Meteor Sightings in the 1000′s across the U.S.

Reports of meteor sightings are coming into the American Meteor Society by the thousands. According to one of the latest reports posted at the American Meteor Society website, “Its been a busy week for the AMS as we are bombarded by fireball reports from all different parts of the country. The latest event took place over Alabama and Georgia last night September 28th 7:30 PM local time. Over 250 witnesses from Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Alabama and Georgia have reported the event so far. Below is a heat map of the witnesses who saw the event. Click the image below for the event detail page and witness reports.” _[1]
Exactly why these meteors are coming into the atmosphere at this time is unknown. NASA and NOAA have yet to publish any reports on this phenomenon, although they did confirm the September 10, 2013 meteor that streaked across the sky in Alabama in theguardian.com article ‘Meteor enters atmosphere over Alabama and disintegrates, says Nasa’. An excerpt from the article reads, “Officials at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville say a baseball-size fragment of a comet entered Earth’s atmosphere above Alabama at 8:18pm CDT Monday. Nasa officials say the meteor traveled at a speed of 76,000 mph. They say just three seconds after hitting the atmosphere, it disintegrated 25 miles above the central Alabama town of Woodstock, producing a flash of light. Nasa spokeswoman Janet Anderson says that because it penetrated so deep into Earth’s atmosphere, eyewitnesses heard sonic booms.”



The thousands of sightings of meteors are located at the American Meteor Society Observation page, where you can also sign-up to be a registered user. Intellihub.com will be monitoring this news and possibly a separate page for these reports as they happen. _[3] Any video reports submitted to Intellihub.com can be emailed to tips@intellihub.com

Interestingly, there are reports of meteor sightings from 40 states, including Atlanta, GA, Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, Kentucky and Tennessee as of September 28, 2013. Register to make reports at http://www.amsmeteors.org/

One explanation of the increase in sighting is mentioned on the American Meteor Society website in the article ‘Meteor Activity Outlook for September 28 – October 4, 2013’ which explains, “The September-October Lyncids (SOL) are only well seen on 3 nights centered on September 29th. Maximum occurs on the 30th when the radiant is located at 07:24 (111) +47. This position lies in western Lynx, 12 degrees north of the second magnitude star known as Castor (Alpha Geminorum). This area of the sky is best placed in the sky during the last hour before dawn, when it lies highest above the horizon in a dark sky. Rates at maximum are expected to be near one shower member per hour as seen from the northern hemisphere. These meteors can be seen from the tropical southern hemisphere but rates would be less than one per hour. With an entry velocity of 67 km/sec., most activity from this radiant would be of swift speed.” _[5]
Earthsky.org posted an article by Deborah Byrd titled “U.S. sees another bright fireball on September 27’ which covers the meteor sightings in detail, which reads, “The American Meteor Society (AMS) has reported at least 373 reports of another bright fireball – a very bright meteor, likely a small chunk of natural incoming space debris – over the U.S. last night (September 27, 2013). These reports followed a similar event over approximately the same area the day before (September 26). The AMS called the coincidence of two bright fireballs, or bright meteors, spotted over approximately the same region on consecutive days “surprising.” Witnesses from Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, Wisconsin and West Virginia reported a bright light moving across the night sky on September 27 at around 11:33 p.m. local time, according to the AMS.”

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Astronomers capture spectacular meteor footage and images

Astronomers from The University of Western Ontario in London, Canada have released footage of a meteor that was approximately 100 times brighter than a full moon. The meteor lit up the skies of southern Ontario two weeks ago and Western astronomers are now hoping to enlist the help of local residents in recovering one or more possible meteorites that may have crashed in the area of Grimsby, Ontario.


"This particular meteorite fall, if any are found, is very important because its arrival was so well recorded. We have good camera records as well as radar and infrasound detections of the event, so that it will be possible to determine its orbit prior to collision with the Earth and to determine the energy of the fireball event," says McCausland. "We can also figure out where it came from and how it got here, which is rare. In all of history, only about a dozen meteorite falls have that kind of record."

The fireball was first detected by Western's camera systems at an altitude of 100 km over Guelph moving southeastwards at 20.8 km/s. The meteoroid was initially the size of a child's tricycle. Analysis of the all-sky camera records as well as data from Western's meteor radar and infrasound equipment indicates that this bright fireball was large enough to have dropped meteorites in a region south of Grimsby on the Niagara Peninsula, providing masses that may total as much as several kilograms.

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Spectacular meteor lights up the morning

Oregon, USA
Spectacular meteor lights up the morning - Early risers report a shooting star ‘like an exploding firework’. Early risers across Clark County saw a meteor, described as blue or green in color, streak across the clear, dark sky around 5:30 a.m. Tuesday. The meteor passed from west to east, with news outlets across Washington, Oregon and Idaho reporting local sightings. “It started out way high in the sky, like a basic shooting star. As it traveled eastward and downward, it just started getting bigger and bigger. It went from white to bright green to white. It looked like it hit in the east, and it lit up the whole sky like sheet lightning.” A pilot saw the meteorite hit the Earth about 5:45 a.m. The pilot reported a flash and a burst of light near state Highway 26 and the Lind-Hatton Road in eastern Washington’s Adams County. But it’s RARE that a piece of space debris makes it through Earth’s atmosphere and smacks the soil. Even fireballs, larger meteors that appear brighter than the planet Venus, typically don’t make it through. “Nine out of 10 times, they burn up." If there’s a meteorite to be found, it will likely be a dense, iron-rich mass. The glowing green streak in the sky is a typical signature of an iron meteorite. “It was extremely bright and lit up the morning sky with its red, orange, yellow and green glow. To me, it looked like a huge fireball falling slowly from the sky.” Someone spots a fireball in this area about once per year, typically on clear winter nights. But those who spotted Tuesday’s meteor count it as a singular experience. “I think this is one of those once-in-a-lifetime events.”

VIDEO

The fireball exploded not once but twice in midair, casting shadows and rivaling city lights. Many onlookers wondered if spy satellite USA 193 had been shot down. No, it was a small asteroid breaking up in Earth's atmosphere. Reports of meteorites hitting the ground remain unconfirmed.

Scientists Search for Meteor Impact Site in Oregon and Washington

Scientists Wednesday were trying to determine whether a fireball that streaked through the sky Tuesday morning landed in Oregon or Washington.

Portland State Professor Dick Pugh began interviewing witnesses who saw the meteor fall and is trying to establish a radius around a possible impact site. He said the chances of finding any remnants of the space rock are slim, but there's already evidence that something may have hit the ground.

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Another Meteor Seen In The Skies Of Australia

Australia
Meteor Alert
Tension gripped Western Victoria residents after witnessing bright light in the heavens for two straight nights, believed to be a meteor. Residents of Ballarat, west of Melbourne, said that they saw a bright orange-colored light in the sky about 10 p.m Tuesday. The object reportedly flew around the air for more than one minute. Last Monday, calls from the residents of South Australia and Western Victoria were received by authorities and media offices reporting a bright green colored object shooting like a fireball westward in the sky around 8pm. The Bureau of Meteorology confirmed the object seen on Monday night was a meteor.

Bright Lights Over Bendigo: Some residents of Central Victoria believed they saw the meteor crashing to the ground on Monday the 15th. Callers to ABC Radio say they saw a brightly coloured object moving quickly through the northern skies. "I guess it just looked like a meteor. It was bright green, or flashing green, and really bright and sparkling and kind of blazed across the sky." "Very visible, very bright. A big white, greenish sort of a head and long tail in the middle with orange sparks flying off each side."

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'Super-Meteor' Lights up Northern Sky

Finland Meteor Sighting

Finland's biggest astronomical association, Ursa, says that a light phenomenon seen over much of northern and eastern Finland on Friday night was a meteor -- the brightest seen in the country in more than 30 years.

The editor of the organization's journal, Marko Pekkola, says it was a superbolide, a fireball more than 100 times brighter than a full moon. The fireball was apparently caused by a space rock striking the atmosphere over Northern Ostrobothnia and then exploding over Finland. Ursa says the rock may have weighed some 200 kilogrammes. However it was not clear on Saturday whether any meteorites fell to the ground.The dazzling 'shooting star' spurred worried telephone calls to emergency centres in various parts of Finnish Lapland, as far apart as Kemi, Enontekiö and Ivalo.

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Update: Many people becoming sick in Peru 'meteor crash'

The crater (Shown Above) has been spewing fetid gases, reports say
Breaking Earth News

Hundreds (600+) of people in P eru have needed tr eatment after an object from space - said to be a meteorite - plummeted to Earth in a remote area, officials say.

They say the object left a deep crater after crashing down over the weekend near the town of Carancas in the Andes.

People who visited the scene have been complaining of headaches, vomiting and nausea after inhaling gases.

But some experts have questioned whether it was a meteorite or some other object that landed in Carancas.

"Increasingly we think that people witnessed a fireball, which are not uncommon, went off to investigate and found a lake of sedimentary deposit, which may be full of smelly, methane rich organic matter," said Dr Caroline Smith, a meteorite expert at the London-based Natural History Museum.

"This has been mistaken for a crater."

A team of scientists is on its way to the site to collect samples and verify whether it was indeed a meteorite.

"I think there's also a certain psychological fear in the community"
Local mayor Nestor Quispe

VIDEO HIGHLIGHT

Scientist Confirms Meteorite in Puno, Peru is a Chondrite

(LIP-ir) -- Peru's official government news agency reported this afternoon that scientists which went to the town of Carancas in the Region of Puno, Peru, have confirmed that the glowing object which fell from the sky on Saturday afternoon was indeed a meteorite.

Volcanologist for Peru's Geological, Mining and Metallurgical Institute (INGEMMET), Luisa Macedo, confirmed that a chondrite meteorite had caused the 17 meter (55 foot) wide and 5 meter (16 foot) deep crater when it landed on earth.

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2000-Year-Old Meteors to Rain Down on August 31

Breaking Earth News
Meteor Alert

The meteors that are about to rain down in the early morning of September 1 date from around 4 A.D., the latest calculations show.

The oldest such shower, but only one revolution old, is due in the early morning of September 1, 2007. Our calculations indicate Earth is about to cross the dust trail of comet Kiess, a comet that takes some 2000 years to complete one orbit around the Sun. The trail is very narrow, so Earth will be hosed by meteoroids for only about an hour and a half. The meteoroids will approach from the direction of the constellation Auriga, the charioteer, in the north-eastern part of the sky, causing a meteor shower called the "Aurigids."

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"Loud Boom" Believed To Be The Result Of Meteor Shower

California, USA
8/11/07 - Representatives with the Sonora Police Department and both the Tuolumne and Calaveras County Sheriff's Departments say they fielded numerous calls early in the morning in regards to a "loud boom," and "structures shaking." There were several calls from residents who reported seeing "a blue light," just before the "loud boom." The incident reportedly occurred at 12:09am. The Police Department notes that it also received a call from a resident in Tuolumne, in which a female reported seeing what she thought was fireworks, and then something spiraling over her house. Early indication from the law enforcement agencies is that the loud boom was somehow the result of a meteor shower.

Related News
COLUMBIA - July 6, 2007 - the sky really was falling over South America, when an incoming object broke apart in the lower atmosphere with a trio of ferocious explosions that shattered windows and shook the ground violently. Moments later, stones rained from the sky and pelted homes in the poor barrios surrounding the city of Cali, Colombia. After a few days of searching, meteor hunters rounded up and purchased several small pieces � some of which had smashed through the roofs of homes � totaling about 270 grams (10 ounces). The hunters estimate that the Cali event must have dropped fragments far more massive than what they were able to collect. Unfortunately, it all ended up in dense cane fields and will never be found. And although the recovered �hammer stones� turned out to be a rather common type of chondritic (rocky) meteorite, they�re already fetching thousands of dollars per gram among meteoritic aficionados.

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Catch a falling star

Sri Lanka

Photo: Remains of the meteoroid.

June 10 - The strange objects that lit the night skies on June 10 have now been confirmed as meteors. “This is the FIRST TIME THAT METEORS OF SUCH MAGNITUDE HAVE FALLEN IN SRI LANKA.” The shockwaves and vibrations have been heard throughout the country, from Galle to Puttalam. A Senior Consultant believes that two large meteoroids entered the atmosphere, the larger one splitting into two and the smaller one into about 25 fragments. The loud explosions were some of the particles exploding, probably about 50 to 100 km above the ground. The PECULIARITY of this incident is that there was very little trace of the meteoroids even where extensive damage occurred, such as in Dehiwala. The meteoroid was travelling at such high momentum that all the particles must have dissolved or vaporised by the heat on impact. Residents of Andiambalama say that they had noticed UNUSUAL movement of the stars for about two weeks continually prior to the falling of the meteor. “We saw many shooting stars, the children started gathering at about 8 p.m. every night just to watch this." In Kovinna, Andiambalama, at 9.05 p.m. on the 10th, a woman had noticed something unusual in the western sky. A bright light, almost as large as the full moon, appeared to be moving towards her in a wide arc. Alarmed by thoughts of terrorist air attacks, she called out to her neighbour. Together they watched fearfully as the glowing object drew closer, landed on the roof and vanished completely. A few minutes later the air vibrated with a loud explosion. The next day they discovered that parts of the asbestos sheets on the roof were charred and cracked. A few pieces of rock and sand were scattered around the damaged area. Similar incidents were reported around the country that night. Several people in areas such as Puttalam, Maho and Bingiriya also noted the appearance of the bright light in the sky as well as the loud explosion. In Kimbulapitiya a woman watched a flaming object land on a house and heard the booming sounds soon afterwards. In Campbell Place, Dehiwala, the roofs of two buildings were damaged, and a loud noise was heard. “24 asbestos sheets were broken.”

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