Countless area residents were shaken late Thursday night by an apparent meteorite disintegrating in the skies over West Texas and Southern New Mexico.
Witnesses reported seeing a trail of light streaking from east to west about 9:55pm Thursday night, followed by a bright, white flash. Reports of a massive 'boom' came in from the Upper Valley in the west to Horizon City in the east. According to Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico, the control tower Holloman Air Force Base saw the streak of light at about the same time. The observatory also reports that the meteorite may have been a "bolide." The term bolide, according to the US Geological Service, is "used to imply that we do not know the precise nature of the impacting body...whether it is a rocky or metallic asteroid, or an icy comet..." Officials with the Apache Point Observatory add that the object in this particular event has "a 50% chance of being space junk, finally re-entering the atmosphere." They also estimate the size of the object at somewhere between "a loaf of bread and a mid-sized boulder."
The previous occurrence of a bolide strike in the Borderland region was in October 1997. At that time it was estimated that an object the size of a refrigerator entered the atmosphere over West Texas and exploded. The resultant boom from the explosion rattled homes and businesses from Fabens to Las Cruces.
A magnitude -13 red meteorite seen on May 4 , 21:55 MDT (-6) seen by Elizabeth Gordon at High Rolls in New Mexico moving in a SE direction. It lasted 3 seconds, with a persistent trail.
A magnitude -13 green meteorite seen on May 4, 21:50 MDT (-6) seen by Mike Lowinske at Las Cruces in New Mexico moving in a SE direction. It lasted 2-5 seconds.
A bright fireball was seen over Tucson, Arizona, US at 9:45 pm (MDT) 4th May, 2006. Eyewitnesses report the fireball descended behind the Rincon Mountains to the east of the city. Other witness report seeing it from Deming, New Mexico, which is about 290 kilometres east of Tucson.
A very large sonic boom was heard in Tucson, Arizona, US, last night at 9 pm local time. Hundreds of people called the police and news stations. It seems that the weather was windy and cloudy outside, and a sonic boom from a military jet has not been discounted.