Halifax Impact

Date: 10/28/99 4:55:04 AM Pacific Daylight Time

'Rumbling' Fireball Streaks Through Atlantic Sky

HALIFAX (CP) -- Police and emergency lines throughout the Maritimes were flooded with calls late Wednesday after a large fireball streaked across the night sky.

There were reports of possible impacts in northern New Brunswick, near the Quebec border, and on Nova Scotia's eastern shore.

"We, at this point, believe it is some sort of celestial occurrence as opposed to anything man-made," said Lt.-Cmdr. Glenn Chamberlain of the Halifax search-and-rescue centre.

Chamberlain said a woman in Liverpool, N.S., called 911 at about 9:30 p.m. AT to report seeing a giant ball of smoke and fire.

A few minutes later, air traffic controllers in Moncton N.B., reported that two planes in the area saw "a fireball of some sort lasting about 12 seconds."

Emergency crews in St-Quentin, N.B., were believed to be on their way to a fire that may have been caused by an impact. Officials in the area couldn't be reached for comment.

Mike Brown of Elmsdale, N.S., said he was working on his computer in his basement when he felt a rumbling overhead.

"My girlfriend saw it and said it looked like a comet," he said.

Chamberlain said there were reports of an impact in Oyster Pond, N.S., northeast of Halifax.

An RCMP spokesperson in nearby Musquodoboit Harbour said something hit the water off the tiny coastal community.

Chamberlain said search-and-rescue satellites didn't detect a distress signal and there were no reports of missing aircraft.

Sedona Fireball

MESSAGE BOARD, 01:55:04 AM 10/30/99: Sedona, AZ It is now 11:48pm here in Sedona, AZ. Just a few moments ago I heard a rumbling noise, as if the wind had really picked up. I looked out the patio door, facing East & I noticed the Moon, and then I noticed an object above & to the south of the Moon that looked like a meteor with a large tail on it. It was traveling Southeast to Northeast on a 45 degree angle. In about 2 1/2 minutes it traveled from above the Moon to below tree tops vision & I lost sight of it. With a pair of binoculars I could see that it had flashing red, green & white lights and a very large comtrail. The sky is extremely clear tonight. I don't know of any jet that could travel that span of distance in that short of time. Any comments on this or did anyone else see it?

EMAIL, 03:13:47 AM 10/30/99: sounds like the Canadian Fireball incident on l0/29 in Lets Talk (The Whole House Jumped-Ruth-l0/29- 8863 reading downward to same subj.- Ruth-10/29-8864. Another words, did you read in between those numbers as well? Sounds like the same thing to me, same colors, speed

WHAT HAPPENED IN PORTLAND OREGON?

EMAIL, 10/28/99 7:12:03 AM Pacific Daylight Time: Something odd happened here early this morning (Thursday Oct. 28th) and I am wondering if you received other related reports. At around 1am, our power went out for about 2 hours. We were having a fairly robust windstorm, so I figured a line must have went down. I went outside to see if it was just our line or if the rest of the block was powerless. When I was outside, after noticing the whole blocks power was out, I noticed that it was as bright as morning outside, like 6am or so, but not 1! My wife was getting ready for bed, but I asked her to come outside to take a look and she, too, was shocked. The whole sky was bright and we could make out each others facial features clearly. Now, I know that the moon was full a couple days ago, but this was brighter than the night of the full moon or any night I have seen in my 31 years. It was the brightest I have ever seen outside at night, anyway. It looked like it does when the sun is just about to come up, but not quite showing yet. continue