[meteorite-list] Fireballs From The Sky: Bombarded

Wed Apr 1 09:03:24 EDT 2009

I never said there was only 1 bolide event per month.  I said there was 
roughly 1 confirmed meteorite event per month.  I don't know much about 
bolide stats, so I should leave this discussion to the experts.  I was just 
pointing out that we haven't had an unreasonably high number of meteorite 
falls.  Yes, it has been a good meteorite fall rate - but still within 
normal range, as far as I can tell.  (And yes, I think the "normal range" is 
slowly increasing each year due to the effects I mentioned...)

You wrote: "to a great extend this increase can be due to the reasons you 
mention (more people having internet, higher meteor popularity etc), but can 
you prove that ALL the increase can be attributed to that?"

Unfortunately, this is difficult to measure.  However, I'd say the burden of 
proof lies with those proposing that we are travelling through a debris 
field.  You make some very good points, and I will have to give this some 
thought.  The all sky survey data you mention is very interesting!

--Noah

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <daphnelwest at gmail.com>
To: <rocks at projectargus.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 31, 2009 3:51 PM
Subject: Re: Re: [meteorite-list] Fireballs From The Sky: Bombarded

seems to me there is more than 1 bolide event per month:

jan 17 DANISH FIREBALL: A meteoroid of unknown size hit Earth's atmosphere 
over Danmark and Sweden last night (Jan. 17 at 1909 UT) and exploded, 
turning the sky "lightning blue and green."
  http://spaceweather.com/glossary/fireballreports_17jan09.htm?PHPSESSID=jidr0p3on59h9u4ah10776l4i0
jan 17 another Fireball in northern Spain came in only minutes before the 
danish one.
  http://www.spmn.uji.es/ESP/SPMNlist.html
jan 19 California A  brilliant fireball occurring over southern California. 
The event occurred at 5:33pm PST on January 18 (01:33 UT Jan 19) and was 
widely observed over the southern half of California, western Nevada, and 
western Arizona (including the Phoenix area).
  http://malcs64.tigblog.org/?setlangcookie=true
jan 19 Norway FIREBALL UPDATE: "Today, on Monday, Jan. 19th at 16:28 UT, a 
huge fireball was seen in western Norway," reports Runar Sandnes of the 
Norwegian Astronomical Society. "It was visible for about 5 seconds and 
witnesses describe it as 'breathtaking.' The meteor was last seen 
disintegrating over the North Sea."
  http://talk.livedaily.com/showthread.php?p=14461677
  http://www.nas-veven.no/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=116:kraftig-meteor-observert-pa-vestlandet&catid=3:nyhetsmelding
Jan 20 2045 MST Barbara & Paul Weber Etna Wyoming  Magnitude >-27 duration 8 
sec   color White
  http://www.amsmeteors.org/fireball/fireball_log2009.html
jan 22 Australia 22/01/09 11:31 pm Just saw a huge Meteor/Meteorite in the 
sky. It was fast moving but it probably lasted about 4-5secs before it fell 
out of view behind the next door neighbors house. It was absolutely amazing. 
It was huge I could see it pulsating a greeny/yellow color as it fragmented 
and burned up in the atmosphere.
  http://forums.ski.com.au/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=585335
jan 23 Massachusetts and Rhode Island Observers are reporting a "huge, 
pulsating blue-green fireball" sighted within minutes of 8:48 pm EST on Jan. 
23rd. It was bright enough to be seen through heavy cloud cover, according 
to one witness.
  http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=24&month=01&year=2009
jan 27 USA San Francisco  I spotted something falling last night at about 
9:55pm, facing south.
  http://transientsky.wordpress.com/2009/01/25/jan-2425-meteors/
jan 28 USA Nebraska The color was red/yellow and I think mostly from the 
fire that was surrounding it. There was also a short tail of fire following.
  http://www.ufostalker.com/?eventId=15263
  www.examiner.com/r-6141753~Flaming_fireball_from_the_sky.html
jan 29 USA Illinois 11:00 p.m., I was outside on my deck and witnessed 
something in the sky that completely blew me away. I described it to my 
husband as a huge falling star that had a very long and bright tail.
  http://transientsky.wordpress.com/2009/01/27/jan-252627-meteors/

feb 9 Hawaii  Fireball lights up sky and causes jaws to drop  Joanna 
Spofford, walking with her 3-year-old daughter in Kalama Valley, said, "It 
was the scariest thing in the world."
  http://www.starbulletin.com/news/20090220_Fireball_lights_up_sky_and_causes_jaws_to_drop.html
Feb 10 Canada BC At about 4:30 p.m., an extremely bright, starlike object 
appeared in the sky over the Northern or Central Okanagan, which was seen 
from as far south as Okanagan Falls, south of Penticton.
  http://www.bclocalnews.com/okanagan_similkameen/keremeosreview/lifestyles/39747958.html
Feb 13 USA Kentucky, people in central Kentucky heard loud booms, felt their 
houses shake, and saw a fireball streaking through the sky.
  http://www.counton2.com/cbd/news/local/article/fireball_spotted_streaking_across_sky_in_summerville/20791/
Feb 13 Italy  another fireball at least 10 times brighter than a full Moon 
lit up the sky over Italy.
  http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=16&month=02&year=2009
Feb 14 Argentina  A fireball was seen in two entire provinces 600 kilometers 
from north to south and some 500 from east to west. It had white light that 
turned to blue and finally to greenish blue, with an approximate duration of 
between 5 to 10 seconds. Some witnesses - not all - report hearing a 
detonation."
  http://inexplicata.blogspot.com/2009_02_01_archive.html
Feb 15 USA Texas, A daylight fireball over Texas on Sunday, Feb. 15th, 
Researchers have studied video of the event and concluded that the object 
was likely a natural meteoroid about one meter wide traveling more than 20 
km/s—much faster than orbital debris.
  http://www.counton2.com/cbd/news/local/article/fireball_spotted_streaking_across_sky_in_summerville/20791/
Feb 20 USA MA Nantucket Island  Terry Galschneider was up early watching 
television when she said a dramatic orange fireball “lit up the sky” for 
five seconds.
  http://www.ack.net/022609fireball.html
Feb 21 Houston Texas  Daylight meteor caught by accident on handicam
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjt3d-wA6dw&NR=1
Feb 24 vafb California  probably not a bolide; nice footage anyway
  http://www.sbig.com/allsky/VAFB/VAFBCarbonObservatory.gif
Feb 26 Anderson, California  It occurred at 4 a.m. Feb. 26 outside their 
cottage on Frances Street in Cottonwood."There was a loud explosion and 
bright light," Orsot said."It was a big kaboom," said Leroy Bolls, the 
couple's next-door neighbor. "Like a sonic boom, but real close."
  http://www.andersonvalleypost.com/news/2009/mar/17/unidentified-object-from-sky-hits-vehicle-in/?partner=RSS
Feb 27 Yuba City California
  http://www.geocities.com/stange34@sbcglobal.net/2009more.html

Mar 1 Zimbabwe Africa  A large rock mysteriously falls from the sky in Nkayi 
village,  The rock was heard in the entire Lukampa area as well as Matshena, 
Mbuma and Nkalathi areas. The rock weighs 15kg and is black and very smooth 
outside. It is grey inside. The object could be a meteorite that dropped to 
earth from outer space.
  http://www.zimdiaspora.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=894:a-large-rock-mysteriously-falls-from-the-sky-in-zimbabwes-nkayi-village&catid=38:travel-tips&Itemid=274
Mar 5 Holland  Europe  Klaas Jobse was the fortunate imager of this 
fireball, using his automated all-sky camera system. Unfortunately, sky 
conditions there were rather poor - you can see how cloudy it was for Klaas 
on this image here - so it is probably a measure of the event's brilliance 
that it was recorded at all!
  http://cyclops.klaasjobse.nl/jcms/showpic.php?img=453_20090305_0254UT_web_w658h600.jpg
Mar 6 Holland another the next night.
  http://cyclops.klaasjobse.nl/jcms/showpic.php?img=454_20090306_0214UT_web_w658h600.jpg
Mar 7 Westchester NY  The loud boom heard throughout southern Westchester 
early yesterday morning might have been a meteor crashing through the 
atmosphere at thousands of miles per hour.
Liz Holland, who lives atop a ridge in Mount Kisco, said she happened to be 
looking out a south window around 12:30 a.m. and saw on the horizon a 
brilliant yellow object streaking through the sky in a downward arc.
"It was pretty bright," she said. "It wasn't huge, but bigger than a 
shooting star, like a thick piece of string."
  http://lohud.com/article/20090308/NEWS02/903080385/-1/SPORTS
Mar 10 Rockland NY  Another mystery boom wakes people in region; Witness 
report: I went to work just before 5:15 and pulled out of my driveway and 
drove less then 100 yards when suddenly a light flashed for about 2 seconds. 
THIS LIGHT WAS BRIGHT AS THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY. Immediatly after the light 
was gone, i heard the boom and my car shook violently, and my tires crazily 
vibrated.
  http://www.lohud.com/article/20090310/NEWS02/903100356/1018/news02
Mar 11 Indonesia Daylight fireball
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt2X_P455yk&feature=related
Mar 20 Georgia/Carolinas  Morning boom probably meteor, USC-Aiken astronomer 
says. Dr. Gary Senn, director of the Dupont Planetarium in the Ruth Patrick 
Science Education Center at USC Aiken, says it was a large meteor, 
technically called a bolide.
He said people have reported the sound to be like a clap of thunder. 
Sightings were of a large fireball in the sky.
  http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/latest/lat_500783.shtml
Mar 22 Tasmania  Australia  THE source of a long trail of lights seen by 
many Tasmanians speeding across the sky yesterday afternoon remained unknown 
last night."For an object to be this bright, it would typically need to have 
the mass of a few kilograms.
  "I understand it was seen for up to about nine seconds which is unusually 
long for a meteor, but not unknown.
  http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2009/03/22/62721_todays-news.html
Mar 24 Hawaii Ewa Beach by Westloch Fairways. Fireball lights up sky. At 
approximately 9:15 p.m. Saw the same type of thing (as the feb 9 Hawaii 
event) on that evening, heading in approximately that same direction and 
angle.
  http://www.topix.com/forum/science/T1PMGN78HPT6KJDGH
  (feb 9 event:)
  http://www.starbulletin.com/news/20090220_Fireball_lights_up_sky_and_causes_jaws_to_drop.html
Mar 29 Virginia  US: Multiple Eyewitness Reports of Fireball Sightings off 
Atlantic Coast. at approximately 9:45 pm EDT, people along the Atlantic 
coast of the USA between Maryland and North Carolina witnessed bright lights 
in the sky and heard thunderous rumbles. It was probably a meteoritic 
fireball--a small, random asteroid entering Earth's atmosphere and 
exploding.
  http://www.sott.net/articles/show/180387-US-Multiple-Eyewitness-Reports-of-Fireball-Sightings-off-Atlantic-Coast
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzGg1awug3Q

There are 3 reasons why I think there is indeed an increase in occurancies:
1)The amsmeteors site shows a steady increase in reported fireballs over the 
past 4 years.
http://www.amsmeteors.org/fireballs.html
and to a great extend this increase can be due to the reasons you mention 
(more people having internet, higher meteor popularity etc), but can you 
prove that ALL the increase can be attributed to that?

2)This spanish site uses the same allsky camera viewing set since 2005 and 
also shows an increase in sightings (scroll down to bottom);
http://www.spmn.uji.es/ESP/SPMNlist.html
Events brighter than mag -10:
2005  5
2006  3
2007  11
2008  27

3)Matthias Bärmann already posted this (in German)
http://www.sueddeutsche.de/wissen/678/462297/text/
which he kindly summarized in:
"Refering to Nasa expert David Morrison an increasing accumulation of
meteoritical material in the mud-layer at the deep sea bottom proves that
our solar system passes through a region of denser space-traffic during the
last few years."

Any comments on these supposed proofs for the increase are welcome.

Daphne

-- rocks wrote :
It looks like we're on track to have one meteorite per month:

Oct. Sudan (2008 TC3)
Nov. Buzzard Coulee
Dec. Tamdakht
Jan. Denmark
Feb. West
Mar. Augusta, GA?

One per month is a great fall rate, and I hope they keep coming!  Still, I
don't think this activity is high enough to support your theory of a debris
cloud.  Notice that the 5 most recent confirmed falls have been 5 different
types: Sudan is ureilite, Buzzard Coulee is H4, Tamdakht is H5, Denmark is a
carbonaceous chondrite, and West is L6.  How would your theory support such
a variety of incoming material?

My theory: more fireballs and meteorites are getting reported, but that
doesn't necessarily mean more fireballs and meteorites are occuring.  I'd
like to make 4 points:

1.  Each year, the Earth's population increases.
2.  More people are learning about what meteorites are, thanks to mainstream
TV shows on the History Channel, etc.
3.  More people are learning that meteorites are worth big $$$, thanks to
news coverage.
4.  Each year, more and more people are getting connected to the internet.

Put all of this together, and you have: more people + more awareness + more
motivation + a global way to get news out.  Personally, I think this
explains the higher number of fireballs and witnessed falls getting reported
each year.

I'd like to know what others think about this.

I'd also say that over the past year or two, the meteorite collecting
community has become much more focused on witnessed falls and hammers.  This
means we're not letting any suspected falls get overlooked.  If this Georgia
fireball had happened a few years ago, would it have gotten this much
attention on the list?

All the best-
--Noah

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Meteorites USA" <eric at mete...>
To: <meteorite-list at mete...>
Sent: Monday, March 30, 2009 11:22 AM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Fireballs From The Sky: Bombarded

> Over the past few months or so I've been tracking many fireball sightings
> and suspected new falls all over the world. Recently we've had no fewer
> than 4 right here in the United States. Not to mention the Denmark fall,
> Tamdaught, West, Westchester, Augusta, Sacramento, and the Merced
> Fireball. And the largest meteorite fall in Canadian history Buzzard
> Coulee! I'm sure I'm forgetting some.
>
> Now another big event near MD, VA area:
> http://www.wtop.com/?nid=600&sid=1636442
> <http://www.wtop.com/?nid=600&sid=1636442>
>
> I asked this a week or so ago, but got very little response other than
> "yeah sure".
>
> Isn't this abnormally high meteor activity? Is our planet traveling
> through a large field of asteroidal space debris right now? How can some
> many fireballs and meteorite falls happen in such a short period of time
> unless this were the case?
>
> Regards,
> Eric Wichman
> Meteorites USA
>
>
> ______________________________________________
> http://www.meteoritecentral.com
> Meteorite-list mailing list
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