green light seen over Qld
Comet's Tail 'Causes Great Light Show'By Austrailia NewsMay 16, 2006, 22:03Printer friendly page
Astronomers are predicting Queenslanders could see more meteorites over the next few days, if last night's spectacular light show was the result of a comet that passed by the Earth over the weekend. A bright green ball of light was seen in many parts of Queensland about 6:30pm AEST. Andre Claydon, from the Springbrook Observatory, says the comet is the most likely explanation for the rare phenomenon. "There is a comet that has just gone past and we're passing through the debris tail of this comet," he said.
"This could be a fragment from the comet itself. "Over the next two or three days we should see more of this happening, because the Earth is stilling passing through the debris tail of this comet." But a South Burnett astronomer says the spectacle was probably the result of space junk entering the earth's atmosphere. Jim Barclay, from the Maidenwell Observatory, says the light could not have been caused by a meteorite. "Most meteors do not, and I repeat, do not appear of the green-blue fluorescent colours that these people described," he said. "Metallic substances tend to burn up and give you that greeny-blue fluorescent colours where meteors are generally white in nature."
Green light
Paul, from Coolum on the Sunshine Coast, says he was driving away from Brisbane when he saw the giant ball of green light. "One bloke just said, 'Wow, look at that' and it was just right across the sky," he said. "It was massive and it was green. "At the main body of it, there were actually parts of it falling down to the ground." Steve, from the bayside suburb of Birkdale was travelling in a plane over Casino at 11,000 when he saw it break up in front of him. "It was just amazing," he said. "It just looked like it was just in front of us.
"It was very white from up there - just sort of went out in front of us and we saw ... red bits falling and then it just went out." Earth Changes TVTop of Page
picture here http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=101650
posted by Allan Moffatt @ 11:00 PM
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