Fireball over Southern Sweden and Eastern Denmark

[Aeneas]

http://www.dr.dk/Nyheder/Indland/2009/01/17/230420.htm

The above link is from the Danish national broadcaster and in Danish. At the link there is a video of the fireball, which I haven't been able to find on youtube. The translation is roughly:

17. jan. 2009 23.19 Indland Updated.: 18. jan. 2009 07.54
Meteor lights up over Southern Denmark

A blinding blue green flash on the nights sky followed by an enormous bang. Many people across much of Seeland, Lolland-Falster, Fyen, the eastern Jutland and Bornholm experienced such a phenomenon Saturday night around 8.15pm.
Also parts of Southern and Western Sweden could see it, the site sydsvenskan.se reports.

A police chief Søren Østervig reports that at the police in southern Seeland and Lolland Falster, the phone has been ringing continuously from worried citizens wanting to know what it was they had just experienced.

A strange light flash
A reader of dr.dk/nyheder, Kenneth Jensen from Horsens (East Jutland) tells how it suddenly lit up with a strange light flash.

The light was at the beginning constant, after which it flashed violently like with lightning and then after a few seconds disappeared silently. I felt it was a most unusual event we experienced tonight.

A sound like a thunder bolt.

Another reader, Leif Wriedt Jørgensen from Gedser, relates that a large area to the south was lit up for several seconds – perhaps around 10-15 seconds. After that he witnessed a very sharp light, that came crashing towards the ground.

The sound that followed was like a thunder bolt and up towards 5minutes between the light and the sound, which with the speed of sound would equate to about 100km, between the light and us

, reports Leif Wriedt Jørgensen.

We are probably talking about a meteor is the explanation from Operative Kommando og Sydsjællands og Lolland- Falsters Politi. The duty officer from the Danish weather bureau agrees with that assessment and rejects weather phenomena such as lightning as being the cause of the intense light flash.

Original text:

Meteor lyste op over Syddanmark
17. jan. 2009 23.19 Indland Opdat.: 18. jan. 2009 07.54

Et blændende blågrønt lysglimt på aftenhimlen efterfulgt af et kæmpe brag. Et sådan fænomen oplevede mange mennesker på store dele af Sjælland, Lolland-Falster, Fyn, det østlige Jylland og Bornholm lørdag aften kl. cirka 20.15.

Også i dele af Syd- og Vestsverige kunne fænomenet ses, oplyser sydsvenskan.se.

Hos Sydsjællands og Lolland- Falsters Politi har telefonen kimet, fordi bekymrede borgere ville have svar på, hvad det var, de netop har været vidne til, fortæller vagtchef Søren Østervig.

Et mærkeligt skær
En bruger af dr.dk/nyheder, Kenneth Jensen fra Horsens, fortæller, at det pludselig lyste op med et mærkeligt skær.

- Lyset var til at starte med konstant, hvorefter det blinkede kraftigt, som ved et lyn, og forsvandt lydløst efter få sekunder. Jeg følte, at det var en noget usædvanlig oplevelse, vi var ude for her til aften.

Lyd som et tordenbrag
En anden bruger, Leif Wriedt Jørgensen fra Gedser, fortæller, at et stort område mod syd blev oplyst i flere sekunder - måske i nærheden af 10-15 sekunder. Derefter så han en meget skarp lyskegle, som styrtede mod jorden.

- Den efterfølgende lyd var som et tordenbrag, og der gik op imod fem minutter før drønet kom - og med lydens hastighed, svarer det altså til ca. 100 km mellem lyset og os, siger Leif Wriedt Jørgensen.

Der er formentlig tale om en meteor, lyder forklaringen fra Søværnets Operative Kommando og Sydsjællands og Lolland- Falsters Politi. Den formodning bakker vagtchefen ved Danmarks Meteorologiske Institut op om. Her afviser man, at det er vejrlige fænomener som lyn, der var skyld i det kraftige lysglimt.

 

[Jacques]

Here's another link:

http://front.xstream.dk/sydsvenskan/mediamaker_player.php?id=301708

 

[Aeneas]

It is now reported on spaceweather too. They must be reading SOTT ;)

Here is what they say http://www.spaceweather.com/

SWEDISH FIREBALL: A meteoroid of unknown size hit Earth's atmosphere over Sweden yesterday (Jan. 17 at 1909 UT) and exploded, turning the sky "lightning blue and green." Security camera footage (http://www.expressen.tv/KVP/1.1435804/se-himlafenomenet-har) suggests the fireball was about as bright as a full Moon; it was visible from Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany and possibly as far away as Spain.

 

[thorbiorn]

Pieces of the object were later found by a German scientist Thomas Grau on in a meadow on the island Lolland, he found about 30 grams of material. There is a German report and interview on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnDZ6ZMZDnc and another here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp0yRKz8B-Q Apparently from the different reports and filmed observations Thomas Grau was able to calculate an approximate strike area, this is well explained in the second video, even if you do not understand a lot of German his sign language on the screen is helpful. Also in the second youtube they interviewed a Swedish man who filmed the fireball and his video is included so one can see what it looked like from so far away. An article in Danish, but with a small picture can be seen here: http://i.pol.dk/videnskab/article668819.ece This is the first find in Denmark since 1951 and it is called the Maribo meteorite after a town nearby.

For pictures http://www.jensenmeteorites.com/New%20meteorites.htm is better:

And searching 'Maribo meteorite' _http://www.starplan.net/news/new-danish-meteorite has:

Submitted by GearWorker on Wed, July 1 2009
The Maribo meteorite fall

On January 17, 2009 an ancient, meter sized rock hit the Earth´s atmosphere. Moving at almost 20 km/s it created a spectacular fireball which could be seen up to 900 km away.

It entered the atmosphere over the Baltic and headed west toward the Danish island Lolland. On Lolland the dark night turned into day for a few seconds followed by a powerful supersonic boom a few minutes later.

Six weeks later a German meteorite hunter, Thomas Grau, found a walnut sized fragment of the meteorite.

This is so far the only fragment that has been found.

Analysis of the Maribo meteorite shows that it is a rare carbonaceous chondrite of type CM.

This is only the 15th observed fall of a CM chondrite – the last one happened in Kobe, Japan in 1986. It is also the first witnessed fall of a meteorite in Denmark for 58 years.

Maribo contains amino acids and other organic compounds from the birth of the Solar system.

It also contains samples of the oldest datable solids from our solar system. It is being studied at the new center for Stars and Planets and by several other groups around the world. The results will provide new insight as to how our Solar system formed.

Other details are here: _http://tin.er.usgs.gov/meteor/metbull.php?code=48973

What I liked about researching this story was to encounter the combination of circumstances involving the timely observations of others, luck and hard work that made it possible for Thomas Grau to put the pieces together and go out an do the job resulting in less than an ounce of material, at least for him, but at the same time as one can see from the tv reports a very timely reminder to a lot of people about the reality of such strikes, some of which impact more.