[meteorite-list] 'Super-Meteor' Lights Finland Sky

Ron Baalke baalke at zagami.jpl.nasa.gov
Mon Oct 1 18:08:01 EDT 2007


http://www.yle.fi/news/id71032.html

'Super-Meteor' Lights up Northern Sky
YLE News (Finland)
September 29, 2007

The apparent superbolide seen over Finland late Friday was many times
brighter than these average meteors.

Finland's biggest astronomical association, Ursa, says that a light
phenomenon seen over much of northern and eastern Finland on Friday
night was a meteor -- the brightest seen in the country in more than 30
years.

The editor of the organization's journal <http://www.avaruus.fi/>, Marko
Pekkola, says it was a superbolide, a fireball more than 100 times
brighter than a full moon.

The fireball was apparently caused by a space rock striking the
atmosphere over Northern Ostrobothnia and then exploding over Finland.
Ursa says the rock may have weighed some 200 kilogrammes. However it 
was not clear on Saturday whether any meteorites fell to the ground.

The dazzling 'shooting star' spurred worried telephone calls to
emergency centres in various parts of Finnish Lapland, as far apart as
Kemi, Enontekiö and Ivalo.




More information about the Meteorite-list mailing list