Celestial fireball flames across Offaly skies
THERE was definitely something out there last Wednesday evening when people driving home from work saw a rare phenomenon over Offaly's skies.
This fireball was a large rock, possibly the size of a car, striking our atmosphere and blazing into flames, a sight seen be so many all over the country.
Billions of years ago, most of the rocks and dust in the Solar System condensed to form the Sun and the Planets. However, some leftover debris still floats around in space. Sometimes, this debris makes its way to Earth and causes a spectacular sight.
Noel Smyth from the Dublin road in Kilbeggan was travelling out the Arden road when he saw something unusual in the sky. "At around 5.55pm I saw this bright green object up in the sky. Then it settled for a couple of seconds before it plummeted straight down towards the horizon. Before it hit the ground you could see flames coming out of the back of it," said Mr Smyth.
He said he thought at first it might have been an aeroplane. "The whole thing lasted about 15 seconds," said Mr Smyth.
Another Offaly woman was driving home from work when she saw it light up the sky.
"I was coming out of Ballinagar village heading towards Cappincur when I saw it. At around 5.50 to 5.55pm a bright light caught my attention as I was driving along the road," she said.
Laughing, she said the thought of aliens did cross her mind, but was soon replaced with chinese lanterns. "That's what it looked like, like the chinese lanterns you see on tv. It seems to come down just above the ditch in the field beside the road," she said.
She said when she found out afterwards what had actually happened she wished she had some way of recording it. "It would have been nice to have it captured, but it moved so fast, it was gone in a matter of seconds," she said.
Although preliminary findings have revealed the meteor may have landed in Donegal, Chairman of Astronomy Ireland David Moore is now appealing for people in Offaly who have surveylance cameras to check their footage.
"We have been wading through reports. We are asking if anyone operates security cameras that would have been taking in the horizon on Wednesday evening to check their records," said Mr Moore.
He said there cameras would provide the most accurate data.
He added if people wanted to get involved in the physical 'search' for the meteorite they can do so by logging onto their website, www.astronomy,ie and joining their friends list.
Finally he said that Astronomy Ireland are now running classes at Athlone Institute of Technology which commence tonight (Wednesday).
Places are still available and more information may be obtained by contacting Astronomy Ireland.
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Weather for Tullamore
Tuesday 22 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 13 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North east
