Meteor over Eastern US

[owlice]

Being reported tonight; here's a map of sightings:

Click to view full size image

Social media is exploding tonight over meteor sightings as far North as New England and down to Virginia.

The streak of light that's being described as "awesome" and "a firework in the sky" was first reported a few minutes before 8:00 p.m. tonight.

"We got more than 400 reports in less than an hour, which is unheard of," said Mike Hankey, an amateur photographer and Operations Manager at the American Meteor Society.

AMS says they got so many reports tonight, it temporarily shut down their website.

More here.

[Beyond]

Dangnabit Missed another goodie

[neufer]

Dangnabit Missed another goodie

<<Atomic Fireballs (known as Atomic FireBlast in the UK) are a round, cinnamon-flavored hard candy invented by Nello Ferrara (1918-2012) in 1954. They are a form of jawbreaker. The outer layers of the candy are a bright red color while the interior layers are white. When initially introduced by Ferrara Pan, the company had a manufacturing capacity of 200 cases per day but demand quickly rose to 50,000 cases per day. According to the company, approximately 15 million Fireballs are eaten weekly. "The spicy flavor and the exceptionally long lasting candy was instantly popular (coupled with the popular culture obsession with all things atomic at the time). The outside layer of the Fireball is quite mild. After a moment in the mouth, the smooth ball of hard candy releases an intense spicy cinnamon flavor. Capsicum is the ingredient found in the Atomic Fireball that causes the burning sensation. They are made with the hot panned process with ingredients of a single grain of sugar, syrup and flavor. The hot pans tumble the ingredients around until the fireballs snowball into the appropriate size. The process lasts for about two weeks. By the end of the process the fireball consists of at least one hundred layers.>>

[Beyond]

Ah, just like an M&M. Except that as you go through the outer coating, you 'pepper-spray' your mouth After that, it does last longer than an M&M. TWO WEEKS!! Not exactly something you could do at home. One single grain of sugar I didn't think they made sugar-tongs that small.

[MargaritaMc]

Meteor lights up night sky over eastern United States
Daniel Trotta
NEW YORK | Fri Mar 22, 2013 11:21pm EDT
(Reuters) - A meteor bright enough to be classified as a fireball lit up the night sky over eastern North America on Friday, providing a spectacle witnessed in at least 13 states, Washington, D.C. and two Canadian provinces, the American Meteor Society said.
The society verified more than 300 witness sightings from Ontario and Quebec down to the southern U.S. state of North Carolina with more than 100 reports yet to be reviewed, said Mike Hankey, an observer for the American Meteor Society.

"This was most certainly a fireball seen over a good portion of the eastern states," said Robert Lunsford, the society's fireball coordinator.

"It happened at a good time, around 8 o'clock on a Friday night, when a lot of people were out to see it," Lunsford said.

The society describes a fireball as a meteor brighter than Venus and Lunsford said they can be brighter than the Sun, as was the case with the one that streaked across the sky and exploded over Russia on February 15.

Meteors are small particles from the solar system that burn from friction when entering the atmosphere.

Several thousand meteors of fireball magnitude occur each day, most of them unseen over the oceans or hidden by daylight, the society said on its website.

This one was seen up and down the East Coast and in inland states such as West Virginia and Ohio, the society said.

The fireball's likely trajectory showed it moving east from eastern Pennsylvania and across New Jersey, passing just south of New York City and then over the Atlantic Ocean, based on witness reports to the society.

"I originally thought the fireball was a low-flying plane," said one witness from West Chester, Pennsylvania, whose comments were logged by the society.

Many witnesses called it the brightest meteor they had ever seen. "I'm still in disbelief," said another from Boonsboro, Maryland.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/ ... 1020130323

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Click to play embedded YouTube video.

<<Thurmont is a town in Frederick County, Maryland, United States. The population was 6,170 at the 2010 census. The town is located in the northern part of Frederick County (north of Frederick, Maryland, the county seat), approximately ten miles from the Pennsylvania border, along U.S. Highway 15. It is very close to Cunningham Falls State Park and Catoctin Mountain Park, which contains the presidential retreat of Camp David.>>