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Ancient mega-catastrophe paved way for the dinosaurs, spawned Australian continent. Planetary scientists have found evidence of a meteor impact much larger and earlier than the one that killed the dinosaurs -- an impact that they believe caused the biggest mass extinction in Earth's history.The 300-mile-wide crater lies hidden more than a mile beneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. And the gravity measurements that reveal its existence suggest that it could date back about 250 million years -- the time of the Permian-Triassic extinction, when almost all animal life on Earth died out.Its size and location -- in the Wilkes Land...

Clandestine comets found in main asteroid belt 19:00 23 March 2006 NewScientist.com news service Kimm Groshong You do not have to look to the outer edges of the solar system, or even out beyond Neptune to observe a reservoir of comets. A bevy of the ice-containing bodies lies disguised as main-belt asteroids between Mars and Jupiter, claim astronomers from the University of Hawaii, US. David Jewitt and Henry Hsieh have dubbed the new population "main belt comets". They describe three objects with near circular, flat orbits in the asteroid belt that stream volatile materials, producing an observable tail for weeks...

Just saw a spectacular meteor break up over Orange County Ca. It was amazing. It streaked across the sky, grew a long bright yellow/red tail and exploded as it approached the earth. Anyone else see this.

About 8 PM CST, I was out getting my mail. I was facing southwest. The sky was mostly clear. I saw a very short flash, very white, against the houses I was facing. It seemed to be behind me, so I turned around, then facing northeast or north northeast, and then saw a very fat contrail or smoke trail, sort of a yellowish off white with the center portion having some color, red, orange, and maybe a little green The streak, whatever it was, was about 30 or 40 degrees above the horizon, with the left (west) portion being higher...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Alisha Klingenmeyer of Anchorage recalled spotting an orange-red fireball streaking across the sky as she drove north at about 8 p.m. Thursday. Paul Vos was watching a movie with his wife and son at their home in Hope at about 8:30 p.m. the same night when all three saw an arc of light over the mountains in the southern sky.snip This year's Taurids, whose weeklong peak of meteor activity NASA said would start today, were expected to be brighter and more frequent than usual, Chappelow said. "We're running through the (comet's) orbit, which is like a flow,...

'Probably' a non-story, but Washington DC had a big of a 'trick' tonight on Halloween. Hundreds of people flooding 911 lines and local police lines, drivers from all over, reporting a HUGE bright flash of lightin the sky. The entire sky turning blue and orange, loud hissing noises reporterd. Local news say "A huge meteor" must have penetrated the atmosphere, and are now trying to figure out how large it was. But, considering its Halloween, and I'm a sci-fi geek, I'm going to through a shout out to all my "crazy" Coast to Coast friends and say its a sign....

From Air Force Link, 6 September 2002 http://www.af.mil/news/Sep2002/90602255.shtml by Staff Sgt. A.J. Bosker Air Force Print News 09/06/02 - WASHINGTON -- This summer, much of the world watched as India and Pakistan faced-off over the disputed Kashmir region, worried that the showdown could escalate into a nuclear war. Coincidentally, U.S. early warning satellites detected an explosion in the Earth's atmosphere June 6, at the height of the tension, with an energy release estimated to be 12 kilotons. Fortunately the detonation, equivalent to the blast that destroyed Hiroshima, occurred over the Mediterranean Sea. However, if it had occurred at the same...

Perusal of an article about Saddam Hussein's canal-building projects has led a scientist to a startling discovery about the mysterious collapse of Middle East civilisations more than 4,000 years ago. Sharad Master, a geologist at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, saw on satellite images of southern Iraq a large circular depression which he believes is a meteor crater. If confirmed, it would indicate an impact equivalent to hundreds of nuclear bombs, causing devastating fires and flooding in an area which would have been shallow sea at the time. The discovery could explain why so many early cultures went into ...

PORTLAND - A flaming object was spotted streaking through the Saturday night sky across Western Oregon and the impact was heard all the way from Salem to Medford, according to various reports. Newspapers across the western half of the state and KPTV were getting phone calls from people who saw the object. Summer Jensen of Portland said she was sitting in her living room with her father when they saw the flash of light outside and rushed to see what it was. "I've never seen anything like that," Jensen said, adding that the object appeared to be moving slowly compared...

Corkscrew Meteor Mystery While photographing the recently discovered comet Machholz the other night, Jimmy Westlake's mind wandered back to a mystery that'd been bugging him for years. On Jan. 1, 1986, he was photographing another comet, Halley's, through his homemade 8-inch reflecting telescope. "About one minute into the exposure, I watched a meteor zip through the field of the telescope," said Westlake, a professor of physical sciences at Colorado Mountain College in Steamboat Springs, CO. "I stopped the exposure at two minutes." That night, when he developed the roll of slide film, he was astounded at what he saw: "Crossing...

METEOR SPOTTED IN NORTHCENTRAL WISCONSIN? Jan 5, 2005 AUTHORITIES IN NORTH CENTRAL WISCONSIN ARE BLAMING METEOR ACTIVITY FOR CAUSING DOZENS OF REPORTS OF BRIGHT FLASHES OF LIGHT IN THE SKY, AS FROM AN EXPLOSION, LAST EVENING. THE LINCOLN COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT SAYS THE FIRST REPORT CAME IN JUST AFTER SIX P-M AND TOLD OF A LARGE BRIGHT FLASH IN THE TOWN OF HARRISON. MORE REPORTS SOON CAME FROM ALL OVER THE COUNTY ABOUT LIGHTS AND STRANGE NOISES. IN ALL, THE SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT GOT ABOUT 50 CALLS ... AND SIMILAR CALLS WERE RECEIVED IN ONEIDA, TAYLOR, PRICE AND LANGLADE COUNTIES. ACCORDING...

Someone in deep black space deliberately bombards the Earth with meteorites Residents of Jakarta and two other neighboring Indonesian towns were frightened with a series of loud explosions on December 18th overnight. Western special services warned Jakarta of possible terrorists acts in the country on Christmas Eve. The police, however, did not find any destruction either in Jakarta, or near it. Local television channels reported that several people had seen some objects, possibly meteorites, falling down from the sky. There were no meteorites found in the area either. The Indonesian Air Force confirmed the meteorite origin of the above-mentioned explosions...

The object, named 2004 YD5, was about 16 feet (5 meters) wide, though that's a rough estimate based on its distance and assumed reflectivity. Had it entered the atmosphere, it would have exploded high up, experts figure. The asteroid passed just under the orbits of geostationary satellites, which at 22,300 miles (36,000 kilometers) altitude are the highest manmade objects circling Earth. Most other satellites, along with the International Space Station, circle the planet at just a few hundred miles up... the second closest pass of an asteroid ever observed by telescope, according to the Asteroid/Comet Connection, a web site that...

Several loud blasts were heard in the Indonesian capital Jakarta and two other towns nearby early on Sunday, local Metro TV reported. It reported residents heard the blasts around 7.30 a.m. (0030 GMT). Police were not immediately available to comment. Western governments have warned of possible terror attacks in Indonesia over the Christmas and New Year period.

A meteor shower that had some startled motorists calling police is expected to continue over the next few days. Saturday night's light show was part of the Geminids meteor shower, News4 reported. Montgomery and Fairfax county police, along with Dulles Airport and the space agency, NASA, received calls about the spectacle.

Astronomy Picture of the Day 2004 December 7 A Strange Streak Imaged in Australia Credit & Copyright: Wayne Pryde Explanation: Meteor experts don't think it's a meteor. Atmospheric scientists don't think it's lightning. The photographer insists that the streak and flash on the above image has not been created digitally. So what is it? Nobody is sure. APOD's editors do not claim to know - one purpose of posting this image is to mine the eclectic brain trust of APOD's readers to help see if some unusual phenomenon was caught serendipitously. The strange features were captured on a series of...

NORTHERN Territory scientists were last night studying what could be the first photograph of a meteorite hitting Earth. The chances of an impact being captured on film are millions to one. "If this is true, it's one of the most remarkable pictures ever taken," astronomy tutor Geoff Carr said yesterday. The photograph was taken by keen amateur photographer Wayne Pryde as he stood near the Darwin Cenotaph on The Esplanade and looked down to Fort Hill Wharf on Monday evening. The meteorite, which could have been as small as a grain of sand, would have been travelling about 30,000km/h. Mr...

Largest ever field of impact craters uncovered 10:00 07 November 04 The discovery of the largest field of impact craters ever uncovered on Earth is the first evidence that the planet suffered simultaneous meteor impacts in the recent past. The field has gone unnoticed until now because it is partially buried beneath the sands of the Sahara desert in south-west Egypt. Philippe Paillou of Bordeaux University Observatory in Floirac, France, first noticed circular geological structures in the Sahara last year, while analysing radar satellite pictures of the area. The structures turned out to be part of a huge field of...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2004 August 20 Raining Perseids Credit & Copyright: Fred Bruenjes Explanation: Comet dust rained down on planet Earth last week, streaking through dark skies in the annual Perseid meteor shower. So, while enjoying the anticipated space weather, astronomer Fred Bruenjes recorded a series of many 30 second long exposures spanning about six hours on the night of August 11/12 using a wide angle lens. Combining those frames which...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2004 August 12 The Spectrum of a Meteor Credit & Copyright: P. Jenniskens (SETI Inst.), E. Jehin (ESO) et al., FORS1/VLT, ESO Explanation: Chasing the brief flash of a meteor trail across the sky with a very large telescope is a nearly impossible task. But on May 12, 2002, astronomers got lucky, as a bright meteor chanced across the narrow slit of their spectrograph at the Paranal Observatory....

Worldnetdaily.com Did aliens save planet in 1908? Russians say they have found spaceship debris. scientific team researching the site of the Tunguska meteorite crash of 1908 say they have found remnants of an extraterrestrial spacecraft, report a variety of Russian news agencies. .... ....."I am fully confident and I can make an official statement that we were saved by some forces of a superior civilization," Yuri Lavbin said. "They exploded this enormous meteorite that headed towards us with enormous speed," he said. Now this great object that caused the meteorite to explode is found at last. We will continue our...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2004 August 11 A Perseid Meteor Credit & Copyright: Wally Pacholka (Astropics) Explanation: The ongoing Perseid Meteor Shower should be at its strongest tonight and tomorrow night. Although meteors should be visible all night long, the best time to watch will be between 2:00 AM and dawn each night. In dark, moonless, predawn skies you may see dozens of meteors per hour. Sky enthusiasts in Europe and Asia...

   PERSEID METEORS: The Perseid meteor shower is underway. Every hour, 10 or so meteors are streaking from the constellation Perseus, and that number will increase 3- to 5-fold on Wednesday night, August 11th, when the shower peaks. [More]Got clouds? Try listening to the Perseids: audio: Naval Space Surveillance Radar (Kickapoo, Texas)audio: 67 MHz meteor radar (Roswell, New Mexico) When a Perseid flies over one of these meteor radars, they record a ghostly ping. Credit: Live audio provided by engineer Stan Nelson.

Probe to 'look inside' asteroids By Paul Rincon BBC News Online science staff in Paris, France Studies of asteroids would aid Earth-protection strategies A new space mission concept unveiled at a Paris conference aims to look inside asteroids to reveal how they are made. Deep Interior would use radar to probe the origin and evolution of two near-Earth objects less than 1km across. The mission, which could launch some time later this decade, would also give clues to how the planets evolved. The perceived threat of asteroids colliding with our planet has renewed interest in space missions to understand these...

It's the talk of East Texas Thursday. What was that light in the sky Wednesday night? It appears East Texas was right in the middle of a meteor shower. People reported seeing a bright object in the skies from Wichita Falls, to Little Rock, to Houston. That includes all of East Texas. A police car dashboard camera in Dallas, Texas caught the light show on camera. The bright ball with the trailing tail can be clearly seen in the video. Heather Williams in Kilgore says she saw the light show in the front yard of her Kilgore home. "In the...

A large meteor streaked through the Central United States this evening... Did anyone see it? Happened around 9:15 p.m. or so

Today In New Zealand News NewstalkZB A South Island radio station is being swamped with reports of a meteor strike in the Mackenzie Country. People from Christchurch to Timaru say they saw a bright light streaking across the sky around 9.30 on Saturday night. Port FM announcer James Valentine says he has taken dozens of calls describing the dramatic end of the meteor's journey. He says it exploded before it hit the ground, and flames and debris were seen in the sky. James Valentine says a consensus is building around the idea the meteor crashed to earth somewhere near Twizel.

Space Weather News for June 18, 2004 http://spaceweather.com JUNE BOOTID METEORS: Earth is heading for a cloud of dust shed by Comet Pons-Winnecke in the 19th century. An encounter with the cloud might produce a pleasing meteor shower before sunrise on Wednesday, June 23rd. Or not. Forecasters aren't sure. If a shower materializes, sky watchers in western North America and across the Pacific Ocean are favored to see it.

A massive mysterious explosion in Wairoa this morning shook windows and woke people in Mahia, Kotemaori, Ruakituri, Lake Waikaremoana and Wairoa. Wairoa senior sergeant Chris Flood said the explosion occurred about 3.40am. Police called several people around the district. "They report hearing a loud explosion and seeing the whole sky light up. Everyone heard it," Mr Flood said. He thought it might have been a meteor. Department of Conservation Aniwaniwa area manager Glenn Mitchell said he thought the noise was an LPG bottle exploding. "I knew it wasn't a gunshot. It was a large explosion. I drove all around the...

NEW YORK Associated Press editors were forced to retract an earlier report that a meteorite might have hit near Olympia, Wash., this morning after discovering that a source, one Bradley Hammermaster, claiming to be an astronomy professor, had perpetrated a hoax. "An early report that a meteor might have hit turned out to be false," said AP spokesman Jack Stokes. "It looks like a version (of the story) was killed because it talked about a meteorite hitting." He said AP was reviewing how the error occurred. The original story, which AP released at 7:03 a.m. EST, stated that someone identified...

SEATTLE -- Bright flashes and sharp booms were reported in the skies over the Puget Sound area early Thursday, and aviation officials said a meteor may have been the source. An early report that a meteor might have hit near Chehalis, about 90 miles south of the city, turned out to be false, a University of Washington scientist who specializes in meteorites said. Toby Smith, a lecturer in astronomy, told The Associated Press scientists were looking into the cause of the skybursts reported over a wide area about 2:40 a.m. Witnesses along a 60-mile swath of the sound from near...

June 3, 2004 — The Portuguese airforce has been on alert since late Tuesday, when several authorities and witnesses reported seeing a luminous unidentified flying object, the national press reported. "Military radar surveillance has been increased and F16 planes are ready for take-off," tabloid daily Correio da Manha reported Thursday. It said the Portuguese civil protection service had received scores of calls from people who reported briefly seeing a silent, luminous object in the sky on Tuesday night, giving off white smoke. Air force spokesman Colonel Carlos Barbosa confirmed to Lusa news agency that military radars had detected "a target...

January 14 could have been a bad day for George Bush. As the president was preparing to announce America's return to the moon in a speech at the headquarters of Nasa, he was almost asked to deliver a very different message: that the Earth could suffer a devastating asteroid strike within 24 hours. Astronomers have revealed that during a "nine-hour crisis" the night before Mr Bush's speech they believed there was a one in four chance an asteroid would hit the planet in 36 hours. Had it not been for a break in the clouds that allowed an amateur astronomer...

Expedition hunts giant meteor 07.02.2004 By SIMON COLLINS, science reporter An international scientific expedition will fly to Stewart Island next week on a quest to track down a meteor that may have sparked a tsunami that possibly wiped out a legendary Chinese fleet 500 years ago.Expedition leader New York oceanographer Dallas Abbott has found survey evidence of a huge undersea crater caused by a meteor impact 20km wide and more than 153m deep just south of the Snares Islands, 120km southwest of Stewart Island. The expedition is going to remote Mason Bay on the west coast of Stewart Island to...

It came from outer space and we don't care, say museums Giles Tremlett in Madrid Saturday January 24, 2004 The Guardian (UK) A home was yesterday being sought for two fragments of rock from outer space which fell to earth in Spain two weeks ago and which museums there have turned down. The meteor fragments were found by a Spanish journalist, Abel Tarilonte, after a flaming ball of rock was seen shooting across the skies of northern and central Spain. Villagers in the mountains of northern Spain reported hearing and feeling explosions after the bright white fireball passed overhead on...

Police on meteor alert after huge balls of fire light up Spanish sky Giles Tremlett in Madrid Tuesday January 6, 2004 The Guardian (UK) Was it a brightly shining star leading the present-laden three kings to the homes of millions of children at today's Epiphany, Spain's biggest gift-giving day of Christmas? As police scoured a remote mountainous district of the northern León province yesterday for remnants of a large, brilliant, burning object that fell to earth on Sunday, the most likely explanation was that it was part of a meteor. The search concentrated near Renedo de Valderaduey after neighbours saw...

Meteorite hits Iran Fri January 02, 2004 10:48 AM ET TEHRAN (Reuters) - A meteorite has hit northern Iran causing minor damage to property but there were no immediate reports of casualties, state radio has said. It said the impact sent locals in panic onto the streets in the northern town of Babol in Mazandaran province. "A meteorite which hit Babol on Friday morning caused only some minor damage to residential units," radio said, without giving further details or citing any source. It said the impact was felt up to one kilometre away. Iranians are currently mourning at least 30,000...

Modest Geminid Meteor Shower this WeekendBy Joe RaoSPACE.com's Night Sky Columnistposted: 07:00 am ET12 December 2003 The typically reliable Geminid meteor shower will peak this weekend. There will be some windows of opportunity for good viewing, but unfortunately much of the show will be seriously hindered by moonlight. A bright gibbous Moon will have already come over the east-northeast horizon by 10 p.m. on Saturday evening, Dec. 13 for most locations and will light up the sky through the rest of the overnight hours. This moonlight will overpower many of the shooting stars associated with one of the best...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 November 25 A Late Leonid from a Sparse Shower Credit: Mauna Kea CONCAM, The Night Sky Live Project Explanation: The 2003 Leonids Meteor Shower contained relatively few meteors. As expected and unlike the last few years, the Earth just did not pass through any dense particle streams left over by the Sun-orbiting Comet Tempel-Tuttle. Preliminary reports had the peak meteor rates only as high as about one...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 November 18 Leonids Over Indian Cove Credit & Copyright: Wally Pacholka (Astropics) Explanation: One year ago today an impressive meteor shower graced the skies of Earth. Pictured above from last year, at least six bright meteors are visible in only part of the sky above Indian Cove campground in California, USA, during a four-minute exposure. The 2002 Leonids packed a double punch with planet Earth plunging through...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 November 16 Leonids from Leo Credit & Copyright: Juraj Toth (Comenius U. Bratislava), Modra Observatory Explanation: Is Leo leaking? Leo, the famous sky constellation visible on the left of the above all-sky photograph, appears to be the source of all the meteors seen in 1998's Leonids Meteor Shower. That Leonids point back to Leo is not a surprise - it is the reason that this November meteor...

<p>A gigantic blast of scorching gas from the sun crashed into the Earth's magnetic field yesterday. While static touched a few television programs, larger disruptions were averted, thanks to the advanced forecast of the flare supplied by the Space Environment Center (SEC).</p>

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 October 15 Space Rock SQ222 Noticed After Pass Credit & Copyright: LONEOS, Lowell Observatory Explanation: Why didn't we see it? An undetected asteroid zipped past the Earth undetected last month in the closest near miss yet recorded -- within a quarter of the distance to the Moon. Such a close call is actually quite common -- what was new was that we did see it, although the...

A digital picture of a spectacular and apparently explosive event in the sky fooled a pair of seasoned NASA scientists, has other researchers around the globe mystified, and made a minor celebrity of a teenage photographer.Jonathan Burnett, 15, was photographing his friends skateboarding in Pencoed, Wales when one of them noticed a colorful fireball in the sky. Burnett snapped a picture, then sent it to NASA scientists and asked if they knew what it was.Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell, who run NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD), posted the photograph on Oct. 1 and wrote that "a sofa-sized rock...

An Unusual Event Over South Wales Credit & Copyright: Jon Burnett Explanation: Jon Burnett, a teenager from South Wales, UK, was photographing some friends skateboarding last week when the sky did something very strange. By diverting his camera, he was able to document this rare sky event and capture one of the more spectacular sky images yet recorded. Roughly one minute later, he took another picture of the dispersing trial. What is it? Experts disagree. The first guess was a sofa-sized rock that exploded as a daytime fireball, but perhaps a better hypthesis is an unusual airplane contrail reflecting the...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 October 1 A Daytime Fireball Over South Wales Credit & Copyright: Jon Burnett Explanation: Jon Burnett, a teenager from South Wales, UK, was photographing some friends skateboarding last week when the sky did something very strange. High in the distance, a sofa-sized rock came hurtling into the nearby atmosphere of planet Earth and disintegrated. By diverting his camera, he was able to document this rare sky event...

At least 20 people are reported to have been injured after a meteorite crashed to Earth in eastern India. Reports say hundreds of people in the state of Orissa panicked when the fireball streamed across the sky. Burning fragments were said to have fallen over a wide area, destroying several houses. An official in Orissa said the authorities were assessing the damage and trying to recover what was left of the meteor. Reports from Orissa said windows rattled as the meteor passed overhead. "It was all there for just a few seconds but it was like daylight everywhere," one resident...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 August 2 Island Universe, Cosmic Sand Credit & Copyright: Rick Scott Explanation: On August 13, 2002, while counting Perseid meteors under dark, early morning Arizona skies, Rick Scott set out to photograph their fleeting but fiery trails. The equipment he used included a telephoto lens and fast color film. After 21 pictures he'd caught only two meteors, but luckily this was one of them. Tracking the sky,...

Meteor clue to end of Middle East civilisations By Robert Matthews, Science Correspondent (Filed: 04/11/2001) SCIENTISTS have found the first evidence that a devastating meteor impact in the Middle East might have triggered the mysterious collapse of civilisations more than 4,000 years ago. satellite images of southern Iraq have revealed a two-mile-wide impact crater caused by a meteor Studies of satellite images of southern Iraq have revealed a two-mile-wide circular depression which scientists say bears all the hallmarks of an impact crater. If confirmed, it would point to the Middle East being struck by a meteor with the violence equivalent...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 May 6 A Chicago Meteorite Fall Credit & Copyright: Ivan and Colby Navarro Explanation: If you wait long enough, a piece of outer space itself will come right to you. As Colby Navarro worked innocently on the computer, a rock from space crashed through the roof, struck the printer, banged off the wall, and came to rest near the filing cabinet. This occurred around midnight on March...