ANOTHER "MYSTERY" FIREBALL ... METEORITE

by Never_Surrender, Saturday, September 25, 2004, 20:05

25 September 2004 06:06

Early morning motorists driving through Norfolk and Cambridge-shire yesterday could hold the key to finding out more about the meteorite or fireball sighted over the region.

Around 20 motorists driving along the area's roads from around 6.30am reported seeing the fireball, which many described as having a bright glow followed by a long trail of light.

They reported their findings to Graham Barnard on his Today in Norfolk early morning programme on BBC Radio Norfolk.

Mr Barnard told the EDP that around 20 callers rang in from around 6.30am to report initially to presenter Wally Webb seeing the fireball mainly in the sky above the west and south of the county.

"Callers had their own theories as to what it was, ranging from a fireball, firework or, in the case of a caller from the Thetford area, an aircraft on fire, but we quickly put listeners' minds at rest that it wasn't an aircraft," said Mr Barnard.

Yesterday, the mystery sighting was confirmed as being a fireball or meteorite by Mark Lawick-Thompson, chairman of the Norwich Astronomical Society.

He said the fireball could have broken up while in the atmosphere and the fragments might have landed but, until more detailed information about the sightings was available, it was not possible to say if fragments had landed.

The last reported sighting of a fireball in East Anglia was in Peterborough in 1991.

He appealed to people who had seen the fireball to contact with their detailed descriptions via his e-mail: astronomy4all@btopenworld.com