Giant Meteor Thunders Over Norway Expected To Fall Around Oslo

JAKARTA - An "unbelievable large meteor" briefly flashed across southern Norway on Sunday, July 25. This meteor creates a spectacular sound and display of light as it thunders across the sky, and a small portion may hit Earth. Even experts say it may fall not far from the capital, Oslo.

So far, there have been no immediate reports of injuries or damage. Reports of sightings began arriving around 1 a.m. with the phenomenon visible as far north as Trondheim. A webcam in Holmestrand, south of Oslo, captured a fireball that fell from the sky and exploded into a bright flash that illuminated the marina.

The Norwegian Meteor Network was analyzing video footage and other data on Sunday to try to determine the meteor's origin and destination. Preliminary data suggest a meteorite may have hit Earth in a large forested area, called Finnemarka, just 60km west of the capital, Oslo, the network said.

"This is crazy," Morten Bilet of the Norwegian Meteor Network, who saw and heard the meteor, told Reuters. "However as of Sunday afternoon no debris was found and given the location of the meteor crash, which is demanding, one could take about 10 years to search for a possible meteorite."

"The meteor was traveling at 15 to 20 km per second and lit up the night sky for about five to six seconds," Bilet said. The summer skies are dark, with the days starting to get shorter from late June.

Several eyewitnesses also said they felt stronger wind gusts and that the incident also caused a pressure wave as reported by Bilet.

"What we experienced last night was a large rock moving, possibly from between Mars and Jupiter, which is our asteroid belt. When it whizzed, it created a rumble, lightness, and great joy among us (experts) and maybe some fear among others," said Bilet.

There were no reports of damage or people being extremely frightened by the incident. In fact, according to Bilet, for people who were at the closest distance to the meteor, it might be more of a "spooky" event.

Previously, there had been a meteor that fell in the middle of the city. For example, a meteor that exploded in central Russia near the city of Chelyabinsk in 2013 rained fireballs over a large area and caused a shockwave that shattered windows, damaged buildings, and injured 1,200 people.