The first fireball was seen in daylight near El Paso, Texas, on October 9 1997. The second fireball appeared at night over southern Greenland on December 9, 1997. In both cases there were early press reports of a large explosion and evidence presented that one or more objects had struck the ground. In Texas it was said that the impact had started a wildfire, and in Greenland that it had generated a large cloud observed from space. Later, it became apparent that these associated reports were spurious. While it is possible that one or both of these bright meteors produced some meteorites, none has been recovered, and no ground damage was done. Further, neither fireball was seen by the satellites in space that constantly track the Earth and report all large meteor events. Thus while spectacular to witness, the El Paso and Greenland events were actually rather routine bright meteors from a planetary perspective. |
