Figure – The orbit calculated by the Norsk meteornettverk.
On the 18th of December, at 16:37:07 UT, a bright fireball lighted up the southern parts of Norway. The event was registered by the cameras of the Norwegian Meteor Network on a quite cloudy sky. A better video of the event is taken by Tore Myhren from Lillehammer, and shows the fireball through some clouds near the horizon. The video can be found on this link: http://norskmeteornettverk.no/wordpress/?p=2865.
These videos combined, shows that the meteor started at a height of 68,9 km, and exploded at a height of 26,8 km. The meteor was of sporadic origin, and had a radiant at RA: 331,3 degrees, and DEC: 62,2 degrees. The velocity of the meteor is estimated to be around 17 Km/s, but some uncertainty regarding this makes it difficult to obtain a certain estimate of the meteors mass. It is therefore uncertain whether anything from this event has reached the ground as meteorites. If any, the search for meteors will be very problematic, due to a difficult accessible, mountainous area. The automatic generated report from the Norwegian Meteor Network can be found here: http://norskmeteornettverk.no/meteor/20171218/163707/.
Some eyewitness reports, give a good impression on the brightness of the meteor:
Solveig Aga Hevrøy: “Observed the sharp, bright light from Austevoll. It lighted up the whole of the inside of the car. Thought it was lightning.”
Ørjan Solheim: “Saw an insane powerful flash of light in Rosendal. The whole valley and the mountains lighted up. A lot of times stronger than lightning. Lasted longer and was smoother than lightning. Stopped the car and went out, but could hear no sound.”
Rune Knutsen Taranger: “Observed the light from Haugesund. Drove north, when the sky lighted up. It was rain and clouds, so I saw nothing else than a powerful flash in the sky”.
Ellen Marie Lyseng: “Saw an enormous fireball over Valdres, with direction towards Hemsedal. It lighted up the whole valley for some seconds. Seemed almost like an explosion in the sky.”
