Nothing to see here just move along.
Posted on 12/12/2004 10:59:29 PM PST by BurbankKarl
An unidentified flying object, or UFO, passed across the large northwestern Chinese city of Lanzhou and apparently exploded in the suburbs, state media said on Monday.
The unusual sighting of two bright trails of light, reported by several witnesses, took place on Saturday shortly before midnight, the China Times reported.
Police, working on the theory that it was a meteorite, went to investigate the matter, but as of early Monday they had found no evidence of what caused the nightly phenomenon, an officer told AFP by telephone.
A taxi driver told the paper he was in his car when everything suddenly became "as bright as day".
When he pulled over, he saw a fireball with a tail of about three metres darting across the sky, he said.
One witness who was on the late shift at his company reported the courtyard outside his office was suddenly bathed in a ghostly red light as the object passed overhead, the paper said.
Others said they heard a huge explosion and felt as if an earthquake had struck.
China has been hit by several waves of UFO sighting in recent years, and the country has a research association devoted to the study of possible extraterrestrial visits.
AFP
Dang, Chinese pollution must be really bad if it can bring down an advanced alien spacecraft.
Hmm, dare I put it in breaking?
Something no one's ever seen appears, then blows up? I guess "Alexander" premiered in China.
UFO PING LIST
May well be a meteorite.
BTW, Did anyone see the HISTORY CHANNEL on the Grey's agenda.
Planned to watch it then got distracted with other priorities.
Would be interested in a summary if anyone has one.
Blessings,
From the description it sounds like it's almost certainly a Bolide (large meteor) that broke up and then exploded, likely at a fairly high altitude. Space junk is always a possibility, there are websites that report expected re-entries, I have not looked at those. Space Junk reentries are pretty slow compared to meteors.
Eyewitnesses routinely report them as being MUCH closer than they actually are (nightime optical illusion of bright objects) and they also routinely insist they must have hit the ground "Beyond the next hill" when actually they didn't get within 20 miles of the surface of the Earth.
Chinese high tech goes down in flames.
Sure it wasnt the ISS?
Nothing to see here just move along.
That explosion actually was just John Kerry's 2008 Presidential hopes meeting earthly reality....
Possible Bolide?
I just checked one of the reentry prediction sites and there was nothing predicted to reenter other than an Ariane on Dec. 12 and its orbit is equatorial and nowhere near China.
So, has to be a Bolide.
Another damn coyote fleeing the cops.
It was a biggin'!
Didn't see the show but I'd guess it would be more Social Security and free prescription drugs.
:)
Frozen flushsicle from the space station maybe .....?:o)
The US had the same problem in the 50's, now it's China's problem. ;-)
Geminid Meteor Showers Alarm Area Residents
Scientists: It's Also A Good Time To Look At Saturn
POSTED: 8:41 am EST December 12, 2004
UPDATED: 12:05 pm EST December 12, 2004
http://www.nbc4.com/weather/3990919/detail.html
WASHINGTON -- A meteor shower that had some startled motorists calling police is expected to continue over the next few days.
Saturday night's light show was part of the Geminids meteor shower, News4 reported.
Almost all really bright bolides with audible explosions, and basically all meteorites (meteors hitting the ground) are from "erratics" (meteors not associated with yearly known showers, basically random meteors.)
The yearly showers are basically made of Comet Dust, which is small and has the consistency of styrofoam.
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