[meteorite-list] Mystery Surrounds Green Meteor in Australia

From: Chris Peterson <clp_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed May 17 11:36:49 2006
Message-ID: <033b01c679c7$a5bfefb0$05000100_at_bellatrix>

Somehow I think that the meteor seen by hundreds was unrelated to whatever
this guy found.

Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com


----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron Baalke" <baalke_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>
To: "Meteorite Mailing List" <meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2006 9:24 AM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Mystery Surrounds Green Meteor in Australia


>
> http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=101650
>
> Mystery surrounds green 'comet'
> ninemsn (Australia)
> May 17, 2006
>
> An unidentified green object streaked across the Queensland sky last
> night, before landing on a property between Toowoomba and Warwick near
> the Great Dividing Range.
>
> Farmer Don Vernon lives on the property next to where the object hit the
> ground, and watched it come in to land.
>
> "I was finished on the farm and driving home, and as I came in the gate
> I faced this enormous green ball of light with a white centre.
>
> "It disappeared behind a ridge and I immediately drove out over the
> ridge without stopping so I was there in a few minutes.
>
> "When I turned the lights off the car I saw a glowing green ball up on
> the ridge three-quarters of a mile away and a smaller piece was rolling
> down the side of the ridge. They were both glowing green," he said.
>
> Mr Vernon, who is in his seventies, said the object landed on a steep
> section of land that was covered in undergrowth and was not easily
> accessible.
>
> "It was a brilliant light before it landed," he says. "A bit like a
> green sun. I rang a neighbour and asked if he had found superman."
>
> Astronomers are uncertain whether the object was a piece of space junk
> or a meteorite, however Jim Barclay from the Maidenwell Observatory
> suspects it was part of a satellite or some rocket casing.
>
> "The description that I received from phone calls was that it was of a
> greeny blue colour which typically suggests something metallic," Mr
> Barclay said.
>
> "Over 20,000 pieces of space junk are currently hurtling around the
> earth and they have to come back down. If this had landed on someone's
> house though it could have killed someone," he said.
>
> The object, which looked like a comet, was spotted by hundreds of people
> and airport control towers across south-east Queensland at around 6:30pm
> last night.
Received on Wed 17 May 2006 11:36:21 AM PDT