NEWS: Meteor Rocks Jakarta

Reports are coming in that witnesses had seen a white trail across the sky just before hearing loud explosion in the Jakarta Indonesia area.



The Geminid meteor shower is supposed to peak on monday but it consists of small dust size particles so this reported strike may have nothing in common with this annual event.

More to follow as it becomes available..........

Related News Links:
www.reuters.com
www.abc.net.au
www.heraldsun.news.com.au
olympics.reuters.com








[edit on 18-12-2004 by Phoenix]

[edit on 12-20-2004 by Zion Mainframe]

Channel News Asia out of Singapore has this report,

But police in Tanggerang, where many of the callers said might have been where the object had fallen, said they had no report of any fallen object and that police were still investigating the origin of the explosion.

Muji Harjoto, an expert from the Boscha astronomical observatory in Bandung, West Java, told El Shinta that there were no reports of any spatial objects crashing and that based on the visual accounts the object was very likely a meteor.

It is going to take time to sort out witness reports of lights in the sky with following explosion(s) and any actual ground search or seismic data that may corraborate an actual strike.

There are no reports of any terrorist bombings in the news services that might have been responsible for the explosion.

[edit on 18-12-2004 by Phoenix]

Wow maybe a chemical attack or it could just be meteors. Apperently mass sightings across two other towns saw the falling objects and heard the explosion.

It would not be unusual to get a sonic boom originating as high up as 7 miles that would sound feel like it was an explosion rite next to you.

The Seattle Post is reporting,

Indonesian air force radar detected an unidentified object falling toward the earth at a great speed before disappearing at around the same time as the noise was heard, a military spokesman said on condition of anonymity.

We'll see if this so far anonymous military report pans out. It is the first possible confirmation of an extraterrestial origin other than eyewitness to the white trail the object purportedly had.

From CTV:

News reports said an object that might have been a meteor was seen flashing across the sky above the capital but did not make clear if it had hit the Earth.

An astronomy expert speculated the object was a large meteor that exploded and then burned as it fell through the Earth's atmosphere, about 100 kilometres above the surface.

There were no reports of any objects falling to Earth in or close to the capital.

"My suspicion is that this was a meteor that burned up, causing a loud noise,'' said Astronomy Prof. Muji Raharto, from the Bandung Institute of Technology in West Java province.

Originally posted by PistolPete
An astronomy expert speculated the object was a large meteor that exploded and then burned as it fell through the Earth's atmosphere, about 100 kilometres above the surface.

Thanks for the additional info PistolPete, I have to say that at the height that the astronomy expert cited (100K) in his speculation that the sound may not have been as abrupt as reported, I'll have to go along with IntelRetards comment of 7 kilometers as the more plausible explaination if indeed no artifacts of a meteorite are later found.



[edit on 18-12-2004 by Phoenix]

Sounds almost certainly like a meteor struck West of Jakarta....

Indonesian radio today reported mass sightings of an unidentified object that appeared to fall to earth west of Jakarta, followed by the sound of a strong explosion.

Dozens of callers aired by the ElShinta radio spoke of a fast whitish object crossing the sky towards the west of Jakarta and a big explosion followed by what they said sounded like an echo.

The sound of the explosion could be heard in Tanggerang, just west of Jakarta, the southern suburb of Depok and as far away as Bogor, some 60 km south of the capital.

www.smh.com.au... /news/World/Jakarta-blast-follows-falling-object-sightings/2004/12/19/1103391622768.html?oneclick=true

CBC Reports UFO is my favorite story on this so far - their reporters must be more imaginative than most.

UFO spotted by dozens of Indonesians
Last Updated Sat, 18 Dec 2004 22:45:21 EST

JAKARTA, INDONESIA - An unidentified flying object was seen hurtling toward earth Sunday morning close to Jakarta, witnesses told a local radio station.

Any more info on this?

From The Jakarta Post Online:

here were no reports of any objects falling to earth in or close to the capital.

"My suspicion is that this was a meteor that burned up, causing a loud noise," astronomer Muji Raharto from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) in West Java told AP.

Meanwhile, AFP reported that the explosion could be heard in Tangerang, just west of Jakarta, the southern suburb of Depok and as far away as Bogor, some 60 kilometers south of the capital.

Police said they had no reports of any fallen objects and said they were still investigating the origin of the explosion.

"We have called all subdistricts and they all say they are not aware" of falling meteor in their area, a female police officer on duty at the Tangerang police precinct, First Insp. Kamtini told AFP.

Air Force spokesman Commodore Sagom Tambun said the air force was not monitoring falling objects such as meteors.

Based on seismograph data for the area, there was no large or sizable impact. There was something some miles off shore but appeared to be old.

im willing to wager that this was either something flying high, fast, and hard. rocket trail though? scramjet perhaps? a meteor the size of a softball can cause sizeable damage depending on composition. and i dont know if a seismograph would be that sensitive? they dont perticuarlly want to see every impact on the earth do they? i mean so many happen each day.

The consensus of all news reports available at this time rest on a somewhat large meteor (grapefruit to basketball size?) breaking up in the atmosphere above Indonesia.

The most interesting of the news reports posted above is the uncorraborated anonymous Indonesian air force report of a radar return on a fast moving object just prior to the reports of a loud explosion.

Perhaps it was this:

3200 Phaethon is a small asteroid , or possibly a comet with some characteristics normally associated with asteroids. Fragments from this body shed when it approaches the Sun are responsible for the Geminids meteor shower occurring in mid-December.

3200 Phaethon
Responsible for this:
The Geminid Meteor Shower





seekerof

Originally posted by Phoenix
The Geminid meteor shower is supposed to peak on monday but it consists of small dust size particles so this reported strike may have nothing in common with this annual event.

Well actually the Geminid shower is gone. It peaked last Monday, December 13th. I'm surprised no one has come forth saying this is the precursor to Comet Machholz hitting the Earth yet.

Why do people quote the media??? Their job is to control the thoughts of the public.

FACT is,, That could have been anything,(Satellite, Space junk, Missile, falling RC Aircraft, Model rocket,... come on people, $hitty part is....NOBODY of the general public will ever know!

Air Force spokesman Commodore Sagom Tambun said the air force was not monitoring falling objects such as meteors.

That's an interesting "official" statement. Kind of makes you wonder what they WERE monitoring... perhaps the "meteor" is misinformation.

MK

why is this not being followed up? not just on atsnn, but anywhere. i mean it's been 2 days and we don't even know if this thing hit the ground!

kinda strange.

-raven

Originally posted by raven2012
why is this not being followed up? not just on atsnn, but anywhere. i mean it's been 2 days and we don't even know if this thing hit the ground!

kinda strange.

-raven

Perhaps it was an unexpected impact and the astronamy "expects" see something else coming. Just a happy thought.