NASA officials call orb that residents saw on June 19 common 'fireball'
http://www.thespectrum.com/news/stories/20040713/localnews/835583.html
NASA officials call orb that residents saw on June 19 common 'fireball'
By BRAD PLOTHOW
bplothow@thespectrum.com
ST. GEORGE -- National Aeronautical and Space Administration officials believe a glowing object spotted in the sky by dozens of area residents the morning of June 19 was a "fireball" -- an event that occurs about once a week, but usually over oceans.
St. George Police Dispatch received between 20 and 30 calls from residents who reportedly saw an orange orb in the sky, flashing lights or heard a dull roar associated with the anomaly at about 6 a.m.
Nellis Air Force Base reported no aeronautical activity over Southern Utah that morning. NASA Spokesman Don Savage said he'd received no reports of natural or artificial satellites entering the atmosphere. NORAD officials said they received one query from an Arizona journalist about the fireball, but determined it was "not considered a threat to national security."
Judy Randall, deputy patrol officer for Washington County Sheriff's Department, said WCSD flew a private plane over portions of Southern Utah for over two hours searching for crashed objects, citing a call from a Pinto woman who said her home shook about the time the object was spotted.
Matt Liston was feeding horses at his home in Winchester Hills when he said the morning sky became illuminated. He said he expected to see fireworks when he looked up, but what he saw was a bright orange ball moving in an east-to-west direction across the sky.
"It was huge. You could see the fire; it was on fire," said Liston, who said he watched the object until it passed beyond a mountain. "It lit the whole underside of the barn up when it passed overhead."
Liston said he heard "a series of booms" and a "distant rumble" about one minute after he saw the spectacle.
Ivins resident Bill Goez said he only heard one "boom" that morning. He described the sound as a "very definitive, dull rumble." He said dogs started barking about the same time as the sound.
But he was surprised the canines weren't disturbed by the light show he said he saw. He and his wife, Karen, were in their home at about 6 a.m. when he went outside to see what was causing bright lights to pour through the windows.
"We were in the house, and we looked outside and it looked like somebody arc welding -- flashing coming in through the windows," said Goez, who said he saw a gray-white trail in the sky when he went out to investigate. "The contrail was so exact that I'm sure it (the fireball) just punched in and punched back out (of the atmosphere). It went in and went out. The contrail was very definitive that way."
Fireballs are pieces of asteroids -- leftovers from the inner solar system formation process of about 4.6 billion years ago -- about the size of baseballs or basketballs, said Don Yeomans, manager for NASA's near-Earth object program office. When they enter the Earth's atmosphere, the pieces of space debris heat up to temperatures hotter than the sun's surface, which can produce light displays like those reportedly seen by eye witnesses last month.
Less dramatic events, called meteor showers, occur about 12 times each year. Meteors are pea-sized asteroid bits that enter the atmosphere, said Savage.
Yeomans said Utahns will see at least one more fireball in the coming months, but it will be man-made. On Sept. 8, the Genesis spacecraft -- currently collecting space particles for research -- will re-enter the atmosphere above Utah and will be captured by aviators with the U.S. Air Force Utah Test and Training Range.
Originally published Tuesday, July 13, 2004
. This was about 5:05 or 5:10 am EST. Absolutely awe-inspiring is the best way to describe it. I might now go buy a telescope!
