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GREAT FIREBALL:
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. 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.
LEONID METEOR UPDATE:
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:
The surge occurred when Earth passed through
a double-stream of debris from Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. We
call it a "double-stream" because it consists of
dust ejected from the comet on two occasions, in 1466 AD and
1533 AD. Earth is exiting the double-stream now, but low-level
Leonid activity continues. Listen for pings on the meteor
radar. .
UPDATED:
2009
Leonid Meteor Gallery
[previous Leonids: 1998,
2001,
2002,
2006]
GOODBYE SUN:
"The last week has been special with the sun rising in
the south and setting in the south only an hour later,"
reports Fredrik Broms of Kvaløya, Norway. "But today
(Nov. 16) the sun barely made it above the horizon."
He photographed the few visible rays using a Nikon
D3:
"Now sky watchers around the Arctic Circle enter the
long polar night when the sun doesn't rise at all. How long
this period lasts depends on your latitude. Here in northern
Norway, the sun won't be back until the end of January."
"Goodbye sun, until 2010!"
November
Northern Lights Gallery
[previous Novembers: 2008,
2007, 2006,
2004, 2003,
2002, 2001]
Explore
the Sunspot Cycle |
