Thanksgiving Meteor Lights ups Skies over Seattle

Another bright meteor within the past month has lit up the skies over the Western United States. On Thanksgiving night a meteor streaked across the skies over western Washington, and even was captured on live television on the KOMO channnel 4 Queen Anne Tower camera. This meteor entered the atmosphere at about 5 AM on Thanskgiving DAy morning.

Meanwhile, scientists in Canada have reported finding some fragments on the ground from the meteor that was widely televised as it entered the atmosphere last week. The fragments were found along the Battle River along the Alberta-Saskatchewan border.

Asteroid Tracking From Hawaii

One of four new telescopes to discover and track asteroids will be coming online in Hawaii next month. The Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) has the worlds largest digital cameras, measured at 1400 Mega pixels and will be able to take images of large portions of the sky.

The mission of the Pan-STARRS system will be to look for Near Earth Orbiting asteroids and comets (NEOs). These NEOS have potential orbits that may intersect with the Earth. Many of them are still floating around in space and it will be the job of this telescope to find them.

Computer processing will then analyze the images for motion by any asteroids in its field of vision. The cameras on this system will be able to counteract the negative effects that our earth's atmosphere has astro-photography. Gases in the Earth's atmosphere distort images in ordinary telescopes, but these new telescopes will be fitted with chips that help negate these effects.

It is expected that these four telescopes, once they all come online will be able to deliver images far an above your standard earth based telescope. The images will be near Hubble quality.

Aurora on Mars

Aurora were first discovered on Mars back in 2004 by the Mars Express mission. Since NASA now has multiple mission going to the red planet, the have now confirmed and even mapped locations were aurora are likely to occur.

Mars, like Earth has a magnetic field. And research has shown that magnetic fields play a role in the generation of aurora, as electrons in the solar wind pass through. Exactly how these particles interact with the field, and how the resulting ionization of the upper levels of the atmosphere is still a mystery.

On Earth the aurora are commonly known as the 'northern' or 'southern' lights. These occur mainly up in the polar regions of our planet. Occasionally during high sunspot activity they can reach down into the lower latitudes. Our sun is climbing out of a sunspot minimum, so there should be a slow and steady upswing in auroral activity over the couple of years.

I have only seen the aurora on two occasions. Once while on a night trip through North Dakota, and again in Arizona during the big event in 2001. We used to watch for aurora reports in manual weather observations each night to see if they were getting close to our location. Since many weather stations are now automated, you do not get to see the aurora reports as much these days.

The Arizona sighting was one of the more amazing nights I had under the stars. At first, I thought there was a bad forest fire occurring, as the horizon was colored bright red and orange. Then bright white streamers shot out from above. It was impressive.

Sacramento UFO Sighting

Here is a more interesting UFO sighting from Sacramento, California. A television news crew sighted this one, and there were numerous calls to the local television station about the 'strange lights' everyone was seeing.

In looking at the video, I had a flash back to the time I was in Phoenix during the college football bowl season, and got fooled for a few minutes as I was watching the Good Year blimp on the horizon running its advertising banner. Not sure it that is what in this video, but it looks very similar.

Venus Closing in On Jupiter in the Evening Sky

Each night, for the remainder of November you will see Venus get a little bit closer to Jupiter as they get ready for these planets rendezvous with the moon at the end of the month. I think this should be a very interesting site to see in the night sky. Am I stoked? You bet!

It will no doubt lead to an upswing in UFO reports on all the UFO reporting websites. Venus is one of the most common night sky objects that is mistaken for a UFO. Now it is going to get a chance to pair up with Jupiter and the moon. There should be lots of reports coming in!

We have been socked in with clouds here in West Virginia for the past couple of nights. Between the breaks in the clouds this evening, I was able to catch a glimpse of the two planets. They are a little more than a fist's width apart held at arms length . They are best view just after sunset.

We should have very good viewing conditions here in West Virginia for the next few nights. It will be cold. This will keep the humidity down near the surface for good viewing. The problem is the clouds. We have some more storm systems, and possibly snow out in the long run for Thanksgiving. This could really put a damper on seeing these planets get together.

Edmonton and Western Canada Lit up by Fireball

It seems like the 5:30 PM time frame is becoming the choice time for heading out to look for bolides streaking across the sky. The past several nights have seen a lot of fireball activity, most likely in association with the Leonids Meteor Shower, which is just past peak. Last night, we saw reports out of western California, and tonight, New Orleans had a nice fireball sighting.

The latest report comes from Western Canada, where a fireball was visible over a widespread area. The meteor sighting was reported from Edmonton, to Regina. After it fell, the phone lines lit up at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police station in the region as many saw the event.

With the meteor coming down in Canada, there were some reports of it descending to the ground. Others also reported hearing a loud boom as it came down.

Meteor Lights up the Sky over New Orleans

On Thursday evening on November 20th, a fireball streaked across the sky in Louisiana over the city of New Orleans. Some have speculated that it is the lost tool bag from the International Space Station. Not hardly, as the tool bag is slowly spinning away from the space station. It will be carried by its inertia away from the station at a constant rate, until the earth's gravity gains the upper hand, probably in a year or two.

The fireball over New Orleans was visible by many in the early evening, and even the Air Traffic Control Tower made note of its passing.

Possible UFO Sighting by an Airliner?

Found this story about an airliner that reported seeing a UFO on October 28th.

Here is the description of the UFO from the story:

"The UFO has been described as an 'elongated teardrop' and approached the the airliner from the left side. The object was described as moving slowly, and seemed to have a frontal diameter of 8 metres."

To bad there is not too much information in the story, like what airline company, who were the pilots, etc. It does look like an interesting report, but it is tough to lend it much credibility without more information. This story is typical of any UFO report, the lack of pertinent details.

Meteor Streaks Across California Sky

On November 18th, at around 5:30 PM, a fireball streaked across the sky in central California. The object traveled from east to west and broke up into several pieces. The meteor was seen in the Sacramento area, from Modesto to Lincoln. A meteor sighting, probably the same one, was also reported across the San Francisco Bay area at about the same time. Since the Taurids are waning now, this most likely was a meteor that was associated with the Leonids.

Leonids Meteor Shower Report

In my earlier posts about the Leonids meteor shower, I mentioned that you should be prepared for winter like conditions since in the northern latitudes they occur in the middle of November. Here in West Virginia, we got a big shot of winter in the form of snow. We were pretty much socked in with clouds and snow on the past two nights. Last night, we received several inches of snow. Thus, I have a big fat ZERO meteor sightings for this year's Leonids event. I be out on the next couple of nights, and there may be a chance that I can catch a few stragglers after the peak of the event. The next big shower is the Geminids Meteor Shower in December.

At least I will have the conjunction of Venus, Jupiter, and the Moon to look forward to near the end of the month of November to look forward to. They will make for a pretty site at the end of November and during the beginning of December. If you look now, you will see that Venus is slowly catching up with Jupiter on each successive night. Soon, they will both join up near the moon.

The best time to catch these two jewels in the sky will be during the evening hours, just before or after the sun sets.

Chandrayaan-1 Update

Here is another update on India's mission to the moon. Chandrayaan-1 has is now in a succesfful orbit around the moon and sending back a data stram. It lauched a probe and the moon probe made impact with the surface as planned. According to the CNN report the probe was traveling at 1.6 KM per second. That is pretty fast. It probably was obliterated when it landed. However, they were able to see telemetry from the probe as it traveled down. Chandrayann-1, continues to orbit the moon and is sending back data.

Meteor Outbursts Point To More Showers

NASA has set up an "All Sky Sentinel Camera" to monitor the sky for incoming meteors. There are two cameras set 100 miles apart the continuously watch the sky. These nifty little gadgets are computer controlled, so that if a streak of light is detected, they will start recording. They can also determine the origin of the meteor by measuring its trajectory, and comparing it with known comets. So far, in their short period of operations they have detected a number of smaller outbursts, including a single centimeter sized object that produce an explosion equivalent to 500 lbs. of TNT. This particular object was determined to come from the asteroid belt.

Automation of monitoring the skies for meteors is the way to go. You can use video detection as NASA is pursuing, or you can also use radio detection.

In the past, I have seen radio listening stations used as monitors that measured meteor pings. These monitors listened for far away echoes of television stations using Yagi antenna. Computer software then analyzed incoming signals that bounced off the scatter to determine whether it was a meteor or not. The measurements were taken around the 6M band, which is the sweet spot for hams working meteor scatter.

There are some pretty detailed instructions on how to build a meteor detection station, and I used to see some real time information being posted to the web. I have not seen any of these sites in a couple of years, as it seems that interest has waned. Would love to have one of these in my backyard! If you know of any, feel free to drop me a note.

Sonic Booms over Arkansas

Last Sunday night near Ft. Smith Arkansas, a loud sonic boom was heard. Several streaks of light were also seen in conjunction with the boom. So, it is possible that a large meteor entered the earth's atmosphere. Calls came int to the Fort Smith Police between 8:30 pm and 9 pm about residents hearing a large explosion.

Although meteors have been known to produce large explosions and sounds when they enter the atmosphere. There have been several reports on the web that I have found about this event that point to a meteor as being the source of the explosion. It is quite possible that it could have been a meteor associated with a Leonid or Taurid meteor shower.

Geminids Meteor Shower Peak December 14th 2008

It seems like we are in a rut. That rut is that the moon that will be around for the Geminds Meteor Shower that are coming in December 2008. The moon is becoming a little bit of a nuisance by washing out our views of beautiful shooting stars. The last round of showers, the Leonids Meteor Shower , had a moonlight to contend with, and the Geminids of December 2008 will also be just a few days past a full moon. Thus, the bright night sky will make for a difficult night of sky observing.

The Geminids are expected to produce about 75 meteors an hour. However, the moon will likely cut down the actual number that are visible. These showers occur in the heart of winter, so be sure to dress warm if you decide to venture out in the cold night air to view these showers. The meteors will appear to radiate from Caster, one of the brighter stars in the night sky. The best thing about the Geminids is that they are consistent from year to year. Even with a bright moon in place, you should be able to sight a few. So, if you have never seen a shooting star in your life, spend an hour out in the night air on the evenings of December 13th and 14th, and you are bound to see at least a couple. Just be sure to get away from the bright city lights.

In either case, in my opinion, the night sky is just as beautiful to look at with a full moon in place as a new moon. There are still many constellations and features to view with bright moonlight.

India's Lunar mission spacecraft Update

The Chandrayaan lunar spacecraft is expected to make lunar orbit on Saturday November 8th. The spacecraft's liquid rocket engines have already made several firings to increase its orbit trajectory away from the earth. It will make one final manoeuvre to be inserted into lunar orbit.

Several images taken of earth from the craft have already beamed back. The primary purpose of the mission is to map the surface of the moon.

Taurids or Leonids: Which is Which?

So we are heading into early November and there are two great meteor showers to watch, the Taurids and the Leonids. If you get lucky enough to see one of these shooting stars it is pretty easy to figure out which shower it belongs to.

The Taurids shower that generally runs from mid October all of the way into mid November. These meteors are made of of particles of the comet Encke and can produce dazzling fireballs.

The other shower is more famously known as the Leonids shower, and they generally peak towards the middle of the month. Leonids are made up of particles left behind by comet Tempel-Tuttle. Sometimes they can be as bright as the Taurids. About every 33 years, the Leonids showers erupt into a meteor storm during the peak periods. There was a nice run of meteor showers from about 1999 to 2002 associated with the Leonids.

So, if you are out tonight (early November), and you happen to see a meteor or fireball, then it is a pretty good bet that you are seeing meteors associated with the Taurid showers. Taurid meteors are generally yellowish and move slower than meteors from other showers.

A secondary to determine there origin is to look at the path that they take across the sky as they burn out. If you track them from their source in the sky, they will point towards the Taurus constellation. Thus, the aptly name for the showers: Taurids.

At this time of the year the Taurus the Bull is rising in the east as the sun sets. This constellation is almost directly overhead an hour after midnight. If you see a meteor, simply trace its path back towards the constellation it originates from, in this case Taurus the Bull, and you can be rest assured that the meteor belongs to the Taurids group.

By about the middle of the November, the Leonids meteors starting to spin up. As you would guess, the Leonids meteor shower will appear to propagate from the constellation Leo. This constellation rises after midnight for this time of year, so Leonid's will most likely be streaking across the sky from the east.

Moon will be around this year so skies may be a little on the bright side this year. Even with the moon, it will still be worth while to go out and take a look for a little while.

The Substance of Meteorites

Meteors that impact on the earth are commonly known as meteorites. There are several different types of space rock that fall to earth. A quick search of the internet about the types of meteorites yielded a fruitful harvest of information. I found this meteorite information site and learned the following about what substances make up a meteorite.

The are most common ones are made of stone and resemble earth rocks. They are placed into two sub groups called chondrites and achrondrites. Chrondrites are made up of marble sized silicates that stick together. For larger meteorites, internal pressure and heat may melt these little globules together, forming a crystalline structure. Then the meteorite is known as acrhrondritic meteorites.

Other types of meteorites are stony iron meteorites. These have sub-groups as well known as mesosiderites and pallasites. Then there are silicate iron meteorites, and iron meteorites. These are all made up of iron or nickel in various forms.

There seems to be quite a lot of different types of substances that make up meteorites and asteroids. Then there is icy material that is also found in comets. These appear to be building blocks for the rocky planets found in our solar system. Perhaps one was obliterated early in our solar system's history. Or our asteroids are simply leftovers from the early creation of our solar system. Sort of like the scrap lumber you have left over from building a house.

Source: Meteor Types Page

Venus, the Moon, and Jupiter in November

Two planets and Earth's satellite partner, the moon will all join up for a spectacular display by the end of November 2008. Both Venus and Jupiter will be nearing conjunction in our night sky throughout this month. By the end of the month they will be within a thumbnails width of each other by sunset, as view with an outstretched arm. Venus is the one planet that is most mistakenly reported as a UFO. So, look for an upswing in rumours and conspiracy theories of alien bases being built on the dark side of the planet. Hopefully India's lunar mission to map the moon will dispel any notions of little green men on the moon.

Seriously, I am looking forward to this event, as I think it will be a beautiful sight to see in our night skies. By the end of the month, on the 29th and 30th of November, a crescent moon will be visible just below these two planets.

It will also be interesting to track Venus each night as it tries to "catch up" with Jupiter, getting closer with each successive evening.