UFO over Miami Skies

An object described as a red ball of fire flew through the skies of Miami on the evening of November 29th at around 7pm. From witness reports to local new agencies, such as CBS 4 TV, it sounds like a Chinese Lantern or maybe some sort of hoax. Chinese lanterns are often mistaken as UFOS and frequently reported as glowing orbs of light. If the lantern happens to catch fire, then it could produce a fireball like effect.

That did not stop local police and fire departments from spending a good portion of the evening searching for the object. The object was reported from people who live near Southwest 84th Street and 52nd Avenue.

It turns out that an object was recovered that was described to be a burning piece of wire mesh, probably what is left of the Chinese Lantern

Mercury in December, Messenger Encounter

Mercury, our solar system's smallest planet will be visible in our southwestern sky for the better part of the month of December. The best chances to catch Mercury will be during the second week of December, when it will reach the highest point, and it will be at its brightest.

The planet will be visible just after sunset in the early evening sky. On December 18th, the crescent moon will be just above and to the left of Mercury, so if you have never spotted the little red planet, then the moon will provide a great guide post. On each successive night the moon will slip further away.

After a couple of flybys of Mercury, which occurred on January 14, 2008 and October 6, 2008 NASA's Messenger spacecraft is set to enter an more permanent orbit on March 18, 2011. A more recent flyby took place on September 29, 2009.

Messenger is expected to orbit the planet for one earth year, mapping the planet for imagery, topography, and gravity field measurements. There is also a theory that Mercury is shrinking due to its core freezing. The spacecraft will look for evidence of surface buckling.

December 2009 Meteor Showers

December offers a few meteor showers of note. However, this time of year, the nights are cold and frosty in the northern part of the world. If you decide to head out into the night air, be sure to bundle up and stay warm! Here is the viewing times for meteor showers in December 2009:

Phoenicids 5-7 December
Puppid-Velids 6-8 December
Geminids 13-15 December
Ursids 21-23 December

The more well known shower for December are the Geminds. The Geminids have an interesting distinction from all other meteor showers in that the Geminids meteors do not originate from an active comet. They actually the dust left from 3200 Phaeton which is classified as an extinct comet. The Geminids are also one of the more colorful showers to view, rivaling the colors brought on by the Persieds.

It is thought that 3200 Phateon once contained enough ice to produce a tail. However, 3200 Phateon does not exhibit this property anymore. The ice that was associated with this extinct comet has long since evaporated. All that remains within the core of 3200 Phateon is mostly rock. Therefore, it closely resembles and asteroid in it make-up.

Fireball streaks across South African Skies

Last Saturday during the late evening hours, a meteor streaked across the skies in South Africa. The fireball entered the Earth's atmosphere around 11 PM local time and tracked across Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and Botswana. As it streaked across the sky, it had a blue-green color.

It believed to have landed in the Lampopo province. There were several reports that included sonic booms, or sounds of an impact.

If you happen to have video footage of this fireball, the Johannesburg Planetarium would like to have a look. There are additional reports and information about the meteor on their webpage. The footage could be used to help make a determination where the object may have landed. There is an interested in recovering any possible debris for study.

Asteroid Hits Earth in 2012?

The premise of the popular 2012 movie is not based on an asteroid striking the earth. But, the movie does touch on the Mayan belief that the world will come to an end due to cataclysmic cosmic events. The movie itself is made up of a bunch of improbable disasters, that are quite physically impossible, in a similiar fashion as events are portrayed in the "The Day After Tomorrow." (Ahh yes, another fine Roland Emmerich flick.)

Could an asteroid take out the planet earth in 2012 instead? That one I will not answer, but there is a really interesting web site provided by NASA that lists Near Earth Objects. The site indicates potential for impact, along with an indicator on how dangerous the objects pose to the earth. The website covers passes by objects with the potential for hitting the earth for about the next hundred years or so. This site does not include yet to be discovered objects, and new ones are occasionally added to the list.

The Near Earth Object site lists 2007 VK184 as the most dangerous known object to the Earth. It is set to pass close by on June 3, 2048. This asteroid has about a 1 in 3400 hundred chance of striking the earth on when it passes by in 2048. This basically means that there is a 99.9% chance that the asteroid will miss us. Whew! By the way, 2007 VK184 is about 130 meters across, so if it does impact the Earth, it could cause significant destruction.

Here the link to the site that lists near earth objects by NASA.

Dawn Spacecraft Enters Asteroid Belt

NASA's Dawn spacecraft has made its way into the asteroid belt and will stay there for the remainder of its mission. Dawn was launched On September 27,2007 and first made entry into the asteroid belt for a brief period in June 2008 for about 40 days. Its orbit then carried the craft out of the belt. Now it will remain within the belt for the remainder of its mission.

The Dawn mission will study these two asteroids to learn about the formation of planets in our solar system. It will be the first ever to orbit two planetary bodies on a single voyage. There are considerable differences between Cera and Vesta. Vesta is thought to be made of rocky material then Ceres has more water bearing minerals and may contain large amounts of ice. Usually, objects that have icy materials are found in the outer reaches of the solar system. Scientists are interested in looking for any links between the formation of our planets, and as well is gaining a better understanding of the geology of these two bodies.

Now Dawn will remain in the belt and will make its way to two of the largest bodies within the belt, Vesta and Ceres. Dawn is expected to reach Vespa in 2011, a little under two years. Then it will depart in 2012 and head for Ceres in 2015.

Meteor, Most Likely "not" a Leonid Stirs Up Utah

Around midnight last night a meteor streaked across the sky in and around Salt Lake City, Utah. It was visible to thousands across much of northern Utah. The meteor came in from the northeast and streaked towards the south. It was most likely was not associated with the Leonid meteor shower, which peaked just yesterday. Eye witness accounts and later analysis has suggested that this was a sporadic bollide.

It exploded in the sky and produced a significant amount of light, giving off a greenish hue. Some reports of a sonic boom were also made. Sonic booms associated with meteors are quite common.

You can head on over to Fox 13's report on the meteor and catch a glimpse of the object, and the light show it produced on some security cam footage as it came into the Earth's atmosphere.

In addition to the report, a significant number of people left comments on the Fox 13 report saw the event. There are a couple of comments from Toole county that indicate that the meteor either came close to the ground there, or may have possibly hit the ground in Toole County.

I once witnessed something like this in Northeastern Arizona a couple of years ago, but only the resultant bright green light. The meteor exploded somewhere off to the north in the event I saw, but the security camera footage from the report above looked very similar to what I saw at that time.

Near Miss Asteroid

A couple of days ago, asteroid 2009VA whizzed by the earth, coming within 8,700 miles (~14000 km) of the earth. This is the third closest approach of a known asteroid. The space rock was 23 feet across, which is a modest size for an asteroid. In fact, objects of this size are known to strike the earth about once every 5 years. The Tugunska, Siberia impact in 1908 is said to have been caused by an object that was 100 feet across. The Tugunska event wiped out about 1200 square miles of forest.

The Catalina Sky Survey discovered asteroid 2009VA about 15 hours before it made its closest approach. The obit has been calculated by JPL's Near-Earth Object Program Office and the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, MA. Asteroid 2009VA is moving a little faster then the earth in its orbit, and is now cruising our towards the orbital path of Mars.

It will cross the orbital path of Mars well before Mars arrives. So, both Mars and the Earht have little to fear from this piece of space rock...for now.