27 December 2012 - Joe Corona, California @ 6:15:00

3 seconds duration. Right to left, going south. White-orange and maybe blue colour. Bright as the sun.

27 December 2012 - H. Duplessis, Valley Center, CA @ 6:30 am PST

2 seconds duration. I was facing south-east. White streak traveled down, in easterly direction. First it was a white streak falling east then it ended with a green blast (green fireball?). Very bright white, similar to burning magnesium. Sky was clear, streak & green fireball were very distinct.

It was a scary day if you were living in Sochi, Russia, on Wednesday. During the early morning hours, a gas pipeline that feeds a local power station exploded, then in an unrelated incident later in the morning, a magnitude 5.3 earthquake rocked the city.

Sochi is to be host of the 2014 Winter Olympics, scheduled for Feb. 7-23.

There were no reported injuries from either incident.

Russia President Vladimir Putin ordered authorities to inspect Olympic sites, particularly those under construction, to ensure that there was no damage.

"Emergencies Ministry servicemen scoured through the city districts, but there was no damage," according to Irina Gogoleva of Russia's Emergencies Ministry.

Gogoleva said the reason for the explosion is unknown.

A Moroccan farmer got the shock of his life when a giant snowball fell to earth leaving a half metre hole in his land. The farmer from the Hrira region split the ice and put it in his fridge to prevent it melting. Local authorities then sent a team of scientists who confirmed that it was in fact a 'mega meteor' from space.

Hawley, Texas Sandia Sentinel All-sky Camera, Kevin Palivec

Colorado, Utah Daytime Meteor, ~17:15 MST, 21 December 2012

21 December 2012 - Linda Mossman. Eagle, Colorado @ 17:30 ish?

About 7 seconds duration. We were facing West. Object started in the Southwestern sky and fell towards the Northwestern horizon. Started with red flash, like fireworks, then bright white as it crossed the sky. As bright as the moon. This was very cool to watch with my son. We couldn't believe it stayed in the sky as long as it did.

21 December 2012 - Jerry Hernandez. Monticello, Utah, USA @ 17:19 MST

3 seconds duration. I was traveling North on Highway 191. It appeared directly over the center of my windshield. It traveled South, to the right. It was not fully dark and a very bright light streaked down and a spark of it came off the top right. Both continued down. Brighter than Venus. A spark came off the top right. Amazing it was bright considering it wasn't even dark yet.

21 December 2012 - John Hill. Nederland, Colorado ,USA @ 17:17 Mountain Standard Time

3 seconds duration. I was facing West. Direction of travel South to North. Bright white with no sound observed as I was in closed car. Brighter and larger than a planet. Very round, quite large, and relatively slower moving than a meteor.

21 December 2012 - Kathy Treanor. Salem, Utah, USA @ 17:15:00

5 seconds duration. South-Northeast. White, no sound, very bright and low. Same color as moon. 5 pieces fell off in trail, daylight hours.

Santa Barbara, California, U.S. - A series of jolts or "booms" as some viewers have described them are sending nervous jitters through the Tri-counties.

The first one hit at 9:34am in the Santa Barbara area followed by at least a half dozen more over the next hour. People have been calling into the KEYT newsroom from Thousand Oaks to Morro Bay saying they felt them.

The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Dept. released a statement at 10:42am explaining that it confirmed through various state and federal agencies that there has been no seismic activity, but it may be activity caused by military aircraft flying over our area.

The U.S. Geological survey website shows a 2.6 magnitude quake hit the Cherry Valley area in Riverside County at 9:34am, but it seems unlikely that would be the source of the jolts.

Vandenberg Air Force base is not reporting any military activity. Staff Sgt. Riendeau at the base said in a phone interview they are "looking into the issue to find out what's going on."

Steve Walter, a seismologist with the USGS in Menlo Park, told KEY News in a phone interview that the jolts appear to be happening in the atmosphere, something he calls "air phase". He said many of the phone calls he received so far are from the Vandenberg, Lompoc, Diablo Canyon and Santa Maria areas. He said the reports he has heard are similar to what the Navy does in Northern California when they blow up older explosives. The blasts can be felt for up to 100 miles away.

KEY News will post the latest on this story as we get it and on KEY News tonight.

She admits it sounds nutty.

But Janine Coburn swears she spotted a fiery green orb streaking across a clear night sky on the weekend. It was moving faster than an airplane, Coburn insists, and it was bigger than a falling star.

"It's as if it were flung by a giant," she said. "It was vivid."

The Somerset resident was out for some fresh air shortly before midnight on Sunday when she watched the mysterious object soaring north for at least five seconds before vanishing.

It's left Coburn scratching her head to explain the apparent cosmic show. Combing through online communities has been fruitless, so she's asking Calgarians for answers.

"I've done research since then and it hasn't made me feel any more comfortable with what I saw," she said Tuesday.

Phil Langill, director of the University of Calgary's observatory, is also unsure what Coburn witnessed. Photos pulled from a sky camera reveal Sunday was actually a cloudy evening, which leads Langill to believe it was a low-flying object - possibly fireworks.

17 December 2012 - Kamalpreet Singh, Jalandhar, Punjab, India @ 19.36

5 seconds duration - Travelling from left to right. Bright yellow colour. Same brightness as the moon, like a huge ball from the sky.

17 December 2012 - Rahul Sharma, Jalandhar, PUNJAB, India @ 18.50 (+5.30)

5 seconds duration - N-E direction, heading east and downward diagonally. Firstly it was bright green/blueish, then it changed into orange around midway. No sound. It was as bright as the full moon, like a huge burning ball. I have seen many meteors in my life, but this one was huge. It lit up the sky like a firework.

There's a lively discussion on the Web about this video of a burning object streaking across the Warwick sky.


A providencejournal.com reader says a co-worker shot the video just before 5 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 13.

One commenter on YouTube declared it a fake. Others had various explanations.

A big fireball plunged into a body of water near the Black Sea Tuesday last week in the city of Ordu in Turkey. Comments to the video are widely varied. Some people connect it to the Dec. 12 (12/12/12) supposed mysticism, some say it's a UFO, and others refer to other news reports that link the fireball to the meteor shower at the time.

This report shows the security cam footage and says the falling bright object was a meteorite. The scene was uploaded to YouTube with a "boom" sound effect. Naturally, a couple of users noticed the odd sound.

"LOL, I love how these people dubbed the sound in. Terminal flash and sonic booms never happen at the same time. Sonics follow way later. Great video though," writes milkywaypride99.

"Fake!!! The speed of sound is 331.3 meters per second (1,087 feet per second) in dry air at 0 degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit). At a temperature like 28 degrees C (82 degrees F), the speed is 346 meters (1135.17ft.) per second. As you can see, the speed of sound changes depending on the temperature and the humidity; but if you want a round number, then something like 350 meters per second and 1,200 feet per second are reasonable numbers to use," writes gjonesy9.