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Irish Astronomers Investigate Sky Explosion

Posted by timothy on from the stopping-snake-attacks-since-400-AD dept.

puroresu writes "Astronomers in Ireland have appealed to the public to contact them with eyewitness accounts of a massive explosion in the sky over the country. From the BBC: 'Astronomy Ireland chairman David Moore said: "So far, reports have been registered by residents in west Cork, Kerry, Cavan and as far north as Donegal, thus suggesting that this spectacular event may have been witnessed by people all over the country. In the past two decades there have been two major explosions in the skies over Ireland. When we investigated these, we were able to conclude that one was a Russian military satellite that exploded over the country, and the other was a rock from space."'"

4 of 157 comments (clear)

  1. To whoever tagged story as uk by andyh3930 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Learn geography. Ireland in not in the UK, Northern Ireland is, but the Republic of Ireland isn't.

    1. Re:To whoever tagged story as uk by wrook · · Score: 5, Informative

      Reminds me of a time I was working in London. When I first started one of the guys asked me, "Are you American". I replied, "No Canadian". He just said, "Same thing."

      So, I asked him: "Are you English" and he said, "No I'm Irish." I said, "Same thing".

      I still marvel at the fact that I'm still alive... ;-)

  2. Re:Spots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well, Ireland is actually atlantis, see.

  3. There's a slightly better article by Vexar · · Score: 5, Informative
    http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/278826 I think what happened here was that the BBC found the Digital Journal article, got famously sloppy, and reprinted a dumbed down version. I think the Slashdot community needs to do what it can for the astronomy groups in Ireland (North or otherwise). There's been more debate over whether a skit from decades ago was about an Irishman or a Scotsman than discussion of the actual article. Granted, neither article has anything more than several people reporting seeing an explosion in the night sky (apparently while watching Jupiter), but is there any follow-up?

    Well, yes there is: http://www.mail-archive.com/meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com/msg77530.html So, a meteorite, or if you read the BBC papers, a "space rock." Let's at least pretend we care about the news, not being our usual, fitful selves.