[meteorite-list] Possible Ohio Impact

[John Sinclair]

Sunday Night Fireball in Ohio......
-John

http://www.10tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=2472919

Licking County
Reports of Meteorite in Licking County

Nature provided a brief, spectacular light show Sunday night, with what 
aviation authorities say was a meteor flashing through the sky.

The traffic control tower at Port Columbus International Airport said that 
pilots reported seeing the astronomical event.  Tower officials said pilots 
indicated they thought the meteor exploded in the sky.

Spotting a meteor is not something unheard of, but this one produced a large 
flash of blue light visible in the sky that many people called the 10TV 
Newsroom to report.  Two reporters out on assignment during the 11 p.m. 
NightBeat newscast also confirmed seeing the natural phenomenon east of 
Columbus.

There was also an unconfirmed report of the meteor making impact, thus 
making it a meteorite.

The Newark Police Department said Licking County authorities were 
investigating the possibility of the space debris hitting the ground near 
the small community of Etna.  The southwestern Licking County village is due 
south of Pataskala near Interstate 70.

The sheriff's office said deputies searched for any signs of damage in the 
area the impact was reported.  No signs confirming such an event had been 
found as of early Monday morning.

Newark Police Officer Mike Oberfield told 10TV that from his vantage point, 
it didn't appear likely that the meteor hit the ground in Licking County.

But it still made quite an impact.

"It looked like one of the bomb shells they shoot up into the air and sparks 
come out of the back of it.  There's many little points of light glowing or 
burning.  And it had white in it, along with blue and green color to it," 
Officer Oberfield said.



"I've never seen anything as spectacular as this shooting star either -- the 
whitest trail I've ever seen.  And I've never seen one that had what looks 
like a twist in it -- or it was rotating."


So there may not be any impression left behind on the landscape.  But the 
event made a mark on the minds of everyone who witnessed it Sunday night.

Truck drivers we found at truck stops in Licking County reported seeing the 
spectacle while they were on the road as far away as Indiana and 
Pennsylvania.  Another 10TV reporter near Cincinnati at the time says she 
saw as she was driving toward Columbus.