A lot of people saw it, they just didn't know what to make of it. A light streaked across the New Mexico sky about dusk Thursday evening. There were a lot of theories as to the cause of the flash of light, but the experts at Sandia National Labs said it was a meteor. Thanks to a unique camera system at the lab, the meteor was videotaped and experts have been able to study what was a very remarkable sight. In the accompanying photograph, taken from Sandia Labs' camera, you see the meteor highlighted in a box. The photo is a spherical image of the entire sky, with the horizon to the left ringed by city lights. Terry Connors had just flown his plane into Double Eagle Airport from Los Alamos when he spotted the meteor.

"It was quite amazing because the first thing we noticed kind of a bright flash, and then you saw the long bright trail of a meteor that you would normally see, but it was still daylight so you could also see the vapor trail that it left," Connors said. "Rather than just dying out, there was a bright green explosion at the end of the trail and then that was the end of the event, except the vapor trail stayed around for another 5 or 10 minutes."

As an Air Force veteran, Connors said he's seen a lot of meteors, but nothing like what he saw Thursday. But Sandia senior engineer Dick Spalding said he's confident that's what it was on the tape.

"It caught a meteor -- a thing that moved through the sky with the speed and direction that we generally associate with a meteor -- so we think that's what people saw," Spalding said.


View: Full Article | Source: The New Mexico Channel