Fire in the Sky
"I can't think of any other explanation, other than a fairly substantial gravel quarry explosion," said Jeff Wynn, research geophysicist with the Cascades Volcano Observatory.
Local gravel quarries reported no activity, especially at 6 a.m.
Several online readers last week offered theories about the noise, which some reported rattling windows and spooking animals. But, in a story on Saturday, experts ruled out some of the obvious theories. It wasn't a thunderclap. It wasn't a volcanic eruption. As far as emergency managers know, nothing exploded on the ground.
One resident reported to KBTX-TV she saw the object above the Kroger store in College Station.
Another reported seeing it while driving on Wellborn Road in College Station.
A resident also saw it in Madison County.
Most likely a meteor plummeting to earth in a blaze of glory, the fireball streaked down on an easterly arc roughly above U.S. Route 58 down toward what appeared to be a destination in the Tacoma area, at least from the perspective of White Oak Road atop the Tacoma Mountain Road ridgeline, looking south.
The fiery falling object was witnessed shortly before 6:30 a.m., or roughly a half-hour before sunrise. Daybreak motorists on U.S. 58 would have had a nice view of an unusual event during their morning commute, the fireball breaking apart into two pieces before flaming out in the same instant at what appeared to be just a few hundred feet above the terrain.
The article in question by Max Blumenthal of Alternet states that the 22-year-old gunman Richard Poplawski "was a neo-Nazi wannabe who railed against blacks, Jews, Zionists and gun control" and also seemed to find common ideological ground with Alex Jones. Poplawski appears to have been particularly incensed by Jones' reports that Obama was planning to institute a socialist dictatorship wherein all guns would be outlawed. While grouping Jones with White Supremacist Neo-Nazis may be doing the thing too brown, it is true that Jones has repeatedly stated that "the first step in establishing a dictatorship is to disarm the citizens."
"This thing just 'floated' across the sky," he stated. "The body was a shiny black, which at times looked like it was blending into the sky."
He describes the object as he and a girlfriend watched it move.
"As we both watched the lights go over our road, the back light of cloud cover began to reveal a solid object from one light to the other. I could see that it was one enormous craft shaped exactly like a boomerang. We both were in awe."
Andrew Shirley, of Willow Close in Uppingham, spotted the bright light above the town on Sunday at about 8.10pm.
Back in October there were other reports of a similar sighting over the town.
The shooting star was reported at about 1230 BST by people living as far apart as Donegal and Cork.
David Moore chairman of Astronomy Ireland said they were fairly certain it was a rock from space which could have landed somewhere in Ireland.
He said they were very keen to hear from anyone who has footage of what is suspected to be a meteor falling.
But only one person has said he saw where it landed.
Joe Butler of Suffolk says he was driving south across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel when night turned briefly into day.
Comment: For those who are unfamiliar with the term "aerolith", it is a meteorite consisting mainly of stony matter.