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The Independent
a day ago
- Science
- The Independent
Meteor explodes in fireball and sonic boom over Australia
People in Australia 's Victoria reported a loud sonic boom that rattled houses as a meteor streaked past the night sky on Sunday. Footage of the space rock burning brightly was shared on social media by residents in Ballarat and Bendigo from 7:30pm local time. They reported hearing a loud sonic boom about a minute after the fireball was seen on community Facebook pages. 'A very bright and slow fireball was observed and video recorded over Victoria, August 10, 9:34 UT,' the International Meteor Organisation, a coalition of amateur meteor observers, said in a post on Facebook. 'Bendigo just got hit by a meteor! Felt all over Bendigo! Shook our house. BOOM,' one resident wrote. The Australian government's earthquake monitoring agency said in an X post that it had received multiple reports of tremors around the time the meteor passed by, but ruled out any seismic event. 'Geoscience Australia received multiple felt reports from Bendigo, VIC at around 7:40pm, however no seismic event was observed,' the agency said. Amateur astronomer David Finlay, admin of Australian Meteor Reports, suspected a large chunk of the object likely survived to the ground. 'To be able to hear the sonic boom loudly from the ground suggests that quite a big chunk of the meteor was pretty close to the ground,' associate professor Michael Brown from Monash University's school of physics and astronomy told The Age. 'And that possibly means there's chunks of the meteorite that actually made it down to the ground and optimistically, might be found.' Experts ruled out the possibility of the fireball being space junk, finding it was most likely a meteor whose fragments might have landed somewhere between Bendigo and Ballarat. 'A manual reduction on the fireball over Victoria at 9:34 UT indicates a fall site to the northeast of Maryborough, with a final visual height of 9 km, so almost definitely a meteorite fall,' the Ballarat municipality observatory said. 'There were numerous reports of sound, adding confidence that this is a dropper. This maybe refined if further good quality data becomes available.' The fireball's sighting coincided with the Perseids meteor shower, anticipated to be the best of the year, producing a dazzling display of shooting stars. 'With swift and bright meteors, Perseids frequently leave long 'wakes' of light and colour behind them as they streak through the Earth's atmosphere,' Nasa's Monika Luabeya noted in a blog post. However, experts ruled out the possibility of the Victoria fireball being part of any meteor shower such as the Perseids or Alpha Capricornids. 'The reason it's not a Perseid is because the 'radiant' – the point the meteors appear to radiate out from – never rises above the horizon for us at the latitude of Victoria,' astronomer Perry Vlahos told The Age.
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Scotsman
26-06-2025
- Science
- Scotsman
The best time to see the Bootid meteor shower will likely be before dawn or just after dusk on June 27.
Here's the date the Bootid meteor shower peaks and when the best time to look for it is. Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... According to the International Meteor Organisation, the Bootid meteor shower is active from June 22 to July 2. says: 'Shooting stars associated with the comet may be observed emanating from a point of origin - known as a radiant - located in the constellation Bootes, from which the shower received its official designation.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad When is the best time to see the Bootid meteor shower? The best time to see the Bootid meteor shower will likely be before dawn or just after dusk on June 27. A meteor flashes across the night sky. | Getty Images Bootid meteor shower 1998 The Bootid meteor shower is normally weak, however some years have provided bigger displays. For example, in 1998, there was a strong outburst with the zenithal hourly rate (ZHR) reaching 100.
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Scotsman
26-06-2025
- Science
- Scotsman
The best time to see the Bootid meteor shower will likely be before dawn or just after dusk on June 27.
Here's the date the Bootid meteor shower peaks and when the best time to look for it is. Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... According to the International Meteor Organisation, the Bootid meteor shower is active from June 22 to July 2. says: 'Shooting stars associated with the comet may be observed emanating from a point of origin - known as a radiant - located in the constellation Bootes, from which the shower received its official designation.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad When is the best time to see the Bootid meteor shower? The best time to see the Bootid meteor shower will likely be before dawn or just after dusk on June 27. A meteor flashes across the night sky. | Getty Images Bootid meteor shower 1998 The Bootid meteor shower is normally weak, however some years have provided bigger displays. For example, in 1998, there was a strong outburst with the zenithal hourly rate (ZHR) reaching 100. Have you got a video you want to share with our readers? You can now send it to us online via YourWorld at It's free to use and, once checked, your footage will appear on our website.
The Independent
23-04-2025
- Science
- The Independent
Mystery over bright green fireball that lit up night sky
A bright green fireball accompanied by a loud bang has been witnessed across Queensland and New South Wales, Australia, puzzling astronomers. While it coincided with the Lyrid meteor shower, experts say the fireball was unrelated due to its trajectory. The fireball, brighter than the full moon, likely resulted from a space rock, possibly an asteroid or comet, entering the Earth's atmosphere at high speed. It likely exploded about 30km above ground, causing the loud bang, and while fragments may have reached Earth, they would be small and difficult to find, experts say. Scientists are encouraging witnesses to report their sightings to the International Meteor Organisation to help determine the space rock's origin.
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Sky 'lit up' over area of Greater Manchester as mysterious fireball passes overhead
The night sky over Reddish was 'lit up' as a strange object passed overhead on February 19. James Garside had just returned from a late shift at work when he saw the 'fireball' passing overhead at around 3.40am. Thinking quickly, James grabbed his phone and got clear footage of the object. Despite it being slightly misty the object is still clearly visible in the night sky. It has a glowing red ball at the front, with a distinctive tail trailing behind it as it hurtles overhead. READ MORE: Two arrested after 'man with gun' sparks police pursuit READ MORE: Police storm Greater Manchester road with 'person detained' James, 27, told the Manchester Evening News that it had been so bright it had "light up the sky" as it went across. "I just got out of the car and looked up," he said. "There was this red thing going across so I got my phone out quickly and was able to capture it. It was long enough in the sky so you could get a video." He added: "It was a bit misty, you could see the moon through the mist, but this just lit up the sky going across." After returning from a shift managing a construction site, James was left stunned by the mysterious object. "It was just unexpected," he said. "It was like a fireball and it was going across the sky, it was west to east. It lasted a good 20 seconds and then it fades out." And it seems that James might not be the only person to have glimpsed the strange object in the early hours of this morning. The International Meteor Organisation (IMO) reported that it has received 300 reports of sightings of a fireball over areas ranging from Greater Manchester to Germany and Denmark. Information on the IMO's website says that these sightings were the result of a "re-entry of a satellite or rocket" into the Earth's atmosphere and "not a natural fireball". The UK Space Agency said that the body was a Falcon 9 rocket body launched in 2025. The Falcon 9 is a partially reusable rocket designed by SpaceX. In a post on X, the UK Space Agency said: "The UK National Operations Centre monitored the re-entry of a Falcon 9 rocket body launched in 2025, which was seen from the UK re-entering this morning. "We tracked over 100 re-entering space objects in January to help keep the UK safe."
