"It was loud enough to shake the house" (meteor in Missouri)

NASA suspects meteor in Webster County's big boom.
June 19

Paul Kesterson was getting ready for work Friday morning when two thunderous explosions a split second apart rocked the sky above his home.

...

NASA scientist Mike Mumma said the likely culprit was a "sizable" meteor ripping apart as it blasted through the atmosphere at 100,000 mph.

"From the description of buildings and windows shaking, that's a fairly significant sonic boom," said Mumma, chief scientist of planetary research at Goddard Research Center in Greenbelt, Md. "It would have been much larger than fist-sized to make that loud of a noise and generate that much energy. I couldn't speculate how big, though."

Don Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near Earth Object monitoring program in Pasadena, Calif., said a meteor that shakes homes and windows could have been the size of a small car.
http://www.news-leader.com/today/0619-Itwasloude-115160.html

Seems like a lot of things falling from the sky lately?

Surprise Meteor Shower Possible in June
June 18

Meteor enthusiasts will likely be out in force in the coming nights, hoping to catch a glimpse of an on-again, off-again meteor display. Special emphasis will be placed on two specific nights: June 22-23 and June 26-27.

Ironically, the month of June is usually not noteworthy for any major meteor showers.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=96&ncid=96&e=2&u=/space/20040618/sc_space/surprisemeteorshowerpossibleinjune

And remember that "snowball intercept" story - a ham radio operator in January supposedly picked up the transmission of a countdown to a June 20 impact? If so, here's something more to make you go oh oh:

Couple dies of apparent murder-suicide
June 17

Hascup and Mr. Stedenfeld would talk about many things but Hascup recalled his friend was particularly interested in meteors. At times, Mr. Stedenfeld would alert his friend of a predicted meteor sighting.

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=11990263&BRD=1918&PAG=461&dept_id=506868&rfi=6

These buggars seem to be falling all over the place.

MOST interesting.

:freak:
dbt

You beat me to the punch.

what I know is trickling through your brain.

Please... every time someone mentions it might rain, it does.

Spidey senses tingling? Ughh...

...if the world doesn't end. I'll be very disappointed.

:)

I guess "Aussie Bloke" (widely believed to be a hoax, he's a supposed aussie astronomer who has been talking about a dust cloud and an anomaly of some sort heading towards earth, scheduled to hit between june 18 and 20, and then the worse, second wave would hit 24-25, and the 3rd would hit 27-28 (that one is the 'anomaly' whatever that is).

But yeah, the ships (not only our Navy, but lots of Navies) are out to sea, and large meteors are falling.

Things that make you go hmmmmmmm.

Is it the end of mankind, or not?

Is it the beginning of another ice age, or not?

so can we hold off for another week?

And even that just calls for the return of the timelords, who will hold a big party and everybody on Earth is invited, but they haven't said where (according to an ancient Mayan vase that is being deciphered).

The last time the timelords got together, the Mayan calendar was born, btw.

Science channel show last night on "time." Perhaps we are being visited from the future right now. ;)

This is the time of year we get the June Taurids. (There is also another phase called the November Taurids.) Historically, the June Taurids (actually around May 25-July 15) have given us a number of big strikes. The big meteor that hit the Moon in the 12th century was a June Taurid, as most likley was the strike in 2350 BCE, which was recorded by ancient observers in Europe and Central Asia. Seismographic instruments left on the Moon by Apollo missions regularly recorded peaks of meteor impacts in mid-June and November.

The June, and the November Taurids are associated with the break-up of a big comet, probably less than 50,000 years ago. A piece of that remains as Comet Encke, which has a 3.3-year period. It is, by far, the largest meteor stream in the Solar System, even though it seldom produces bright meteor storms.

There's a lot of stuff on the internet about this because of the work of astronomers Bill Napier and Victor Clube -- the end-of-the-world crowd got into it. Here's a fairly good link in spite of the foofaraw: http://www.innerx.net/personal/tsmith/encke.html

--bkl

So the first part of "Aussie Guy's" doomsday predix was that June 8 & 9 the Earth would be enveloped in clouds of space/meteor dust and that the sun would be dimmed if visible at all.

Didn't happen. Don't worry.

And somebody fessed up to the hoax. Don't worry.

And, hey, if the Earth ends because of meteor impacts at least the bush and the US didn't cause it which is the scenario of which I'm much most terrified.

Actually, we were enveloped in thickened space dust and meteor chunks. The Sun dimmed, but so little that you'd need some sophisticated instrumentation to detect it.

It happens every year around this time.

The hoax is certainly related to modern folk mythology about the Taurid meteor stream, which is associated with Comet Encke. I believe that this year, we are due to pass through the denser part of the stream. This meteor stream is potentially dangerous, because it may contain some very large objects, but this is mainly an educated guess. This summer will probably be a golden opportunity to observe the inner stream in detail.

Interesting stuff, and a little spooky for EotW fans, but I wouldn't cancel any appointments over the next few weeks to prepare for the End of the World.

--bkl

I did not know about the Taurid Stream...

What a great excuse to haul out the lawn chairs and stargaze!

Tansy Gold, in an area of Arizona that doesn't have too much light pollution. . . . at least not yet. . . . .

There sure is a lot of talk these days about "high altitude" sonic booms being reported. For reference, remember, the meteor story is the same story the government gave to the East Coast back during the Golan Heights War, when the US was flying over with SR-71's. The planes would take off from New York, still going Supersonic on their returns.

Methinks this also has to do with the more recent sightings of strange contrails in Texas and the West, resembling a pulse-thrust engine. Extreme High altitude bombers and a coverup??? Makes a hell of a lot more sense than some damn crackpot end-of-the-world coverup.

when their pulse engines are going boom boom boom.

I haven't heard anything about that with these impacts.

between the navy ships and the meteors? I know you really think we should all focus on these "earthshattering" developments instead of silly, unimportant like like exposing chimp's evil and sending him back to crawford, but if you're going to provide DU with thse blockbusters of investigative reporting isn't it incumbent upon you to convert the closeminded masses with clearly articulated, detailed information?

ships can survive at sea much better than on the battering docks in the event of a tsuami...
that is what I read in another Bloke related thread.

caught just a glimpse of something on CNN (?) yesterday. An unusual comet that behaved and looked not like normal comets are supposed to. It was very brief and I have no details as to when this was 'discovered' or where it is, etc. No name to google, nothing.

anyone else see this?

called "foot prints" or something.

oh, here it is at space.com

http://www.news-leader.com/today/0619-Itwasloude-115160.html

had a a 50 mile deep crater and a long plume, they said. Impressive. Was NOT a "dirty snowball" as they expected.

Theories fly on 'mystery' meteor sighting
http://www.themercury.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,9876610%255E421,00.html

SOMETHING fell out of the sky over the NSW south coast two nights ago.

And if you listen to Tahmoor truck driver Peter Brazel, chugging home on the Hume Highway sometime around 9pm, it was probably a meteor - and about as big as a house.

"I've never seen anything like it in my bloody life," Mr Brazel said yesterday.

The object - "sort of bright white, a silvery colour. And big, really big" - plummeted east of the Hume, somewhere between Bulli and Lake Cataract, before exploding into a remote escarpment, he said.

"At first I thought it was an aircraft falling out of the sky, so I pulled over. Then I saw this bright flash as it hit the ground," he said. "It was a bloody good show, actually. I wish I had my camera."

He was not the only one.

We've been covering the odd coincidence of huge numbers of naval ships being at sea, the increasing number of meteors being reported, including one Friday morning over Missouri that was "loud enough to shake the house" http://www.news-leader.com/today/0619-Itwasloude-115160.html. In part there are some ready explanations for the increase in meteors, including the supposition that the now dozen or so sighted in the past week are part of a "surprise" meteor shower called the Bootids - which you can study up on over at MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5241392/ And if you are collecting oddities, here's a report of a military exercise at Ft. Bragg going on presently which is called Operation Orbit Comet! http://www.wral.com/fayettevillenews/3417516/detail.html. Our normal inclination to be a little suspicious of things was not put to rest when George Bush and John McCain traveled out West at week's end - talking to soldiers at Ft. Lewis - before going on to be in Reno Nevada today. Why would this make us worry? Well, the elevation of Reno is 4,498 feet or so, and if there were going to be impacts from anything, I can't think of a better place to be, except maybe Denver...or better still, Pegosa Springs, Colorado up at 7,095 feet. On the other hand, my diesel generator is not here yet, and I plan on working on house rebuilding projects all day, so no, this would not be a convenient day for the world to end, thanks. The rumor mill has it scheduled for tomorrow, anyway.
http://www.urbansurvival.com/week.htm

Rendtel points out that on Sunday, June 27 at 01h GMT (which corresponds to Saturday, June 26 at 9:00 p.m. EDT) the Earth should be passing through essentially the very same region of the meteoroid stream as in 1998.
That time would be the middle of the peak activity seen in 1998, but since that display lasted for many hours, observers worldwide should stay alert through Saturday night on into Sunday morning for any unusual or enhanced meteor activity.

On the other hand, David Asher’s belief is that little or nothing will be observed, based primarily on the simple argument that unusual numbers of bright meteors should also have been seen in 1992 and 1986, but nothing apparently occurred.

In recent days, a different forecast for the June Bootids has been issued by Jerimie Vaubaillon of the Institut de Mécanique Céleste et de Calcul des Éphémérides, in Paris, France and Russians Sergey Dubrovsky and Sergey Shanov.

Their calculations suggest that the Earth will interact with a swarm of meteoroids that were ejected by Comet Pons-Winnecke at not just one, but several of its past visits to the Sun, most notably in 1819, 1825, 1830, 1836 and perhaps 1875. In addition, the predicted peak for this activity comes several days earlier than Rendtel’s suggestion: Wednesday, June 23 at 11h GMT (7 a.m. EDT).

Western North America and the Pacific Ocean will still be in darkness at that time, and are favored with the best possible views. But should the activity last for many hours, then it could be worthwhile to carefully watch the sky from Tuesday night, the 22nd, on until the first light of dawn on Wednesday, the 23rd.

Whether you plan to look for the June Bootids on the night of June 22-23 or again on the night of June 26-27, keep in mind that the constellation of Bootes will be excellently positioned as darkness falls. It will appear nearly overhead and high up in the northern sky and will remain in view through the night as it descends toward the northwest.
http://space.com/spacewatch/bootid_meteors_040618.html

> The part of Earth where dawn is breaking is always at the leading edge of our planet's plunge along its orbital path around the Sun. This part of the planet tends to "catch" oncoming meteors left by a comet, whereas the other side of Earth, where it is dusk or late evening, outruns the debris. For that reason, the hours between midnight and dawn are typically the best time to watch a meteor shower.

> Allow time for your eyes to adjust to darkness. A good hour is smart, so that you can also practice some prior to prime observing time.

> Dress warmer than you think you need to, especially in winter.

> Bring a lounge chair or blanket, so you can relax and look up with ease.

> During meteor showers, shooting stars appear to emanate from a point in the sky called the radiant. There are different ideas about how to use this fact to aid in spotting meteors. Robert Lunsford has these thoughts:

One idea is that it is preferable to look away from the radiant so that the shower meteors you see will be longer and therefore easy to detect motion. As Mark Davis stated one should look 20-40 degrees distant. At this distance the radiant is still in your field of view so that shower association is still fairly easy.

Those who look directly at the radiant can see shower activity travel in any direction. Shower association will be fairly obvious. Meteors that appear near the radiant will be foreshortened and therefore the motion will be more difficult to detect.

I would suggest that new observers face slightly away from the radiant. Those who enjoy good perception over a large field of view may be able to directly face the radiant with no problems. Those who prefer to face the radiant must not do so unless the radiant is at least 50 degrees high in the sky. If you don't then you are wasting the bottom portion of your field of view on the ground!
http://www.space.com/spacewatch/meteor_forecast.html



This illustration, among the most famous depictions of the 1833 Leonid meteor shower, was produced some 50 years after the event. The depiction is through the eyes of a government civil servant on his way from Florida to New Orleans.

http://www.space.com/php/multimedia/imagedisplay/img_display.php?pic=l... .

http://www.space.com/images/tempeltuttle_orbit_0111_02,0.jpg
Screaming Meteors: Why the Leonids move so fast.


there are some great photos here
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/astronomy/leonids_wow_011119.htm...



The radiant of the Leonids at 2:28 a.m. ET on Nov. 19 from high northern latitudes such as Toronto, Canada. Skywatchers need not focus on the radiant to spot shooting stars.



Norwegian astrophotographer Arne Danielsen captured this spectacular Leonid fireball on November 18, 1999.