[meteorite-list] Strange Sky Sightings In Kansas

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 4 Jan 2007 16:34:48 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <200701050034.QAA04174_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.wibw.com/home/headlines/5092086.html

Strange Sky Sightings In Kansas
Lindsay.Shively
WIBW Channel 13 News
January 4, 2007

And even people in Kansas saw sights in the sky. We received several
calls from viewers who say they saw the sky light up last night. 13's
Lindsay Shively has more on these sightings. Imagine driving home on the
interstate, away from city lights, looking up...and seeing a bright
streak of green. We talked to one family who says they did just that and
we talked to an expert about what they saw.

It happened in Denver... a long stretch of bright white light, confirmed
to be debris from a Russian rocket following this path. And in New
Jersey, no one knows what this is that fell out of the sky and through
the roof of one of these homes Tuesday. Maybe its just a coincidence,
but drivers here in Kansas saw something too. "All i heard was whoa!!"
"Oh my god, I can't believe I'm seeing this."

Headed home to Manhattan on eye-70, The Nauerth family says they were
near Paxico just before eleven Wednesday evening, when they looked up
and saw green. "I saw a great big green fire going from left to right."
"It was this big green ball of light that filled up the whole windshield."

And they aren't alone, viewers also called 13 News after they say they
spotted a green fireball just north of Highway 56 between Allen and
Americus, Kansas. Astronomer Brenda Culbertson says they could have been
seeing pieces from the Russian rocket hours before it showed up in
Denver skies. "The atmosphere stands pretty far up, so if something is
very huge and extremely bright...you can see that same meteor for miles."

And she says debris from space would still be considered a meteor, even
though it's man made.

"They say they saw a green fireball in the sky and Culbertson says
that's because when an object enters the atmosphere, it emits gases and
those gases are what you see glowing green." No one can say for sure if
the three events are connected, but these folks will never forget what
they saw. The Russian rocket that made the debris folks saw above Denver
was used to launch a French satellite in December. And as far as those
fireballs spotted by Kansas drivers...they could be pieces of debris
from the rocket...but where they landed or even if they hit the
ground...that's up in the air.
Received on Thu 04 Jan 2007 07:34:48 PM PST