Category Archives: Meteors

Meteor blazes across north Queensland sky with blast of light and sound

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Footage captured from Cairns on the east coast to Normanton on the Gulf of Carpentaria shows growing fireball exploding with a loud boom

The north Queensland sky was briefly set alight on Saturday night as a meteor blazed through the atmosphere, exploded, and came to earth with a tremendous boom.

Footage captured on smartphones, dashcams and security cameras by businesses and residents from Cairns on the east coast to Normanton on the Gulf of Carpentaria circulated on social media on Sunday, showing a fireball growing rapidly in size as it approached the Earth, followed by a blast of greenish-blue light.

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Fragments of ‘Valentine’s fireball’ meteorite fall in southern Italy

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Object hit balcony in Matera and remnants in pristine condition – ‘almost as if we collected it directly from space’, says expert

Residents of southern Italy’s picturesque and ancient “city of stone” have been gripped by another rocky phenomenon after a meteorite crash-landed on the balcony of a home in Matera’s suburbs.

The space object, which had been travelling at about 200mph, was spotted in the skies above the Puglia and Basilicata regions on 14 February, becoming known as “Valentine’s fireball”, before falling on to the balcony of the home of brothers Gianfranco and Pino Losignore and their parents.

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Fireball seen over UK confirmed as meteor after day of confusion

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Experts revise initial assumption that sighting was space junk linked to Elon Musk’s satellite programme

A fireball seen over many parts of the northern UK has been confirmed as a meteor after a day of confusion about its identity.

The fireball was visible above northern England, Northern Ireland and Scotland as it blazed across the clear night sky just after 10pm on Wednesday night.

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Fireball seen over Scotland and Northern Ireland was ‘space junk’, say astronomers

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UK Meteor Network says object in night sky most likely a deorbiting satellite from Elon Musk’s SpaceX

A fireball seen over Scotland and Northern Ireland is likely to have been space junk from Elon Musk’s satellite programme, according to astronomers examining it.

The UK Meteor Network said the fireball was visible for 20 seconds just after 10pm on Wednesday night. It received almost 800 reports from Scotland, North Ireland and northern England.

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How to photograph a meteor shower: where to take a photo of the Perseids meteors in Australia

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Getting a good shot is tricky so here are some tips to capture a picture of the Perseid meteor shower at its peak in August

After three meteor showers lit up the sky across eastern Australia in July, the Perseid meteor shower will peak 13 August, giving stargazers another opportunity to photograph the fireballs as they blaze across the sky.

But capturing a meteorite shower is not as easy as just taking out your iPhone and pressing the button.

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Perseid meteor shower 2022: how and where to watch in Australia

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The annual Perseids meteor shower will peak on 13 August. Find out the best time to view

After the night sky in Australia was illuminated by a trio of meteor showers – the Piscis Austrinids, the Southern Delta Aquariids and the Alpha Capricornids late last month, stargazers will be able to see the 2022 Perseid meteor shower peak on 13 August.

The Perseids are considered by Nasa to be “the best meteor shower of the year”. This year, however, they coincide with a full moon on 12 August, resulting in less than ideal viewing conditions. Due to the brightness of the Perseids, though, some meteors should still be visible in a sky illuminated by moonlight.

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Meteor shower tonight: how and where to watch the Southern Delta Aquariids and Alpha Capricornids showers in Australia and New Zealand this weekend

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New moon will provide ideal viewing conditions for the Piscis Austrinids, Southern Delta Aquariids and Alpha Capricornids meteor showers this July weekend as cosmic debris from comets enters Earth’s atmosphere, before the Perseid meteor shower peaks in August

The night sky in Australia and New Zealand is set to be illuminated by a trio of meteor showers – the Piscis Austrinids, the Southern Delta Aquariids and the Alpha Capricornids – that will peak tonight.

The meteor showers coincide with the dark night sky of a new moon on 29 July, providing ideal viewing conditions.

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Loud boom and streaking fireball stirs panic in three US states

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The bolide, which disintegrated in Louisiana, was also reportedly spotted in Arkansas and Mississippi

A loud boom prefaced a streaking fireball spotted in three Southern states, scientists confirmed Thursday.

More than 30 people in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi reported seeing the exceptionally bright meteor in the sky around 8am Wednesday after hearing loud booms in Claiborne county, Mississippi, and surrounding areas, Nasa reported. It was first spotted 54 miles (87 km) above the Mississippi River, near Alcorn, Mississippi, officials said.

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Pittsburgh New Year’s Day meteor explosion equivalent to 30 tonnes of TNT, says Nasa

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If not for clouds, the half-tonne fireball would have been easily visible in the day, maybe about 100 times the brightness of a full moon

A meteor that caused an earthshaking boom over suburban Pittsburgh on New Year’s Day exploded in the atmosphere with an energy blast equivalent to an estimated 30 tonnes (27,200kg) of TNT, officials said.

The National Weather Service in Pittsburgh initially responded, suggesting the most likely explanation was a “meteor explosion” as people took to social media in search of answers.

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Asteroid’s 22m-year journey from source to Earth mapped in historic first

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Flight path of Kalahari’s six-tonne asteroid is first tracing of meteorite shedding rock to solar system origin

Astronomers have reconstructed the 22m-year-long voyage of an asteroid that hurtled through the solar system and exploded over Botswana, showering meteorites across the Kalahari desert.

It is the first time scientists have traced showering space rock to its source – in this case Vesta, one of largest bodies in the asteroid belt that circles the sun between Jupiter and Mars.

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‘Plane crash’ that led to police search now thought to be meteor

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Glowing object flying through the air led to land and air search in south-west England

A fireball in the sky that led to a land and air search being launched in south-west England amid fears of a light aircraft crash is now thought to have been a meteor.

Members of the public called emergency services and reported that a glowing object was flying through the air, before it broke apart and plummeted downwards, prompting Devon and Cornwall police to conduct an aerial search with two aircrafts early on Sunday morning.

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