Fireball over northern Italy - September 03, 2013

A bright fireball has been seen over northern Italy aroud 02:12 local time (00:12 UT) of September 03, 2013.

Recently we installed an All-Sky camera on Mount Matajur Observatory - Italy (MPC Code B68). This all-sky camera is the first step toward remote observing from Matajur Observatory as it will be very important to check the sky conditions before the observing sessions and to image transient phenomena like yesterday fireball. While the camera is still in the testing phase, it has been able to image the flash by this bright fireball. See our video below showing the flash from the fireball and the frames just before and after the event. Click on the thumbnail for a bigger version.

Below you can see an image & video of this Fireball imaged from Ferrara by a meteor-cam station of IMTN ( Italian Meteor and TLE Network ) group.

Some witnesses in the Veneto region have reported hearing sounds (such as explosions) after the passage of the fireball.

On the same night, at 02:26 local time (00:26 UT) - 14 minutes after the Fireball - our All-Sky camera imaged another bright meteor. You can see the image and the animation below (click here or on the thumbnail for a bigger version). 

by Luca Donato, Ernesto Guido & Massimiliano Travagini

Perseids 2010

The Perseid 2010 peak was expected on the night of August 12-13 between 18h and 07h UT with a ZHR (Zenithal Hourly Rate) of ~100 meteors per hour. (ZHR is a number that assumes a dark sky and the shower radiant at the zenith).

According to the first and preliminary results published on the IMO website, the observed ZHR maximum has been around 80-90 Perseids per hour in good agreement with the previsions of the dust stream models. The Perseid meteor shower is associated with the comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. When the dust particles, spread out all along its orbit by this comet, strikes Earth's atmosphere, we see Perseids in the sky. The ZHR change accordingly to the Earth passing distance to the nearest comet dust trails and to its density. (the Perseid 2009 had a ZHR ~200)

Perseids 2010 - Activity Profile (courtesy IMO)

While the ZHR is decreasing, this meteor shower is not over yet and will last for the next few days.

Below you can find a meteor composite image (because the images were collected over several hours, the radiant of the shower is spread out) + animation. The images have been collected by our meteorcam located in Castellammare di Stabia (Italy) from 21h UT of August 12, 2010 to 03h UT of August 13, 2010. Most of this meteors are Perseids.

by Ernesto Guido

GEMINIDS 2009

This weekend, Earth passed through a stream of debris from 3200 Phaethon. In 1983 Whipple identified Phaethon like the parent of Geminid meteor stream. But it has never displayed unambiguous cometary activity.

The Geminids provide the most impressive meteor display of any of the annual showers.

Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office, prepared a plot showing how the shower has intensified since its discovery. Jupiter's gravity has been acting on Phaethon's debris stream, causing it to shift more and more toward Earth's orbit:

 

Preliminary counts from the International Meteor Organization (IMO) shows that the Geminids meteors reached a ZHR (max) ~ 130/150 around 20/21 UT of Dec. 13, so roughly 8/9 hours before the predicted peak scheduled for around 5 UT of Dec. 14. Radio meteor observations all over the world seems to confirm that the peak arrived 4/5 hours early on the predictions:

(Credit: RMO)

 

According to IMO Meteor Shower Calendar "the Geminid peak has shown slight signs of variability in its rates and timing in recent years"

Our meteorcam, located in Castellammare di Stabia (Italy), imaged 44 meteors (35 were Geminids) on 12/13 December, one day before the peak. Unfortunately clouds prevented us to follow the Geminids through the maximum rate. These are a composite image (because the images were collected over several hours, the radiant of the shower is spread out) + animation:

The all-sky camera of Cloudbait Observatory (Colorado, Usa) recorded 419 Gemind meteors between sunset on December 9 and sunrise on December 14 (232 on on the peak night of December 13/14).

by Ernesto Guido

South African Fireball - November 21

After the Utah Fireball on Nov. 18, another bright fireball has been seen over South Africa aroud 11pm local time of Nov. 21, 2009. The meteor was spotted by dozens people as it passed over Johannesburg and Pretoria in Kauteng province on Saturday. Below the footage from a security camera in Burgersfort in the Limpopo Province:

(Credit: Christo van Graan - Burgersfort)

While below you can see a CCTV footage of the fireball over the skies of Gauteng

by Ernesto Guido

Leonids 2009

According to preliminary counts from the International Meteor Organization (IMO) the Leonids meteors reached a ZHR(max) ~ 120/130 around 22UT of Nov. 17, as predicted by forecasters.

The ZHR surge, witnessed by observers in Asia, occurred when Earth passed through the debris left from Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle in 1466 AD and 1533 AD. When Earth exit these streams, the ZHR count fall to the value ~30/40.

Our meteorcam starting to image at 23:30 UT of Nov. 17. In 5 hours of imaging, our camera detected 35 meteors, of which 26 were leonids. This is a composite of the brightest meteors (mostly leonids) imaged by the meteorcam from 23:30 UT of Nov.17 to 04:30 UT of Nov. 18 (because the images were collected over several hours, the radiant of the shower is spread out):

While checking online all-sky cameras around the web, I found this nice fireball imaged by the Sbig All-Sky camera on Nov. 17 at 02:20am local time:

Below  you can see the video sequence showing the fireball and its trail:

by Ernesto Guido

Netherlands Fireball - October 13, 2009

A bright fireball has been reported to streak across the sky in the Netherlands by many observers at approximately 1658 UT on Oct. 13th. The bolide breaks apart into a half-dozen fragments, and a trail in the sky remained visible for many minutes.

(Credit: Jan de Vries)

(Credit: Robert Mikaelyan, The Netherlands)

(Credit: Maciej Libert, The Netherlands)

According to Spaceweather website: "Royal Dutch Meteorology Institute listening post detected strong infrasound (low-frequency sound) waves, apparently confirming a high-altitude breakup event". More images of both the fireball and the trail can be seen here.

Several thousand meteors of fireball magnitude occur in the Earth's atmosphere each day. Most occur over the oceans and uninhabited regions and many are masked by daylight. The brighter the fireball, the more rare is the even.

by Ernesto Guido