[meteorite-list] Fireball Splits Up Over Japan

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:18:26 2004
Message-ID: <200302090544.VAA14185_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/20030207p2a00m0fp003000c.html

Great balls of fire, is that a UFO?
Mainichi Daily News (Japan)
February 7, 2003

Observatories throughout western Japan were
swamped overnight with calls from people claiming to have spotted a UFO,
the Mainichi learned Friday.

Dozens witnessed the phenomenon at around 8:30 p.m. Thursday night, and
though what they saw may have shook their nerves, there was little need
for them to rattle their brains as it appears to have been great balls
of fire caused by a falling meteor or comet.

Moving from west to east across the sky, the initial fireball split into
three before disappearing.

"It was white at first and then turned yellow. It was like watching the
headlights of a truck from a long distance. I thought it must have been
a meteor, but I was shocked as I'd never experienced anything like this
before," said Yoshitaka Hazenoki, a member of the board of education in
the Wakayama Prefecture city of Arita.

Shinya Narusawa of the Nishi Harima Observatory in Hyogo Prefecture's
Sayo told of receiving many reports about the phenomenon.

"We've received information of sightings in Tanegashima (Nagasaki
Prefecture)," he said. "For the moment, we think it was a meteor that
dropped into the Pacific Ocean."

Observatories around Fukuoka also reported seeing the flaming balls of
fire streaming through the sky. Fukuoka Observatory officials said the
fireballs were either a meteor or comet.

Reports from Kitakyushu of a bright red light with a tail traveling
across the sky in an easterly direction over Kitakyushu were also
forwarded to the Mainichi. (Mainichi Shimbun, Feb. 7, 2003)
Received on Sun 09 Feb 2003 12:44:21 AM PST