Space News: New Life and Ball Lightning Comets

DECEMBER 6, 2010:

Well, the much-hyped NASA announcement last week was a bit of a disappointment. If you were under a rock , the media went from saying "NASA may have found new life on another planet" to "NASA has found new life in California" to "NASA took some mud from California and modified life in a lab." Our Astronomy blogger Lisa Beightol has the details.

In other space-related news, however, something more interesting: Green fireballs in the vicinity of comets may, in fact, be Ball Lightning. This meteorological phenomenon is something I have blogged about before and was recently created in the lab (see video below):

When I was a kid, I actually witnessed it. Here's what I posted to the AccuWeather.com Forums in 2004:

There were some interesting replies to that post, from other people who have experienced it. Have you? Leave me a Comment below in our new Facebook Comments area.

Ball Lightning - "Globe of Fire Descending
into a Room" in "The Aerial World," by Dr.
G. Hartwig, London, 1886. P. 267. (NOAA)