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Meteorite hits Denmark
Lucie Rychla
February 7th, 2016
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This article is more than 8 years old.
Saturday night, hundreds of Danes reported the sky suddenly lit up and a loud bang followed shortly after
People are encouraged to report their observations and any possible findings of a meteorite to ildkugle.dk or stjerneskud.info (photo: H. Raab)
On Saturday night, hundreds of Danes witnessed a spectacular phenomenon as the sky suddenly lit up and a loud bang from an explosion echoed across northeastern Zealand, reports DR.
According to Johan Fynbo, a professor of astronomy at the Niels Bohr Institute, everything indicates a meteorite hit Denmark at about 10 pm.
“It must have been a relatively large meteorite. Not the size of a car, but perhaps the size of a handball,” Fynbo told DR.
As a meteorite passes through the Earth’s atmosphere, it burns and creates a visible flash of light in the sky. The bigger the meteorite, the stronger the light, explained Fynbo.
Huge fireball with tail
Among the eye-witnesses were Mikkel Pedersen from Roskilde.
“We were driving home from Hillerød to Roskilde, when at 10 pm we were just outside Slangerup and a strong light suddenly lit up the sky and a huge fireball with a long tail flew right above our car,” he told DR.
“It was a totally wild experience. The whole sky and our car were lit up for several seconds.”
Finders will be rewarded
Another witness, Camilla Hansen from Køge, wrote: “We could see and hear it also in Køge. Several people I know saw flashes of light and I heard a big bang. The lights in my window shook and it was scary. I thought it was an earthquake.”
People are encouraged to report their observations to www.ildkugle.dk or www.stjerneskud.info. The Geological Museum in Copenhagen will reward anyone who recovers a piece of the meteorite so it can be scientifically examined.
Meteorites tend to be black, rounded, heavy and most are attracted to magnets. They can be both rocky and metallic in appearance.
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