'Super-Meteor' Lights up Northern Sky
The apparent superbolide seen over Finland late Friday was many times brighter than these average meteors.
Image: YLE
Finland's biggest astronomical association, Ursa, says that a light phenomenon seen over much of northern and eastern Finland on Friday night was a meteor -- the brightest seen in the country in more than 30 years.
The editor of the organization's journal, Marko Pekkola, says it was a superbolide, a fireball more than 100 times brighter than a full moon. The fireball was apparently caused by a space rock striking the atmosphere over Northern Ostrobothnia and then exploding over Finland. Ursa says the rock may have weighed some 200 kilogrammes. However it was not clear on Saturday whether any meteorites fell to the ground.
The dazzling 'shooting star' spurred worried telephone calls to emergency centres in various parts of Finnish Lapland, as far apart as Kemi, Enontekiö and Ivalo.
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