According to astronomer Eric Stempels from Uppsala University’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, the bolide was visible from Finland and had a trajectory from the west-southwest to the east-northeast. The bright light was formed when a rock from space entered the atmosphere at an altitude of around 100 kilometers and traveled up to 700 kilometers. A photo taken by an “all sky camera” in Borlänge, part of Uppsala University’s network, captured the event. The weather was clear, allowing many in the Stockholm area to report their sightings to Uppsala University and UFO-Sweden, who received nearly 30 reports in the first hour after the event. Some observers believed the meteor was only 70 meters away and had landed in the Kolmården area, but it was actually much further away. Witnesses from different locations described the meteor in various ways, including a silvery/chrome-colored orb and a greenish glow with a tail lasting for 5-10 seconds.
Astronomer Eric Stempels at the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Uppsala University says that the bolide was also visible from Finland.
– It seems to have had a path from west-southwest to east-northeast, he says.
The bright light formed when a rock from space entered the atmosphere at an altitude of about 100 kilometers. It then moved over a distance of up to 700 kilometers.
The picture above was taken by a so-called “all sky camera” in Borlänge. The camera is part of a network run by Uppsala University.
The weather was clear over, among other things, Stockholm, which meant that many in the area reported their sightings to both Uppsala University and the national organization UFO-Sweden. Together, they had to receive nearly 30 reports during the first hour after the car entered the atmosphere.
Some believed that the bright meteor was only 70 meters away from them and one observer guessed that it had struck in the Kolmården area. In fact, the car was many miles away.
Some of the observers describe what they saw like this:
Norrköping
“Just saw a huge bolide (?) above Norrköping, came in from the Baltic Sea from Estonia… and looked to crash at Kolmården (guess). Have seen shooting stars before but this was absolutely huge. Got extreme heart rate. Probably just a meteorite or something. But fun to watch.”
Kolbäck
“About 8.15 p.m. Clear white glow followed by a yellow/orange tail passed low on the northern horizon from east to west at high speed, similar to a ‘shooting star’ but larger and much, much stronger.”
Söråker, Timrå
“Me and my partner were sitting in the car on the way home from the store, suddenly something comes at a very high speed which is quite large and not that high up (probably a few 100 meters above us only) which shines very bright blue, bright blue something like when you weld, and then it changes color and turns faintly green and splits into 3 parts and then just disappears out of thin air even though it was so close to us and it shone so brightly. Both my partner and I saw exactly the same thing.”
Hackås
“A silvery/chrome-colored orb flew outside our window at 8:00 p.m. The orb traveled very fast and appeared to be on fire as it smashed into our window and was reflected in the windows of nearby houses. Both my daughter and I saw the object, so it was not imagination.”
Södertälje
“Drive a car on the E4, drive north at 110 km/h and are outside Södertälje on the way to station south. In the sky I see a glow that is greenish with a tail for about 5-10 seconds above Södertälje. The time is between 20.20 and 20.35.”