[meteorite-list] Meteor lights up WA night

From: Jeff Kuyken <info_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun Dec 4 02:40:47 2005
Message-ID: <000701c5f8a6$0be40680$1f598b90_at_mandin4f89ypwu>

G'day folks,

I just saw the news and they had footage of a VERY impressive meteor falling
over Perth, Western Australia. There was one relatively large detonation
followed by two more in quick succession about a second later. I haven't
found an internet video yet but there is a story below.

Cheers,

Jeff


http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200512/s1523140.htm

Meteor lights up WA night

A Perth astronomer says a spectacular light show in the sky last night was a
meteor. Sightings were made as far south as Albany and inland through the
Wheat Belt. Peter Birch, from Astronomy West, estimates the meteor was about
the size of a basketball. "It's come in across the state of Western
Australia and burnt up in the atmosphere down over the south-west," he said.
"It may well have gone out over the southern ocean. "It lit up the
countryside for hundreds of kilometres around the south-west of Western
Australia." Mr Birch has analysed some amateur footage of the event and says
any remnants of the meteor would also be of interest." "If any bits of it
have come to ground, I'm sure people at the museum would like to have a look
at them," he said.

Bright sky

Witnesses say the sky lit up about 9:00pm AEDT, and the light was followed
by a thundering sound that shook buildings. Helen Bignell was driving just
north of Kojonup when she saw the meteor. "All of a sudden the sky lit up,
it was a bright as daylight it was quite unbelievable," she said. "I looked
up over head and there was something silver, sort of looked like a silver
ball with a trailing reddish green sort of tail almost like fireworks. "Then
another one, there were two, quite spectacular objects." Another witness,
Brent, says he did not need his torch as the object passed. "I could turn
the torch off because the whole sky was just bright purple," he said.
Received on Sun 04 Dec 2005 02:40:30 AM PST