August 16, 2011
Intro
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 status quo on the Internet. So what. Anyway...
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...
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:
1. Comets EleninPart One: Comet Number One: Elenin
2. Dramatic increase in the number of earthquakes
3. Dramatic increase in the number of strong earthquakes
4. Elenin positions and EQ dates coincide
5. We have been documenting clashes in our upper atmosphere
6. There has been some evidence larger ships have been over EQ sites
7. It now appears that there are three comets coming into a "conjunction" in the very near future
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.
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!
The Electric Earth
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.
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.
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.
An electric comet (not Elenin!)
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 NASA website - 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.
Elenin is highly charged, and has immense electrical potential.
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.
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:
Elenin - Earth - Sun. Feb 20 2008 Indonesia 7.4
Elenin - Earth - Sun. Feb 25 2008 Indonesia 7.2
Elenin - Earth - Neptune May 12 2008 China 7.9
Elenin - Earth - Sun Feb 18 2009 Kermadec 7.0
Elenin - Mercury- Earth July 15 2009 New Zealand 7.8
Elenin - Mercury - Earth Aug 09 2009 Japan 7.1
Elenin - Sun - Earth. Sept 09 2009 Sunola 8.1
Elenin - Earth - Venus Feb 18 2010 China 6.9
Elenin - Earth-Sun Feb 25 2010 China 5.2
Elenin - Earth-Sun Feb 26 2010 Japan 7.0
Elenin - Earth- Sun Feb 27 2010 Chile 8.8
Elenin - Earth- Sun Feb 27 2010 Argentina 6.3
Elenin - Earth - Mercury Mar 04 2010 Taiwan 6.3
Elenin - Earth - Mercury Mar 04 2010 Vanuatu 6.5
Elenin - Earth - Mercury Mar 05 2010 Chile 6.6
Elenin - Earth - Mercury Mar 05 2010 Indonesia 6.3
Elenin - Earth - Mercury Mar 08 2010 Turkey 6.1
Elenin - Earth - Neptune May 05 2010 Indonesia 6.6
Elenin - Earth - Neptune May 06 2010 Chile 6.2
Elenin - Earth - Neptune May 09 2010 Indonesia 7.2
Elenin - Earth - Neptune May 14 2010 Algeria 5.2
Elenin - Earth - Jupiter Jan 03 2011 Chile 7.0
*April 2011 tornadoes in the U.S. Hit a record 753 tornadoes
Elenin - Earth - Sun Mar 11 2011 Japan 9.0
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.
On October 20th Elenin will be in the position seen below. This is a "looking down" on the solar system view.
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.
Again the most dangerous thing about Elenin is that it is highly charged and that charge is dangerous to us.
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!
Three For The Show Pt.2
August 23, 2011
Intro
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!
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.
Part Two: Comet Number Two: Honda
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.
The plasma in the solar wind that hits the earth, causes the Aurora Borealis, 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.
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.
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...
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? These monster storms are fed by immense charges sent down through the atmosphere. 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.
Hurricane Irene
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!
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?
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. These are lies. 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.
But there is more to share....
Three For The Show Pt.3
Intro
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 in some of the seminars, presenters are spreading all kinds of wild ideas; spaceships and what not. 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--- .
Part Three: Three's The Charm
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.
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. 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.
"Americans are a race of convicts and ought to be thankful for anything we allow them short of hanging." - Samuel JohnsonThese 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. 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. 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, highly charged planetesimals gaining electrical charge from the plasma field. 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...
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...
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?
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.
I want you to go to this URL 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.
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.
Orbital Diagram
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!
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!
Report from Ray Ward:
I was getting a lot of degraded signal yesterday and whether by design or interference, it matters not.
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.
There were solar flares over the weekend, strong, though just below M levels, except one.
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.
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.
In January, 2012, Levy may cause problems when it crosses through the ecliptic.
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.This brings me to another way of looking at this entire issue.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I think that this is all I have for now that I can think of. I will keep looking and digging for more facts.
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. You and I are left to depend upon the governmental scientists that have absolutely different priorities than you and I have! 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.
The Matrix Hive
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. 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. 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.
"The cause of liberty becomes a mockery if the price to be paid is the wholesale destruction of those who are to enjoy liberty." - GandhiSo 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.
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!"
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.
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.
"People of privilege will always risk their complete destruction rather than surrender any material part of their advantage." - John Kenneth GalbraithIt 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.
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?
The answer to that question is... destruction is mercy.
Read comments on SOTT.net
Comment: Another comment on that blog reads:
Reg - November 9, 2009
On November 7, 2009 around sunset, I was driving northbound on
US 101 15 miles south of Santa Maria, California. Fireball started
directly north at approximately 40 degrees above the north horizon,
headed vertically and burned-up (disappeared) approximately 3-5 degrees
above the north horizon. Head of fireball well formed burning sphere,
with long tail and sparks. At about 8 degrees above the horizon the
head split into two pieces.
Pennsylvania: Another Fireball
jennyfire130
NowPublic
Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:08 EST
I
was driving home from an Apple Festival this weekend when my 3 year old
daughter started shouting "Look Mama, a comet!!" I looked out the
window and to my amazement I saw I HUGE yellow and white ball of fire.
I immediately thought that I just witnessed a airplane explode in sky.
I called my husband freaking out and he said that it was probably a
meteor. I was driving on a highway and unable to pull over. I was able
to reach into my purse and get out my camera. By the time I was able to
get a photo through my front windshield (driving 55 miles/hr and one
handed LOL) the fireball had broken into 4-5 smaller pieces. I am still
not sure what exactly it was ... but it was really amazing and one of
the coolest things I've ever seen in the sky! I am so excited to share
my photo with you! Thanks for reading :)
Nancy Atkinson
Universe Today
Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:00 EST
A
previously undiscovered asteroid came within 14,000 km of Earth last
week, and astronomers noticed it only 15 hours before closest approach.
On Nov. 6 at around 16:30 EST a 7 meter asteroid, now called 2009 VA,
came only about 2 Earth radii from impacting our home planet. This is
the third-closest known non-impacting Earth approach on record for a
cataloged asteroid.
Early on Nov. 6 the asteroid was discovered by the Catalina
Sky Survey and was quickly identified by the Minor Planet Center in
Cambridge MA as an object that would soon pass very close to the Earth.
JPL's Near-Earth Object Program Office also computed an orbit solution
for this object, and determined that it was not headed for an impact.
The two closer approaches include the 1-meter sized
asteroid 2008 TS26, which passed within 6,150 km of the Earth's surface
on October 9, 2008, and the 7-meter sized asteroid 2004 FU162 that
passed within 6,535 km on March 31, 2004. On average, objects the size of 2009 VA pass this close about twice per year and impact Earth about once every 5 years.
Only thirteen months ago, another asteroid, 2008 TC3 was discovered
under similar circumstances, but that one was found to be on a
trajectory headed for the Earth, with impact only about 11 hours away.
It impacted in a remote area of Africa; no one was injured and
fragments have since been recovered for study.
Asteroid Impact Could Have Stirred the Ocean
Sid Perkins
Science News
Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:26 EST
The collision of a large extraterrestrial object with Earth almost 2
billion years ago may have stirred the seas worldwide and delivered a
huge serving of oxygen to the deep ocean.
The Sudbury impact, named after the Canadian city located near
the center of what remains of the ancient crater, happened around 1.85
billion years ago (SN: 6/15/02, p. 378).
Despite erosion since then, the impact structure - at least 200
kilometers across - is recognized to be the second-largest on the face
of the planet, says William Cannon, a geologist with the U.S.
Geological Survey in Reston, Va., and coauthor on a paper in the
November Geology. The event fundamentally affected the concentrations
of dissolved oxygen in the deep sea - enough to almost instantly shut
down the accumulation of marine sediments known as banded iron
formations, report Cannon and coauthor John F. Slack, also of the USGS
in Reston.
Banded iron formations,
massive deposits rich in iron oxides, have accumulated at several
periods in Earth's long-distant geological past, mostly when
atmospheric concentrations of oxygen were low (SN: 6/20/09, p. 24).
One extended episode of banded iron formation (or BIF) buildup suddenly
- and without an obvious explanation - ended about 1.85 billion years
ago, says Cannon. Over a very short interval, he notes, "the
environment shifted from one happily making banded iron to one that
wasn't."
In northern Minnesota and other areas nearby, the formations
lie directly underneath a thick layer of material only recently
recognized as ejecta from the Sudbury impact. Mark Jirsa, a geologist
with the Minnesota Geological Survey in St. Paul, was a member of the
team that identified the ejecta layer. "We intuitively connected the
Sudbury impact with the shutdown of BIF accumulation," he says. "But
now [Cannon and Slack] have come up with a model for how that might
have happened."
About 1.85 billion years ago, Earth's now separate landmasses
were joined in a single supercontinent. That also means there was one
large ocean, says Cannon. Many scientists suggest that the object that
slammed into Earth then - probably an asteroid abut 10 kilometers
across - splashed down in that ocean, in waters about 1 kilometer deep
on the shallow shelf surrounding the supercontinent. Models hint that
the tsunami spawned by the event would have been 1 kilometer tall at
the impact site and remained at least 100 meters tall about 3,000
kilometers away, Cannon adds.
Those immense waves and large underwater landslides triggered
by the impact stirred the ocean, bringing oxygenated waters from the
surface down to the ocean floor, the researchers propose. Sediments
deposited on the seafloor before the impact, including BIFs, contained
little if any iron in its Fe(III) form but were high in Fe(II), a sign
that most parts of the ocean were oxygen-free. But marine sediments
deposited after the impact included substantial amounts of Fe(III) but
very little Fe(II) - and, therefore, sizable amounts of dissolved
oxygen. The team's analyses suggest that after the impact, dissolved
iron spewed into the deepest parts of the ocean by hydrothermal vents
would have reacted with oxygen within a day or so, thereby choking off
most of the supply of Fe(II) to shallower waters where BIFs typically
accumulated.
While Cannon and Slack's model explains how BIF accumulation
might have suddenly ceased 1.85 billion years ago, it doesn't prove
that's how it happened, Jirsa warns. Nevertheless, he notes,
"scientists are closer to an explanation than we previously were." The
geological record suggests that environmental changes were happening in
oceans worldwide even before the Sudbury impact, he adds, "and the role
that the impact played, if any, in shutting down BIF accumulation isn't
well understood."
Flashback:
The Puzzle of the Half-Comet, Half-Asteroid
Wed, 05 Aug 2009 16:39 EDT
Technology Review
A mysterious object that ejects dust like a comet but orbits like an
asteroid could be a new class of object in the solar system.
In
1996, astronomers identified an extraordinary object orbiting the Sun
between Mars and Jupiter in a region best known for its asteroids. And
yet this body, called 133P, defied description: it had the orbit of an
asteroid yet emitted dust like a comet.
Clearly, this was a rare object. After centuries of
observation, not a single other object in the asteroid belt had burped
gas and dust in the same way.
So how could this have got there? According to Henry Hsieh at
Queen's University, Belfast in Northern Ireland, there can be only two
explanations. The first is that 133P is a comet that has somehow
recently become trapped in an asteroid-like orbit. This would have
required a hugely unlikely combination of gravitational kicks from
other planets as the comet travelled into the solar system from the
Kuiper Belt or Oort cloud.
Hsieh says this is so fantastically unlikely that it is almost
certainly a one-off event. So there's almost no chance that we'd see
another comet-like object in this kind of orbit.
The second explanation is that 133P is an asteroid formed
partly of ice and that this is being released, perhaps by a collision
with another asteroid. If this were the case, there would almost
certainly be other asteroids with a similar makeup releasing dust.
These we ought to be able to see.
Images of known MBC's from UH 2.2-meter telescope data
So Hsieh set out to find one, making some 657 observations of 599
asteroids in the asteroid belt. The big news is that he has found one
other object, called 176P/LINEAR, which is also emitting dust.
So it looks as if the mystery is solved. That more or less
rules out the possibility that 133P is a captured comet. Instead, 133P
and 176P are a new class of comet-like asteroids made up partly of ice,
which is ejected whenever these objects are struck in the occasional
unavoidable collision.
That's an interesting new addition to the asteroid menagerie.
The only question now is what to call these beasts that are half comet
and half asteroid. Comsteroids? Asteromets? Hsiehroids?
- -
Ref: arxiv.org/abs/0907.5505: The Hawaii Trails Project: Comet-Hunting in the Main Asteroid Belt:
[Paper: The Hawaii Trails Project: Comet-Hunting in the Main Asteroid Belt [PDF]]
Asteroid passes just 8,700 miles from Earth - with only 15 hours warning
Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:59 EST
Daily Mail
It's getting frequent now
You almost certainly missed it - and luckily it missed you - but an asteroid has come within 8,700 miles of hitting the Earth.
Astronomers spotted the object only 15 hours before its closest approach to our planet last Friday.
Its orbit brought it 30 times nearer than the Moon, which is 250,000 miles away.
Even had it been on collision course with us, the 23ft wide asteroid -
known as 2009 VA - is unlikely to have made much of an impact because
it would probably have all but burnt up in the atmosphere.
It was picked up by the Catalina Sky Survey at the University
of Arizona, then identified by the Minor Planet Centre in Cambridge,
Massachusetts as a near Earth object and plotted by experts at Nasa.
US: Kansas father, son suspect meteorite landed at home
Associated Press
Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:46 CST
A father and son have an extraterrestrial explanation for the strange
rock that recently landed in their backyard in southwest Kansas. They
are convinced it's a meteorite.
Chandler Harp, 10, was playing in the backyard of his Liberal
home when he heard what sounded like an explosion about 15 feet from
where he was standing. He looked over to see a plume of dirt and debris
shoot 5 feet high.
At the bottom of a foot-deep hole, he found a 2-inch rock and showed it to his dad, Lee.
Once Lee Harp got a look at the metallic rock, he was certain it wasn't
from this world. He said, "I knew he had a meteorite."
Fireball streaks through sky over Utah
Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:42 EST
ABC4 News
A large ball of fire streaking across the night time skies just after
midnight had many Utahn's wondering what they saw early Wednesday
morning.
Dozens of calls came streaming into the ABC 4 newsroom with
people wondering if they saw a shooting star, others wondered if it was
the end of the world, military testing, or even a UFO.
People from Mona to Spanish Fork from Ogden to Bountiful all calling in
a very similar sighting. To many, it looked like a large fall of fire,
lightning up the sky, some say like daylight, others reported a blue
like light that lasted for about 30 seconds. And many reported hearing
a boom about 5 minutes later.
ABC 4 called Utah's NASA and Solar System Ambassador Patrick
Wiggins who says that it was a meteor also known as a bolide. From his
observatory near Stansbury Park he says the break up of the meteor
occured at about 240 to 250 degrees azimuth which puts it just north of
southwest. He also heard the sound of an explosion that would put the
breakup of the bolide about 100 km in that direction placing it high
above Granite Peak in the west desert.
We'd love to hear your stories of what you saw and what you heard from
where you live. Please put your comments on our website and we'll be
researching this today here at ABC4.
US: Fireball Lights Up Night Sky
Michael Coats
KIFI
Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:40 CST
People from all over the Mountain West reported a "bright light" or "meteor streak" around midnight Wednesday morning.
Reports are coming in from Eastern and Southern Idaho, all throughout Utah and even Las Vegas.
Several viewers called into the Local News 8 newsroom reporting the bright light which lasted for just a few seconds.
Some have reported it as a "ball of light" and others called to say it looked more like a "green streak."
Media outlets in Salt Lake City report that some even felt a "slight rumble" or "sonic boom."
ABC sister station KTVX talked to NASA and Solar System Ambassador Patrick Wiggins.
Wiggins told KTVX that it was a meteor also known as a bolide. From his
observatory near Stansbury Park, Utah, he said the break up of the
meteor occurred at about 240 to 250 degrees azimuth which puts it just
north of southwest.
He also heard the sound of an explosion that would put the breakup of
the bolide about 100 km in that direction placing it high above Granite
Peak in the west desert of Utah.
- -
A
photo believed to be depicting the meteor's aftermath, taken at 7 a.m.
Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2009, from Clive, in western Tooele County, looking
east toward Salt Lake City.
Watch Twitter video from Utah:
Huge fireball explodes over western US
Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:35 EST
SpaceWeather.com
As forecasters predicted, there was a surge of Leonid meteors during
the late hours of Nov. 17th. Preliminary counts from the International
Meteor Organization exceed 120 meteors per hour.
A remarkable midnight fireball that "turned night into day" over parts of the western United States last night was not a Leonid.
Infrasound measurements suggest a sporadic asteroid not associated with
the Leonid debris stream. The space rock exploded in the atmosphere
with an energy equivalent to 0.5 - 1 kilotons of TNT.
Approximately 6 hours later, observers in Utah and Colorado witnessed a twisting iridescent-blue cloud in the dawn sky.
Image taken: Nov. 18, 2009
Location: Looking South East of SLC, UT just before dawn 11/18/2009
Details: First appeared as a ring when the eastern sky was dark. Disappeared completely as the sun came up
Image taken: Nov. 18, 2009
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah
Details: going to work witnessed this cloud. it was BLUE!!!
Debris
from the fireball should have dissipated by that time, but the cloud
remains unexplained; we cannot yet rule out a connection to the
fireball event. Stay tuned for further analysis.
videos: #1, #2, #3.
US: Meteor the size of oven lights up the night sky, alarms Utahns
KSL
Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:04 EST
A fast moving meteor lit up the night skies over most of Utah just
after midnight Wednesday. Moments later, the phones lit up at KSL as
people across the state called to tell us what they saw and ask what it
was.
Utahns are still talking Wednesday about what scientists are
calling a "remarkable midnight fireball." The source of all the
excitement was basically a rock, falling from space. When a meteor
enters the atmosphere, it gives off a lot of heat and light.
Folks at the Clark Planetarium say this rock was big--between the size of a microwave and washer-dryer unit.
At exactly 12:07, people from all over the western United States
watched as the bolide meteor crashed into Earth's atmosphere. In some areas, the flash of light was so bright it caused light sensor street lamps to shut off.
Clark Planetarium Director Seth Jarvis said the stony meteorite was
probably around the size of an oven, traveling 80,000 miles an hour
when it hit our atmosphere and went splat like a bug on a windshield.
He said it happened 100 miles up in the air, so despite the brightness,
Utah was never in any danger.
"These collisions can do damage, but they are extremely rare,
and literally once in a century do you observe something that's
actually doing damage," he said.
Witness Andy Bailey said, "Oh, it lit up the whole sky, like almost brighter than the day. It was bright."
Don White was in Wyoming and told KSL Newsradio for a moment he suspected a nuclear strike.
"With something that brilliant and that fast, it was like, whoa, did we
just get hit or something? It would have been some bigger noise I guess
if a nuclear device had gone off," he said.
"I've seen falling stars before, but nothing like that before," said witness James Albin.
We have reports that the light show was picked up as far away
as Tucson, Santa Fe, Butte and Frisco Peak near Milford in southwest
Utah.
The University of Utah has an observatory at 9,500 feet on Frisco Peak which captured images of the fireball itself.
Everyone who saw it has a once-in-a-lifetime story.
Resident Jon Olschewski said, "I noticed to the left something
streaking through the sky. It was this meteor that was exploding. It
was breaking off into at least five big chunks."
Many surveillance systems captured the spectacular blast of light.
Night turns to day
"When
you got this mass coming through the atmosphere, and these things are
going fast, it's like if you could travel that fast on I-15, you could
get from Salt Lake to St. George in a matter of 5 seconds. So these
things are really going, hits the atmosphere and it makes so much
pressure on its leading edge that it just shatters itself," Jarvis
explained.
Roy Merrell also saw the light. He said, "There was this flash in the room, the room basically just lit up."
Others recorded a sequence of shadows as fantastic as any Hollywood studio could create.
Patrick Wiggins,NASA Solar System Ambassador to Utah, said, "To
realize it was up so high, people are thinking it's right close, but
the thing was up so high it was seen between L.A., Las Vegas and, of
course, all over Utah. I mean, this thing was way up there."
Scientists believe it was not part of the famous Leonid debris
stream, instead a sporadic asteroid, a midnight fireball, which
exploded in the atmosphere with an energy equivalent of up to one
kiloton of TNT.
"It was almost, I could say, like celestial," Olschewski said. "You
know what I mean. One of those kind of moments like 'oh my gosh,' like
'I'm not ready' kind of thing."
In Tooele County, residents reported that they felt that
moment when the meteor shattered. Wiggins said it took about 5 minutes
for the sonic boom, but said he's not surprised people felt it.
"Most meteors, you don't hear them, but this one was close
enough and big enough that yeah, you definitely heard the thing. It was
exciting," he said.
Wiggins said, from his calculations, the pieces of the meteor
likely fell over Dugway. He said it's possible meteorites could also be
found elsewhere. He said it can't hurt to look around your yard; if you
happen to find one it could be worth thousands of dollars.
KSL also received video clips of the meteor from Utah residents. Click on the video links to the right to watch the clips.
-----
Story compiled with information from Alex Cabrero, Shara Park, Mary Richards and Randall Jeppesen.
Kansas, US: Biophysicist confirms Liberal boy's meteorite discovery
Clara Kilbourn
The Hutchinson News
Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:20 EST
The 2-inch-diameter gun-metal black rock that 10-year-old Chandler Harp
found Saturday in his Liberal backyard traveled a long way to get
there.
The triangle-shaped fresh iron meteorite discovered in Liberal fell to Earth from as far away as 100 million miles.
"There's no question in my mind whatsoever that
what they have is a meteorite," said Don Stimpson of Haviland, a
biophysicist who owns the Kansas Meteorite Museum and Nature Center on
U.S. 54/400 near Greensburg.
Stimpson made the trip from rural Kiowa County to
Liberal on Tuesday after he heard about the discovery of the meteorite
by Chandler, son of Lee and Teri Harp.
The iron meteorite tumbled to Earth from the center of the
atmosphere around the sun and fell from as far away as 100 million miles, Stimpson said.
"That's a part of the solar system that as humans we haven't investigated," he said.
It wasn't until after they launched an Internet search for meteorites
that Lee and Teri Harp thought seriously about the bull's-eye in their
backyard Saturday morning.
"It kind of scared us that they were in the backyard and a
projectile was coming our way," Lee Harp said about the triangular
object that could've hit their son or the family dog.
The meteorite was accompanied by what Chandler called a loud
explosion, "twice as loud as a TV," and dirt that flew five feet into
the air.
Stimpson, who has examined meteorites for the past 20 years,
called the rock "beautiful, well-formed as it burned through the
atmosphere."
Chandler's mother, a pharmacist, weighed it at 47 grams.
The dollar value of meteorites varies according to what
meteorite hounds are willing to pay, Stimpson said, but could reach
$100 per gram. At present there are about 1,500 meteorites posted for
sale on the Internet.
Stimpson added that it's been a good year for meteorites in Kansas. Three new meteorites have been confirmed, at Larned, Sawyer, and a third awaiting absolute confirmation and naming, near the Smoky Hill River.
Their son's find isn't for sale, the Harps said. For now the meteorite will remain in a display case in their home.
The discovery hasn't changed Chandler's mind about a potential career.
Instead of exploring outer space, the fifth-grader said he still wants to be an engineer and build things.
US: Chunk of Ice Crashes Through Roof of Colorado Home
The Associated Press
Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:25 CST
A basketball-sized chunk of ice crashed through the roof of a family's
Colorado home after apparently falling from an airplane passing
overhead. Danelle Hagan and her 9-year-old daughter were at home in
Brush on Saturday when they heard the kitchen ceiling come crashing
down. They were not injured.
"I hear a huge, what sounded like an explosion. And I look
over and my kitchen is basically in shambles," Hagan told KMGH-TV in
Denver. "It was very terrifying."
The Federal Aviation Administration was sending investigators
to the home to investigate whether the ice came from an airplane. The
Hagans put some of the ice in their freezer.
FAA spokesman Mike Fergus said Wednesday the ice chunk appears
to be "Rime ice," which can build up on the outside of a plane's
fuselage when it flies through cold and wet air.
Fergus says that it doesn't appear the ice was "blue ice," which comes from an airplane's toilet.
After investigators determine whether the ice came from a plane, Fergus
said they'll look at which planes are in the area at the time to see if
it's possible to tell which craft dropped the ice.
Fergus said that in cases of falling blue ice, FAA
investigators would inspect any plane that was in the area to make sure
it doesn't have a dangerous pressure leak. He said that ice falls from airplanes are alarming, but extremely rare.
He said the chances of getting hit by ice from a plane is "on the magnitude of a lightning strike."
Hagan's family is staying out of the house until it's repaired because
the crash loosened some asbestos. She says people were in the kitchen
just before the ice fell, so they're just glad to be OK.
"If we had been in that kitchen, it would have been devastating," Hagan said.
Comment: Extremely rare?
August 2007: Mysterious icy chunk smashes through roof in California
May 2007: Mysterious Chunk Of Ice Falls To Earth
January 2007: Car-destroying chunk may be icy meteor
January 2007: Ice Chunk Crashes Through Delaware Co. Home
April 2006: Ice crashes through college gym - No one is injured by the 2-foot chunk and no one knows yet where it came from
December 2005: Mysterious Ice Chunk Breaks Hole in Roof
December 2005: Ice chunk falls from sky in Japan
Mississippi, US: Sonic Boom's Source Still a Mystery
Karen Nelson
Sun Herald
Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:09 CST
Keesler confirms jet training
Pascagoula - The boom that rattled windows in Pascagoula and Moss
Point, swamped police phone lines and brought entire neighborhoods of
people out of their homes to see what was happening was almost as much
a mystery Wednesday as it was Tuesday night when it happened.
Keesler Air Force base told city police around 8:45 p.m.
Tuesday the boom was caused by military jets on a training exercise in
the Gulf, but that the jets were not from Keesler.
On Wednesday security at the base reconfirmed the jets had
contacted the tower Tuesday night and were told there was a training
exercise.
But what jets, and whose jets were flying at supersonic speeds over the Gulf at night?
Keesler didn't know. Pensacola Naval Air Station's Air Operations on
the base said they weren't flying anything fast enough to cause a sonic
boom at present and suggested only the Air Force would have the F-15 or
fighter jets that could fit that bill.
They said Eglin AFB in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., was the best bet.
As it turns out, Eglin is the base that controls military
training ranges - airspace over the Gulf of Mexico used for military
maneuvers in this part of the Gulf.
Sgt. Brian Jones with Eglin's public relations office looked
at the schedule for Tuesday night and said, "In our air space at those
times all we had in the area were A-10s, and they're not fast enough to
break the sound barrier."
He said the A-10s were firing guns, but did not discharge any heavy explosives during the maneuver.
Jones said he had no way of knowing if there had been a jet outside Eglin's airspace.
There were four booms on Tuesday. One at 8 p.m. rattled the
east side of Jackson County all the way up to the rural northern
regions, according to reports.
Then there was a series of three booms about 9 p.m., felt and
heard in parts of Ocean Springs and Gautier to the west and in central
Jackson County, as well as Pascagoula and Moss Point in the east. Then
on Wednesday evening at about 8 p.m. at least one boom was felt in
Ocean Springs, Vancleave and Pascagoula.
Laurie Shields, who lives on Ocean Springs Road near Interstate 10 said
the 9 p.m. event on Tuesday shook her walls and made her roof rattle.
"You could hear the walls rattle it was so loud," she said.
A Moss Point resident said it moved pictures on her wall and
caused her dogs to bark; a student at Trent Lott Academy in Pascagoula
said his whole neighborhood came out of their houses and looked toward
the Chevron Refinery. Another said the boom set off a neighbor's home
security alarm.
And Capt. Shannon Broom with Pascagoula police said so many
calls came in to the department it overwhelmed the phone lines and
caused them to temporarily shut down.
Broom said Wednesday if training exercises were planned in the
Gulf with jets that might create sonic booms, he'd like to have been
warned ahead of time.
"They're the federal government, I guess they don't have to notify us, but it would have been nice," Broom said.
The U.S. is at war, so could there have been a super-secret maneuver?
Jones at Eglin said, "I'd tell you if there was something, and then I'd tell you we couldn't talk about it."
So that would be a "no."
The Air National Guard in Gulfport wasn't flying.
All the industry in Jackson County, including the refinery,
reported in to the state Department of Environmental Quality and the
city of Pascagoula that they were all clear, no incidents.
Pascagoula police checked with the U.S. Coast Guard.
Stennis Space Center in Hancock County said sometimes, with the
right atmospheric conditions, rocket testing can bounce off cloud cover
and travel a great distance.
But there was no rocket testing Tuesday night. That's scheduled for Friday.
NASA at the Houston Center, which also controls airspace over the western part of the Gulf, said it had nothing going on.
And the U.S. Geological Survey said although there had been 750
earthquakes in the United States in the past week, none was in or
around the Gulf.
Earthquake? Isn't that a little far-fetched?
Well, a spokesman for the National Earthquake Information Center in Denver said earthquakes can cause noise when they hit.
But after listening to a description of the noise as a boom, he
said the earthquake noise usually comes from the rattling rather than
before the shaking.
Queensland, Australia: Green object that lit up sky a chip off an old meteor
Rodney Chester
The Courier-Mail
Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:10 CST
Experts say a fire ball that streaked across the sky above south-east
Queensland last night was a "chip off the old block of some asteroid".
The meteor was spotted by people from the Sunshine Coast, the Gold Coast and across Brisbane around 9.45pm.
Witnesses said the meteor was a green glow travelling from south-east to north-west, leaving a visible trail for 10 to 15 minutes.
Speaking on ABC radio this morning, Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium curator Mark Rigby ruled out space junk as an explanation.
"That's going the wrong way for space junk," he said. "Things are not launched in that direction."
Astronomers also dismissed the suggestion that the meteor was
part of the Leonid meteor shower that is associated with the comet
Tempel-Tuttle.
Every 33 years, the comet orbits the sun and leaves behind a dusty trail.
The meteor shower gets its name because the firey balls of dust
seem to be coming from the direction of the constellation of Leo in the
north-east.
While the Leonid meteor shower has created spectacular night
shows some years, the meteor seen over Brisbane last night was at the
wrong time and heading the in the wrong place.
The best place to see the Leonid meteor showers this year was in Russia, Kazak, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Nepal and India.
While the show usually lasts a few nights, the peak of the shower coincided with about 8am Brisbane time on Wednesday 18th.