Replies

This is from a newspaper, Jornal Nacional, which is a Brazilian paper I believe. Any help is appreciated.

18/05/2004

"Eram 8h. O taxista Sérgio Machado, que parou o carro para olhar, conta que viu uma luz muito forte rasgando o céu: "Foi muito rápido, cheguei a me arrepiar todo".

O instrutor de canoagem Magno Matoso estava dando aula de canoagem e também ficou assustado. "Olhar para o céu e ver uma bola de fogo é um pouco estranho, né?", diz ele.

O fenômeno foi visto por dezenas de pessoas em Florianópolis e no município de Alfredo Wagner, na Serra de Santa Catarina. Bombeiros e policiais chegaram a fazer buscas na região. "Não encontramos nada, nenhum indício. Nem fumaça... nada", diz o delegado Rodrigo Green.

Os astrônomos da Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina dizem que a bola de fogo é um meteoróide, ou seja, um pedaço de um cometa ou de um asteróide, que incendiou ao entrar na atmosfera da Terra. A surpresa foi que ele pôde ser visto durante o dia. "Provavelmente o tamanho dele é muito maior que o habitual e, se fosse visto à noite, causaria um certo pânico", explica a coordenadora do planetário da UFSC, Edna da Silva.

O astrônomo amador Alexandre Amorim viu o fenômeno hoje no sul do Brasil e compara: "Foi bem parecido com o que está registrado em uma imagem dos Estados Unidos, de uma bola de fogo riscando o céu em plena luz do dia".

A luminosidade seria equivalente ou maior que a da Lua cheia. O meteoróide pôde ser visto durante três segundos e depois desapareceu. Os astrônomos acreditam que ele se desintegrou ou caiu no mar.

Segundo os astrônomos, uma chuva de meteoros poderá ser vista de todo o Brasil, a partir das 3h desta quarta-feira. Mesmo sendo de baixa intensidade, será possível observá-la a olho nu, onde o céu estiver sem nuvens."

I'll copy'n'paste it to him, and see if he wants to give it a try. His English is - ESL (LOL). He retains a strong Brazilian accent, both spoken and written after many years! And he's a busy man, but I'll ask him if he can at least give a synopsis.

Will send it to you in a bit. This was far easier than the crazy thing that Still2 had found the other week...that one had tons of slang, idioms, etc. I couldn't figure out. This wasn't nearly as bad!

Check mail in a bit.

Ok, here's the article. I did my best and I think it's pretty close...but it's not perfect.

It was 8 o'clock and the taxi driver Sergio Machado had stopped the car to be able to see. He recounted that he saw a very strong/bright light tearing/streaking across the sky. "It was very fast, I arrived at a complete/immediate stop"(the last part I'm not fully convinced at...it's something about I arrived or came to a _____ immediately/completely/totally/fully).

An astronomy instructor Magno Mtosa who was giving an astronomy class, was also scared. "To see a ball of fire in the sky is a bit odd/strange, no (or right? don't you agree)" he said.

The phenomenon was seen by groups of tens (wondering if that really is an expression for saying dozens) of people in Florianopolis and in the area/region/municipality of Alfred Wagner of the Saint Catherine (Santa Catarina) Mountains. Firemen and police were called to search in that region. "They found nothing, no indicators of it/anything. Not even smoke...nothing." said the spokesperson/delegate Rodrigo Green.

The astronomers of the Federal University of Saint Catherine (Santa Catarina) said that the ball of fire is a meteoroid, or a piece of a comet or atersoid, that began burning (or became set/lit on fire) while entering Earth's atmosphere. The surprise was that you were able to see it during the day. "Probably the size was bigger/greater than you typically see, and if it were seen (had been seen) at night it would cause certain panic," explained Edna da Silva, a coordinator of the planetarium of the Federal Univ. of Santa Catarina.

One anemature astronomer, Alexander Amorim, who saw the phenomenon in the south of Brazil compared that "it is looking like an image seen the United States, of a ball of fire covering/streaking in the sky in the plain daylight (full brightness).

The brightness is equivalent or greater than the full moon. The meteoroid was able to be seen for three seconds before disappearing. The astronomers believed that it disintegrated or fell into the ocean/sea.

According to astronomers, the meteor shower was able to be seen by/in all of Brazil for three hours Wednesday.. Being of low intensity It will be possible to observe it by the naked eye where there are no clouds.

(This last part I can't make full sense of, I can't tell if it means that it WAS seen all over Brazil on Wednesday where there were not bright lights and the sky was clear of clouds, or if it WILL be seen for three hours on Wed. It actually seems to switch and start out saying it WAS seeing, but that it will be possible to observe with the naked eye).