Fireball in the Sky

October 28, 2004 — An Action News viewer captured a fireball in the sky.
Brooks Efaw of Hamilton, New Jersey was videotaping his son's birthday party when he saw it on Saturday afternoon.

Other viewers have contacted us since we first showed the tape on Action News at five to say they saw it too. So what was it?

The FAA and the National Weather Service say they have no activity on record.

NASA says the fireball was probably space junk re-entering the earth's atmosphere.

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Confirmed: meteor passes over region

Friday, 29 October 2004

WAS it a bird, was it a plane ... no it was a meteor.

Rumours have been flying thick and fast since a bright light with a short flame and trail of white behind it crossed over the Murraylands at 10.25am on Friday.

Listeners to the local radio station were lead to believe a meteorite landed on in a field of cows on a property just outside Mannum. The rumours then escalated over the weekend with no-one just too sure of exactly what happened.

But it can be confirmed a meteor did cross over the Murraylands on Friday, but it did not land.

Astronomical Society of South Australia technical information officer Tony Beresford said a meteor had been seen in areas from Renmark to Adelaide before fading out.

The meteor was brighter than the full moon and left a trail of dust which took about 10 minutes to dissipate.

A sonic boom, which occurs when the meteor enters the atmosphere below 30 kilometres, was heard at Renmark and Gumeracha.

Mr Beresford has called on people in the Murray Bridge area to contact him if they heard the sonic boom, however he doubted it would have been noticed over the general traffic noise in the city centre without being mistaken for a car backfiring.

"I would be interested to see the footprint ... so anyone in the immediate vicinity of Murray Bridge who heard the boom I would appreciate hearing from them," he said.

The meteor travelled north-west across the State before breaking up.