Armageddon??? Deep Impact??

[SaskatchewanScreamer]

Mysterious light over the Canadian prairies was like "a missile coming down". A giant fireball made itself known over Alberta and Saskatchewan last night ......someone in Saskatchewan might find a nice new very heavy rock (if they are lucky): http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=12ee211d-6185-4e8e-b339-05c0141b8532

Two videos at this link are a must see (especially the one that looks like it was taken from a dash board camera in a police cruiser):
http://canwest.a.mms.mavenapps.net/mms/rt/1/site/canwest-globalnational-pub01-live/current/launch.html?maven_playerId=onlyonline&maven_referralObject=3211530

[HURAKAN]

Impressive but not unique. A few years ago the same was recorded in the Canadian skies.

[SaskatchewanScreamer]

oops I thought for sure I put this in the astronomy and geology forum.....please move it (and thank you to the mods).

[SaskatchewanScreamer]

I know...re not unique but I figured a catchy headline might make people look at it (and I still think it's pretty amazing) and I know those that spotted it were very nervous.

[HURAKAN]

We have been lucky that no major cities have been impacted by these small meteors. They may be small but the kinetic energy behind them could cause series trouble in a metropolitan area.

[SaskatchewanScreamer]

"We have been lucky that no major cities have been impacted by these small meteors. They may be small but the kinetic energy behind them could cause series trouble in a metropolitan area."

I must admit that is why I decided to put "Armageddon" in the title.

I can't begin to imagine what would have happened if Edmonton (population I believe to be well over a million now) had been struck by it.

[Aslkahuna]

Based upon the video, the bolide was rather brighter than full Moon. From this one can deduce that whatever hit the ground (in pieces) would probably do a number on any roof that was hit or mangle a car but no threat to a city. OTOH, one like Tunguska (which appeared brighter than the Sun according to reports) would level Edmonton if it airbursted there. Most of the incoming object would have been disintegrated in the very visible explosions.

Steve

[SaskatchewanScreamer]

"No meteorite fragments have been found yet, but some of the witnesses who said they saw something fall are likely right, said Dr. Christopher Herd, a University of Alberta earth and atmospheric sciences professor.

Herd was getting reports of the meteor touching down in all parts of Alberta.

"It's a massive fireball; it's one of the brightest that we've seen in the area. And it almost certainly dropped meteorites, it looks somewhere around the Alberta-Saskatchewan border," he said.

Scientists who are interested in finding meteorite fragments may have a number of sites to choose from.

"It was a pretty good-size rock that came in, and these rocks tend to fragment into pieces," Herd said.

"If anything makes it to the ground, there'll be probably a number of pieces spread over an area of a few kilometres across, so that's basically what we're looking for now."
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story ... close.html

Must admit imagination takes hold when something like this is sighted ...I did read however that it could have been up to the size of a Volkswagon Beetle when it entered our atmosphere. They also reported that the pictures were taken through cloud cover and that a sighted breakup occurred well passed Edmonton. My daughter lives near where it (or it's pieces) "may" have landed and they didn't feel the earth shake so your right at impact? it's effect was almost negligible (except to those who may find them).

[HurricaneBill]

Wasn't there footage in the 1990s of a fireball streaking across the sky around Philadelphia and then later it bounced off the hood of a car in NYC?

[Aslkahuna]

Don't know if it hit in NYC exactly, but yes it was videotaped from a football stadium where a game was in progress. The car was owned by a teenaged girl and the trunk was pretty mangled.

Steve

[Cyclone1]

I saw it today, in Central Florida... It had to be this one, how many giant, highly visible meteors can hit in one hour? It was only visible to me for about 3 seconds or so, but I caught the end of it.

[JonathanBelles]

I really wish I had known about this. I would have been up and watching.

[Cyclone1]

I was driving home, happened to look up at the exact right time, and saw it. I had a friend driving in front of me, we pulled over and confirmed that we had indeed both seen it. It was crazy, I couldn't believe what I had just seen. I got home, saw the news article, but was surprised to hear Canada...

[Extremeweatherguy]

I was driving home, happened to look up at the exact right time, and saw it. I had a friend driving in front of me, we pulled over and confirmed that we had indeed both seen it. It was crazy, I couldn't believe what I had just seen. I got home, saw the news article, but was surprised to hear Canada...

When did your incident occur? Because the Canadian fireball mentioned in the article above happened last Thursday night.

[RL3AO]

I really wish I had known about this. I would have been up and watching.

I don't think anyone knew about it. Its too small to be dectected before it hits Earth (though they got that one over Africa before hand, but that was three meters wide).

[SaskatchewanScreamer]

Here is a newscast of the one sighted here http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ ... /News,Pick ......it has another recording of the asteroid, that I'm assuming was taken prior to breakup and it is spectacular (more so then the video taken from the police cruiser cam).

Note they are interviewing people and it takes awhile to see the newest recording that I referred to above (an advert may also show first).

[Cyclenall]

How could it have been the same one if you saw it Saturday and not Thursday?

[SaskatchewanScreamer]

Definitely not the same one that was sighted here in Canada......the one here made itself known over Edmonton early Thursday evening and it continued southeast just into Saskatchewan before it's final breakup (probably over a farmer's field).

Here's another video taken by security camera around the town of Biggar, Saskatchewan (I'm guessing it's location is about 275 miles east of Edmonton) : http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourvoice/yourvi ... Id=3213004

In the summer, out on a farm with all the yard lights off (no light pollution here), we usually see lovely meteor showers (some have tails that last more than a few seconds) but no one I know has seen a sight like what was seen here on the northern prairies this past Thursday.

[somethingfunny]

That's an awesome video. But:

http://www.storm2k.org/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?f=67&t=103888

It's the Taurid Meteor shower which is associated with Encke's Comet. and which has elevated activity about every 3 years with a high frequency of fireballs.

Steve

Granted, the one I saw a week or two ago here in Texas was not NEARLY the size or brightness of that one.

[cycloneye]