In an effort to recapture my fascination with the Internet, I denied myself the pleasures of Twitter(for the most part) and endeavored to finish other things that needed doing. Things like sunshine and disarming traps making the apartment, once again, guest receivable. As Twitter more addictive than a line of strippers or bags of cocaine dancing around poles, I lurked outside the great internet social party. That’s when I learned of the fireball over Texas.

What you just saw was not satellite debris. The high speed of the fireball in the News 8 video is typical of a natural meteoroid hitting Earth’s atmosphere at tens of km/s. Orbital debris, on the other hand, should crawl across the sky at a fraction of that speed. Astronomer Bill Cooke of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office has reviewed the video and confirms “it’s a natural meteor, definitely.” According to his analysis, the source of the fireball was a meter-class asteroid traveling at about 20 km/s.

Fireball mania started on Friday the 13th, around 10 p.m. EST, when people in central Kentucky heard loud booms, felt their houses shake, and saw a fireball streaking through the sky: reports. “The world appeared to explode–in green!” said one eyewitness. Once again, this appears to be a natural event caused by a meteoroid. Iridium 33 and Kosmos 2251 collided at a speed of about 10 km/s or 22,000 mph. None of the surviving fragments should have been big enough to shake houses in Kentucky. Furthermore, US Space Command, which monitors objects in Earth orbit, has not announced a reentry over Kentucky on Feb. 13th.

One day, SpaceWeather.com, you will learn of permalinks. On that day, I shall welcome you into post 1990s internet society.

Fireball You Tube video under the cut.
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