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The dazzling meteor burned up over the south west of England just after midnight on Thursday, with sightings in South Wales, Hertfordshire and West Sussex. UK Meteor Network (UKMON), which runs a network of 153 detection cameras recording meteors and fireballs over the UK, said the fireball was picked up by fifteen of its cameras at 00:39 BST (23:39 GMT). Over 250 members of the public also reported the event through UKMON's website, after capturing images and footage on their dashcams and video doorbells. Several reports claimed the fireball had a green colour, which may point to the composition of...

NASA’s Meteor Watch confirmed sightings of at least five fireballs soaring through the evening sky over the US last Friday night. In a Facebook post, the Meteor Watch noted that there were at least 80 eyewitness accounts of a massive fireball soaring over the North Carolina coast, becoming visible at around 7:40 pm. The giant space rock eventually disintegrated after covering 26 miles through the upper atmosphere at an estimated 32,000 mph. It’s unclear from the Facebook post whether a single meteor broke up to form multiple smaller fireballs during its descent, or if multiple fireballs blazed through the upper...

Last night, Feb. 23-24, sky watchers in the western half of North America witnessed a spectacular cluster of fireballs and meteors. We now know it was the re-entry and breakup of a Chinese rocket body, specifically stage 3 of the CZ-4B rocket that launched the Yaogan Weixing 26 satellite in Dec. 2014. - Donny Mott photographed the glowing debris from Spirit Lake, Idaho. According to satellite tracking expert Ted Molczan, "there are confirmed sightings from Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Montana, British Columbia, Alberta."

A color composite image of the June 3, 2010, Jupiter impact flash. Credit: Anthony Wesley observing from Broken Hill, Australia. In a paper published Thursday in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, a group of professional and amateur astronomers announced that Jupiter is getting hit surprisingly often by small asteroids, lighting up the giant planet's atmosphere with frequent fireballs. "Jupiter is a big gravitational vacuum cleaner," said co-author and JPL astronomer Glenn Orton. "It is clear now that relatively small objects left over from the formation of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago still hit Jupiter frequently." The impacts are...

For 15 years, scientists have benefited from data gleaned by U.S. classified satellites of natural fireball events in Earth's atmosphere — but no longer. A recent U.S. military policy decision now explicitly states that observations by hush-hush government spacecraft of incoming bolides and fireballs are classified secret and are not to be released, SPACE.com has learned. The satellites' main objectives include detecting nuclear bomb tests, and their characterizations of asteroids and lesser meteoroids as they crash through the atmosphere has been a byproduct data bonanza for scientists. The upshot: Space rocks that explode in the atmosphere are now classified.

For 15 years, scientists have benefited from data gleaned by U.S. classified satellites of natural fireball events in Earth's atmosphere — but no longer. A recent U.S. military policy decision now explicitly states that observations by hush-hush government spacecraft of incoming bolides and fireballs are classified secret and are not to be released, SPACE.com has learned.

A recent U.S. military policy decision now explicitly states that observations by hush-hush government spacecraft of incoming bolides and fireballs are classified secret and are not to be released, SPACE.com has learned. The satellites' main objectives include detecting nuclear bomb tests, and their characterizations of asteroids and lesser meteoroids as they crash through the atmosphere has been a byproduct data bonanza for scientists. The upshot: Space rocks that explode in the atmosphere are now classified. "It's baffling to us why this would suddenly change," said one scientist familiar with the work. "It's unfortunate because there was this great synergy...a very...

The Taurid meteors, sometimes called the "Halloween fireballs," show up between mid-October and mid-November, but Nov. 5 to 12 will likely be the best time to look for them this year, taking into account both their peak of activity and the effect of increasingly bright moonlight on viewing conditions. After the Moon sets – around 11 p.m. local time on Nov. 5, later on subsequent nights – some 10 to 15 meteors may appear per hour. They are often yellowish-orange and, as meteors go, appear to move rather slowly. Their name comes from the way they seem to radiate from...

A naked man was accidentally shocked in the genitals by a Taser after he was found breaking windows and asking women to touch him in appropriately, police said. Jeremy J. Miljour, 26, of Bonita Springs, attempted to run when approached by Lee County sheriff's deputies Saturday. When he ignored requested to stop, Deputy Daniel Hollywood shot Miljour with a Taser. One of the Taser prongs accidentally hit Miljour's genitals and got stuck, said Cpl. Matt Chitwood. Officers are taught to aim for the torso, but it was difficult for officers to aim because Miljour was moving, Chitwood said. "The Taser...