Strange "Fire Balls" seen in ND skies | KXNet.com North Dakota News

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Strange "Fire Balls" seen in ND skies

If you were looking up in the sky tonight, you couldn't miss them.

Three large balls of fire.

So what were they?

According to a Bismarck man, they were mostly likely three parts of the same meteor.

Here's what one of them looked like... a lot like a comet.

But William Pearce, who holds his PHD in Astronomy and teaches at Bismarck State College says this was probably just one peice of three from the same meteor.

It's not every day you see meteors falling from the sky.

But Pearce says most of the time, they break up as they're falling into the atmosphere.

No worries according to Pearce.

Once they are in the atmosphere, they fall very quickly.

The fireballs seen about 8:30 this evening are already on the ground.

Pearce says it's even possible the peices burnt up before ever reaching the ground. watch the video | save this article / add to your favorites list
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Comments Posted by KXNet.com Users

Posted by Anonymous on Sep 6 2006 3:44AM - I didn't see anything on the movie, probably because the movie on internet wasn't showing much detail. But if it was a fireball that hang still in the air for quite some time, it could not have been a meteor. Meteors fall very quickly out of the air. Fireballs in the atmosphere that hang still must have a propulsion to cope with earth's gravity or they must be very far from earth. In that case it could have been a comet, but it didn't have a tail and was only shortly seen, so that option is also unlikely.

Michael Copsy
The Netherlands

Posted by Anonymous on Sep 6 2006 5:52AM - So what?, don't tell me we are starting with all that UFO stuff again :(

Just shot those balls down and avoid comments.

Posted by Michael Copsy on Sep 6 2006 7:32AM - Don't be ufo-fobe. I'm just saying that the news was badly covered and that news organizations should at least have an indoor astronomer or scientist to avoid this kind of interpretation mistakes.

Posted by Elwood on Sep 6 2006 8:05AM - This is North Dakota - I am sure that the news station here will hire an in-house astronomer just in case we get some more fire-balls -



Posted by Jim69 on Sep 6 2006 8:06AM - Mr Copsy - If it is not a meteor and not a comet - than what is it?


Posted by Michael Copsy on Sep 6 2006 9:36AM - It looks like it was cloudy. So it could probably be something that was shining through the clouds, maybe a higher cloud or a weather balloon that still cought some sunlight. Or the moon.

Posted by T on Sep 6 2006 11:17AM - So what do you make of the fireballs and turkey vultures? This being a Chrisitian communitiy and all. It is time to open your eyes.

Posted by bismarckmandanblog.com on Sep 6 2006 11:03PM - I saw these as well. They looked like debris. (but then I noticed the black helicopters over my head...OH NO! While I was trying to evade them, a chupacabra dashed out in front of my motorcycle, and I was forced to... oh never mind.) They looked like debris...period.

Posted by Low Earth Orbit on Sep 7 2006 7:54AM - Gosh darn it, shoulda parked the Honda Saucer in a higher orbit !!

Posted by Anonymous on Sep 7 2006 10:50AM - Who does your copy editing?

Posted by Anonymous on Sep 7 2006 11:41AM - LOL..the "black helicopter" thing made me laugh. If it's the same federal government that has black copters and internment sites and handled the Katrina crisis....I don't think we have anything to worry about.
Love from The Gulf Coast...hey, and those MRE's are not that bad.

Posted by 3025 on Sep 7 2006 12:53PM - Heat lightning

Posted by Anonymous on Sep 7 2006 3:43PM - Definitely a UFO!!!!!

Posted by Andy on Sep 7 2006 4:43PM - Meteors burn up in the atmosphere and streak accross the sky, comets are wandering chunks of ice and rock which are well documented and observed years before we see them. The comment re debris - well the earth is spinning, and anything entering the atmosphere will burn quickly and be seen to move.. As for something shining through clouds.. Well the same applies, to shine through clouds means something had to be stationary in a low earth orbit in order to do so.. Something with an element of control had to have caused the 'fire balls', not debris, not meteors..

Posted by SSG Anonymous on Sep 7 2006 4:55PM - Speaking as a government employee all I can say (UFOs or no UFOs) our government is very good at what it wants to be good at and very bad at what it doesn't care about. If you have ever had to use TRI-Care you would know what I speak of. After my involvment in the Katrina event (to respond to the earlier posting from the gulf coast) your local government has no one to blame but themselves.

Posted by Nathan Morrison - Powers&Morrison.com on Sep 7 2006 5:55PM - SSG, so you're admitting that the US Govt didn't even care about Katrina LOL, way to defend them.

You aren't the only one who works in the US Govt pal, my family line is full of such figures, and let me tell you ALL of them understand what FEMA is for. You should look it up sometime, it's the FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY, and it's tasked with MANAGING disasters. The local government (of ANY state, including Florida which ACTUALLY GOT help from Bush, hmmmm I wonder why...) NO STATE can cope with such a disaster utilizing it's own resources.

If you truly worked for the government at all, you'd not only know this, but you'd know that FEMA was set up for JUST THIS sort of situation, and that EVERY president pre-Bush2 has enabled FEMA to function. Mostly because they came off of vacation and dealt with the situation personally, unlike Bush, who still has yet to 'fully realize' in his own words what occured on the Gulf Coast.

Read some more on FEMA, like from the US ARMY FIELD MANUAL, and you will find that they are also tasked with recovering flying saucer debris. That's for real, from a US Govt Issue Army Manual.

SSG, you really are ill-informed.

Posted by likwidshoe on Sep 9 2006 2:05PM - Wow Nathan Morrison. Such ignorance. I guess you don't realize that the state has to ask for FEMA. Lousiana turned down the help when asked if it was needed, so if you're looking to place blame, you can start there.

But I guess your BDS won't allow such a thing, will it?

Now make some stupid and insulting comment.

Posted by Nathan Morrison on Sep 25 2006 6:29PM - Are you kidding me?

LOL

Try checking out my webpage for THE MOST UP TO DATE NEWS DIRECTLY FROM THE AREA AVAILABLE ON THE WEB.

My primarly correspondent in New Orleans, George 'Loki' Williams is THE source for information regarding disaster recovery.

The Levee collapse is what hit New Orleans. The aid for Lousisana and Missisippi was primarily diverted to build a railroad.

You should do some research before blindly reponding. LOL

Anyone who knows my site knows we are one of the VERY FEW news media outlets even attempting continuing coverage on this story.

Was that stupid and insulting? Not really, just some cold hard facts for you to chew on.

-Nathan Morrison
http://www.powersandmorrison.com

Posted by david from texas on Nov 18 2006 10:51PM - saw this in houston, am convinced they are not meteors

they stay in the air for too long, not like shooting stars.

perhaps they are gov't crafts?


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