[meteorite-list] Burning Object Seen Over Australia

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri Apr 1 12:18:28 2005
Message-ID: <200504011717.j31HHhN24198_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://abc.net.au/news/items/200504/1336692.htm

Stargazers attempt to identify UFO
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
April 2, 2005

The Perth Observatory is attempting to figure out if an unidentified
object seen in the skies of Western Australian and the Northern
Territory earlier tonight, was space junk or a large meteorite.

Astronomer Peter Birch says the unidentified object was tracked from the
south coast of Western Australia, to north of Alice Springs.

He says from the reports he has received it was most likely a satellite
re-entering the atmosphere.

"That of a large burning object in the sky, flaring getting bright, then
getting dim, then getting bright again, with a tail out behind it, which
is a fairly common meteor type description, but the thing that is a bit
different from a meteor description is that it's been seen over such a
large area and for such a long time," he said.

Alice Springs police say they received more than 20 reports of the
unidentified object tracking across central Australian skies.

Police say most of the calls came from Alice Springs, but some extended
320 kilometres to the south-west at Yulara and 170 kilometres north at
Ti Tree.

Alice Springs resident Fiona Higgins witnessed the rare event.

"I saw what I thought was fireworks and I thought, that's strange
because I didn't hear any bang like you would with fireworks and it was
going horizontal not vertical and it was the most phenomenal thing with
all the pretty colours," she said.
Received on Fri 01 Apr 2005 12:17:43 PM PST