Unidentified Flaming Object Falls from Sky

A huge flaming object fall from the sky and hit the ground almost “like a bomb”, this was reported by the residents from across central and northern Queensland,” police said on Friday.

They say they saw what appeared to be a huge ball with a blue and orange tail in the sky about 6:30pm (AEST) yesterday as it rushed towards the ground of the Earth. Meanwhile, the residents from Cunnamulla to Townsville have reported seeing the same object, but there they heard no reports of any fallen objects on Earth on the next day.

Queensland state police said they received numerous reports from the northern city of Townsville on Thursday evening about a burning object falling from the sky down to Earth, probably hitting the ground near Ross River Dam.

Mount Isa, a resident Virginia Hills says she accidentally photographed the phenomenon and said "Just happened to be - very fluky and one of those multiple shots of the moon that I was taking - rising up coming over the horizon."

"We happened to catch this blazing light that was ... just falling straight down" she added.

Ms. Hills' photo has been shared on websites across the world with her statement --

"I am actually flabbergasted at the attention at the moment because it was just a complete fluke," Ms Hills said.

"If we hadn't have been up there doing that, if I didn't have my camera pointed in that direction, it would never have happened."

Another Townsville resident Kim Vega was sitting in her backyard and thinks she saw the moment of impact.

"It was like an explosion but without a sound," she said.

"It [would have been] like an atomic bomb effect when it would have hit the ground and all the trees and the skies lit up."

She said it appeared the object hit the ground in rural bushland.

"Until you see them come out of the sky like that and actually look as though they hit the ground, they could obviously do a lot of damage," she said.

"Because it hit [a rural area], obviously no-one rang up and reported 'it hit a house'."

Another Townsville resident Terry Robinson said the fireball looked "amazing".

"It was pretty big and this thing hit like a bomb - it was huge," he said.

"I don't know how big it was, but in the sky it looked like half a dozen jumbo jets falling out of the sky at the same time."

There were also several reports around Rockhampton and across the state's Central Highlands.

ABC Radio listener John said his 10-year-old son Hamish saw it while kicking a football at Emerald, west of Rockhampton.

"He came running in and he said 'dad, dad - I've just seen a meteorite'," he said.

"He said it just lit up the sky and there was this entire color and everything else."

Alexander says he saw it while driving home to Alton Downs, north-west of Rockhampton.

"I said 'wow, that's a bright falling star'. I thought 'wow, that's close'," he said.

Explanation from Astronomer:

Astronomer Owen Bennedick, from Wappa Falls Observatory in Yandina on the Sunshine Coast, advised the object was not a meteor but more likely part of a satellite re-entering the Earth's atmosphere.

"Each different metal or each different plastic that a satellite's made of will burn at a different temperature and have a different color spectrum," he said.

Mr Bennedick said falling satellite debris was becoming more and more common nowadays but he said that the spectacle of impact can be an optical illusion because only the heavier object will fall to the ground while the rest burn up in the atmosphere. That is why people think the object landed and looked like they are so close but actually they are not.

Source:http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-16/huge-flaming-object-falls-to-earth-in-north-queensland-townsvill/5456566
Photo Credit: shafira99.wordpress.com