[meteorite-list] Burst of Meteors Seen Near Finland

From: Pekka Savolainen <pekka.savolainen_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed Jul 14 13:59:55 2004
Message-ID: <40F575CA.2010805_at_dlc.fi>

You can find the pic from;

http://www.vasabladet.fi/nyheter.asp?katID=1

text only in swedish...;-

best,

pekka s



Ron Baalke wrote:

>http://iafrica.com/news/worldnews/334473.htm
>
>Fins mistake meteor shower for SOS
>AFP
>July 13, 2004
>
>A burst of meteors over Finnish coastal waters early Tuesday prompted
>hundreds of Finns to mistakenly report the natural phenomenon as
>emergency flares from distressed vessels, officials said.
>
>"The shower might have lasted just a few seconds, but so far we got over
>70 calls. The first hour was very busy here," said Matti Salokorpi,
>senior lieutenant with the maritime rescue center in Vaasa, some 420
>kilometres northwest of Helsinki.
>
>On a normal night the rescue centre might get around 10 calls, he told
>AFP, adding that Vaasa's ambulance and fire services had received as
>many calls due to the natural phenomenon created when space debris hits
>the earth's atmosphere at high speed.
>
>Several other rescue centres along the Finnish west coast reported
>numerous similar calls, according to media here.
>
>One of the callers, cruising in his pleasure boat off the coast,
>described the phenomenon as a red fireball moving swiftly through the
>night sky, spewing sparks and leaving a trail of vapor before turning
>white as it entered the atmosphere, Finnish news agency FNB reported.
>
>A glowing meteor could easily be mistaken for an emergency flare, which
>is an international alarm signal for sailors in need of assistance,
>Salokorpi said.
>
>According to Finnish and international maritime regulations, any person
>who sees an emergency flare is bound by law to report it, he said. It is
>up to the rescue center to decide whether such an observation is a
>distress call or not, and not the observer.
>
>
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>

-- 
Pekka Savolainen
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Received on Wed 14 Jul 2004 02:04:58 PM PDT