UFO Explodes Over New Zealand-Unusual Debris Recovered-Tested For Radiation!

Huge explosion likely caused by meteor

Stuff
9-12-06

     . . . The loud boom was heard over Canterbury, with sightings as far afield as Hanmer Springs in North Canterbury, and Hinds in Mid-Canterbury.

Observatory spokesman Andrew Buckingham told NZPA: "We're still finding out what's going on".

Initial reports had come through the police communications system, with follow ups from eyewitness accounts. . . .

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Fireball streaks across southern skies

Manawatu Standard
913-06

     . . . Cavan O'Connell, of Hoon Hay, Christchurch, who caught the event on camera, said he thought the enormous bang was a plane exploding.

"Here's this huge ball of smoke, quite a few thousand feet up. It was above the cloud layer, so straight away I thought of September 11," he said.

"It seemed to be on the main Dunedin-Auckland air route ... and (September 11) has been on everyone's minds for the last few weeks."

The ball of smoke was "perfectly round" and appeared to be pulsating, he said.

Pilot Neville van Eerten was on a Cessna training flight near Rangiora when he saw a flash in the sky.

"It was right in front of our window," he said. "It broke into two huge pieces and then two smaller pieces. It was a huge fireball."

The object was "several thousand feet" above the plane, he said.

Jill Gillespie, of Geraldine, was driving to Christchurch yesterday when a falling object caught her attention.

"Out in front of my windscreen something was falling out of the sky and it was flaming," she said.

"I couldn't believe it. I was looking around for the rest of the plane."

Gillespie watched the object fall for four or five seconds.

"It seemed to take ages to land. It reminded me of a falling star, but much much closer. It looked about the size of a fencepost from where I was and it was just flaming," she said.

Kaiapoi resident Tony Burgess was up a ladder painting his house when he saw a ball of fire moving across the sky.

As the flaming ball travelled across the sky it broke into about four pieces and fell to the ground.

There was a lot of smoke in the air after the object broke up, he said.

Soon after, the ball disappeared from view and a massive noise shook his house.

"I really felt it. It was like a big boom that kept going for about 15 seconds. I felt this wave," he said.

Police southern communications centre shift supervisor Paul Visser said police fielded more than 100 calls within minutes of the "bang".

"People were very good and quite keen to let us know where it was coming from," he said.

Fire communications fielded about 20 calls after the "explosion".

No major damage was reported to emergency services.

GNS Science seismologist Kevin Fenaughty said its instruments had detected surface and soundwaves at two recording sites, one at the base of the Port Hills in Cashmere and the other at McQueens Valley on Banks Peninsula. . . .

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Police have . . .fragment

STuff
9-13-06

     . . . Police said a police officer from Lincoln collected the item from a Canterbury farm last night and brought it into the police station around 9.30pm last night.

"It is very light...almost weightless and (the farmers) have never seen anything like it before," said police southern communications centre supervisor Paul Visser.

Visser said the object was about 10cm long, 5cm wide and deep, and too light to be rock, with an "unknown texture".

The exact location of the find has not been revealed.

Flashing across the sky at speeds of 40,000kmh, a meteor in "terminal fireball" sent a sonic shockwave across the South Island on Tuesday afternoon, startling and frightening thousands of residents. . . .

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non-radioactive, lab finds

Stuff
9-13-06

     . . . the 10cm long, 5cm wide rock-like object might have been nuclear fuel from a small generator in a satellite.

"We can discount that," he said.

Under international protocols possible "person-made junk" from space was required to be analysed to ensure objects were not radioactive and a hazard for anyone. . . .

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Is mystery object space junk?

News Talk ZB
9-13-06

     The mystery deepens as to just what was found on a mid-Canterbury farm following yesterday's sonic boom that was heard across the region.

This morning scientists at the National Radiation Laboratory in Christchurch tested a piece of material that is the size of a person's palm and looks like a rock.

Lab General Manager Jim Turnbull says the material is not radioactive, which means it is not a nuclear device from a space craft and he also doubts it is a meteorite as it is too light.

He says, however, it still may have something to do with yesterday's sonic boom and says it could be a fragment of space junk.

Jim Turnbull says the object may be returned to the owner or be handed over to geologists or staff at the University of Canterbury. . . .

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Space debris crosses plane's path

The Herald Sun
9-13-06

     A COMMERCIAL pilot believes space debris flashed across the sky in front of his airliner as he flew over New Zealand's South Island.

The pilot, who did not want his airline or name published, said an object similar to a meteor, "but different", flashed in front of his cockpit over North Canterbury yesterday afternoon.

The pilot said he did not believe it was a meteor because it was spinning and had reminded him of the debris from the space shuttle Columbia when it had exploded .

The first officer also witnessed the object but the pilot doubted any passengers would have seen it because it passed directly in front of the plane.

"First time I have ever seen anything like that during the day," he said.

The object was gone within seconds and it was impossible to judge how far away from the plane it had been, or the length of the object.

"It just had a very bright light and a smoke trail."

The pilot told air traffic control what he saw. He said he had also spoken to the National Radiation Laboratory in Christchurch, which had expressed concern to him about possible radiation from the object. . . .

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See Also: UFO Seen Over Hawke's Bay