John Homenuk

Bright fireball seen in New Jersey, New York Monday

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Over 250 reports have made their way to the American Meteor Society in the past 14 hours after a bright fireball was seen streaking through the skies in New York and New Jersey Monday evening. At 6:35pm Eastern, to our best estimation, a fireball soared from east to west through the skies, visible up and down the east coast. The fireball was described as “bright” and additionally as “green and blue with a bright flash”. Most likely, this was a meteor which made its way deeper into the earths atmosphere than most do. The brightening of the meteor occurs as it burns up while entering the earths atmosphere at a very high speed.

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John Homenuk

Antares rocket launch fails, explodes on launch

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A NASA rocket scheduled to launch at 6:22pm tonight from Wallops Island in Virginia exploded 14 seconds after launch. The rocket erupted into flames and crashed to the ground causing widespread flames and smoke which was detected on radar.

The rocket was unmanned. The cause of the explosion has not yet been determined. The rocket launch was originally scheduled for yesterday, but a sailboat in the waters near the launch site caused the launch to be scrubbed until today.

The cause of the explosion has not yet been determined. We will continue to update this post with information as we get it.

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John Homenuk

Huge X-Class solar flare erupts from the sun

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A gigantic sunspot, first noted by astronomers several days ago, has unleashed another X-Class flare this morning. This one, classified at X1.6, has a much greater breadth than its predecessor. The flare may be Earth-directed, but we are still awaiting more information as it becomes available this afternoon. Luckily for us, space weather data allows us to pick up on this information rather quickly. Radio blackout information was detected within minutes of the flare. And sensors picked up on the X Class flare and its strength almost instantly.

Whether or not the X-Class flare is Earth-Directed, and whether it not it featured a CME (or Coronal Mass Ejections) will obviously have impacts on what we experience here. Luckily, our atmosphere protects us from most of the potentially harmful impacts of an Earth-directed major solar flare. But the magnetic field can still produce widespread aurora, radio and GPS blackouts and effects, and satellite interruptions. If the flare is not Earth-directed and/or doesn’t feature a CME, we will either experience fringe effects (nothing notable) or nothing at all

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John Homenuk

What to know before getting excited about the aurora

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As hype for the potential to see the aurora borealis this weekend increases, thousands of people are now eager to step outside around midnight tonight to glowing, moving multicolored lights in the night sky.

They’ll be disappointed.

There are a few things to know which will not only keep your expectations in check, but also keep you more knowledgeable regarding the phenomenon in the future.

During the middle part of this week, two solar flares occurred from the an Earth-facing sunspot. Solar flares are essentially eruptions from the sun which send energy, light, and high speed particles flying into space. If these flares occur on a part of the sun which is facing earth, eventually the energy, light and particles will reach our planet. These flares are often associated with magnetic storms called CME’s, or Coronal Mass Ejections. Although solar flares aren’t harmful to humans (thanks, atmosphere) they can create long-lasting radiation storms above our heads — and disrupt high frequency radio signals, GPS systems, and satellites. They also can produce beautiful aurora borealis in the night sky, especially in the Northern Latitudes.

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