Early view of the heavens. Some cultures believed that every evening when the sun went down the earth was covered by a large blanket to let it sleep.The stars were merely holes in the blanket which let the sunlight seep through. This engraving from the French astronomer Camille Flammarion in the 19th century.
Fireballs have been seen in the sky since ancient times. In 1478 B.C. the Parian Chronicle mentions a fireball that was seen near Crete.
A 19th century depiction of a fireball seen in the sky over Hurworth, England in October, 1854. (Source: William Lackland, Meteors, Aerolites, storms and atmospheric phenomena.)
A 19th century engraving depicting a type of terrestrial fireball known as "ball lightning." It is believed that ball lightning is caused by charged plasma clouds. However, the rare phenomenon is still not understood too well. Before the early 19th century most terrestrial fireballs such as ball lightning, St. Elmo's fire, and the will-o'-the wisp were sometimes confused with fireballs from space. (Illustration from the NOAA picture archives.)
At just before dawn on December 15, 1807 a blazing fireball lit up the sky over New England. This meteor scattered debris over much of the small farming community of Weston Connecticut. To American's this fireball proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that rocks do indeed fall from space.
In Japan it is called "The Hitodama." It is thought to be the soul of a recently departed person. They are sometimes seen hovering over gardens and graves. More than likely it is the same phenomena known to the western world as "Will-o'the Wisp"
This postage stamp issued by the Soviet Union in 1958 depicts the Russian scientist Leonid Kulik and the fireball that he will be forever linked with. In 1908 something crashed into the remote tundra near the Stony-Tunguska River in Siberia. Witnesses claim to have seen a bright object streaking across the sky. This was followed by a great explosion which destroyed an area of forest roughly equal in size to the state of Rhode Island. A century after this fireball there is still no resolution as to it's nature. It has been suggested that the object was either a meteor, a comet, a mini black hole, or even some sort of early nuclear experiment or crashed alien spacecraft.
During the late 1940s and early 1950s green fireballs were seen in great abundance over the skies of New Mexico. The nature of these mysterious balls of fire has never fully been explained. Theories range from meteors, extraterrestrial space probes, to some sort of secret Soviet weapon. This image was printed in Life Magazine in 1952.
Fireball seen over Newark-upon-Trent England on August 18, 1783. Engraving by Henry Robinson.
"ISTI MIRANT STELLA" or "They think and wonder about the star." This image is taken from the 900 year old Bayeux Tapestry. It shows a group of English nobles or clerics pointing up at the sky toward a fireball. This object is generally thought to depict Halley's Comet which appeared in the heavens in early 1066. This was about the same time that the English king Edward the Confessor drew his last breath and left the door wide open to a successor. The two main claimants for the crown, Harold Godwinson and Duke William of Normandy ended up deciding the matter at the Battle of Hastings in October of that year. The outcome was a stunning Norman victory due in part to a Viking raid at Stamford Bridge in the north of England which had depleted the English ranks only three weeks before.
Fireballs and strange
atmospheric phenomena have been recorded since ancient times. The Bible has its share of them. One of the more popular accounts takes place in the Book of Joshua when the Israelites battle the combined forces of the Amorite kings.
Josua 10, 11: While they fled before Israel along the descent from Beth-horon, the Lord hurled great stones from the sky above them all the way to Azekah, killing many.
Russian artist P.I.Medvedev was an eyewitness to the Sikhote-Alin fireball that lit up
the sky of Eastern Siberia on the cold, icy morning of February 12, 1947. The Soviet Union issued a postage stamp (left) to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the event in 1957. One witness described the fireball as having "a strong glare and a bright light which was brighter than the sun...as it fell a thick black band of smoke descended steeply toward the ground."It is estimated that nearly 70 tons of rock hit the Earth from this meteorite. At present, only 30 tons of it have been recovered.
The nineteenth century hosted
some of the most memorable meteor showers on record. The evening of November 13, 1833 (The annual Leonids) was said to be so thick with meteors that "persons sleeping in rooms with uncurtained windows were aroused by their light."
Another image of the 1833 Leonid meteor shower.
The great Comet of 1882. Photographed by British astronomer Sir David Gill in South Africa on November 07, 1882. Comets have struck the Earth many times over the Earth's history. The Tunguska fireball of 1908 could very well have been one of these icy stellar bodies that came to visit.
Charlemagne, king of the Franks was a witness to a bright fireball in the year 810. While on a campaign in Saxony the warrior king was riding on his horse near the front of his army when he saw a meteor blaze through the sky. It so spooked his horse that Charlemagne was sent toppling to the ground. He quickly recovered and assumed his duties as if nothing had happened. The image here shows Charlemagne being crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III in 800.
