Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Argentina: Bolide Over Rio Cuarto

Source: Circulo Ovnilogico Riocuartense (COR) and Clarin newspaper (Buenos Aires)
Date: 05.25.07


Residents of Cordoba and Santa Fe claim to have seen, around 7 pm, "an enormous object in the sky" similar to "a blue and green ball" which drew the attenton of hundreds of perople who contacted the media to report the phenomenon.

"I did not see the object but it was without any doubt a bolide that entered the atmosphere and disintegrated. This is very common. They are highly brilliant and can be seen even in the daylight," said Jorge Koglan of the Liga de Astronomia. According to Koglan, this would have been "interplanetary material that hit the ground head-on. It must've occurred very high up, which accounts for its visibility in various locations. The greenish hue is associated with its components."

Moreover, Mariano Ribas, coordinator of the Planetarium's astronomy section, explained that "apparently what people saw was a small meteorite that entered the atmosphere at ful speed. It was a flash of lights and colors at high speed. All of this indicates that it was destroyed in the air. In any event a small fragment may have impacted the ground somewhere. The type of report indicates that it was a meteorite."

Astronomer Juan Puerta of the Cordoba Observatory said that "he saw a brightness, but it was fleeting," adding that when he heard the reports, he realized that it was a heavenly phenomenon. "It could have been a meteor shower" adding that the main day for the meteorite shower may May 4th. He noted, howevere, that the phenomenon could have extended beyond that date.

Ariel Perez, a resident of the city of Rosario, said that at 7:05 pm the backyard was lit with an intense blue light. He looked upward and saw that there was a line[in the sky] with a brownish color. The phenomenon lasted between 4 and 5 seconds.

(Translation (c) 2007, S. Corrales IHU. Special thanks to Mario Bracamonte)