Fireball in the Sky! “Space Junk”?
By Gannon Medwick
Monday, March 30, 2009
Viewer “J” recently inquired: [March 29] around 10 pm I saw a bright light in the northeastern sky. I looked like a meterorite burning up in the atmosphere. It lit up the sky briefly and the colors alternated between orange and green before disappearing. I was wondering if anyone else saw this?
Viewer “PJ” wrote to tell us: We were driving toward the Pamlico River on River Hills Road, Blounts Creek, @ ~9:21 p.m. [March 29] and saw a VERY bright ‘burning/glowing’ object high in the sky, fall toward the opposite side of the river with a bright yellow tail behind it (almost looked like a comet) then while it was still high in sky it extinguished and it was gone.
Thanks for the emails, viewers! My response:
I just spoke with the National Weather Service in Newport on these emails. The meteorologist-on-duty said that last night’s shift got word of this phenomenon, too. Also, they heard of a large number of reports - similar in nature to our local reports - about the sky over southeastern Virginia. The geography would fit in with our local reports i.e. “J” claims he was looking “in the northeastern sky” and “PJ” claims she was on the south side of Beaufort County and the light was coming from the “opposite”, or north, side of the river.
I did a search online and found no comets. One NWS meteorologist suggested that the light could have been caused by “space debris” or “space junk” - that’s bits of naturally occurring matter (rocks, etc.) or man-made matter (satellites, etc.) in space. These materials can ignite if they enter our atmosphere - which could be visible as a fireball or something similar.
I suppose there’s no way to confirm the “space junk” theory. But, I did ask that the NWS in Newport email me if they heard anything more on the matter.
For an article on this matter from Associated Press, click here.
If I hear more, I will post. Also, viewers, if you hear anything on this matter, please post.
Thanks for checking into my blog.
COMMENTS