Curious Green Fireball Events

[durabone]

This article seems related to many statements here about comets, and other aerial phenomena.
And Space Weather has at least some minor amount of credibility:

_http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=17&month=12&year=2009

CURIOUS EVENTS IN NEBRASKA: "Last night, Dec. 16th at 9 p.m. CST, a very bright meteor lit up the completely overcast sky like lightning in southeast Nebraska," reports Trooper Jerry Chab of the Nebraska State Patrol. "It flashed for approximately 2 seconds and was followed by sonic booms and ground shaking, which prompted many calls by the public to law enforcement in a three county wide area." Meanwhile, the USGS says there was a magnitude 3.5 earthquake near Auburn, Nebraska, at 8:53 pm, about the same time and place as the fireball. This map shows the nominal epicenter:

"If the earthquake is confirmed, as it appears to be, I think we have the most cosmic of coincidences: A large fireball around the same time of an earthquake," says Chab. "I am simply amazed!"

One possible interpretation of these events is that a small asteroid hit Earth's atmosphere and caused the ground to shake when it exploded in mid-air. However, the timing might not be right. The quake seems to have preceded the fireball. Several readers have pointed out studies that associate lightning-like phenomena with earthquakes: #1, #2, #3. So, the earthquake might be responsible for both the shaking and the light show. Or it might be a big coincidence just as Chab suggests.

More reports could help sort out the possibilities. Readers in Nebraska with photos or eyewitness accounts are encouraged to submit their observations.

A little more:


Nebraska Fireball: Dec. 16, 2009
Readers, if you witnessed or photographed this event, please submit a report.

Summary: The nature of this event is uncertain--indeed, it might be more than one event. Around 9 pm on Dec. 16th, sky watchers in southeast Nebraska saw a brilliant fireball streak across the sky. It was so bright that observers with overcast skies saw it shining through clouds. Telephones in news stations and police departments rang with reports of bright lights, loud sounds, and ground shaking. Minutes earlier, around 8:53 pm CST, the USGS says there was a magnitude 3.5 earthquake in southeastern Nebraska:

Earthquakes in Nebraska are rare, so what are the odds of one happening within minutes of a meteoritic fireball? This might be a cosmic coincidence. Or there could be some yet-to-be-explained linkage between the events. Readers with photos or eyewitness reports are invited to submit them here.

Eyewitness Accounts:

Location: 5 miles NW of Pawnee City, Nebraska
Comments: Nebraska State Trooper Jerry Chab: "At 2100 CST tonight a very bright meteor lit up the entire completely overcast sky like lightning in southeast Nebraska. It flashed for approximately 1.5-2 seconds and was followed by sonic booms and ground shaking which prompted many calls by the public to law enforcement in a three County wide area."

"I was approximately 5 miles NW of Pawnee City, Ne. when I observed the flashes," Chab continues. "It was a very bright one, the sky dimmed a bit and it was followed by another bright flash. Between the two bright flashes the sky never completely dimmed. Again, this all occurred within 1.5-2 seconds. I talked to a truck driver who was approx. 8 miles straight East of me who saw the same thing. A local Deputy was about 16 miles ENE of me and also saw it. The first 911 call came at 2201. The calls were about explosions AND earthquakes. One individual call mentioned 'two' explosions. I attributed the calls to sonic booms."

"If the Earthquake is confirmed, as it appears to be, I think we have the most cosmic of coincidences: A large fireball around the same time of an Earthquake. I am simply amazed!!"

Location: Nebraska City, Nebraska (near Auburn, Nebraska)
Comments: Laurie Riley: "It sounded like the loud grain haulers that go by but about 5 times louder. The whole house shook. The kids came running down stairs – they were scared. The only thing I noticed last night is my vehicle was moved – since it’s been snowing and ice out, I park backwards and park with two tires on my sidewalk for traction and after the quake, it shook my vehicle so the back tire slide off the sidewalk and the front tire was almost off. It lasted about 5 seconds or so. Very loud rumble."

Location: Warren County, Missouri
Comments: Doug Kniffen: "My daughter and I saw the fireball from east central Missouri (Warren County). 9:05pm on my wristwatch (set to WWV). The fireball appeared about magnitude -6, with distinctly green streamers outlining the tail. Certainly an impressive sight, sure wish I had a picture. Very low apparent altitude, would have missed it if the trees hadn't dropped their leaves. Told my daughter that there was a good chance of fresh meterorites in Nebraska. Nice to know that my estimate of a fall zone was close."

Location: Hastings, Nebraska
Comments: Rich Cartier: "Sitting in a well-lit living room watching TV, I noticed out the east-facing living room window a bright fireball heading from northwest to southeast. It lasted about 2 seconds with a bright flash at the end. It was remarkable, since it was overcast, and I was in a bright room, yet it still caught my eye."

Location: between Wichita and Andover, Kansas
Comments: Alan Howarter: "At about 9:06 pm on Wednesday, December 16, 2009 I was driving North and witnessed what appeared to be a very bright meteor toward the northeast that lit up for a couple of seconds."

Location: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Comments: Rick Foster: "I saw a huge green fireball at 9:03 pm from Oklahoma City almost due north. Very low on horizon. Looked like it was moving NW to SE. I was in my truck driving north on I-35. It was very large, green with orange sparks and very short tail."

 

[durabone]

I dug up a related email that I sent to my colleagues not too long ago.

>>>

Subject: Indonesian Asteroid hit 10/08/2009

_http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=28&month=10&year=2009

Second story down borders on strange. The article says that the
ground shook like an earthquake, and that the Infrasound network
for monitoring nuclear blasts heard it 10,000 miles away. Well, excuse
me, but 10,000 miles is almost a full hemisphere! And when one looks
at the antipode of Indonesia on the globe, one finds the Caribbean.

Also:

_http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18046-asteroid-blast-reveals-holes-in-earths-defences.html

So an asteroid strikes Indonesia with 3x the power of the Hiroshima blast
in WWII, and we only hear about it in an incidental SpaceWeather story
3 weeks later?! Maybe I just missed it in the news? Ok, it blew up in
the atmosphere, so no crater, and likely no seismic rubble, any fragment
craters or damage?

"The asteroid that caused the blast was not known before it hit,
and took astronomers completely by surprise."

Questions:

- How can a 10 meter rock (20m by other reports) slip through NORAD and everything else??

- Does such a blast produce an EMP pulse that can be seen in magnetometer sensors??
(searching for a solid time hack, best so far is "October 8, 2009 about 03:00 Greenwich time" ..)

I don't know if Congress/UN/CTBTO is going to react to all of this in the form of $$,
but there could be some opportunity worth paying attention to.

eg, given the timing of the event, amplification by Augustine's panel can be noted here:

_http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/6425811/Asteroids-should-be-next-small-step-for-man-in-space-panel-tells-President-Barack-Obama.html

 

[durabone]

From earlier SOTT and thread here for South Africa: (http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=14893.0)

The meteor appears as a brilliant green light before it explodes on the horizon, transforming into an orange ball of flame.

green and orange seems to be a theme

 

[durabone]

This got started as I was trying to determine whether we have any magnetometer indications of exploding meteors/sounds.
So this post is a little of work, and a little of share with you.

Okay I quickly have realized that I am out of my element and out of my league. I had NO IDEA that this phenomenon was so common!
(This is also a cool site: _http://www.imo.net/fireball/observations)

I tried to limit the reports to those greenies that either exploded or shook the ground, but I quickly blurred with just way too many reports!!

 

[durabone]

With this provocative bit of history whetting my appetite:

"Other green fireball sightings occurred over Los Alamos on December 11, 13, 14, 20, 28, and January 6, 1949, raising the level of concern of security and military intelligence.[citation needed] The green fireball on December 20 was most remarkable in that it was seen to change direction,[citation needed] quite impossible for a meteor. Two security guards saw it first descending at a 45-degree angle, then leveling off at an altitude of about two miles. Even though at most only a few miles distant, no sound was heard, just as with the other green fireballs.

After his own sighting and interviewing numerous witnesses, LaPaz had concluded that "green fireballs" were an artificial phenomenon. On February 8 he met with Dr. Joseph Kaplan, a UCLA geophysicist and member of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board. Kaplan, himself a meteor expert[citation needed], agreed they could not be conventional meteorite falls[citation needed] and informed LaPaz that he knew of no secret military projects that could explain the fireballs. He found LaPaz's data on the fireballs unsettling and felt an investigation was needed in the name of national security.[citation needed]

LaPaz's informal scientific study for the Air Force quickly became formal, being called the “Conference on Aerial Phenomena," convening at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory in mid-February to review the data.[citation needed] The assembled people—both military personnel and civilian scientists—were informed by LaPaz that the fireballs were not the result of any secret military project, according to Dr. Kaplan. LaPaz reiterated that he was absolutely convinced the green fireballs were not conventional fireballs or meteorites. Dr. Edward Teller felt they could not be material objects because they made no sound and suggested they might be some unknown atmospheric electrical phenomena.[citation needed] In any event, he thought they could not be foreign probes of some kind.

The scientists felt that a network of instrument stations should be established to photograph and analyze the fireballs. Despite the recommendation and the continuation of the green fireballs at a rate of about half a dozen a month, LaPaz and AFOSI oddly encountered both resistance and apathy from Air Force authorities responsible for setting up such a network.[citation needed]

By April 1949 similar sights were reported over a nuclear-weapons storage facility at Fort Hood in Texas.[citation needed] The intrusions were deemed so serious that, unlike the Air Force, the Army quickly set up an observation network. Sightings continued through August, the most spectacular being on June 6 when a hovering orange light, 30 to 70 feet across and a mile in the air, was spotted. Finally, it started moving in level flight and then burst into small particles.[citation needed]

On July 24 a green fireball was observed falling close to Socorro, New Mexico. Dust samples were collected at the School of Mines there and were found to contain large particles of copper. LaPaz found this highly significant, since copper burns with the same yellow-green color characteristic of the green fireballs. He also noted that if the copper particles came from the green fireballs, then they could not be conventional meteorites, since copper was never found in dust of meteoritic origin. LaPaz suggested that further air and ground samples be taken in areas where the fireballs were seen.

At the same time, AFOSI informed LaPaz on investigations of "anomalous luminous phenomena" between early June and early August. Many of the green fireballs were now descending on vertical paths, whereas initially they almost always traveled horizontally.[citation needed]

Another Los Alamos conference convened on October 14. No one disputed the reality of the phenomena and nobody could explain it.[citation needed] Among the puzzles were the sudden onset and the high concentration of sightings in New Mexico, quite unlike natural phenomena. Despite this, it was decided the fireballs were probably atmospheric in origin. Instrumented observations—photographic, triangulation, and spectroscopic—were deemed essential to solving the mystery.

On November 3 Dr. Kaplan brought the plan to the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board at the Pentagon. Kaplan by this time had decided the fireballs might be a new type of rare meteor. Nonetheless, most of the scientists remained puzzled by the brightness, trajectories, and absence of sound. Seeming to contradict his meteor hypothesis, Kaplan also said, "This high selectivity of direction seems to indicate that some group was trying to pinpoint Los Alamos with a new sort of weapon." Concerns were expressed about the possibility of panic and the need for continued secrecy.

Project Twinkle

Finally, on December 20 after nearly a year of foot-dragging, the instrument observation program was approved and Project Twinkle was born. The first instrument post (consisting of two officers) was established at Holloman Air Force Base in February 1950. Only one other instrument post was ever set up. LaPaz criticized Project Twinkle as inadequate, arguing the green fireballs were worthy of "intensive, systematic investigation". Twinkle did manage to record a few events, but the data collected was said to be incomplete in the final Twinkle report. Besides, it was stated, no funding had been provided for follow-up data analysis. In addition, the fireball activity near the observation posts seemed to virtually disappear,[citation needed] as noted in a report from September: "It may be considered significant that fireballs have ceased abruptly as soon as a systematic watch was set up."

Over the objections of LaPaz and others, the final report on Project Twinkle (see external links) concluded the green lights were probably a natural event, maybe sunspot activity or an unusual concentration of meteors. The report stated, "There has been no indication that even the somewhat strange observations often called 'Green Fireballs' are anything but natural phenomena." Twinkle was discontinued in December 1951.

Despite efforts of the final Twinkle report to downplay the fireballs and other studied UFO phenomena as natural, a follow-up report in February 1952 from the USAF Directorate of Intelligence disagreed:
"The Scientific Advisory Board Secretariat has suggested that this project not be declassified for a variety of reasons, chief among which is that no scientific explanation for any of the fireballs and other phenomena was revealed by the report and that some reputable scientists still believe that the observed phenomena are man-made."[citation needed]

It was also stated that some of the scientists continued to believe they were Russian spy devices. Besides LaPaz, this included Dr. Anthony Mirarchi, the first director of Project Twinkle.[citation needed]
The following month, another letter from the Directorate of Intelligence to the Research Division of the Directorate of Research and Development again stated that the report should not be publicly released, since no real solution had been provided:
"It is believed that a release of the information to the public in its present condition would cause undue speculation and give rise to unwarranted fears among the populace such as occurred in previous releases on unidentified flying objects. This results from releases when there has been no real solution."
[edit]Opinions of Los Alamos scientists

Edward J. Ruppelt, director of the USAF Project Blue Book UFO study, stated he visited the Los Alamos National Laboratory in early 1952 and spoke to various scientists and technicians there, all of whom had experienced green fireball sightings. None of them believed they had a conventional explanation, such as a new natural phenomenon, secret government project, or psychologically enlarged meteors.[citation needed] Instead, the scientists speculated that they were extraterrestrial probes "projected into our atmosphere from a 'spaceship' hovering several hundred miles above the earth."[citation needed] Ruppelt commented, "Two years ago I would have been amazed to hear a group of reputable scientists make such a startling statement. Now, however, I took it as a matter of course. I'd heard the same type of statement many times before from equally qualified groups."[6]
However, such opinions were apparently not unanimous. Immediately afterwards, Ruppelt said he visited LaPaz in Albuquerque. Ruppelt reported that "LaPaz said that some people, including Dr. Joseph Kaplan and Dr. Edward Teller, thought that the green fireballs were natural meteors. But he didn't think so." LaPaz then reiterated the various anomalous characteristics which led him to believe the fireballs were artificial. Ruppelt also mentioned that he had previously met with Kaplan earlier in Los Angeles, and although Kaplan respected LaPaz professionally, he was not convinced that the fireballs were man-made.
Ruppelt further mentioned that he discussed the issue with some of the people who had been at the Los Alamos meeting in February 1949, but did not provide any names. "People who were at that meeting have told me that Dr. LaPaz's theory was very interesting and that each point was carefully considered. But evidently it wasn't conclusive enough because when the conference broke up, after two days, it was decided that the green fireballs were a natural phenomenon of some kind." However, despite what Ruppelt may have been told and then reported in his book, there is nothing in the actual transcript of the conference that indicates that such a group decision was ever reached. Instead, opinions remained divided, much puzzlement was expressed, and further research was recommended to help resolve the issue.

Green fireballs after Project Twinkle

Despite the discontinuation of Project Twinkle, green fireballs were still occasionally sighted and LaPaz continued to comment. In early November, 1951, a month before the official termination of Twinkle, a huge flurry of green fireball sightings occurred in the Southwest and other states. LaPaz was widely quoted saying that such a concentration of fireballs was unprecedented in history, and he didn't believe they were a natural phenomenon. (more details below in Atomic testing and fallout theory) In April 1952 the green fireballs and Project Twinkle were written up in a famous Life magazine article titled "Have We Visitors From Space?" A recent green fireball incident over Arizona from November 1951 was mentioned. LaPaz again repeated why the fireballs could not be ordinary meteors. The article also described LaPaz's UFO sighting near Roswell, New Mexico, on July 10, 1947, about the same time as the famous Roswell UFO incident. LaPaz, however, remained anonymous. Also described was a 1949 UFO sighting by astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, the discoverer of Pluto (Life magazine article).

Condon Committee theory

In the 1969 Condon Committee UFO report, astronomer William K. Hartmann thought the green fireballs might be explained by lunar material ejected during recent meteor impacts on the Moon's surface [3]. Hartmann's reasoning was that such ejected lunar meteors could account for the abnormally low velocities calculated for the green fireballs by LaPaz of about Earth's escape velocity, that is, much lower than normal meteor velocities. Hartmann further claimed, without explanation or elaboration, that "the predicted characteristics match those of the 'green fireball episode'."
However, this theory would not account for the many other anomalous characteristics of the green fireballs detailed by LaPaz, such as strong confinement to the New Mexico area, lime-green color, low altitude yet absence of sound, absence of smoke trail, and absence of meteorite fragments. Despite the entirely speculative nature of Hartmann's hypothesis, it is sometimes cited as scientific fact: for example, astronomer Carl Sagan presented it as such in his Cosmos television series in 1980.

(source: _http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_fireballs)

 

[durabone]

I looked at some recent reports.

Searches:

Green Meteor
Green orange meteor
Green bolide
Green orange bolide
Green asteroid
Green orange asteroid
Green fireball
Green orange fireball


Midwest, USA, 1998/03/31

While driving home last night I spotted a green meteor of my own. I don't
know if it is related to the central Arkansas meteor, unless the final
position of the meteor was given incorrectly by that observer. I haven't
done any calculations to check where my meteor would be located in central
Arkansas skies, or whether it would even be visible. (source: _http://meteorobs.org/maillist/msg07524.html)


New Zealand, Date: 2003/06/13

Strange glow emenates from Jonathon and Martha Kents' cornfields.....(source deprecated: _http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3507224&thesection=news&thesubsection=general)


Australia, Date: 2006/11/29

“It was green like a meteorite or shooting star,” a caller named Jeff told ABC Radio around 8:30pm. “It was really pretty bright and you could see something else coming down as well, but what it was I don’t know,” he concluded. The extraterrestrial inferno left a trail of debris through the twilight sky, according to another witness, Monty, from the town of Kaniva, near the South Australian border. “The trail hung in the sky for at least 15 minutes afterward like a jet stream,” he said. Meanwhile Brian, a farmer from Bendigo in Victoria, said he and his wife, who were outside at the time, believed they may have witnessed the object’s earthly demise. “We looked up and there was a green comet-like thing dropping out of the western sky,” he said. “It dropped over the trees at the back of our property and it was making a tail as it went down.”


Singapore, Date: 2007/01/09

SINGAPORE : If you are among many who sighted green streaks in the sky at about 7.30pm on Sunday, astronomers say you had probably seen a meteor. James Chong could still visualise the green streak when he shut his eyes. (source: _http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/251470/1/.html)


Ottawa, Ontario, Canada 2008/05/30

"As I waited for a traffic light to change, a magnitude -6 or -7 (!) fireball quickly got my attention even with all the city light pollution. It started about halfway up in the north, moved rather slowly and ended low in the north-east. This was one of the most vividly multi-colored meteor that I've even seen!!! Starting green and then turning deep blue and then PURPLE!!!!! The end had a dramatic break-up of at least 4-5 orange colored pieces before fading away." (source: _http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/meteorobs/message/35018)


Yorktown, Va, USA, date: 2008/08/03

"With my head turned away, I saw enough light to see my shadow - I though it was a Park Ranger shining a spot or a car pulling into the turn off. Then I figured the illumination was coming from too high an angle - my shadow was cast down into my eyepiece box. When I turned, I heard a sizzling sound and saw two broken trails of meteor light, nearly colinear, but they were separate white and bright green streaks. Each trail was broken - dashes of varying lengths of green along one path or white along the other line." (source: _http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/meteorobs/message/34966)


New Mexico, USA, date: 2008/10/28

"I am pleased to report that I just eye-witnessed a major fireball event out my window. This fireball was traveling east to
west, possibly over central Colorado. It was long trailed, turquoise and green, and shed sparks"


Starksboro, Vermont, Date: 2008/11/06

"About 4:30 am in Starksboro Vermont on Thursday Nov 6, 2008 I was driving
north to work and my attention was drawn away from the road to the west
where I saw the longest ,brightest tail and a bright green ball that
exploded!" (source: _http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/meteorobs/message/35642)


Saskatchawan, Canada, date: 2008/11/21

A brilliant green fireball startled onlookers across western Canada on Nov. 20th (5:30 pm MST) when it split the evening sky and fragmented during a series of thunderous explosions. "The sky was lit up almost like daytime for 3 or 4 seconds," reports Gordon Blomgren of Alberta. Murray McDonnell of northwestern Saskatchewan says "my wife and I saw a brilliant flash of blue white light, like lightning. About one minute later a long rumbling sound shook the house." (much detail: _http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/meteorobs/message/35730)


Modesto, CA, date: 2008/12/27

Regarding this entry in the AMS Fireball Sightings Log for 2008:
705d Dec 27 0155 PST Andrew Modesto California
NW45-SE30 -11 5 Blue/Green N N Y Delayed sonic boom (source: _http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/meteorobs/message/36280 & _http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/meteorobs/message/36054)


Poland, date: 2009/01/18

Dutch reports mention a few seconds duration, greenish colours and fragmentation
and a brightness of at least -8 if not more. time: 19:10 UTC = 20:10 CET.

The Polish Fireball Network also captured the flash of the fireball, but
not, as yet, an image of the path. They do have several visual reports.
Kamil Zloczewski has kindly provided the following information, with a
link to the blog (source/video: _http://www.pkim.org/?q=pl/node/1095)


Florida, USA, date: 2009/03/13

We have several reports of a green to fireball meteor traveling west to east in
the upper Keys of Florida near the city if Islamorada
Michelle Thornton
USCG Sector Key West (source: _http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/meteorobs/message/36406)


Calgary, Canada, date: 2009/03/31

out 6:34 am. on March 31, 2009, a white to greenish fireball flew across the sky of Calgary, Alberta. From what I saw, the fireball was going from the NW to the SE over Calgary before it broke ... (source: _http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwDSZqnXJ4Q)


California, USA, date: 2009/04/07

"This Bolide's duration was apprx. 1 second ending in a single brilliant explosion bright enough to be visible goodly distances and likely well into Nevada" (source: _http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com/2009/04/north-central-california-bolide-7apr09.html)


Pennsylvania, USA, date: 2008/08/05

"There were pale sparks and orange flames that turned blue-green. Then it was like a fireball, and right before it disappeared, there was a flash like it exploded and it was gone. It lit up the sky like heat lightning." (source: _http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=9320.msg66958#msg66958)


Ontario Canada date: 2009/08/24

"I think I just a meteor! It made a bang and it fell from the sky and it was blue-ish/green-ish." (source _http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=13438.msg99391#msg99391)


Indonesia, date: 2009/10/08/2009

(source: _http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=28&month=10&year=2009)
Comment: Second story down borders on strange. The article says that the
ground shook like an earthquake, and that the Infrasound network
for monitoring nuclear blasts heard it 10,000 miles away. Well, excuse
me, but 10,000 miles is almost a full hemisphere!


Utah, USA, date: 2009/11/18

(video here: _http://www.nowpublic.com/strange/meteor-flashing-through-utah-skies-november-18-2009-video-5) This may perhaps be another video: _http://spacy.videosift.com/video/Bright-green-meteor-fall-caught-on-CCTV-camera)


Queensland, Australia 2009/11/19

EXPERTS say a fire ball that streaked across the sky above south-east Queensland last night was a "chip off the old block of some asteroid". The meteor was spotted by people from the Sunshine Coast, the Gold Coast and across Brisbane around 9.45pm. Witnesses said the meteor was a green glow travelling from south-east to north-west, leaving a visible trail for 10 to 15 minutes. (source: _http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com/2009/11/australia-meteormeteorite-news-brisbane.html)


South Africa, date: 2009/11/27

One witness told the Sun: “We saw this big green ball of fire. It kind of came out of the sky, out of the blue. “There was a sudden flash, like an orange stripe in the sky, followed by a very bright explosion where the sky lit up as if it was daytime.” (video here: _http://www.disinfo.com/2009/11/meteor-exploding-over-south-africa-video/)


Virginia/Pennsylvania, USA, date: 2009/11/27

"We saw it fly over Southeastern Pennsylvania about that time." (source: _http://www.city-data.com/forum/hampton-roads-area/827390-green-meteor-spotted.html)


Germany, date: 2009/12/08

The object was first sighted over Braunschweig aroung 11:40 pm, but people in Celle, Delmenhorst, Lüneburg, Grabow, Kiel and Hannover also spotted the fireball streaking across the sky. The Network for Researching Unusual Heavenly Phenomena (CENAP) said on Tuesday the object eventually broke up into brightly glowing pieces before disappearing." (source: _http://www.thelocal.de/sci-tech/20091208-23807.html)


Mojave California, USA, date: 2009/12/09

Green meteor lights up night sky A green meteor was seen over the Mojave Desert in California as part of the annual Geminid meteor shower. (source: _http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/6838751/Green-meteor-lights-up-night-sky.html)


Nebraska, USA, date: 2009/12/16

CURIOUS EVENTS IN NEBRASKA: "Last night, Dec. 16th at 9 p.m. CST, a very bright meteor lit up the completely overcast sky like lightning in southeast Nebraska," reports Trooper Jerry Chab of the Nebraska State Patrol. "It flashed for approximately 2 seconds and was followed by sonic booms and ground shaking, which prompted many calls by the public to law enforcement in a three county wide area." Meanwhile, the USGS says there was a magnitude 3.5 earthquake near Auburn, Nebraska, at 8:53 pm, about the same time and place as the fireball. (source: _http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=17&month=12&year=2009)

 

[durabone]

Conclusions:

Not many really, except that it is reported a lot, lot more than I ever would have thought.

Is NORAD completely quiet on the subject? Dunno.

At least one report claims that astronomers "had no idea" until it struck! ("It" in this case is claimed to be a rock 10 meters in diameter, far larger than any ICBM)

Green, sometimes green/blue, sometimes with orange flames/sparks, sometimes with explosion, sometimes with ground shaking.

Here's some related posts here:


Edmonton (Canada): Light flashes across sky

Fireball over Southern Sweden and Eastern Denmark

Fireball in Ontario

Satellites Collide?

A UFO in Cumberland County?

Incoming! Meteor Crash in Peru?


I guess I'm done for now. (It's almost the weekend!!!)

 

[durabone]

Oh, does anyone recall any inputs from the C's on the subject? Thx.

 

[anart]

I saw a two green fireballs over Colorado about a decade ago (at different times). Since copper burns green, meaning the 'copper oxidation spectrum' is green, I figured they were just tiny meteorites composed, at least in part, of copper. I think there are a few other elements that burn green as well, actually.

As far as it being anomalous that there are no meteor fragments or smoke trails, I'm not sure that's really relevant, since if it burned up as a fireball, there would, likely, be no fragments left. The ones I saw were at night, so I couldn't have seen a smoke trail anyway, but I would think the smoke trail would be hard to see due to the small size - but I may have seen something else all together, and not the type of green fireballs he's talking about - and, as always, I could be missing something.

 

[Mountain Crown]

CURIOUS EVENTS IN NEBRASKA: "Last night, Dec. 16th at 9 p.m. CST, a very bright meteor lit up the completely overcast sky like lightning in southeast Nebraska,

Meanwhile, the USGS says there was a magnitude 3.5 earthquake near Auburn, Nebraska, at 8:53 pm, about the same time and place as the fireball.

A large fireball around the same time of an earthquake," says Chab. "I am simply amazed!"

Earthquakes in Nebraska are rare, so what are the odds of one happening within minutes of a meteoritic fireball?

Readers of Trojan Horse by John Keel know that this has happened before.

Dec. 16 was a Wednesday. 9:00 pm.

I wonder . . .

 

[durabone]

Instead of pursing case histories, I switched instead to trying to find some deeper precedence. So far the only clear hit has been Charles Fort. There is much to be said about him and his voluminous tomes, and I will try to sidestep a conversation about him (which I am not qualified for), and simply state that he mentions falling ice quite a bit. Green/copper, etc. as stated above would not match the notion of ice easily. But pondering the tale of Fortean ice bolides left me with a question. If there are so many green fireballs exploding, and there are fragments... Could they be ice? then: they might melt before being found, and they might contain active microbes. Just a thought.

[quote author=anart]and, as always, I could be missing something[/quote]

One thought is that when a bolide explodes, the eject from the explosion can be kicked off 'backwards' meaning that they can lose velocity. This notion could open up the idea that a fragment from an explosion might have a better chance of grounding out than another bolide of equal size traveling at entry velocities. (Some might increase in speed too.)

 

[durabone]

http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=15484.0 (Infrasound Detector?)

This fishing expedition came up empty, so let me explain:

I went and tried to find some kind of better way to get at the true number of these bolides other than by stacking up eyewitness reports. What I found is that there is a large global network of infrasound sensors operated for purposes of nuclear treaty verification. I found papers where the bolide sounds have been studied using these types of sensors. (can provide)

PREGO: It's in there! Many years of this network's data would be an ideal source for study of the bolides. But the data alas, is closed.