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Fireballs and strange lights in the sky have been sighted from California to Pennsylvania to Maine—and also in Canada, Germany and the Netherlands. Can some of these be comets, meteors or asteroids—and what's the difference between them? Asteroids and meteors are space rocks, while a comet is mostly made of ice.

Tony Phillips writes in the NASA that these sightings have became so common during the end of October and beginning of November that astronomers are calling them "Halloween fireballs." Astronomer David Asher says, "People are probably seeing the Taurid meteor shower." Every year around this time, the Earth passes through a cloud of space dust. Every grain of this dust hits our atmosphere at around 65,000 mph, making a bright flash of light. In most years the shower produces only around five dim meteors per hour, but this year, for some reason, they’re much brighter than usual.

What makes them this way? According to Asher, the dust particles bigger than usual, more like pebbles than grains of dust. This dust cloud is all that’s left of a comet called Encke, which was discovered in 1786, which broke apart 5,000 years ago. When this happened, the night sky would have resembled a fireworks display. By blocking the sun's light, the debris could have led to the climate cooling that we know, from measuring tree rings, took place from 2354 to 2345 BC.

Astronomer Benny Peiser studies history and religions for evidence of this sort of occurance. He says, "I would not be surprised if the notorious rituals of human sacrifice were a direct consequence of attempts to overcome this trauma. Interestingly, the same deadly cults were also established in the Near East during the Bronze Age."

Planetary bodies have influenced modern religions as well. A large meteorite is in the center of the mysterious mosque in Mecca, which only Muslims can enter. In fact, they're directed to make a pilgrimage there once a year.

If you can't afford, or don't have time, to go on vacation right now, send your friends a crop circle postcard! Buy beautiful 2006 crop circle calendars as Christmas gifts and get a free 2005 calendar for yourself to use right now.

If you're interested in the truth, and not just the usual hype, then visit www.unknowncountry daily for the news and listen to Dreamland radio every week. Please support us, so we'll be here for you tomorrow: subscribe today.

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Imagine last year‘s tsunami, last month‘s earthquake in Pakistan, and Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma all rolled into one — and then some. If nations can‘t handle those calamities, what‘s going to happen when an asteroid collides with Earth?

Fortunately, experts believe further observations of the asteroid, 99942 Apophis, will almost certainly rule out an impact in 2036. Nevertheless, it‘s precisely that kind of predictable and preventable threat — and the thought of being ill-prepared for it — that alarms the world‘s normally intrepid spacefarers who are calling for action.

Two of the astronauts — Apollo 9‘s Rusty Schweickart and shuttle and space station veteran Ed Lu — have even helped establish a foundation to spotlight the issue.

Hollywood‘s depiction of cosmic collisions — think "Armageddon" and "Deep Impact" — has heightened public awareness, "but regrettably with the wrong solutions and overdramatization," Schweickart said.

For now, the astronauts are being cautious — some say too cautious — in their approach.

"The possible consequences are way worse than your run-of-the-mill natural disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis and hurricanes. As bad as they may be, this can dwarf them."

"When you go around it in an hour and a half, again and again and again and again, day after day, in some cases now, month after month after month, the Earth becomes a pretty small place," Schweickart said. "And then, of course ... most astronauts tend to be aware of things like asteroids and their impacts. I mean, we romped around the moon after spending years in preparation by looking at every impact crater and volcano here on the Earth."

It‘s time, the space explorers say, for NASA to step up to the plate.

An asteroid two-thirds of a mile wide, at impact, would be enough to easily take out a good-sized European country. By comparison, an asteroid or comet believed to be six to seven miles across wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

Scientists , , ), R-Texas, is sympathetic to the astronauts‘ concerns and has asked NASA to see what might be needed to protect Earth from asteroid impacts.

Nuclear-powered spacecraft could either land on the asteroid and apply a small but continuous force over months in order to alter its Earth-smashing course, or hover above the asteroid and use its gravity to push it aside. Forget about any sensational last-minute asteroid crackups, "Armageddon" style; the pieces could wind up on a collision course with Earth.

Schweickart and Lu‘s B612 Foundation — named after the home asteroid of the Earth-visiting prince in Antoine de Saint-Exupery‘s "Le Petit Prince" — is pushing for an orbit-altering demonstration by 2015 on a harmless, way-out-of-the-way asteroid.

The European Space Agency also is proposing a practice mission called Don Quixote to alter an asteroid‘s course, but it‘s yet to be formally approved. NASA‘s Deep Impact spacecraft smashed into a comet for scientific reasons in July; by design, it barely altered the comet‘s path.

"We‘re sitting in a shooting gallery, with hundreds of thousands of these things whizzing around in the inner solar system. So it‘s just a matter of time," said Schweickart, board chairman of the B612 Foundation.

Fortunately, the technology to protect us is ready for the task, he said, and that‘s "the beauty of it."

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