Meteors vs space junk: Are we seeing more fireballs in the sky than there used to be?
5 months, 1 week ago

Meteors vs space junk: Are we seeing more fireballs in the sky than there used to be?

ABC  

It might be from dash cam footage or a shaky mobile phone, but reports of fireballs lighting up the night sky are now a regular occurrence on social media. Groups like the Desert Fireball Network have spent years tracking bright flashes across the sky, but according to the network's director and planetary scientist Ellie Sansom, people recording their own fireball findings is also an important resource. "Something quite small, like sand- or dust-sized grains, they're quite faint, and we call those ones meteors," Dr Sansom says. "Something five or six seconds long, that's probably a fireball, but something that's minutes long and you're able to get your phone out and start recording, that's more likely space debris." It's this type of "fireball" that's becoming more common in our night sky, and they're only going to be more frequent over time.

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History of this topic

Fireball that lit up Pilbara sky 'something special', but scientists not exactly sure what
4 years, 9 months ago

Fireball that lit up Pilbara sky 'something special', but scientists not exactly sure what

ABC  

Scientists say the "jury is still out" about a mysterious green glow that travelled across the sky in the remote West Australian outback early this morning. Key points: Many people videoed the bright green object streaking across the sky in WA's remote Pilbara region It was spotted by people in three states travelling over a wide distance, from at least …

Spacecraft on track to land in outback
14 years, 9 months ago

Spacecraft on track to land in outback

ABC  

Scientists say a world-first space landing in South Australia's outback should create a spectacular fireball. It will end a seven-year, five billion-kilometre journey to an ancient far-flung asteroid to collect the first ever asteroid material to be brought to Earth, and it will be Australia's first ever space landing. The car-sized probe became the world's first spacecraft to land on …

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