The mysterious fireball, which fell in Jadrangal village here, injuring two women, was not a "meteorite", but "low intensity explosives", the state forensic experts claimed Saturday.
"It was a low intensity explosive which contained radicals of Barium Nitrate, Aluminium and Iron Oxide, normally used in incendiary projectiles," Dr Arun Sharma, Director, Himachal Pradesh Forensic Science Laboratory told reporters here.
In a first-of-its-kind incident, two women sustained minor injuries as the explosives fell from the sky on the village on March 21.
Two women were doing some household work when the fireball hit the surface and some of its parts fell on the women after splitting following which they sustained burn injuries on arms and back.
The rumours of it being a meteorite started spreading soon after the incident.
Fireballs
© REUTERS/NASA/JPL-Caltech/Handout
The passage of asteroid 2012 DA14 through the Earth-moon system, is depicted in this handout image from NASA.
The passage of asteroid 2012 DA14 through the Earth-moon system, is depicted in this handout image from NASA.
That's about all the United States - or anyone for that matter - could do at this point about unknown asteroids and meteors that may be on a collision course with Earth, Bolden told lawmakers at a U.S. House of Representatives Science Committee hearing on Tuesday.
An asteroid estimated to be have been about 55 feet in diameter exploded on February 15 over Chelyabinsk, Russia, generating shock waves that shattered windows and damaged buildings. More than 1,500 people were injured.
Later that day, a larger, unrelated asteroid discovered last year passed about 17,200 miles from Earth, closer than the network of television and weather satellites that ring the planet.
The events "serve as evidence that we live in an active solar system with potentially hazardous objects passing through our neighborhood with surprising frequency," said Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson, a Texas Democrat.
"We were fortunate that the events of last month were simply an interesting coincidence rather than a catastrophe," said Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican, who called the hearing to learn what is being done and how much money is needed to better protect the planet.
© SmithtownRadio.com
SmithtownRadio.com calls into Suffolk police and other emergency officials all resulted in the same answer: no one is sure but the thought is the noise was a really loud clap of thunder with an associated lightning strike.
At 9:46 p.m., the National Weather Service issued a Special Weather Statement regarding a snow squall moving onshore near Northport. The squall - which is a quick-forming, storm cell much like a summertime pop-up thunderstorm - was expected to impact shoreline communities stretching eastward towards Port Jefferson Station. SmithtownRadio.com has received listener comments indicating the noise was heard from Kings Park to Nesconset and into Centereach.
Meteorologist Mike Leona, who is the Long Island Weather Examiner for examiner.com, posted on his Facebook page that he thought the mysterious noise was likely thunder - but he too could not say fore sure. In his post, he said lightning detectors at Sikorsky Airport in Bridgeport and Republic Airport in Farmingdale both detected activity in the area of the squall line.
© ufosonearth.com
Dawn Ratcliffe, 30, of Milward Road, posted on a popular UFO spotting website when she saw the strange phenomena out of her window at around 10pm on Saturday, January, 26.
She was hoping other users of ufo-uk.co.uk might be able to offer an explanation as to what it was - and since then a host of people - from as far north as Lancashire - have come forward to confirm they too saw the spectacle - though its cause remains a mystery.
Dawn originally wrote: "I was sat on the floor in the living room talking to my boyfriend, facing the window, when outside I saw a massive white flash that lit up the whole sky. It only lasted a split second. It was like it had come from a ball of light, not like lightning. It definitely wasn't a firework and we went straight outside to see If there was anything out there or an aeroplane or something, but the sky was clear. It was such an intense bright white flash."
Site users immediately responded to Dawn's post.
I happen to live 300kms away from Chelyabinsk, where a large bolide exploded earlier today. Here are all the videos I could find featuring the massive explosion and its effects.
© RSPB
The unidentified jelly-like substance has been found at the RSPB Ham Wall Nature reserve in Somerset.
And according to folklore, a similar slime known as 'astral jelly' is deposited after meteor showers.
The jelly has turned up at the park just three days after a giant meteor streaked over the city of Chelyabinsk in central Russia.
Tony Whitehead, an RSPB spokesman for the South West, said: "Although we don't know what it actually is, similar substances have been described previously.
"In records dating back to the 14th Century it's known variously as star jelly, astral jelly or astromyxin.
"In folklore it is said to be deposited in the wake of meteor showers."
A daytime meteor fireball falls over Saudi Arabia, causing a sonic boom and chaos on the streets...
Comment: There's been a dramatic increase of fireballs around the planet in the last few days. For more information about what might be coming down the pike in the near future read: Comets and the Horns of Moses by Laura Knight-Jadczyk
Eyewitness reports
20 January 2013 - Ellen Musahino, Tokyo, Japan 3:40 a.m.
20 January 2013 - Ellen Musahino, Tokyo, Japan 3:40 a.m.
2-3 seconds duration. East, very bright yellowish white. There was a flash and then a diving star bright as the moon with a long and beautiful tail. Little sparks along the tail. It was bright enough to be confused with the flash of a camera in a dark room.20 January 2013 - A Shorb Nasu, Tochigi, Japan 2:42 JST
Around 5 seconds duration. Travelling West to East. A large flash of light like lightning followed by a bluish-green ball. Maybe as bright as the moon? It seemed very close. I've found some Youtube videos of the meteor, taken from from near Tokyo:
San Francisco -- A fireball lit up the predawn Northern California sky Thursday, according to reports from early risers.The possible meteor was reported about 5:25 a.m. by people across California and as far away as Fernley, Nev., about 30 miles east of Reno."Wow, what a sight to have seen!" David Rivas of Seaside (Monterey County) wrote in an e-mail to The Chronicle.
He said he and his wife saw the streak as they were driving on Highway 1 north of Monterey. "It first appeared as a quick movement of sorts, maybe similar to a shooting star or quick lightning strike off to the east."Then, Rivas said, "it grew into "something shaped like a giant orange crayon."
Others described what they had seen on the American Meteor Society website.
He said he and his wife saw the streak as they were driving on Highway 1 north of Monterey. "It first appeared as a quick movement of sorts, maybe similar to a shooting star or quick lightning strike off to the east."Then, Rivas said, "it grew into "something shaped like a giant orange crayon."
Others described what they had seen on the American Meteor Society website.
It's looking more and more like a meteor was the cause of a loud mysterious boom heard Sunday night by people across western Nova Scotia.
Several witnesses are describing an object with a fiery green tail that flew across the skyline. David Landry was in Dartmouth when he watched the bright object hurtle across the sky over the Halifax bridges and towards the west shortly after 11 a.m. [?]
He said the object was "much bigger and closer" than any meteorite he had ever seen before.
Moments later people in western Nova Scotia reported hearing the booms and seeing flashes of light.
Shortly after 11 p.m. people from Liverpool to Yarmouth County and beyond reported seeing flashes of light and hearing booms. Some reported hearing two booms, a large boom followed by a smaller boom.
Unlike a lightning bolt, this flashing bluish light was reported to last for more than 30 seconds and the "thunder" was heard and felt for more than 100 miles.
Several witnesses are describing an object with a fiery green tail that flew across the skyline. David Landry was in Dartmouth when he watched the bright object hurtle across the sky over the Halifax bridges and towards the west shortly after 11 a.m. [?]
He said the object was "much bigger and closer" than any meteorite he had ever seen before.
Moments later people in western Nova Scotia reported hearing the booms and seeing flashes of light.
Shortly after 11 p.m. people from Liverpool to Yarmouth County and beyond reported seeing flashes of light and hearing booms. Some reported hearing two booms, a large boom followed by a smaller boom.
Unlike a lightning bolt, this flashing bluish light was reported to last for more than 30 seconds and the "thunder" was heard and felt for more than 100 miles.
Comment: At least one eyewitness has reported that the loud boom came from a meteor:
Bright blue fireball reported across several states, including loud boom above New York, 19 March 2013