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Around 12,000 years ago, something scorched a vast swath of the Atacama Desert in Chile with heat so intense that it turned the sandy soil into widespread slabs of silicate glass. Now, a research team studying the distribution and composition of those glasses has come to a conclusion about what caused the inferno. In a study published in the journal Geology, researchers show that samples of the desert glass contain tiny fragments with minerals often found in rocks of extraterrestrial origin. Those minerals closely match the composition of material returned to Earth by NASA's Stardust mission, which sampled the particles...

A fireball from a parked RV sparked a fire that tore through an iconic Queens diner from the movie “Goodfellas” – and now one mayoral candidate is calling for a camper crackdown. The fire erupted at 9:30 p.m. Saturday at GoodFellas Diner in Maspeth with 60 firefighters eventually arriving to put out the flames, according to the FDNY. The blaze came seven years after the same diner caught fire. Two civilians were evaluated on the scene and refused medical attention, the department said.

The new weapon could be used for area denial or destruction of targets like swarms of drones. Chinese researchers have allegedly developed a new kind of non-nuclear explosive weapon based on hydrogen fuel. While not nuclear, the new 2kg (4.4 lbs) bomb is designed to cause massive heat and fire damage over a long duration and is far more potent than traditional TNT-based bombs. According to the team behind it, the secret sauce is magnesium hydride, a powder that stores hydrogen in a solid form. The weapon is detonated using a standard starter explosive that breaks the solid main payload...

The alcoholic beverage brand announced this week that it will be making one-of-a-kind whiskies crafted with real human tears. Called Crierball, the limited-edition release will mix "emotion with flavor for an unforgettable drinking experience" to "capture the true spirit of game day, blending the emotion of nail-biting finishes and heartbreak with Fireball’s iconic cinnamon-sweet flavor," the brand said in a press release obtained by PEOPLE. “In football, few things — aside from Fireball, of course — are better than the sweet taste of victory, especially when that W comes at the expense of your biggest rivals,” said Danny Suich, Global...

The mystery of why a $300,000 Bentley crashed into the US-Canada border crossing at 100mph and exploded, killing a couple inside, may never be solved as police close the case. **SNIP** Betsy Ertel, a spokesperson for the Cincinnati Insurance Companies, which insured the Bentley, declined to discuss details of any claim 'out of respect for the privacy of our policyholders'. Police said the Villanis were killed instantly in the crash and pronounced dead at the scene. Whether any of their relatives will file a lawsuit is unknown. The 2022 Flying Spur can go from zero to 60mph in four seconds...

Health officials issued an urgent warning after a train carrying toxic materials derailed and exploded into a fireball in North Dakota. Hazmat crews have been deployed to a remote area around 140 miles north of Fargo, after 29 cars of a CPKC train derailed at around 3:45 am on Friday. The hazardous materials in the train included anhydrous ammonia, sulfur and methanol, which officials warned are being expelled from the wreckage in toxic smoke. Ammonia is the biggest risk, and if exposed to the compound, it can cause burning to the eyes, nose and throat, as well as blindness, lung...

A bright green fireball illuminated the night sky over Montana, U.S., at approximately 05:45 UTC on May 21, 2024 (23:45 LT, May 20). The American Meteor Society (AMS) received 65 reports from users in Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington, U.S., as well as in Alberta, Canada. This event follows an exceptionally bright meteor over Spain and Portugal on May 18. The meteor was described as unreal, massive, and a once-in-a-lifetime event. “That’s crazy! Mad props to the person that was able to get this footage,” one eyewitness wrote on X.

(February 12, 2024). | Fireballs in skies by David de Chiriquí, #Panamá . and Fireballs flying through the skies of Puntarenas, Gulf of Nicoya, credits: Twitter X ⚠️Alerta Climagram🌎 @deZabedrosky

RESIDENTS in Oxford were left shocked after a mystery fireball erupted in the sky after a massive bang. Numerous locals in the city have been reporting about the "fireball" with the sky "pulsating with flames and smoke" this evening. A number of concerned citizens took to X, formerly Twitter, to voice their concerns about the shock phenomenon. One shocking video showed the night sky illuminated by a massive ball of flames. The fire then billowed into the night, leaving locals stunned. While another wrote: "Anybody else in Oxford see that fireball?? "Loud explosion and then the sky just did this,...

Heeere we goooo. Fingers toes and eyes crossed for a successful test flight of the 33-Raptor engine Superheavy booster and Starship first time into space. Both vehicles are planned to splash down...the booster in the Gulf of Mexico and Starship off of Hawaii.

A bright fireball was seen over the coast of Ibaraki, Japan at 09:07 UTC on December 8, 2022. The object was recorded by a camera placed on a private home in Hiratsuka, facing northeast. It fell at a speed of 17.4 km/s at an entry angle of 45.8 degrees. The entire event lasted about 5 seconds.

Newly released body camera footage reveals the sickening moment a deputy and a dirt bike rider were engulfed in flames after the officer fired a taser at a gas station. Deputy David Crawford was heard screaming in pain and begging his fellow officers to 'put out' the fire on his legs as he desperately rolled around. Meanwhile his victim, dirt bike rider Jean Barreto, 26, was 'cooked alive' in the fireball which left him with third-degree burns on approximately 75% of his body. Both remain in hospital after the February 27 incident at the Wawa gas station in Florida. But...

A bright fireball was seen over the southwestern United Kingdom at 20:46 UTC on May 16, 2022. The event comes just five days after a very bright fireball was seen over the same region. Interestingly, both events had very similar trajectories. The American Meteor Society (AMS) and International Meteor Organization (IMO) together with UKMON (UK), Werkgroep Meteoren (NL), and Vigie-Ciel (FR) received more than 800 reports, mainly from England and Wales.2 The ground trajectory computed from the witness reports shows that the meteor was traveling from SW to NE and ended its visible flight over southern England.

Rebecca had this SCOTUS story last Friday. What the hell is going on in Washington, DC? It was a hellacious week in the capital. The DC Police issued a general evacuation order for the Capitol Complex after an aircraft that may have posed a danger was detected. It turned out the unknown parachuters were members of the US Army Golden Knights doing a jump for the Washington Nationals baseball game. Then, there was a shooting that left at least three people injured. The suspect was later found dead near the scene. And then, there was this suicide in front of...

Explanation: This picture was supposed to feature a comet. Specifically, a series of images of the brightest comet of 2021 were being captured: Comet Leonard. But the universe had other plans. Within a fraction of a second, a meteor so bright it could be called a fireball streaked through just below the comet. And the meteor's flash was even more green than the comet's coma. The cause of the meteor's green was likely magnesium evaporating from the meteor's pebble-sized core, while the cause of the comet's green was likely diatomic carbon recently ejected from the comet's city-sized nucleus. The images...

The American Meteor Society (AMS) has so far received more than 80 reports about the fiery display, from people as far south as Tennessee and as far north as Michigan. The AMS has posted dramatic imagery captured by some of these observers, including a 27-second video from skywatcher Chris Johnson that shows the meteor blazing a trail through the skies above Fort Gratiot Township, Michigan. The fireball lit up around 12:43 a.m. EDT (0443) today, according to the AMS, leaving little doubt about its cause. 12:43 a.m. EDT is "the exact predicted time Kosmos-2551 passed over the region, and within...

Coloradans as far west as Evergreen, as far north as Wellington, as far east as Bennet and as far south as Colorado Springs caught a incredible sight on their security cameras early Sunday morning. A fireball streaked across the sky at around 4:30 a.m. By NASA’s definition, a fireball is an unusually bright meteor.

A newly released video by the American Meteor Society shows a fireball moving across the sky above North Carolina last Friday. According to NASA Meteor Watch, the phenomenon was seen over North Carolina after 7:30 p.m., one of several fireball sightings in the U.S. that night. An analysis from NASA said the meteor "skimmed the coast of North Carolina," noticeable to sightseers some 48 miles above the ocean in Jacksonville, N.C., blazing across the sky at 32,000 mph. Meteoroids typically enter Earth's atmosphere at 25,000 to 160,000 mph, however, they "rapidly decelerate" as they travel through the atmosphere, according to...

A surveillance video captured by a Nest security camera in Rochester submitted by a local user shows a short, bright streak of light in the sky. The submitter said the fireball was accompanied by a loud boom, and an emailer from Strafford told News 9 his house shook after the fireball was seen. Just one of the reports submitted to the AMS indicated that the witnesses heard any sound. Fireballs are meteors that are unusually bright, at least as bright as Venus. They can create a sonic boom that is heard a few minutes after the fireball is seen. It's...

A fireball zoomed across the sky on Sunday, according to eyewitnesses in the northeastern United States and parts of Canada. The American Meteor Society (AMS) said on Facebook it had received more than 100 reports of a fireball being seen over Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and the Canadian province of Québec at around 5:38 p.m. ET on March 7. NASA Meteor Watch said it had also received reports of the fireball, with analysis showing that the meteor occurred over northern Vermont, first appearing at an altitude of 52 miles above Mount Mansfield State Forest in the north...