[meteorite-list] Meteorite Discovery Solves German UFO Sightings

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:50:25 2004
Message-ID: <200204091559.IAA23380_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_562926.html

Meteorite discovery solves German UFO sightings
Ananova
April 9, 2002

A mystery over widespread reports of lights in the sky over southern
Germany has been solved by the discovery of a meteorite.

A Bavarian farmer's wife found a 3ft wide crater in her vegetable patch
with the meteorite lodged at the bottom.

Munich Institute for Geology experts estimate the meteorite weighed
over 100 kilos before hitting the atmosphere at speeds of almost
125,000 mph.

The rock is bigger than a tennis ball but can still be held in one hand.

It is now at the institute of geology, where officials said it is worth a lot
more than the damage caused to the vegetable patch.

The woman from Friesing took the blackened rock to the local police
station hoping if she reported it she might be eligible for compensation.

Although her insurance company have told her she is unlikely to get
cash for meteorite damage, she is likely to get a decent reward from the
scientists.

Police in Bavaria and neighbouring Austria were swamped with calls
from worried locals at the weekend. They reported seeing the sky "lit up
like daytime" and hearing a violent explosion.

The farmer's wife said she witnessed bright flashes of light and heard a
loud noise as she put her daughter to bed, but believed it was youths
causing a nuisance.

The Bavarian interior ministry says hundreds of worried people called to
report the UFOs, described as a series of flashes that looked like
lightning.
Received on Tue 09 Apr 2002 11:59:59 AM PDT