Fire in the Sky
Jake Jost, Investigative Producer
WBIR.comThu, 25 Jan 2007 14:10 UTC
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| Meteor photographed over Tennessee in January 2007
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Numerous East Tennesseans reported seeing a bright green light streak through the sky Wednesday night. Police dispatchers said they got so many calls, they didn't have time to count them.
Reports on its direction of travel varied somewhat. Most accounts on its shape and color reported it being blue-green with a comet-like tail, and many callers to WBIR were surprised by the size of it.
WBIR's own Steve Phillips saw the light as he returned from dinner and said it was larger than he expected a meteor to be.
Last night, (Wednesday 24th Jan 2007) blue and green lights were spotted in the sky around eight o'clock. People from all across the upstate and western North Carolina reported seeing the light streak through the sky toward the ground. Sheriff's offices in Greenville, Pickens and Spartanburg counties say they received dozens of calls reporting the lights. One of our viewers wrote in to tell us what she saw.
BBCThu, 25 Jan 2007 07:39 UTC
A flashing light reported "streaking" through the skies across much of Wales at breakfast time could have been a meteor, an expert believes.
The light was first seen at 0730 GMT, with one eyewitness describing it as a "long line, thicker at one end, bluey-green and flashing".
Reports of the light came in from the Lleyn Peninsula through to Swansea.
Jay Tate from Spaceguard UK said it was most likely to be a piece of space debris entering the earth's atmosphere.
"It was frightening," said Morfudd Parry Roberts from Aberdaron, Gwynedd.
"I was sitting having a cup of coffee by the window when I saw it (the light) move from the north towards the south.
"It was a long line, thicker at the front end. It was quite frightening because it seemed so big."
A MAJOR search involving two RAF helicopters was sparked in Dumfries on Friday (Jan 19) evening after sightings of a "fireball" in the sky.
Comment: Interesting that the fireball was described by many witnesses as having a smoke trail - I could have sworn that comets had big, glowing tails. As a matter of fact, according to Sciencedaily.com (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/01/070119144255.htm)
"In early January, it [comet McNaught] was visible in the northern hemisphere but after passing the Sun, it only became visible from the southern hemisphere, entering the constellation Microscopium (The Microscope) on 18 January."
Isn't Dumfries in the Northern Hemisphere? - but, hey, I'm probably just nit picking - move along, nothing to see here.
In Altaisky Krai scientists are searching for meteorite, which fell from the sky not long ago. Barnaul planetarium is receiving a great number of telephone calls from people, who have seen the fireball falling.
Natalia Pavlova, research fellow of Barnaul planetarium, said that on 10 January many people have observed a fireball falling down and making a loud noise.
I just got an email from a reader saying a friend of his saw what may have been a spectacular meteor breakup near Columbus, Wisconsin around 7:10 p.m. local time today (Monday, January 15, an hour ago as I write this). Did any BABloggees from that area see anything?
A major Royal Navy and police search carried out near Dumfries has been blamed on sightings of a comet.
The alert was raised at about 1700 GMT on Friday when police operators started receiving calls about a "burning light" spotted above the town.
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| The comet is believed to have sparked a string of calls to police
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TEHRAN - An Unidentified Flying Object crashed in Barez Mounts in the central province of Kerman Wednesday morning.
Deputy Governor General of Kerman province Abulghassem Nasrollahi told FNA that the crash which was followed by an explosion and a thick spiral of smoke has caused no casualties or damage to properties.
FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP, N.J. - A hole in the roof, a bathroom full of debris and a strange, silvery rock near the toilet - the Nageswaran family soon realized they needed an astronomer, not a contractor, to fully explain what damaged their house.
Scientists determined it was a meteorite that crashed through the roof of their central New Jersey home more than a week ago.
While extraterrestrial rocks fall to the Earth with some regularity, it is rare for them to strike homes.
Freehold Township, New Jersey - A metal, rock-like object about the size of a golf ball and weighing nearly as much as a can of soup crashed through the roof of a Monmouth County home, and authorities on Wednesday were trying to figure out what it was.
Nobody was injured when the oblong object, weighing more than 13 ounces, crashed into the home and embedded itself in a wall Tuesday night. Federal officials sent to the scene said it was not from an aircraft.
The rough-feeling object, with a metallic glint, was displayed Wednesday by police. "There's some great interest in what we have here," said Lt. Robert Brightman. "It's rather unusual. I haven't seen anything like it in my career."
He said he hoped to have the object identified within 72 hours, but declined to name the other agencies whose help he said he had enlisted.
Comment: Interesting that the fireball was described by many witnesses as having a smoke trail - I could have sworn that comets had big, glowing tails. As a matter of fact, according to Sciencedaily.com (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/01/070119144255.htm)
"In early January, it [comet McNaught] was visible in the northern hemisphere but after passing the Sun, it only became visible from the southern hemisphere, entering the constellation Microscopium (The Microscope) on 18 January."
Isn't Dumfries in the Northern Hemisphere? - but, hey, I'm probably just nit picking - move along, nothing to see here.