Meteor Strike

SEATTLE, Washington (AP) -- A meteor about the size of a computer monitor flashed across the Northwest sky early Thursday, setting off booms that stunned witnesses.

"There was some question as to whether it was a piece of space junk burning up, but it was not," said Geoff Chester, a spokesman for the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. "As far as I've been able to figure out, it was simply a rock falling out of the sky, as they are wont to do on occasion."

Chester said it was a type of meteor called a bolide, one that appears like a fireball in the sky, and was about the size of a small piece of luggage or a computer monitor.

Nothing unusual was detected on National Weather Service radar, and authorities also ruled out aircraft problems or military flight tests.

Toby Smith, a University of Washington astronomy lecturer who specializes in meteorites, said the skybursts were reported over a wide area around 2:40 a.m.

Witnesses along a 60-mile swath of the Puget Sound region from the Tacoma area to Whidbey Island and as far as 260 miles to the east said the sky lit up brilliantly, and many reported booms as if from one or more explosions.

"It made a pretty big bang," said Petty Officer Andrew Davis at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, 40 miles north of Seattle.
 

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AP Meteor Crash Report Was a Hoax

By Joe Strupp

Published: June 03, 2004 12:20 PM EST

NEW YORK Associated Press editors were forced to retract an earlier report that a meteorite might have hit near Olympia, Wash., this morning after discovering that a source, one Bradley Hammermaster, claiming to be an astronomy professor, had perpetrated a hoax.

"An early report that a meteor might have hit turned out to be false," said AP spokesman Jack Stokes. "It looks like a version (of the story) was killed because it talked about a meteorite hitting." He said AP was reviewing how the error occurred.

The original story, which AP released at 7:03 a.m. EST, stated that someone identified as Bradley Hammermaster, and purported to be a University of Washington astronomy instructor, had told KIRO Radio in Seattle that a piece of meteor "about the size of a small car" had hit just before 3 a.m. PST.

The radio station also quoted the man as saying "a team was being assembled to head for the area where the object was believed to have hit near the tiny southwestern Washington community of Chehalis."

This version was picked up by dozens of news sites, most of which later deleted the Hammermaster references.

The bogus report followed genuine reports of bright lights being seen along a 60-mile stretch of the Puget Sound, which National Weather Service and U.S. Coast Guard officials were investigating as either a streaking meteor or other outer space activity, AP reported.

An AP advisory sent out at about 7:23 a.m. EST stated, "The AP story Meteorite-Washington ... has been eliminated. The identity of the source of the story cannot be confirmed."

Later versions of the AP story revealed the hoax.

"An early report that a meteor might have hit near Chehalis, about 90 miles south of the city, turned out to be false, a University of Washington scientist who specializes in meteorites said," AP reported. "A man who identified himself as University of Washington astronomy professor Bradley Hammermaster told KIRO Radio a team was being assembled to head for an area where the meteor was believed to have hit, but that call appeared to be a hoax, Smith said."

The story added, "No one by the name of Hammermaster is known to the astronomy department, and the description given by the caller to the station of the object -- an automobile-sized piece of a small car from a piece of the larger Trilene meteor -- was clearly bogus."

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Security Camera Meteor Picture

This picture supposedly was taking during the meteor strike in Seattle Washington by a security camera. 

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Residents Report Meteor


27/06/2004 12:07 PM
NewstalkZB

A South Island radio station is being swamped with reports of a meteor strike in the Mackenzie Country.

People from Christchurch to Timaru say they saw a bright light streaking across the sky around 9.30 on Saturday night.

Port FM announcer James Valentine says he has taken dozens of calls describing the dramatic end of the meteor's journey.

He says it exploded before it hit the ground, and flames and debris were seen in the sky.

James Valentine says a consensus is building around the idea the meteor crashed to earth somewhere near Twizel.


Copyright 2003 Newstalk ZB News. All copyright in this bulletin remains the property of The Radio Network Limited. Terms and Conditions.

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Giant Asteroid Could Hit Earth in 2014


Near Earth Object 2003 QQ47
July 17, 2004

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- A giant asteroid is heading for Earth and could hit in 2014, U.S. astronomers have warned British space monitors.

But for those fearing Armageddon, don't be alarmed -- the chances of a catastrophic collision are just one in 909,000.

Asteroid "2003 QQ47" will be closely monitored over the next two months. Its potential strike date is March 21, 2014, but astronomers say that any risk of impact is likely to decrease as further data is gathered.

On impact, it could have the effect of 20 million Hiroshima atomic bombs, a spokesman for the British government's Near Earth Object Information Centre told BBC radio.

The Centre issued the warning about the asteroid after the giant rock was first observed in New Mexico by the Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research Program.

"The Near Earth Object will be observable from Earth for the next two months and astronomers will continue to track it over this period," said Dr Alan Fitzsimmons, one of the expert team advising the Centre.

Asteroids such as 2003 QQ47 are chunks of rock left over from the formation of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago. Most are kept at a safe distance from the Earth in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

But the gravitational influence of giant planets such as Jupiter can nudge asteroids out of these safe orbits and send them plunging towards Earth.

Copyright 2003 <>Reuters. All rights reserved.

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Police Dash Cam Films 'Fireballs In Sky'


Bright Lights Seen In Sky Over 5 States

July 8, 2004

A large meteor shower is probably what lit up the sky over parts of five states Wednesday night, according to experts.
The National Weather Service and media outlets received numerous reports of fireballs in the sky around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday. The lights flashed across the sky shortly after 9 p.m. in portions of Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Tennessee.

Some of the fireballs were captured on a dash camera in a police car in Rowlett, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. The officer was on a traffic stop, and the left side of the shot shows several streaks of bright light.

After discussions with Federal Emergency Management Agency, the weather service determined that residents probably saw a meteor shower.

No debris or crash site have found, and there have been no reports of a missing aircraft.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.

Copyright 2004 by Internet Broadcasting Systems and Local6.com.

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Was Lowestoft Woman Hit By a Meteorite?

August 17, 2004


It may have been a Martian attack or simply bad luck, but whatever it was it left a Lowestoft woman with a nasty gash on the arm.

Pauline Aguss, 76, was hanging out her washing last week when she received the mysterious cut.

At first the only explanation was her peg bag but, husband Jack was unconvinced and later found a small brown metallic rock, no bigger than a walnut, in the garden – which had the markings of a meteorite.

On average one meteorite falls every week to earth, and the last significant find in the UK was in 1991 in Peterborough. According to experts, no one has ever been hit by one.

But given the metallic colour and visible crystals on the rock, Neil Bone, director of the meteor division at the British Astronomical Association, said he could not rule out the possibility that the Lowestoft find was genuine.

He said: "It seems East Anglia is the place for meteorites. However, these things are pretty rare and the chances of being struck by one are vanishingly small."

He added that the last record of a meteorite causing injury was when a dog was thought to have been killed in Egypt sometime in the last century.

The unidentified object fell from the sky last Wednesday afternoon and would have been hurtling at a speed of about 20km a second, having travelled millions of miles from the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars.

Mr and Mrs Aguss, who live in Normanston Drive, have spent the past few days looking on the internet, with help from the rest of the family, in a bid to confirm the origin of the rock.

Mrs Aguss said: "If you get a microscope out you can see lots of crystals on it, but I would like an expert's opinion to get to the bottom of this. I just wondered if it was a little Martian wanting to attack me."

Local astronomical groups are also keen to identify the latest offering from the skies, and Mark Lawrick-Thompson, chairman of the Norfolk Astronomical Society, thought there was a good chance it could be the real thing.

"It is quite rare to find them and the presence of crystals doesn't mean it is definitely a meteorite, but there is good chance that it is one," he said.

However, the possibility that it was connected to the annual perseid meteorite shower, which was at its peak last Thursday, was discounted by Mr Bone who explained that the material from the shower was too small and would burn up in the atmosphere.



EDP24 Norfolk

 England

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Spain Watches Fireball Shower

Danny Wood - BBC, Madrid

2004


Hundreds of Spaniards have reported seeing fireballs in the sky which experts say were probably caused by a meteoroid crashing into the Earth.  In the northern Palencia region, local radio reported sounds of explosions in the sky followed by earth tremors and clouds of smoke on a nearby mountain.

Behind a disco in Castellon province the fireballs started a small fire.

At first many feared that there was a plane crash, but that was soon ruled out by the aviation authority.

From one end of the country to the other, Spaniards have been witnessing an unusually spectacular astronomical display.

The fireballs that have been streaming across the skies could also be the result of a large piece of space junk - like a satellite entering the Earth's atmosphere.

But Jose Angel Docobo, director of the University of Santiago's observatory, says they were probably the result of a meteoroid colliding with the Earth.

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Early-Morning Fireball Streaks Across Colorado Sky

10/5/2004

DENVER - Several 9News viewers e-mailed us with accounts of what appeared to be a low-flying meteor.
One witness says he was walking through Bow Mar around 6:00 a.m. Tuesday and saw a shooting star, comet or something traveling from north to south at about 15 degrees off the horizon. It was travelling horizontal and according to witnesses was much larger than any shooting star they'd ever seen.
Another witness in Fort Collins saw a similar event around 5:50 a.m. It was described as a flying object which was believed to be a meteor. It was moving fast and straight from east to west and had a huge trail of fire behind it.
We contacted the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and workers there also received calls about the flash in the sky.
The Denver Museum of Nature & Science would like anyone who saw the event to record what they saw at a web site specifically designed for that.
Please see the link related to this story.
more headlines </news/> >

(Copyright by KUSA-TV, All Rights Reserved)
 

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CU-Boulder Researchers to Analyze Meteorite That Fell Outside Berthoud, Colo.

Oct 11 10:55:00 2004 Pacific Time


BOULDER, Colo., Oct. 11 (AScribe Newswire) -- University of Colorado at Boulder researchers will scientifically analyze a meteorite that fell outside Berthoud, Colo., last week, only the fifth to ever have been seen falling and subsequently recovered in Colorado, experts say.
The meteorite weighs more than 2 pounds and is about as large as a baseball, although it is irregular in shape. It appears to be made of igneous rock and is melted on its surface from the heat of entering the atmosphere. The meteorite probably broke off an asteroid or planetary body.
"Its igneous composition reveals that it was chipped off an asteroid large enough to undergo some form of volcanic activity," said Nick Schneider, associate professor of astrophysical and planetary sciences.
Megan and John Whiteis of Berthoud, and Megan's son, Casper, provided the meteorite to aerospace engineering sciences assistant professor Scott Palo for scientific analysis after they saw it land in their backyard. The couple had just walked out their back door into the yard at 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 5, when the meteorite flew over their heads and landed about 100 feet ahead of them.
Megan's mother, Marilyn Meador, contacted the National Center for Atmospheric Research and spoke with Dr. Maura Hagan who emailed Palo. Palo is an expert in radio meteors -- the study of ionized meteor trails in the upper atmosphere using radio waves. Palo spent the next few days putting together a team of scientists interested in helping to analyze the specimen. The team includes:
- Jack Murphy, curator emeritus of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, who is writing a book on Colorado meteorites
- Chris Peterson, of Cloudbait Observatory, a Colorado fireball observation network in Guffey, Colo., who is working to reconstruct the trajectory and orbit of the meteorite using infrasound and observations
- Assistant Professor Stephen Mojzsis of the CU-Boulder department of geological sciences
- Associate Professor Nick Schneider of the CU-Boulder department of astrophysical and planetary sciences and the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP)
- Doug Duncan, director of Fiske Planetarium
The first scientific test will measure gamma rays being emitted by the meteorite. It is likely the test will be performed at NASA's Johnson Space Center later this week. Because this is a fresh fall, the volatile chemical species can be measured. Analysis of the rare gasses and gamma ray emissions will provide information about the size and history of the meteorite before it entered the Earth's atmosphere.
Analysis of the meteorite trajectory and orbit also will be conducted in an effort to learn where this meteorite originated. Over the past 7 years to 10 years, a surprising number of fireballs have been observed during the first week of October. Scientists have little understanding about the source of the fireballs but the Berthoud meteorite could provide a wealth of information about these recent events. The possibility of tracking a meteorite back to its place of origin in the asteroid belt is a rare opportunity. Researchers are asking the public to report any fireball sightings in the sky during October in order to help determine the meteorite's trajectory and point of origin. Fireball sightings can be reported by going to www.cloudbait.com.
Residents of Berthoud also are asked to keep their eyes open for any rocks that appear unusual with a smooth, black, shiny crust. People who find objects they think may be a meteorite should contact Jack Murphy at (000)-000-0000.
Discoverers Megan and John Whiteis have expressed their keen interest in making the Berthoud meteorite available for educational purposes. Until needed for scientific analysis, the meteorite will be displayed and discussed in CU classrooms and at Fiske Planetarium. CU faculty will work with local K-12 educators and the discoverers to bring the excitement and importance of the Berthoud meteorite to schools and museums around the state.

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Drivers Report Mysterious Flash Of Light In Sky


Radio Show Host Receives Dozens Of Calls
A local radio station's phone lines lit up Thursday morning after motorists reported seeing a mysterious flash of light in the sky, Local 4 reported. Several drivers in the area of Interstate 275 and Interstate 94 called into WOMC radio at about 5:45 a.m. to report an unidentified light flashing in the sky.
"It was a bright flash, almost like a huge flashlight, almost like a generator going off," said one caller.
The host of the radio station's morning show, Dick Purtan, said he had no answer to what people had witnessed in the sky.
"The first thing that I thought of was that this was possibly the asteroid, this big rock that's about 3 miles long and a mile-and-a-half wide that actually came within a million miles of earth this morning, but the trouble is they say that it's not visible," Purtan said.
Officials at the Selfridge Air National Guard Base reported no flying this morning, so there were no records or photographs taken that may have identified the flash of light.
Metro airport also had no trace of the light flash because the airport's radar readings only cover a 40-mile radius, Local 4 reported.
The National Weather Service in Cleveland told Local 4 that the mysterious light may have been moonbeams poking through the clouds.
Local 4 attempted to contact the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which protects the airspace over the United States and Canada. NORAD had yet to return calls concerning the mysterious light.

Source:WDIV  Michigan 10/1/2004

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Meteorite Passes Over


 8 December 2004
By CLARE HAYES

PORT Macquarie found itself in the path of a meteorite on Monday morning as the speeding fireball shot through the earth's atmosphere.

The sky lit up, the night rumbled and the earth shook.

Where it was heading and where it landed, nobody knows.

But to witness the strange phenomenon residents had to be within a 50km radius of the meteorite's path; and there was no shortage of witnesses in Port Macquarie.

Mark Shelton had to pinch himself when he woke up.

The Gilmore St resident said the reserve at the back of his place glowed with an intensely bright light for about five seconds.

"It was like nothing I've seen before in my life," he told the Port News.

"It was so bright I didn't know what it was. I got up walked onto the balcony and 35 seconds later heard distant explosions followed by earth tremors that made the windows rattle.

"I was scared of the light because I've never seen anything like it. It was like looking at the sun, but worse."

The noise people heard was the sonic boom from the fireball hitting the earth's atmosphere.

If parts of the fireball break through the atmosphere, the rock that survives is a meteorite that will land on earth.

Astronomers can't tell if this happened on Monday because there have been no reports of people finding the rock.

According to Sydney Observatory astronomer Dr Nick Lomb, it's not uncommon for meteorites to reach earth.

In June a meteorite shot through the roof of a New Zealand home and in 1999 a Dunbogan home near Port Macquarie was hit. Fifty years ago in Alabama, USA, a woman was hit by a meteorite that came through her bedroom roof while she was sleeping.

And, if you're lucky, or unlucky, enough to get in the way of the meteorite, at least the rock will pay for the repairs because the outer atmospheric collectibles are valuable.

On the flip-side, a meteorite looks like any other rock and is impossible to distinguish without testing or unless it was seen falling out of the sky.

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Australian Meteor

 

By LAURIE SULLIVAN

First there was a growing 'shewwwwwwwwing' sound from the north-west.

Almost simultaneously, the fish began boiling on the surface of the water.

Then, as if on cue, the lights on the bridge went out just as a fuzzy object the colour of a smoke-filtered sun with a long tail flashed overhead, rocketing out to sea.

Port Macquarie man Lloyd Eyles witnessed what he described as ‘the spectacle of a lifetime' while fishing from Lake Cathie Bridge at 4am on Monday.

The well-known local fishing identity had an armchair view of the meteor which made a noisy pass over the Mid-North Coast.

For most people – the light sleepers anyway – it was little more than a window-rattling disruption to their sleep.

For Mr Eyles it was a celestial close encounter of the impressive kind.

"It all happened very quickly,' he said.

"I only just heard the shewwwing sound coming from the direction of Lake Innes when the fish went absolutely beserk, boiling up on the surface of the water.

"A split second later the lights on the bridge went out as this orange ball passed overhead.

"It almost seemed close enough to touch. It was probably much higher, but it appeared to pass about 20 metres above the trees just south of the bridge.

"As it moved away there was this loud rumble – like jets breaking the sound barrier or a convoy of trucks carrying boulders."

"It gave me the impression it was losing height as it headed out to sea."

The brief blackout of the street lights pitched the bridge into complete darkness, allowing Mr Eyles a clear view of the spectacle.

There was no shortage of local people woken by the rumble of the meteor. Some like Gilmore Street resident Mark Shelton were quick enough to observe the bright light that accompanied it.

It's not uncommon for meteorites to reach Earth. In 1999 a Dunbogan home was hit.

While they are valuable, testing is needed to distinguish them from earthly variety.

If Mr Eyles' close encounter left him open-mouthed, it did the same for the fish.

"It must have shaken them up," he said. "I caught another four whiting, a bream and a flathead afterwards."

AUSTRALIA

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Meteor suspected after unexplained sightings, blast in Indonesia
12-19-2004, 07h35

TANGERANG, Indonesia (AFP) - A large explosion was heard over Jakarta after a suspected meteor was seen streaking across the sky over the Indonesian capital.

The blast, which came as the country is on heightened alert after warnings of an imminent extremist attack, caused brief alarm but astronomers said it was likely a large meteor exploding as it fell to Earth.

Dozens of people telephoned Jakarta's ElShinta radio to describe an object, white in appearance, crossing the sky west of Jakarta and a violent noise followed by what they said sounded like an echo.

The explosion could be heard in Tangerang, just west of Jakarta, the southern suburb of Depok and as far away as Bogor, some 60 kilometers (35 miles) south of the capital.

"It is difficult to say what it was because there were no clear timings between the sighting and the blast, but from what the various accounts said, it is very likely to have been a falling meteor," said astronomer Muji Raharto.

More than six hours after the sightings were reported at around 7:30 am (0030 GMT) it was still unclear what the object was or where it exploded.

Police said they had no reports of any fallen objects and said they were still investigating the origin of the explosion.

"We have called all subdistricts and they all say they are not aware" of falling meteor in their area, a female police officer on duty at the Tangerang district police, First Inspector Kamtini told AFP.

Air force spokesman First Air Marshal Sagom Tambun said the air force was not monitoring falling objects such as meteors.

"Our radars are only for detecting and monitoring horizontal moving objects in the sky, and only then are we interested if the object suddenly moves on the vertical," Tambun said, adding that he has had no reports of any observation of a falling object in the sky so far.

Indonesia's security forces have been on alert after warnings from western governments that Islamic militants blamed for a series of deadly bombings in the country were planning an imminent attack in the run-up to Christmas.

Meanwhile, meteorologists in both Jakarta and Tangerang said there had been no seismic irregularities registered in the areas. Officials at Jakarta's international airport said their radars were incapable of picking up meteors.

Raharto, from the Boscha astronomical observatory in Bandung, West Java, told AFP that only specialised radars could detect falling space debris and to be visible in daylight, the falling meteor would have to be substantial in size.

He also said the suspected meteor could have exploded as it entered the Earth's atmosphere, explaining the absence of any evidence of a large impact.

Raharto also said that based on the witnesses saying they heard what appeared to be an echo after the explosion, the suspected meteor could have exploded over a region with high relief, such as the hills around Jakarta.

He said it was unlikely that the falling object was part of an obsolete satellite as some witnesses cited a clear tail behind the object.
 

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Witnesses report loud noise in Indonesia's capital; TV reports meteor seen


Sunday, December 19, 2004 6:13 AM CST
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- Indonesians saw an object with a tail of fire hurtling toward earth near their capital early Sunday before hearing a loud explosion. An expert speculated it might have been a meteor.

There were no reports of injuries.

Indonesian air force radar detected an unidentified object falling toward the earth at a great speed before disappearing around the same time the noise was heard, a spokesman said.

Muji Raharto, an astronomy professor with the Bandung Institute of Technology in West Java province, suggested the object was a large meteor that burned up as it fell through the earth's atmosphere, "causing a loud noise."

There were no reports of any objects hitting the earth in or close to the capital.

Several callers to el-Shinta radio station reported seeing a falling object with a fiery tail before hearing a noise like an explosion at around 7:30 a.m. in western Jakarta.

Police have been on high alert in Indonesia amid warnings from several Western governments that Islamic militants blamed for a series of attacks in recent years were planning more bombings.

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Blasts in Indonesian cities possibly meteor


20 December 2004

JAKARTA: Several loud blasts were heard in the Indonesian capital Jakarta and two nearby towns on Sunday, but one radio report said it could have been a meteor shower.


Police, on high alert after warnings from Western governments of possible terror attacks over the Christmas and New Year period, said they had no information on the blasts. A presidential spokesman also said he had no details.

Local Metro TV reported residents heard the blasts around 7.30am in Jakarta, the satellite city of Tangerang, and also Serang in West Java province. El Shinta radio said it could have been a meteor shower.

One caller to El Shinta from Bogor, just south of Jakarta, reported seeing a large object, suspected to be a meteor, hit the earth in the distance.

More than two hours after the blasts were heard, there were no reports of any casualties or damage, indicating the cause of the explosions was probably not bomb attacks. Local news radio and TV stations were paying little attention to the explosions.

Western governments, especially Australia, have warned an international hotel could be targeted for attack, possibly one of the three Hiltons in the world's most populous Muslim nation.

In Washington, the US State Department issued a fresh warning late last week for Americans to avoid non-essential travel to Indonesia, saying "the terrorist threat continues and may increase over the December-January holiday period".

AdvertisementAdvertisement"Reports indicate that terrorists are planning attacks against a wide variety of targets," the State Department said.

Police have tightened security across the country.

Islamic militants from Jemaah Islamiah, seen as the regional arm of al Qaeda, have launched bomb attacks in recent years in Indonesia, hitting nightclubs in Bali, the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta as well as the Australian embassy in the capital.

In the worst attack, 202 people were killed in Bali when militants bombed two nightclubs two years ago. Among the dead were 88 Australians.

On Friday, police found nine homemade bombs packed into cylinders on a bus in West Java. They have detained 15 people including the bus driver over the discovery in the West Java capital Bandung, 140km southeast of Jakarta.

Police deployed an additional 18,400 personnel for Christmas and New Year to protect churches and entertainment centres across Indonesia.

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Meteor Blast Rocks Jakarta


Reports of unexplained explosions caused alarm on Sunday morning in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.

i-Newswire, 2004-12-19 - Alarm was raised early Sunday morning in Jakarta as an unexplained explosion rocked the city. The city has been on high alert recently fearing terrorist attacks in the Christmas shopping spree.

The explosion however seems to have emanated from a meteor exploding above the city. Local television stations reported a white fire streaking across the sky followed by a large bang.

Experts point to a large meteor exploding as it burned up in Earth's atmosphere as the most likely explanation for the phenomena.

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Meteor May Have Fallen in Salt Lake


Dec. 16, 2004
Ed Yeates Reporting



This week's Geminid meteor shower may have hit really close to home this time; how about in somebody's backyard in Salt Lake City. Clark Planetarium was out today with metal detectors, searching for a chunk that could have fallen early Tuesday morning.

Meteorites of all shapes and sizes are on display at the Clark Planetarium. Unfortunately, none are from Utah. Perhaps that's why the Planetarium was more than eager to go searching for what could be a fallen space rock on the east side of Salt Lake. Clark Planetarium's Robert Bigelow was out this morning searching for what even he believes may be an elusive treasure.

Robert Bigelow, Clark Planetarium: “We have a credible witness who saw it land. I mean, most of the time you see this streak going across the sky and there’s no way you can tell anywhere near close to where it landed.”

That witness was KSL engineer Ken English who. 4:30 early Tuesday morning he was on his way to work along 9th east at about 3100 south.

Robert Bigelow: “And he saw what he described to us, a glowing object come down from the sky over here. Come down, come down through one of these trees. Saw some sparks come off and then he said it looked like it landed somewhere over in this area.”

But somewhere is a big area to look for a small space rock.

Robert Bigelow: “Something like this or something even smaller. You can see, I mean these are really small. Some of them might even be pea size.”

A small chunk would punch just a tiny hole in the ground, nothing like what happened two months ago when a two pound meteorite the size of a baseball dropped into a backyard near Denver, Colorado. But it’s still interesting if a small piece fell from the Geminid shower somewhere here.

Robert Bigelow: “Most meteor showers come from comets, comet debris. But this one actually comes from an asteroid, asteroid patheon.”

Incidentally, if a meteorite falls in your backyard, it's your meteorite. You decide what you want to do with it. The Planetarium of course would hope it would end up on display here.

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Meteor Hits a House in the Southeast of Iran

Saturday, January 01, 2005 - ©2004 IranMania.com

LONDON, Jan 1 (IranMania) - A meteorite weighing at least 16 kilograms (8pounds) has hit a house in the southeast of Iran, according to Iran's Official News Agency (IRNA) Thursday report.

According to local police official Mohammad Arab, the sparkling crystalline rock hit a home in Saravan in Sistan-Baluchestan province.

No injuries or serious damage were reported.

The report from IRNA added most of the meteor had already been broken up and taken away by local people before police arrived at the scene.
 

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Mass UFO (meteor) spotted in Gansu Province

Hundreds of people in northwest China's Gansu Province witnessed an unidentified flying object (UFO) Saturday night, and local police are searching for what may have dropped in the area.

Witnesses in Gansu's capital Lanzhou said that a strange shining object swept through the sky at about 11:36 p.m. Saturday, following by earthshaking sounds like bombing. They also reported that an ensuing tremble was felt within 100 sq km from Lanzhou.

One of them, a driver surnamed Zhang, said that he saw a shining ball with a three-meter-long trail flying from west to east and heard two thunders right after, when he was driving from Lanzhou city to neighboring Yongdeng county.

The local public security department confirmed that they have received more than 700 reports on the case, some saying it was an earthquake, and others saying it was an aerolite falling. The department has sent policemen to search for possible fallen objects but found nothing so far.

Liu Yanan, astronomy professor at the Northwest Normal University, said that it might be a meteoroid entering the earth's atmosphere.

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METEOR SPOTTED IN NORTH CENTRAL WISCONSIN?

January 5, 2005

AUTHORITIES IN NORTH CENTRAL WISCONSIN ARE BLAMING METEOR ACTIVITY FOR CAUSING DOZENS OF REPORTS OF BRIGHT FLASHES OF LIGHT IN THE SKY, AS FROM AN EXPLOSION, LAST EVENING.

THE LINCOLN COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT SAYS THE FIRST REPORT
CAME IN JUST AFTER SIX P-M AND TOLD OF A LARGE BRIGHT FLASH IN THE TOWN OF HARRISON.

MORE REPORTS SOON CAME FROM ALL OVER THE COUNTY ABOUT LIGHTS AND
STRANGE NOISES. IN ALL, THE SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT GOT ABOUT 50 CALLS ... AND SIMILAR CALLS WERE RECEIVED IN ONEIDA, TAYLOR, PRICE AND LANGLADE COUNTIES.

ACCORDING TO THE LINCOLN COUNTY OFFICIALS, LOGGERS NEAR THE
LINCOLN-TAYLOR COUNTY LINE REPORTED SEEING A GLOW AS FROM A FIRE
AFTER THEY SAW A FLASH OF LIGHT AND HEARD AN EXPLOSION ... BUT
DEPUTIES WENT INTO THE WOODS WITH THE OTHERS AND COULDN'T FIND THE SOURCE OF THE GLOW.

THE SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT SAYS THE FEDERAL AVIATION
ADMINISTRATION TOWER AT MINNEAPOLIS-SAINT PAUL INTERNATIONAL
AIRPORT ADVISED THAT THE LIGHTS AND EXPLOSIONS MOSTLY LIKELY WERE FROM A METEOR.

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Lincoln County says meteor probably caused lights, explosions

Associated Press


MERRILL, Wis. - Authorities in north central Wisconsin received dozens of reports Tuesday evening of bright flashes of light in the sky, as from an explosion, and they said it likely came from meteor activity.

The Lincoln County Sheriff's Department said the first call was at 6:12 p.m. and told of a large bright flash in the town of Harrison.

More reports soon came from all over the county about lights and strange noises. In all, the sheriff's department got about 50 calls, and similar calls were received in Oneida, Taylor, Price and Langlade counties.

The Lincoln County officials said that at 6:34 p.m. people logging near the Lincoln-Taylor county line reported seeing a glow as from a fire after they saw a flash of light and heard an explosion, but deputies went into the woods with the others and couldn't find the source of the glow.

The Federal Aviation Administration tower at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport advised that the lights and explosions mostly likely were from a meteor, the sheriff's department said.

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Experts Rush to Locate Mumbai Meteor Debris

Press Trust of India  Mumbai, January 12, 2005


Geologists and amateur astronomers rushed to Vavoshi near Pen in Raigad district on Wednesday morning, where pieces of a meteor-like object were reported to have fallen on Tuesday night.

A meteor-like object allegedly hit Vavoshi village near Mumbai in Raigad district on Tuesday night around 2030 hrs.

Bright light was seen and deafening noise was heard at places including Vavoshi, Rasaini, Khalapur, Khopoli, Pen, Panvel and Chirner.

The Astronomical Study and Research Centre, Pen Chairman and Director Sandeep Jhadav said it appears to be an explosion caused due to collision of an asteroid with earth's surface and the impact was felt over a radius of 50 km.

"We are trying to follow up on the matter," he said.

Meanwhile, Indian Meterological Department in Mumbai denied any earthquake struck the region on Tuesday night.

Panic gripped the village with residents reporting a huge ball of fire coming down from the sky accompanied by a big bang.
 

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Panic Grips Maharashtra Village After 'Fireball and Big Bang'

Press Trust of India  Mumbai, January 11, 2005


Panic on Tuesday night gripped a village in Raigad district of Maharashtra with residents reporting a huge ball of fire coming down from the sky accompanied by a big bang.

SP Raigad Jyaneshwar Fadtare said residents of Khapoli village informed that they had seen the fireball and heard a deafening sound that "shook the earth" at around 9 pm. The village is about 100km from Mumbai.

He said a police team had been sent out to ascertain the situation but the problem was of locating place where the reported fireball could have come crashing down.

Police Commissioner Navi Mumabi Vijay Kamble said there was "no substance" in the complaint of the villagers although people of Chirner near Uran had also heard the bang.

The Air Traffic Control and Directorate General of Civil Aviation ruled out the possibility of either a plane or a helicopter crash saying as per their records this had not happened.

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