a co-investigator. Dawn<br />is scheduled to reach Vesta in July and spend a year in orbit, using an<br />infrared spectrometer, a camera, and a gamma ray detector to explore<br />Vesta's composition.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The team expects to determine whether basalt uniformly covers Vesta's<br />surface and where on the surface meteorites originate. The mission will<br />also probe a large crater in Vesta's southern hemisphere that has<br />exposed its interior.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"If it is really differentiated, we would see minerals at depths similar to what we see in the Earth's mantle," McCord said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />When it leaves Vesta, the Dawn mission will travel to Ceres, which is larger, rounder, and wetter than Vesta.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />By studying the contrasts between the two objects, astronomers hope to<br />obtain clues to the ways in which the terrestrial planets evolved.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"We're going to try to understand what the building blocks of the early<br />solar system were like," Russell said. "It's really about tracing our<br />family tree and understanding where we come from."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Will the findings lead astronomers to reclassify Vesta? Probably not. At<br />the same 2006 meeting where Pluto was demoted to minor planet status, <strong>Vesta was designated one of 269,644 minor planets</strong>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"It was given minor planet number 4, and nobody has worried about [its classification] since," Spahr said.<br /></div><br /><div class="article-comment"><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>Could these protoplanet asteroids be<br />formed under electrical heating conditions described by James McCanney's<br />Comet Capture Theory of Solar System formation? For further reading<br />see:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/226166-Planet-X-Comets-and-Earth-Changes-by-J-M-McCanney">Planet-X, Comets and Earth Changes by J.M. McCanney</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><a href="http://technology.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474979229364" target="_blank">'Impact: Earth!' Asteroid, Comet and Damage Simulation Website</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="article-date">Sat, 16 Apr 2011 11:37 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-source"><br /><br /><br />Gather.com<br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-right"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/64076/full/impact_earth.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Purdue University"><img alt="" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/64076/medium/impact_earth.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Purdue University</span></div><br /></div><br />Purdue<br />University has created "Impact: Earth!," a website where anyone can see<br />the simulated effects when a comet or asteroid of variable size,<br />density, and speed hits Earth. Many people believe that asteroid and<br />comet impacts have played a major role in the history of Earth, and<br />Purdue has provided us with an inside <a href="http://www.purdue.edu/impactearth/" target="_blank">look</a> at how previous impacts might affect us today.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The Interactive website is said to be scientifically accurate enough to<br />be used by many different branches of the government including NASA and<br />the Department of Homeland Security.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="StoryComment"><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>Now we feel much more "reassured" to know<br />that NASA and the Department of Homeland Security are using the<br />simulation, and yet don't give the topic its deserved urgent attention.<br />Unless, of course, they are using the program to calculate the best<br />location for their private underground bunkers.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><br />It is also <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1Uy5ye0ats" target="_blank">user-friendly and visual enough</a><br />to be used by schools as an interactive teaching aid for elementary<br />students. This adds a possible new and exciting way for kids to be<br />physically hands on and learn about the earth and how impacts might<br />affect us.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The "Impact: Earth!" simulation and <a href="http://www.purdue.edu/impactearth/Content/pdf/Documentation.pdf" target="_blank">report</a><br />were written by Gareth Collins, H. Jay Melosh and Robert Marcus, all<br />experts in various fields. They go on to say "There have been big<br />impacts in the past, and we expect big impacts in the future. This site<br />gives the lowdown on what happens when such an impact occurs." The team<br />has also answered requests and factored in Tsunamis brought on by<br />impacting comets or asteroids. There are also plans in the works to<br />connect the program with Google Earth to show a map of the effects.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><a href="http://club.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/this_urban_jungle/608240/rare_sight_fireball_streaks_across_evening_sky.html" target="_blank">Singapore - Rare Sight: 'Fireball' Streaks Across Evening Sky</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="article-date">Mon, 18 Apr 2011 02:01 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-source"><br /><br /><br />Stomp<br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/64198/full/rare_sight_fireball_streaks_ac.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© STOMP"><img height="245" width="399" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/64198/large/rare_sight_fireball_streaks_ac.jpg" alt="Fireball" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© STOMP</span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br />Two STOMPers caught sight of what seemed to be a meteor streaking across the sky last evening (Apr 17).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />JJ123, one of the STOMPers who saw the meteor, said:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"My friend and I were on our way to dinner when we chanced upon something unusual in the sky.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Initially, we tried to convince ourselves that it was an aeroplane<br />flying across the sky. After much observation, we realised that it<br />seemed more likely to be a meteor falling from the sky.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"It was definitely a rare sight in the heartlands. Photographs of the<br />incident were captured in Chong Pang, right in front of the Nee Soon<br />Camp in the evening."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Another STOMPer Diyar, who also spotted the meteor, said:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"I saw a flame-like object in the sky. It was moving, and I had to run<br />into a clearing to get a shot of it on my silly iPhone cam.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"And when I tried to get a second shot, it disappeared.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"It would be nice if it were Superman's pod."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://club.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/this_urban_jungle/608240/rare_sight_fireball_streaks_across_evening_sky.html" target="_blank">More Images</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><a href="http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/meteorobs/message/39740" target="_blank">US: New Mexico Fireball</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="article-date">Sun, 17 Apr 2011 02:06 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-source"><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/227378-US-New-Mexico-Fireball#"><br /><br /></a></div><br />Thomas Ashcraft<br /><br />Heliotown<br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image to-left"><a href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/64199/full/v20110417014250a.jpg" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" target="_blank" title="© Heliotown"><img style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/64199/medium/v20110417014250a.jpg" alt="Fireball" title="Click to enlarge" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Heliotown</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">Still from the video.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ib8QG9Bxm4" target="_blank">Fireball of 10 April 2011 Over Northern Italy</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="article-date">Thu, 14 Apr 2011 02:43 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-source"><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/227457-Fireball-of-10-April-2011-Over-Northern-Italy#"><br /><br /></a></div><br />beucaria<br /><br />Youtube<br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br />A fireball of zenithal magnitude -13.4 was captured over N Italy on<br />April 10, 2011 at 02h31m UT (00h31m LT). The bright object, ended with a<br />big explosion, was taken by E.Stomeo from the automatic meteor station<br />(IMO # 14083) of UAI-Meteor Section network, operating near Venice with<br />ccd cameras and all-sky fisheye lens.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><iframe height="390" frameborder="0" width="400" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/2Ib8QG9Bxm4" title="YouTube video player"></iframe></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/11467-vesta-asteroid-planet-debate-dawn-spacecraft.html">Asteroid or Planet? NASA Aims to Settle Vesta Debate</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="article-date">Fri, 22 Apr 2011 13:20 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-source"><br /><br /><br />SPACE.com<br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br />Scientists still aren't sure what to make of Vesta, a small body that orbits the sun. Is it an asteroid or a planet?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />NASA's Dawn spacecraft could settle the matter.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Vesta was spotted 200 years ago and is officially a "minor planet" - a<br />body that orbits the sun but is not a proper planet or comet. Yet, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/9377-asteroid-turns-hubble-records-video-2nd-biggest-space-rock.html">many astronomers call Vesta</a> an asteroid because it lies in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Ben Zellner (Georgia Southern University) / Peter Thomas (Cornell University) / NASA" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/64610/full/mini_asteroid_vesta_110107_02.jpg"><img alt="" height="273" width="397" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/64610/large/mini_asteroid_vesta_110107_02.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Ben Zellner (Georgia Southern University) / Peter Thomas (Cornell University) / NASA</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">On<br />its southern side the asteroid Vesta shows a huge crater. This picture<br />shows the asteroid in an image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope (top,<br />left), as a reconstruction based on theoretical calculations (top,<br />right), and as a topological map (bottom).</span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />But Vesta is not a typical member of that orbiting rubble<br />patch. The vast majority of objects in the main belt are relative<br />lightweights, 62 miles(100 kilometers) wide or smaller, compared with<br />Vesta, which is 329 miles(530 km) wide.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />If Vesta is an asteroid, it would be the second-largest in the solar<br />system. Some scientists, however, are skeptical about that designation. [<a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/8590-5-reasons-care-asteroids.html">5 Reasons to Care About Asteroids</a>]<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"I don't think Vesta should be called an asteroid," said Tom McCord, a<br />Dawn team member at the Bear Fight Institute in Winthrop, Wash. "Not<br />only is Vesta so much larger, but it's an evolved object, unlike most<br />things we call asteroids."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">The evolution of Vesta</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The onion-like structure of Vesta (core, mantle and crust) is the key<br />trait that makes Vesta more like planets such as Earth, Venus and Mars<br />than the other asteroids, McCord said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Like the planets, Vesta had sufficient radioactive material inside when<br />it formed, releasing heat that melted rock and enabled lighter layers to<br />float to the outside. Signatures of a type of volcanic rock called<br />basalt were detected in 1972, which meant that the body had to have<br />melted at one time.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Bu calling Vesta a 'minor planet' is not distinctive enough, since there<br />are more than 540,000 minor planets in our solar system. Dwarf planets<br />- which include Ceres, the second destination of NASA's Dawn mission -<br />are another category, but Vesta doesn't qualify as one of those. For<br />one thing, Vesta isn't quite large enough to be considered a dwarf<br />planet.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Dawn scientists prefer to think of Vesta as a protoplanet because it is a<br />dense, layered body that orbits the sun and formed in the same fashion<br />as Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, but somehow never fully developed.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Early planet formation</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In the early history of the solar system, objects became planets by<br />merging with other objects the size of Vesta. But Vesta never found a<br />partner during the big dance, and the critical time passed. It may have<br />had to do with the nearby presence of Jupiter, the gravitational<br />superpower in the neighborhood, disturbing the orbits of nearby objects<br />and hogging the dance partners.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Still, Vesta saw its fair share of action.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Other <a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/9714-strange-mini-asteroid-vesta.html">space rocks have collided</a><br />with Vesta and knocked off bits of it. This debris in the asteroid belt<br />became known as Vestoids, and hundreds of these types of meteorites<br />have ended up on Earth.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Vesta never collided with an object of sufficient size to disrupt it,<br />however, which is why it has remained intact. As a result, Vesta is like<br />a time capsule from that earlier era.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"This gritty little protoplanet has survived bombardment in the asteroid<br />belt for over 4.5 billion years, making its surface possibly the oldest<br />planetary surface in the solar system," said Christopher Russell, a<br />Dawn team member, based at UCLA. "Studying Vesta will enable us to write<br />a much better history of the solar system's turbulent youth."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Dawn's game plan</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Dawn's scientists and engineers have designed a master plan to investigate Vesta's special features.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />When <a target="_blank" href="http://i.space.com/9002-nasa-gears-big-asteroid-encounter.html">Dawn arrives</a><br />at Vesta in July, the south pole will be in full sunlight, giving<br />scientists a clear view of a huge crater there. The crater may reveal<br />the layer cake of materials inside Vesta, which could help scientists<br />understand how the body evolved after its formation.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The way scientists have designed Dawn's orbit will also allow the<br />spacecraft to map new terrain as the seasons progress during its<br />12-month visit.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The spacecraft will take many measurements, including high-resolution<br />data of Vesta's surface composition, topography and texture. Dawn will<br />also measure the tug of Vesta's gravity to learn more about its internal<br />structure.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"Dawn's ion thrusters are gently carrying us toward Vesta, and the<br />spacecraft is getting ready for its big year of exploration," said Marc<br />Rayman, Dawn's chief engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in<br />Pasadena, Calif. "We have designed our mission to get the most out of<br />this opportunity to reveal the exciting secrets of this uncharted,<br />exotic world."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/11478-alien-life-bacteria-hypergravity.html">Panspermia - A Distinct Posibility? Alien Bacteria Could Breed in Extreme 'Hypergravity'</a><br /></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="article-date">Mon, 25 Apr 2011 10:17 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-source"><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/227709-Panspermia-A-Distinct-Posibility-Alien-Bacteria-Could-Breed-in-Extreme-Hypergravity-#"><br /><br /></a></div><br />Mike Wall<br /><br />Space.com<br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br />If alien life is out there, it may be able to exploit more-extreme<br />environments than scientists think, because huge gravitational forces<br />don't seem to pose much of a problem for microbes.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Several different species of bacteria can survive and reproduce in<br />"hypergravity" more than 400,000 times stronger than that of the Earth, a<br />new study reports. The find suggests that <a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/11049-alien-life-meteorites-skepticism.html">alien life</a><br />could take root in a wide range of conditions -- and that it could<br />survive the high G-forces imposed by meteorite impacts and ejections, <strong>making the exchange of life between planets a distinct possibility.</strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"The number and types of environments that we now think life can inhabit<br />in the universe has expanded because of our study," said lead author<br />Shigeru Deguchi, of the Japan Agency of Marine-Earth Science and<br />Technology in Yokosuka. [<a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/11057-science-claims-alien-life.html">5 Bold Claims of Alien Life</a>]<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© CDC/Janice Haney Carr" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/64883/full/e_coli_bacteria_gravity_alien_.jpg"><img alt="" height="275" width="397" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/64883/large/e_coli_bacteria_gravity_alien_.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© CDC/Janice Haney Carr</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">Colorized<br />scanning electron micrograph depicting Escherichia coli bacteria, which<br />recent research shows can breed in gravity 400,000 times stronger than<br />that of Earth. Most E. coli strains are harmless, but the one here is<br />O157:H7, which can cause severe illness in people.</span></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">A fortuitous find</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Deguchi and his colleagues didn't set out to establish the high<br />gravitational tolerances of microbes. Rather, they simply wanted to<br />measure the density of <em>Escherichia coli</em> bacteria cells, using a centrifuge.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>When they spun <em>E. coli</em> up to the equivalent of 7,500<br />G's (7,500 times the force of Earth gravity), however, they found that<br />the microbe didn't miss a beat. It grew and reproduced just fine.</strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"The finding was a total surprise to us, and stimulated our curiosity<br />very much," Deguchi told SPACE.com in an email interview."So we repeated<br />[the] same <a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/9334-person-trained-fly-space-leaving-earth.html">experiments at higher G</a>, and eventually found that <em>E. coli</em> proliferates even at 400,000 G, which was the highest gravity we could achieve by our instrument."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />By contrast, anything above about 50 G's invites serious injury or death<br />in humans, even if the exposure is for just a few hundredths of a<br />second. Astronauts aboard NASA's space shuttle experience up to around 3<br />G's on liftoff and re-entry.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The researchers expanded their experiment, exposing four other microbe<br />species to hypergravity for up to 140 hours. They found that another<br />bacterium, <em>Paracoccus denitrificans</em>, can also reproduce at about 400,000 G's, though its proliferation -- like that of <em>E. coli</em> -- is stunted in such extreme conditions.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><em>P. denitrificans</em> and <em>E. coli</em> were the hypergravity-tolerance champs, but all five examined species could reproduce to some extent up to about 20,000 G's.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Deguchi and his colleagues report their results today (April 25) in the journal <em>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</em> (PNAS).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">A wide range of habitats?</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>While previous studies had demonstrated that some microorganisms<br />can survive gravity exceeding 15,000 G's, the new research breaks<br />ground by showing that a variety of microbes can actually proliferate in<br />hypergravity.</strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The only comparable study the researchers are aware of found that <em>E. coli</em><br />can grow at 100,000 G's. Deguchi says that paper, published in 1963,<br />didn't attract much notice because it was ahead of its time.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"The paper was published two years before microorganisms thriving<br />extreme conditions were widely recognized by the discovery of<br />thermophilic microorganisms in Yellowstone National Park in 1965,"<br />Deguchi said. [<a target="_blank" href="http://www.livescience.com/13377-extremophiles-world-weirdest-life.html">Extremophiles: The World's Weirdest Life</a>]<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The new study suggests that a wider variety of alien habitats may be open to life than scientists had imagined. <strong>The<br />results even extend the possibility of life beyond planets, to the<br />strange "failed stars" known as brown dwarfs, researchers said.</strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />After all, if Earth bacteria can breed in 400,000 G's, the 10-to-100 G's<br />possibly found on a brown dwarf shouldn't be much of an impediment. And<br />some brown dwarfs may be cool enough to support life as we know it,<br />researchers said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">Panspermia possible?</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The results also suggest that the transport of viable lifeforms between worlds is a real possibility, researchers said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Over the ages, Earth has been showered with perhaps <a target="_blank" href="http://www.space.com/11209-mars-earth-life-origins-evolution.html">1 billion tons of Mars rocks</a>,<br />which were liberated from the Red Planet via meteorite strikes. Such<br />interplanetary exchanges, in our solar system or others, could<br />theoretically transfer microbes as well -- an aspect of the "panspermia"<br />hypothesis, which posits that the seeds of life are everywhere and<br />hopscotch from world to world.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Scientists think meteorite-caused rock ejections can generate up to<br />300,000 G's, researchers said. The new study indicates that microbial<br />life could survive those conditions and keep right on breeding.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>"If life does exist in other places in the universe, our study<br />provides further evidence that it could spread within solar systems by<br />the mechanism often discussed in panspermia hypotheses -- i.e.,<br />impact-based transport of meteorites between bodies of the same solar<br />system," Deguchi said.</strong><br /></div><br /><div class="article-comment"><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>The possibility of lifeforms being<br />transported across the Universe is certainly an intriguing one,<br />especially when we consider that our roots as species may lie somewhere<br />outside this planet.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />From <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/227222-The-Golden-Age-Psychopathy-and-the-Sixth-Extinction">The Golden Age, Psychopathy and the Sixth Extinction</a> by Laura Knight-Jadczyk:<br /><blockquote><br />We note that the Spedicato paper cited above proposes that the last<br />glaciation began with a cometary collision or explosion over land.<br />Perhaps we find here a clue to the sudden appearance of Cro-Magnon man?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I have here on my desk a paper by Rhawn Joseph and Chandra Wickramasinghe entitled <em>Comets and Contagion: Evolution and Diseases From Space</em>. They write in their conclusions:<br /><blockquote><br />"Correlation is not causation and thus no firm conclusions can be drawn<br />despite the wealth of evidence suggesting a link between comets and<br />diseases from space. Nevertheless, comets are an ideal vehicle for<br />sustaining and transporting a variety of microbes, including viruses,<br />from planet to planet and even from solar system to solar system. In<br />consequence, when these organisms are deposited on a world already<br />thriving with life, genes may be exchanged, the evolution of new species<br />may ensue, or conversely contagion may be unleashed, and disease,<br />death, and plague may spread throughout the land."<br /></blockquote><br />Let us speculate that the genes that produced Cro-Magnon man may have<br />been brought to earth as the result of a cometary impact. The simplest<br />version of this panspermia theory is that proposed by Sir Fred Hoyle and<br />Chandra Wickramasinghe who suggest that life forms continue to enter<br />the earth's atmosphere, and may be responsible for epidemic outbreaks,<br />new diseases, and the genetic novelty necessary for macroevolution. The<br />mechanisms proposed for interstellar panspermia may include radiation<br />pressure and lithopanspermia (microorganisms in rocks), deliberate<br />directed panspermia from space to seed Earth. Interplanetary transfer of<br />material is well documented, as evidenced by meteorites of Martian<br />origin found on Earth. [...]<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Now, 'panspermia', as the<br />DNA-transported-by-comets-seeding-life-on-earth theory is called, may<br />get us off the hook as far as human evolution on earth is concerned, but<br />it does not get us off the hook when considering where that DNA came<br />from originally and how the individuals who carried it evolved, if the<br />arguments against evolution that the panspermia scientists employ apply<br />everywhere. Obviously, they are under the same constraints. On the other<br />hand, that may be a way out in a different direction: DNA could be a<br />pure manifestation of consciousness, a sort of first-level physicality,<br />the interface between the material and non-material worlds. Pure<br />information might be able to geometrize itself in the form of DNA and,<br />voilà! the building blocks of life that are complex and capable of<br />inducting consciousness itself into matter come into being in an<br />instant. Sort of a mini-Big Bang with consciousness present to guide the<br />'explosion'.<br /></blockquote><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1381932/Nasa-monitors-unusually-bright-asteroid-Scheila-weeks-11-000mph-impact.html?ito=feeds-newsxml">Cosmic collision: Nasa monitors unusually bright asteroid after 11,000mph impact</a></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="article-date">Fri, 29 Apr 2011 23:11 CDT</div><br /><div class="article-source"><br /><br /><br />The Daily Mail<br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br />An unexpectedly bright asteroid that sported short-lived plumes had collided with a smaller body, scientists have said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The aftermath of the impact on Scheila was first spotted by the<br />University of Arrizona's Catalina Sky Survey on December 11 last year.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>It revealed Scheila to be twice as bright as expected and immersed in a faint comet-like glow.</strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© NASA" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/65264/full/article_1381932_0BD462BA000005.jpg"><img alt="" height="270" width="399" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/65264/large/article_1381932_0BD462BA000005.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">Collision:<br />Faint dust plumes bookend asteroid Scheila in this composite taken by<br />Nasa's Swift satellite on December 15 last year when it was 232million<br />miles from Earth</span></div><br /></div><br />Looking through the survey's archived images, astronomers inferred the outburst began between November 11 and December 3.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Data from Nasa's Swift satellite and Hubble Space Telescope then showed <strong>these changes likely occurred after Scheila was struck by a much smaller asteroid.</strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />'Collisions between asteroids create rock fragments, from fine dust to<br />huge boulders, that impact planets and their moons,' said lead Swift<br />researcher Dennis Bodewits, from the University of Maryland.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />'Yet this is the first time we've been able to catch one just weeks after the smash-up, long before the evidence fades away.'<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Asteroids are rocky fragments thought to be debris from the formation<br />and evolution of the solar system approximately 4.6billion years ago.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Millions of them orbit the sun between Mars and Jupiter in the<br />main asteroid belt. Scheila is approximately 70 miles across and orbits<br />the sun every five years.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Hubble observed the asteroid's fading dust cloud on December 27 and January 4.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />'The Hubble data is most simply explained by the impact, at 11,000 mph,<br />of a previously unknown asteroid about 100ft in diameter,' said Hubble<br />team leader David Jewitt of the University of California in Los Angeles.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Hubble did not see any discrete collision fragments, unlike its 2009<br />observations of P/2010 A2, the first identified asteroid collision.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Astronomers have known for decades that comets contain icy material that<br />erupts when warmed by the sun. They regarded asteroids as inactive<br />rocks whose destinies, surfaces, shapes and sizes were determined by<br />mutual impacts.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />However, this simple picture has grown more complex over the past few years.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© NASA" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/65269/full/article_1381932_0BD46232000005.jpg"><img alt="" height="289" width="399" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/65269/large/article_1381932_0BD46232000005.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© NASA</span><br /><br /><span class="caption">This<br />Hubble Space Telescope image was taken on December 27, when the<br />asteroid was 218million miles away. Scheila is surrounded by a C-shaped<br />cloud of particles and displays a linear dust tail</span></div><br /></div><br /><strong>During<br />certain parts of their orbits, some objects, once categorised as<br />asteroids, clearly develop comet-like features that can last for many<br />months.</strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Others display much shorter outbursts. Icy materials may be occasionally<br />exposed, either by internal geological processes or by an external one,<br />such as an impact.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Three days after the outburst was announced, Swift's Ultraviolet/Optical<br />Telescope (UVOT) captured multiple images and a spectrum of the<br />asteroid.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Ultraviolet sunlight breaks up the gas molecules surrounding comets -<br />water, for example, is transformed into hydroxyl and hydrogen.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />But none of the emissions most commonly identified in comets, such as hydroxyl or cyanogen, show up in the UVOT spectrum.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>The absence of gas around Scheila led the Swift team to reject scenarios where exposed ice accounted for the activity.</strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Images show the asteroid was flanked in the north by a bright dust plume<br />and in the south by a fainter one. The dual plumes formed as small dust<br />particles excavated by the impact were pushed away from the asteroid by<br />sunlight.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The two teams found the observations were best explained by a collision<br />with a small asteroid impacting Scheila's surface at an angle of less<br />than 30 degrees, leaving a crater 1,000ft across.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Laboratory experiments show a more direct strike probably wouldn't have produced two distinct dust plumes.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The researchers estimated the crash ejected more than 660,000 tons of<br />dust - equivalent to nearly twice the mass of the Empire State Building.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Study co-author Michael Kelley, also of the University of Maryland,<br />said: 'The dust cloud around Scheila could be 10,000 times as massive as<br />the one ejected from comet 9P/Tempel 1 during Nasa's UMD-led Deep<br />Impact mission.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />'Collisions allow us to peek inside comets and asteroids. Ejecta kicked<br />up by Deep Impact contained lots of ice, and the absence of ice in<br />Scheila's interior shows that it's entirely unlike comets.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The research will appear in <em>The Astrophysical Journal Letters</em>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe height="339" frameborder="0" width="400" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qchvgRUDUzA"></iframe></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-comment"><br /><br /><br /><strong>Comment: </strong>The article says: "Ejecta kicked up by<br />Deep Impact contained lots of ice, and the absence of ice in Scheila's<br />interior shows that it's entirely unlike comets." But perhaps it isn't<br />entirely true, and comets are not the "dirty snowballs" we are led to<br />believe by NASA scientists. Read <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/226166-Planet-X-Comets-and-Earth-Changes-by-J-M-McCanney">Planet-X, Comets and Earth Changes by J.M. McCanney</a> to learn more. </div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></span></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></span></div><br /></div><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">A Service of <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">Signs of the Times</a>: The most comprehensive, objective and reliable Alternative News Source on the Web. If you aren't reading <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">SOTT</a>, you don't know what's REALLY happening!</div>Keithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06011086310017706847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8385115091808825739.post-58822684945899101372011-03-11T18:43:00.004+00:002011-04-04T23:31:12.635+01:00Comet Elenin Update!<strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/225704-Comet-Elenin-Update-">Comet Elenin Update!</a></strong><br /><div class="article-info"><br /><div class="article-date">Thu, 10 Mar 2011 05:55 CST</div><br /><div class="article-source"><br /><div class="article-print"><a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/225704-Comet-Elenin-Update-#"><br /><br /></a></div><br />Laura Knight-Jadczyk<br /><br />Sott.net<br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-body"><br /><div class="article-image-small to-right"><a title="© jmccanneyscience.com press" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s2/54501/full/planet_x_comets_and_earth_chan.jpg"><img title="Click to enlarge" alt="Planet-X Comets and Earth Changes Cover" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s2/54501/pod/planet_x_comets_and_earth_chan.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© jmccanneyscience.com press</span></div><br /></div><br />In close proximity to the upcoming March 15 alignment of Comet Elenin, which is just a few days away, there has been an <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/225675-China-Earthquake-Deadly-Temblor-Kills-at-Least-22">earthquake in China</a>, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/225693-Massive-8-9-magnitude-quake-hits-Japan-Eastern-coastline-inundated-by-multiple-tsunamis">a big one in Japan</a> (8.9), a new <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/225678-Winter-Storm-Hits-Greece-Turkey-with-Snow-Wind">late winter storm</a> in Turkey and Greece and yet <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/225700-Indonesia-Mount-Karangetang-erupts-spews-lava-and-gas">another</a> volcanic eruption in Indonesia. I noted an <a target="_blank" href="http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=10&month=03&year=2011">X-class solar flare</a> a day or so ago, too. All of these things may be related to the approach of Comet Elenin.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Today we have an update from our astronomer friend on Comet Elenin.<br />Before I get to that, let me just reassure folks that there is NOT going<br />to be a pole shift in the next week or so as certain raving nutzoids<br />have been spamming all over the net. Also, Comet Elenin is NOT going to<br />hit Earth (which is not to say that other things won't at some point in<br />space and time). However, there are a few things about this comet that<br />are extremely interesting in view of the plasma comet theory of James<br />McCanney. Again, I suggest that readers get a copy of this book and get<br />up to speed on this theory and how comets can affect our entire solar<br />system electromagnetically, and how that can dramatically affect our sun<br />and therefore planet Earth. There is an increasing body of evidence<br />that electromagnetic disturbance of our Sun is directly related to<br />earthquakes, volcanism, and weather on our planet.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />So, with that in mind, let's have a look at some new predictions for<br />what relationships the planets of our solar system might form with the<br />incoming body. Our astronomer friend - who wishes to remain anonymous<br />for the present, but I can tell you that he works at a large observatory<br />- has run the algorithm with the latest orbital elements available on<br />Elenin. Here is the animation:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><object height="390" width="400"><br /><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/lbLWL5tbJPg&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3"><br /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><br /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><br /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/lbLWL5tbJPg&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="390"></object></div><br /><br /><br /></div><br />On the animation, there are two dots to represent Elenin's position; one<br />is from the February 4th elliptical orbital elements and the other is<br />from the February 23rd elements. This is just to test the convergence of<br />the calculations.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The perihelion date is <span class="BoldGrey">September 10th</span>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Now, we have some additional graphs that plot the distances between the<br />Earth and Elenin and the angles between the Earth and the inner planets<br />and Elenin, as viewed from the Sun. Here is the distance plot.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Sott.net" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/60468/full/fig_distance.jpg"><img alt="" height="288" width="370" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/60468/large/fig_distance.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Sott.net</span></div><br /></div><br />Now,<br />assuming that there are no errors and no dramatic changes to the orbit<br />of Elenin, we find that the minimum distance (the closest Elenin will<br />come to Earth) is 0.235 AU. (In other words, over 35 million kilometers<br />distant - not likely to be much in the way of potential impact there!)<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Referring back to the theories of Jim McCanney, there are three notable<br />alignments between Elenin and Earth and some other body of the solar<br />system in relation to the Sun.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">On March 15th</span>, there will be a<br />Sun-Earth-Elenin Alignment. I guess we can look for some EM activity<br />following that. Storms, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, perhaps even a<br />little thinning of the veil?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">On September 27th</span>, there will be another<br />Sun-Earth-Elenin alignment. There will also be a new moon at this time<br />(rather close) and this might produce more dramatic EM action on the<br />planet. If you check the angles plotted on the graph below, you'll see<br />that this alignment is actually very interesting because Mercury also<br />lines up on the opposite side of the Sun. So it is really a<br />Mercury-Sun-Elenin-Moon-Earth alignment.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="BoldGrey">On November 23rd</span>, another Sun-Earth-Elenin<br />alignment. The new moon of November comes two days later on the 25th,<br />so that might be "close enough for horseshoes" in the case of EM action.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />If there are going to be any discharge related events as described in McCanney's theory, these dates may be important.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Here is the alignment graph:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="article-image-large to-center"><a title="© Sott.net" target="_blank" rel="ibox&ignore_target=true" href="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/60469/full/fig_angles.jpg"><img alt="" title="Click to enlarge" src="http://www.sott.net/image/image/s3/60469/large/fig_angles.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" /></a><br /><div class="image-caption"><span class="tiny">© Sott.net</span></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-footer"><br /><div class="article-icon-bar"><br /><small></small></div><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">A Service of <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">Signs of the Times</a>: The most comprehensive, objective and reliable Alternative News Source on the Web. If you aren't reading <a href="http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/">SOTT</a>, you don't know what's REALLY happening!</div>Keithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06011086310017706847noreply@blogger.com0