[meteorite-list] Meteor-Like Object Seen In India

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:18:31 2004
Message-ID: <200302271811.KAA16636_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://66.234.3.46/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/theuae/2003/February/theuae_February370.xml&section=theuae

Meteor-like object seen in Sharjah
By Tarek Fleihan, Meraj Rizvi, Zaigham Ali and Hani Bathish
Khaleej Times Online (India)
27 February 2003

SHARJAH - In what could be described as a rare celestial spectacle, a
meteor-like fiery object was seen shooting across the skies in Sharjah
and was incidentally captured on tape for over four minutes by Talal
Hajjar, a student of the American University of Sharjah (AUS), at around
6:30pm yesterday.

'I was driving by the men's dormitory when I pulled over after noticing
this huge ball of fire streaking across the sky along a sharp axis
towards the East at great speed and my first impression was that may
be it was a common occurrence,' said Mr Talal, recounting his first
reaction. 'But something told me that it was extraordinary, and I ran
back to the car and pulled out my camera, which I was carrying
because of the Mass Communication Media filming project and the
constant pressure from my teacher Professor Beagalow,' said Mr
Talal excitedly.

The meteorological offices in Dubai and Sharjah said that the available
satellite pictures suggest no unusual activity in the skies. 'This sort
of thing is too small to register on a satellite picture, more so
because at one particular time, we cover a limited area,' said one
weatherman.

According to a geological expert in the UAE, the falling object, if it
did fall to the ground, would have created enough vibrations to be
picked up by a seismograph, the instrument used to detect earthquakes.
He said that the falling object either did not reach the ground and
just burnt up in the sky, or if it did reach the ground it fell in the
sea.

>From the fiery orange tail and the speed of its descent, estimated by
an amateur astronomer to be over Mach 20, among the explanations
produced is that it is either space debris or a large meteorite.
Received on Thu 27 Feb 2003 01:11:04 PM PST