Irish Astronomers Investigate Sky Explosion 157
puroresu writes "Astronomers in Ireland have appealed to the public to contact them with eyewitness accounts of a massive explosion in the sky over the country. From the BBC: 'Astronomy Ireland chairman David Moore said: "So far, reports have been registered by residents in west Cork, Kerry, Cavan and as far north as Donegal, thus suggesting that this spectacular event may have been witnessed by people all over the country. In the past two decades there have been two major explosions in the skies over Ireland. When we investigated these, we were able to conclude that one was a Russian military satellite that exploded over the country, and the other was a rock from space."'"
Alternative Explanation (Score:2, Funny)
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Leprechauns, you know they don't exist?
Probably a Guaold Baseship, or an Asgard ship overrun by replicators...
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Really? (Score:2)
And what exactly are they doing with weather balloons?
-Matt
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Going the imaginationland, of course!
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"Ders a big ball o fire up der, like a big exploshun, it's bin der all day and it goes awa' at night, whaddaya think it is Padrick?"
"It's the Sun, John, you racist git, bugger off back to London."
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Pfsst (Score:1, Funny)
Whiskey plus Blimp = FAIL
Spots (Score:4, Funny)
Of all the spots our new overlords can land, they coose *Ireland?* Geesh.
Re:Spots (Score:4, Funny)
Of all the spots our new overlords can land, they coose *Ireland?* Geesh.
Now I'm terrified, why are our new Overlords going to *coose* us?
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Re:Spots (Score:5, Funny)
Well, Ireland is actually atlantis [breakingnews.ie], see.
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This story is Bullshit,.
I have been following a documentary where they found Atlantis in another Galaxy and there are life sucking aliens investation there.
Quite a metaphor (Score:2)
I have been following a documentary where they found Atlantis in another Galaxy and there are life sucking aliens investation there.
That's an interesting way of saying it's across the Atlantic and it's a popular tax haven.
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Of all the spots our new overlords can land, they coose *Ireland?* Geesh.
I for one welcome our Irish coosing overlords.
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It turns out that the only viable use for Guinness is a replacement bearing lubricant for spaceships.
To whoever tagged story as uk (Score:5, Informative)
Learn geography. Ireland in not in the UK, Northern Ireland is, but the Republic of Ireland isn't.
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!uk!
I'm sure i heard of something happening in Ireland round about 1916...
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The Wind that Shakes the Barley is a good movie on the whole thing. Somewhat historically accurate for the most part.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0460989/ [imdb.com]
The English have a long tradition of being oppressive cunts..the current situation is just the latest bout.
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"People" have a long tradition of being oppressive cunts.
Every society, religion, race or creed that's had the opportunity has gone ahead and done it. It's human nature - human nature that we should attempt to change as we civilise ourselves - but it's not specifically English behaviour.
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Unfortunately the misconception is wide spread, particularly in mainland europe, which to be honest does baffle and infuriate me.
If it's any consolation at the start of a story on the mainpage the tags are mostly noise, check back at 100+ comments and hopefully things have sorted themselves out... - seriously can see tags get more sensible as time drags on. Mostly.
Re:To whoever tagged story as uk (Score:5, Informative)
Reminds me of a time I was working in London. When I first started one of the guys asked me, "Are you American". I replied, "No Canadian". He just said, "Same thing."
So, I asked him: "Are you English" and he said, "No I'm Irish." I said, "Same thing".
I still marvel at the fact that I'm still alive... ;-)
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Besides him being correct and you not you mean?
Canada is in the americas. Ireland is not in England.
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Ok, then call an Irishman "British," because Ireland is in the British Isles. *NOW* do you see his point?
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Ok, then call an Irishman "British," because Ireland is in the British Isles.
Well, the Irishman is British. What is your point? He even speaks English.
In the same way a Taiwanese is Chinese.
A simple war over religion and politics does not change the culture of the people.
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Ireland is not in the British Isles, The term British Isles is not acceptable within the Republic of Ireland and increasingly with Britain itself.
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Ok, then call an Irishman "British," because Ireland is in the British Isles. *NOW* do you see his point?
I think you mean the Irish Isles.
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Except that despite being geographically incorrect, people use, "American" to refer specifically to a citizen of the United States of America.
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Persons who are citizens of the Federated Republic of Germany are Germans.
Citizens of the People's Republic of China -> Chinese.
Commonwealth of Australia -> Australians.
United Arab Emirates -> Emirati.
Persons who are citizens of the United States of America, despite accusations of chauvinism, are Americans. Citizens of the United Mexican States are Mexicans, not Americans, even though their United States is also located in North America.
It's generally thought polite to let the country itself define
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And yes, it is common for other languages to use terms other than what natives call themselves, and are still being proper in their speech. This does not, however, make the natives wrong in their usage.
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[citation needed]
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You're from the continent named America, he's not from anything called England.
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The six-continent combined-America model is taught in Latin America, and some parts of Europe including Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continent [wikipedia.org]
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasia [wikipedia.org]
P.S. When I was in elementary school, we were being taught that Europe and Asia were being officially internationally merged, or something like that, I'm not sure I was paying attention. Maybe it was just an excuse to cover up old schoolbooks in California's underfunded education system.
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There isn't really a continent named America. There is certainly a place, but the usage, in English, while muddled, is usually to refer to someone from the United States.
By your argument, the guy would also call someone from Brazil or Argentina the 'same thing' as an American, which starts to get pretty useless.
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There isn't a continent named America?
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amerika [wikipedia.org]
They were attached before they put a trench trough Panama. Still the same continent thought. :)
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I always understood that there was a North American continent and a South American continent.
When referring to someone from say Argentina or Brazil, they are called South Americans.
When referring to someone from Kansas or Texas, we use the shortened form "Americans", and it is implicit that they mean NORTH Americans ... that and the fact anyone from "North America" believes that they are the centre of the universe, and anyone else doesn't count.
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They use it in Ecuador as well. I lived and worked there for most of 1998, Spanish being my working language. With no alternative languages to use my Spanish got quite good in the end, to the point that people from Spain could easily identify where I learnt it (Ecuador o Peru). They used "estadounidense" as an adjective for people from the U.S., and generally inferred that you meant something/someone from South America if you said "americano/a". Using "americ
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I said to this Jewish guy, "You sank the Titanic!".
"That was an Iceberg." he said.
"Well", I said, "iceberg, Goldberg - same thing".
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He was of course right. America is a continent, not a country.
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This can go around for millennia until someone looks at the maps and realizes that there is a tectonic & political division of North and South America. People can say that water is purple and it's still translucent.
To me it sounds like a throw back to when the Spanish were busy slicing away populations in South America, when it was referred to as "the Americas". There has been evolution since then of a couple hundred years, and a couple of governments.
I think is all political. And political divisions change. Over a third of the territory of the current US was part of the New Spain which also included what is called "Centroamerica" or central america. Then, after the independence from Spain, those territories where part of Mexico.
Sacramento = Sacrament; San Francisto = Saint Francis (although I believe its improper to translate proper names); Los Angeles = The Angels (city of); Colorado = Red / Reddish; Santa Fe = Holy faith... My point? only that politic
Ha ha! Geek fight! (Score:2)
When looking over all the responses to your post, I am reminded that there are certain buttons you can push in a geek which make them jump like the floor was electrified. Rushing to split a hair they bloody well know doesn't need splitting is a classic response in the attention-starved smart-kid. "Look at me! I'm still the smartest kid in the room! Love MEEEE!"
--Tends to happen when you take a smart kid who traded on brain power to win easy love as a child, but who then got dumped into one of those spec
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Learn geography. Ireland in not in the UK, Northern Ireland is, but the Republic of Ireland isn't.
There is no political entity called the Republic of Ireland. The phrase "the Republic of Ireland" is the official description of the political entity called "Ireland" which makes up 80% of the island called "Ireland"
http://dotancohen.com/eng/britain_england_united_kingdom.html [dotancohen.com]
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Of couse the name of the Republic of Ireland is just Ireland (or else Eire, depending on which language you are using). But all attentive readers of Alice Through the Looking Glass will know that there is often a difference between the name of something, and what it is
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From An mBunreacht Na hÉireann, The Constitution of Ireland
Airteagal 4
Éire is ainm don Stát nó, sa Sacs-Bhéarla, Ireland.
Article 4
The name of the State is Éire, or, in the English language, Ireland.
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Wouldn't they let you join if you asked nice? KIDDING!
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Maybe you meant "Learn politics" rather than "learn geography"? Ireland is where it is, and that won't change, short of some cataclysmic event. Being part of the UK is - well, just politics!
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I only learn tidbits of information that are either useful or interesting, and currently, that particular piece of info is neither.
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When in doubt, refer to the British Isles Venn Diagram [wikimedia.org].
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No, politics aside, UK is not an appropriate tag. If you'd actually read the article, you'd notice the areas referred are decidedly south and decidedly in the republic.
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The article mentions Donegal and Cavan, which sandwich the western part of Northern Ireland. Donegal actually borders it to the north! Presumably if it could be seen in Donegal and Cavan, it could also be seen in Fermanagh?
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My impression was the article suggested most reports came from Cork and Kerry, but a few isolated reports came from further north. In any event, all reports indicate observations trending to the west.
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While the counties are surely in the Republic, I seriously doubt that "Ulster says No" applies to meteors, exploding blimps or celestial pyrotechnics.
(Unless, of course, it was one of them popish meteors)
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While the counties are surely in the Republic, I seriously doubt that "Ulster says No" applies to meteors, exploding blimps or celestial pyrotechnics.
(Unless, of course, it was one of them popish meteors)
You would have to look around for Three Wise Men.
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Ok, but next time there's an article about Mexico can we tag it "America"?
Actually you can, since that is the name of the continent. Unfortunately, it would confuse a lot of people, particularly in the U.S. Which is why they had to come up with the moniker of "The Americas" to signify the whole continent.
You can even tag it North America. But only if you talk about geography there are three countries in North America, to wit: Canada, the States and Mexico. Political or cultural divisions might differ.
Now mod me down with all your wrath :P
Robin Williams (Score:3)
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Sigh.
It never takes long for the drunken comments to surface.
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I think maybe you meant "drunk Scotting golfer": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_OmnP527Dw [youtube.com]
Funny as hell, BTW
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Thanks for the link and the laugh!
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That was a Scottish Golfer not Irish ...
LOL.
I guess the subject of Robin William's routine (a drunken Scottsman's invention of golf), or the thick Scottish brogue, wasn't enough of a hint for the OP.
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The rather worrying thing about Miss South Carolina isn't that she got tongue tied but that in the interview she gave after the event she clearly demonstrates she isn't of above average intelligence yet seems to have a university place.
If she is capable of a degree in an American university what value is there in an American degree?
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It isn't that American university degrees aren't completely suspect. The majority of graduates from our universities are actually fairly bright individuals. The problem is that there the three ways to get a degree are to either be rich and donate a lot of money, bring fame to the school in some way, or genuinely be intelligent. The first two ways only really comprise a small fraction, the only problem is that they generate an inversely greater amount of attention. This is mostly what lends to the Americ
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I don't think it's that. University covers quite a broad range of quality - some of them are a very long way from Harvard or MIT.
[cue argument about whether Yale and Berkely are better...]
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I'd say Yale ... at least they can spell Berkeley
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She's there for the 'Mrs' degree.
Re:Robin Williams (Score:5, Funny)
Do you not think that poor girl got hit in the face with a lot of dick before she got that far?
The poor girl might have been concussed by that point.
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no telescope (Score:4, Interesting)
Too bad the Leviathan of Parsonstown is not in operation and they let it rot, maybe they'd have been able to track it properly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leviathan_of_Parsonstown [wikipedia.org]
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Duh when quoting a wikipedia article you could at least read the entire piece . . . "It has since been reassembled as a tourist attraction"
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Because of the castled walls on either side, it looks a bit like a giant catapult and relies on the earth for much of its Azimuth range of motion. Given the cloudy skies and its limited pointing ability, it wouldn't make a good comet or asteroid scope, but it's owner did discover the spiral nature of galaxies through it and it is by far the biggest telescope I've peered through with my own eyes (during a star party in 2001). I've no idea what dim starfield I was gazing at but I suspect it was far beyond
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That's a fantastic link. It's too bad you don't know what the fuck you're talking about.
Starting from the top: Most telescopes can't track satellites. If this was a satellite burning up over Ireland, (as has happened before) that telescope, nor any others, would make a difference. If it was an asteroid, it still wouldn't make a difference. While that design was amazing for its day, it would in no way be able to track accurately enough to image asteroids. You need very accurate, very consistent obse
It's a Texas Band! (Score:1, Funny)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Explosions_in_the_Sky
False alarm ... (Score:3, Funny)
... it was just my iPod exploding. Again.
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Idiocracy (Score:4, Funny)
and the other was a rock from space
A meteor, in other words?
Damn idiocracy.
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"This was actually the planet Jupiter and it can be characterised by being by far the brightest star in the entire night sky," he said.
... and Jupiter is apparently promoted to "star" status now too. What the HELL. *cries*
Re:Idiocracy (Score:4, Insightful)
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I think you have to wait for 2010, and something to do with an obelisk measuring 1 x 4 x 9.
Just a typical Irish Craic-up (Score:2)
Jupiter is not a star! (Score:2)
"This was actually the planet Jupiter and it can be characterised by being by far the brightest star in the entire night sky," he said.
That's gonna really follow that astronomer around for a long time...
MQDuck Little (Score:2)
The sky is exploding! The sky is exploding!
AIB (Allied Irish Banks) imploding? (Score:1, Offtopic)
They know it wasn't Jesus coming back... (Score:1, Flamebait)
..cuz in Ireland where are you going to find 3 wise men and a virgin?
There's a slightly better article (Score:5, Informative)
Well, yes there is: http://www.mail-archive.com/meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com/msg77530.html [mail-archive.com] So, a meteorite, or if you read the BBC papers, a "space rock." Let's at least pretend we care about the news, not being our usual, fitful selves.
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I think what happened here was that the BBC found the Digital Journal article, got famously sloppy, and reprinted a dumbed down version.
I agree with everything you've said, except for what I've quoted. It more likely happenend the other way around. The tip-off should have been the first words of the article you link to:
BBC News reports...
Otherwise, nice find and nice post. btw I blame the Digg Hoard... I think they're the ones flooding Slashdot with silly posts.
Fireball forensics (Score:4, Informative)
Curiously... (Score:2)
I saw a rather spectacular meteor probably five hours later over east Texas. It was low (appeared to be below the clouds) and very bright.
The only more impressive one I've seen was during the Perseids shower in 1998, one left a visible trail of dust/smoke/whatever.
The solution (Score:2)
Call these guys [explosionsinthesky.com], they'll know what to do.
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The problem with firing the afterburners over Ireland is finding the country again afterwards.