[meteorite-list] Mysterious Object Lights Up Canadian Sky

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:32:52 2004
Message-ID: <200403221647.IAA29212_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://winnipeg.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=mb_ufo20040323

Mysterious object lights up Prairie sky
CBC Manitoba
March 22, 2004

WINNIPEG - Dozens of Prairie residents called authorities Sunday
evening after seeing a fireball streak across the sky.

Pinawa resident Clara Cooper saw something that appeared to fall
out of the eastern sky around 7:30 p.m.

I thought the colours in it were really beautiful. They were sort
of orange and yellow at the front and quite green at the back,
a little bit greeny-blue," she says. "I just said to my husband,
'Oh my goodness, look out the window!'"

RCMP Const. Patrick Therrien saw the streak of light as he left
his detachment in Oakbank, just east of Winnipeg. He and his
partner watched the object break into two pieces as it fell to
Earth.

"You'd never see something like that in a lifetime," he told a
local newspaper. "It was turquoise in colour and it was white in
the front, just like in the movies - a comet with a long tail."

In Regina, about two dozen people called police within 20 minutes
of the fireball appearing. Some described it as changing colour
from orange to blue-green as it neared the ground.

Dozens of people from central Manitoba to central Saskatchewan
called the RCMP, worried a plane might have exploded in the air.
Mounties say no planes were on a flight path anywhere near the
spot where the blazing ball of light appeared.

Calls also flooded the phone lines of Environment Canada offices,
and the search and rescue headquarters at Trenton, Ont.

Authorities believe the object may have been a meteor, a small
body of matter from outer space that becomes visible as an
illuminated streak when it enters the earth's atmosphere and
friction causes it to start burning. Any leftover material that
reaches the ground is known as a meteorite.

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http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/WinnipegSun/News/2004/03/22/391006.html

Fireball in night sparks excitement
By NATALIE PONA
The Winnipeg Sun (Canada)
March 22, 2004

Ambulances and RCMP cruisers were sent scrambling last night
in search of a ball of fire that fell from the sky east of Winnipeg.
"We were the first ones to see it, my partner and I," said Oakbank
RCMP Const. Patrick Therrien. "We were coming out of the
detachment area and we couldn't help but see it."

Therrien said he and his partner, Cpl. Mark Bingham, saw a
turquoise object split into pieces and rocket toward Earth about
7:30 last night.

"It was kind of scary, something that bright and that big coming
down with a trail like that," Therrien said.

METEORITE OR SPACE JUNK?

They watched it for about 10 seconds.

"It was a brilliant colour, really beautiful."

Once they lost sight of the object behind some trees, Bingham
said they called the Winnipeg airport to make sure they hadn't
seen a plane crashing.

"Then we headed east to see if we could go find it," Bingham said.

Calls began pouring in to police from the southeastern part of the
province. After 30 minutes without finding anything, the hunt was
called off.

Both men said they think the object was a meteorite or space
junk.

Researcher Chris Rutkowski said it was likely a bolide, a
scientific term for fireball.

"Even though it looks like a plane on fire crashing behind the next
hill, it's actually ... about 100 to 150 to 200 kilometres away."
Received on Mon 22 Mar 2004 11:47:36 AM PST