Mysterious 'ball of fire' over California


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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Hours after a meteor exploded over Russia and injured more than 1,000 people and an asteroid passed relatively close to Earth, residents in California reported seeing an unusual flash of light over the San Francisco Bay area that left many startled and thrilled.

Based on reports, the light streaking in the Northern California sky was a sporadic meteor, or fireball, and not a major event, said Mike Hankey, operations manager for the American Meteor Society, based in Genesee, N.Y. The group recorded at least 35 reports of the event, he said.

"Fireballs happen every single night, all around the world," he said.

Experts say smaller meteorites hit earth five to 10 times a year but chances of a large meteor passing, such as the one that streaked over Chelyabinsk, Russia, are much rarer. Another meteor landed in the Bay Area in October and caused a loud sonic boom, a sound that could have been from the meteor traveling faster than the speed of sound, officials said at the time.

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i was chatting with my local news weatherman and he thinks were caught in some type of debris field, makes sense since cuba also had an incident. still concerning to say the least.

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What I found odd was, for weeks on the bloated broadcasting corporation, a.k.a as the BBC, they ran stories about a Meteor coming close to earth.

It was 17,000 miles away.

Why this was news is beyond me.

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It was a big deal because an asteroid passing within 17,000 miles, closer than communications satellites, is considered a very close near-miss. One little nudge, gravitational or being hit by another body, a few weeks ago could have parked that sucker in someones back yard - a very bad day.

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What I found odd was, for weeks on the bloated broadcasting corporation, a.k.a as the BBC, they ran stories about a Meteor coming close to earth.

It was 17,000 miles away.

Why this was news is beyond me.

Because in the context of space that is VERY close.

The earth is roughly 7,900 miles in diameter, so it was just over two earths away.

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It was a big deal because an asteroid passing within 17,000 miles, closer than communications satellites, is considered a very close near-miss. One little nudge, gravitational or being hit by another body, a few weeks ago could have parked that sucker in someones back yard - a very bad day.

It missed us by 15 minutes.

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