Bright light reported over California

Hours after a meteor exploded
over Russia and injured more
than 1000 people and an
asteroid passed relatively close
to Earth, residents in California
reported seeing an unusual flash
of light over the San Francisco
Bay area that left many startled
and thrilled.

Based on reports, the light
streaking in the Northern
California sky was a sporadic
meteor, or fireball, and not a
major event, said Mike Hankey,
operations manager for the
American Meteor Society in
Genesee, New York. The group
recorded at least 35 reports of
the event, he said.

'Fireballs happen every single
night, all around the world,' he
said.

Experts say smaller meteorites
hit Earth five to 10 times a year
but chances of a large meteor
passing, such as the one that
streaked over Chelyabinsk,
Russia, are much rarer. Another
meteor landed in the Bay Area in
October and caused a loud sonic
boom, a sound that could have
been from the meteor travelling
faster than the speed of sound,officials said at the time.

Another meteor that exploded
April 22 was seen over a large
part of Northern California and
Nevada.

On Friday, the Chabot Space and
Science Centre in Oakland also
reported receiving calls
describing what appeared to be
a fireball flying west around
8pm local time.

Jonathan Braidman, an
instructor at the centre,
described the object based off
reports as likely being a small
piece of an asteroid that
'somehow' got on a collision
course with Earth.

'This is a very common
occurrence,' Braidman said.
'What is uncommon is that it's
so close to where people are
living.'

Bay Area media outlets reported
the fireball was reported seen
from an area stretching from
Gilroy, about 130 kilometres
south of San Francisco, to
Sacramento, about 145
kilometres to the northeast.

One viewer told television
station NBC11 the object was
bluish in colour and appeared to
be heading straight to the
ground.

San Leandro resident Krizstofer
Loid told KTVU-TV that he was
sitting on a lawn chair in the
backyard of his home when he
saw the object.

'I saw, like, a blue streak from
the sky coming down. I thought
it was fireworks, but I didn't
hear any sounds,' he said.

The centre's large telescopes did
not pick up the object during a
stargazing event,astronomer
Gerald McKeegan told KGO-TV.

'The media attention on the
Russian thing got people's
attention, so they're more likely
to notice things in the sky,'
Hankey said.

While Friday night's fireball
received a lot of attention in the
San Francisco Bay area,
Braidman notes that about
15,000 tons of debris from
asteroids enter the earth's
atmosphere every year.

'Usually these things break up
into small pieces and are
difficult to find,' he said.

source:
www.skynews.com.au/world/article.aspx?id=846423

Maybe that is warning.end of time is near.maybe....