http://www.newsday.com/ap/rnmpne1r.htm

Meteor Explodes Above New Zealand

By RAY LILLEY Associated Press Writer

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- A meteor exploded in the sky above New Zealand on Wednesday, casting an eerie blue light and showering the earth with fragments from space.

The explosion at 4:15 p.m. (1:15 a.m. EDT) was followed by smoke and a flood of phone calls from people who saw the meteor streaking across the sky, the Carter Observatory in Wellington said. No injuries were reported.

``It was picked up by aircraft and on radar, so we've had some air traffic controllers calling too,'' said John Field, the observatory's public programs officer.

The meteor was likely to have been either metal or rock and was probably as big as a car, Field said. A rock meteor would have broken up into a shower of stones as it came through the atmosphere. On average, one meteor falls to Earth each week, he said.

Police said hundreds of people reported seeing the meteor over a remote part of New Zealand's North Island -- between the cities of Napier on the east coast and New Plymouth on the west coast.

After a loud explosion, the meteor apparently broke up in the atmosphere, leaving a vapor trail and blue cloud hanging, police said.

Reports of objects falling to the ground were received across the region, police said, but no pieces have been reported found.

Brendon Bradley, an instructor with the New Plymouth Aero Club, said he was flying when he saw the meteor.

``It was just a bright light, exactly like a flare,'' he said. ``Afterwards there was smoke in the sky.''

Other witnesses described a bright flash, followed by an explosion and a cloud of brown smoke.

``A big fiery ball came down. There was a terrific red glow and it sort of went pop,'' said Eric Ray, a resident of the town of Te Aroha.

One man told police the explosion sounded like a natural gas tanker ignitin

-- Comet (Lee@earth.gone), July 07, 1999

Answers

Well, there you have it: Nostradamus got it right. Notice he didn't say how big the ball of fire would be.

Size of a car?

-- Lisa (lisa@work.now), July 07, 1999.

Debunking Lee and Lee's Debris.

-- Lisa (lisa@work.now), July 07, 1999.

Hey,

I thought that the majority of the Nostradmus posts claimed that September was the month of doom? What gives with the prediction - are the quantrains that flexible in terms of their intrepretation.

-- l hatfield (lhatfield@excite.com), July 07, 1999.

Nostradomus can be twisted into what you want to believe. The fact is that his predictions that supposedly came out to be true are so vague at best that anything could be read of them. When he was talking about the seventh month, that is July(right now) and not September. He is following the same calendar as we are.

-- Thealmighty1900mindreader (stallonesmothercanreadthefuture@too.com), July 07, 1999.

True that most of Nostradamus' predictions were vague at best, but this one was one of the few where he gave an actual date:

L'an mil neuf cens nonante neuf sept mois,
Du ciel viendra un gran Roy d'effrayeur.
Resusciter le grand Roy d'Angolmois.
Avant apres Mars regner par bon heur.
---------
TRANSLATION:
The year 1999, seventh month,
From the sky will come a great King of Terror.
To bring back to life the great King of the Mongols,
Before and after Mars reigns happily.
-minime-

-- Mojo Stealer (minime@drevil.org), July 07, 1999.

Lisa,

Post all you want about this one NASA scientist whining... but here's a rather sharp rebuttal from the Millenium Group citing numerous other scientific websites to underscore their own claims contrary to your NASA post.http://www.millenngroup.com/repository/cometary/lee4.htm

You'll find supporting links to various Harvard websites, Univ of Hawaii observatory website and other universities plus other NASA websites plus Sandia Labs... so we've got someone at NASA doing the "spin-doctor shuffle" and not even doing a very good job.

I don't buy the Nostradamus stuff though. Nostradamus is too vague. Too many interpretations, to say the least. The more "vague" one is on predictions the better the chance to weasel some sort of 'hit'.

-- R.C. (racambab@mailcity.com), July 08, 1999.