meteors

Researchers led by Johns Hopkins University have debunked claims that sound waves from a 2014 meteor fireball were responsible for vibrations near Papua New Guinea, revealing the actual cause to be a truck. This discovery casts doubt on the supposed recovery of “alien materials” from the ocean floor related to the meteor, with further analysis showing the materials to be ordinary meteorites or terrestrial contaminants.Sound waves thought to be from a 2014 meteor fireball north of Papua New Guinea were almost certainly…

Aubrite meteorite from asteroid 2024 BX1, photographed at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin by Laura Kranich, a Freie Universität MSc student and member of the Arbeitskreis Meteore, who participated in the search and found this meteorite near the village of Ribbeck, Germany. Credit: Museum für Naturkunde Berlin by Laura Kranic Jenniskens’ collaborators at the Museum für Naturkunde officially announced that the first examinations of one of these pieces with an electron beam microprobe prove the typical mineralogy and…

This year, outer space is going to be a busy place.We've got the launch of the Europa Clipper, which will orbit one of Jupiter's enigmatic moons and investigate whether it could harbour conditions suitable for life; we could cheer on the first Canadian to orbit the moon; and we're getting a total solar eclipse that will be visible across eastern Canada.Here are just some exciting events to look forward to in 2024.Meteor showersAs always, the year starts off with the annual Quadrantid meteor shower, which is pretty…

 The year's best meteor shower, the Geminids, peaks this week. Skygazers may see as many as one or even two a minute streaking across dark skies.The meteors will reach their frenzy Thursday. But Wednesday night should provide a cosmic spectacle as well. The moon is waning so that will make for prime viewing anywhere in the world where skies are clear and in spots without light pollution. NASA urged observers to look everywhere in the sky since meteors don't come from any particular direction. Between 60 and 120 meteors…

Northern Lights, or aurora borealis, haunted skies over the island of Kvaløya, near Tromsø Norway on December 13, 2009. This 30-second long exposure records their shimmering glow gently lighting the wintery coastal scene. A study in contrasts, it also captures the sudden flash of a fireball meteor from December’s excellent Geminid meteor shower. Streaking past familiar stars in the handle of the Big Dipper, the trail points back toward the constellation Gemini, off the top of the view. Both aurora and meteors occur in…

Have you ever seen a green meteor? How amazing would that be? Well, you can watch one now. A brilliant green meteor streaking through the night sky captivated the attention of many across Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi in the United States. The sight of meteors never fails to inspire awe, and this one was no exception.What are Meteors?Meteors are composed of metals like iron and nickel, and when they burn up while entering the Earth's atmosphere, they emit a striking color. However, if a meteor manages to survive the…

For decades, scientists have been trying to study the Sun's outermost layer and its increasing temperature. However, recently researchers have discovered plasma fireballs that are looking like blazing meteors or shooting stars on the sun's surface. The stunning incident was captured by the European Space Agency's Solar Parker spacecraft recently.A shooting star and a solar shooting star are quite different. The shooting stars that we can see from Earth are the particles of space dust, rock, or small asteroids that enter…

Recent findings have shed light on the mysterious origins of the annual Geminid meteor shower. In a NASA blog post on June 14, 2023, Desiree Apodaca from the Goddard Space Flight Center revealed intriguing insights suggesting that a high-speed collision or a gaseous explosion could be responsible for creating the Geminid meteor stream.Unlike other meteor showers such as the Delta Aquariids or the Perseids, which are caused by debris from icy comets orbiting the sun, the Geminid meteors have a different source.For several…

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The Geminids meteor shower is one of the most spectacular meteor showers that occurs annually. For the unaware, meteors come from leftover comet particles and bits from asteroids. While asteroids can be found in space in their own orbits, they leave behind debris trails consisting of meteors. As Earth revolves around the Sun, it passes through these clouds which allows the rocky bits to collide with our atmosphere where they disintegrate to create fiery and colorful streaks in the sky. Although it has been known that the…