[meteorite-list] Ball Lightning May Explain Some Fireball Sighting

[Steve Dunklee]

this sounds like good science to me. Lightning can be produced by volcanos. Plate tecktonics and other phenomenom. So why not from the energy of a fireball? Cheers Steve

On Fri Dec 3rd, 2010 7:00 PM EST Ron Baalke wrote:

>
>http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11877842  
>
>Ball lightning 'may explain UFOs'
>By Jonathan Amos 
>BBC News
>November 30, 2010
>
>Some UFO sightings could be explained by ball lightning and other
>atmospheric phenomena, claims Australian astrophysicist Stephen Hughes.
>
>The scientist has made a detailed study of an unusual event in 2006 when
>large meteors were observed over Brisbane.
>
>Their appearance occurred at the same time as a brilliant green object
>was seen to roll over nearby mountains.
>
>Dr Hughes has put forward a theory linking the object - presumed to be
>ball lighting - to the fireballs.
>
>His idea is that one of the fireballs may have momentarily triggered an
>electrical connection between the upper atmosphere and the ground,
>providing energy for the ball lightning to appear above the hills.
>
>He has written up his explanation <http://eprints.qut.edu.au/38939/> in
>a journal of the Royal Society <http://rspa.royalsocietypublishing.org/>.
>
>Dr Hughes says the extraordinary episode, which occurred during a night
>of fine weather, is just the sort of happening that might lead some to
>think they had witnessed UFO activity.
>
>"If you put together inexplicable atmospheric phenomena, maybe of an
>electrical nature, with human psychology and the desire to see something
>- that could explain a lot of these UFO sightings," he told BBC News.
>
>Rendering of fireball Eyewitnesses were asked to draw what they saw.
>This is how graphic designer David Sawell recalled a fireball
>
>The scientist, who is a senior lecturer at the Queensland University of
>Technology, initiated the study after being called in by the local TV
>station to look over and explain photos of the fireballs captured by
>members of the public on camera phones.
>
>Fireballs are exceptionally bright meteors and are produced by fragments
>of space rock larger than the sand-grain-sized particles responsible for
>shooting stars; but like shooting stars they cross the sky at great speed.
>
>It seems at least three individual fireballs were seen on the night of
>16 May 2006.
>
>Fireball over Brisbane (Roy Soc) This photo gives a sense of the intense
>brightness of one of the fireballs
>
>A subsequent survey organised by the university brought forward many
>more eyewitnesses, including a farmer who recalled seeing a luminous
>green ball rolling down a slope of the Great Divide, a mountainous ridge
>about 120km west of Brisbane.
>
>This object described as being about 30cm in diameter appeared to jump
>over some rocks and follow the path of a metal fence for "some minutes".
>The farmer said he saw the green object come into view just after a
>fireball had passed overhead.
>
>He thought at first he was witnessing a plane crash and called the
>police, but a search the following day found no wreckage.
>
>Ball lightning seems an obvious explanation, says Dr Hughes. These
>bright, hovering spheres of light are not fully understood. They are
>known to be associated with thunderstorms, but not always, and there was
>certainly no electrical storm activity in the vicinity of the Great Divide.
>
>Dr Hughes does not offer a new explanation for the causes of ball
>lightning, merely how enough energy might have been put into the ground
>to trigger it.
>
>He proposes that the natural flow of current that exists between the
>upper-most reaches of the atmosphere, the ionosphere, and the ground was
>increased by the passage of the meteor that streamed charged particles
>and other conductive materials in its wake.
>
>The Great Divide The ball lightning was seen to roll down the slope
>following the line of a wire fence
>
>"Could it be that the meteor descending through the atmosphere, having
>passed through the ionosphere, actually created a transient conductive
>connection between the ionosphere and the ground, even if it was only
>for a few seconds? Was that enough to put charge into the ground, and
>then with the discharge form some kind of plasma ball above?
>
>"Think of the ionosphere and the ground as the terminals on the battery
>and you put a wire between those two terminals and current flows, and
>literally you get a spark."
>
>Other scientists have suggested that charges dissipating through the
>ground can create balls of glowing ionised gas above it.
>
>Dr John Abrahamson from the University of Canterbury, NZ, championed the
>idea 10 years ago that ball lightning consisted of vaporised mineral
>grains kicked out of the soil by a conventional lightning strike, an
>idea later tested with some success by Brazilian researchers.
>
>He described Dr Hughes' work as "relatively feasible" and something
>which made "interesting connections".
>
>"There's a long way to go before everyone will be happy and satisfied
>that we have a full solution," he told BBC News.
>
>Dr Hughes said his publication in Proceedings of the Royal Society A:
>Mathematical and Physical Sciences was intended to start a debate.
>
>"It's not a vigorous theory; it's more a suggestion that may be worth
>exploring," he said.
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