Fireball Outburst From Unknown Comet

**Judee** · 09-10-2008

Our local news this evening called this a 'shower from an unknown comet.

FIREBALL OUTBURST: Yesterday, Sept. 9th, a surprising flurry of bright fireballs lit up the skies of North America. "Our SENTINEL all-sky camera picked up 25 bright meteors in a shower that began at 0620 UT and lasted approximately 4 hours," reports NASA astronomer Bill Cooke of the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. This video "frame-stack" shows the outburst at a glance:

"Most appear to have a radiant near Perseus (3.3h, +43o), leading us to hypothesize an outburst of the September Perseids," says Cooke. The September Perseids come from an unknown comet and typically produce no more than a handful of dim meteors per hour when the shower peaks on Sept. 8th and 9th. This is the first time they have been caught bursting in this fashion. Most of the meteors recorded by the NASA camera were magnitude -2 or brighter, i.e., as bright as Jupiter or Venus.

Ongoing analyses of this outburst may reveal the orbit of the meteoroids, the location of the parent comet (if a comet is indeed the parent), and whether more outbursts are in the offing. Stay tuned for updates.

http://spaceweather.com:80/

**Divinorumus** · 09-10-2008

Yup, we've begun our transit through the dark rift. Well, in case I forget, or there isn't a next time, I want to say it's been fun, and nice knowing you earthlings. Well, at least the reptilians will come along and salvage what they can of Earth (har) before it all goes to waste anyhow.

**Alpha** · 09-10-2008

This could be just the beginning of what we will begin to see manifest as we move closer through the galactic plane.

Comet Strikes Increase as We Pass Through the Galactic Plane

Written by Fraser Cain

There are just so many ways the Universe is out to get us. Astronomers have already considered the threat from our Sun's orbit around the center of the Milky Way. When our Sun rises up out of flat plane of the Milky Way, it appears we might be less protected from intergalactic radiation and cosmic rays. Well, it looks like passing through the middle of the galactic plane might have its own share of risks: an increased number of comets might be hurled towards the Earth because of gravitational interaction with the densest parts of our galaxy.

Researchers at the Cardiff Centre of Astrobiology have built a computer model of the Solar System's journey around the Milky Way. Instead of making a perfectly flat orbit around the galaxy's centre, it actually bounces up and down. At times it can rise right up out of the galactic plane - getting 100 light years above - and then dip down below it. They calculated that we pass through the plane every 35 to 40 million years.

And this time period seems to match dangerous periods of impacts on Earth. According to the number and age of craters on Earth, we seem to suffer increased impacts every 36 million years. Uh oh, that's a match.

In fact, one of these high points of comet activity would have been 65 million years - the same time that an asteroid strike wiped out the dinosaurs.

And here's the bad news. According to their calculations, the Solar System will be passing through the galactic plane in the near future, and should see an increased risk of impact. Our risk of impact could increase 10-fold.

There might be a silver lining to the bounce, though. The impacts might have helped life spread across the galaxy.

While the "bounce" effect may have been bad news for dinosaurs, it may also have helped life to spread. The scientists suggest the impact may have thrown debris containing micro-organisms out into space and across the universe.
Centre director Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe said: "This is a seminal paper which places the comet-life interaction on a firm basis, and shows a mechanism by which life can be dispersed on a galactic scale."

Here's more info on the story from Bad Astronomy.

**Divinorumus** · 09-10-2008

Originally Posted by Alpha

This could be just the beginning of what we will begin to see manifest as we move closer through the galactic plane.

Imagine, eh?

Two people I know here told me they've seen a brief shower of meteors on two different nights within the last 3 weeks. They both said, for about 30 seconds, they noticed dozens of "'shooting stars" streak across the sky and then it stopped as suddenly as it started. Both had been just standing outside having a smoke just after midnight when this happened. Neither knew of each others sighting. They both mentioned brilliant flashes as they streaked through the atmosphere and exploded.

Those that belief our passage through the dark rift is gonna be like some kind of enlightened stroll through the park are fooling themselves, engaged in wishful thinking, playing make believe. By the time 2012 rolls around, 89% of the human population will be gone because of some rocks. Wait, watch, and see. To think it ain't gonna happen would be like a Canadian thinking maybe we won't see any snow this winter. "Yeah, right."

Yup, it's the prelude of more celestial excitement yet to come, you can rest assured of that, Earthlings.

**Judee** · 09-10-2008

And now perhaps people will begin to understand all the underground building of 'cities' that has been going on for many years!

**Project** · 09-10-2008

Div you will probably enjoy watching this page http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/risk/

**Divinorumus** · 09-10-2008

Originally Posted by Project

Div you will probably enjoy watching this page http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/risk/

They don't list the ones that live within the dark rift.

**Judee** · 09-11-2008

Originally Posted by Divinorumus

They don't list the ones that live within the dark rift.

Yeah, and like NASA's going to tell the truth...

**Divinorumus** · 09-11-2008

Originally Posted by Judee

Yeah, and like NASA's going to tell the truth...

Would you? If you knew, would you tell the truth and provide the proof? People would go insane if they knew for sure and were given undeniable proof. Nope, you can't tell them. Sure, you can say "the rock are coming" so long as nobody believes you (except for the few that also know). Mass planet wide chaos and mayhem would break out if the populous knew that human harvest day was not long away. If everyone knew that most would be dead in 2011, what do you think would happen? My guess is if they were told today, most would be dead before 2008 was over. Of course on the other hand why procrastinate and delay the inevitable - you have a good point there, NASA should show and tell them.