12/13/2005 10:52:01 A.M. Pacific Standard Time

ORDO ab KAO UPDATE: Many witnesses reported hearing an aircraft in the area at the time of the blasts.

Did anyone else see the meteor?
Dont just dismiss this because the odds are literally astronomical. My wife and I live 10 miles south of buncefield and the explosion woke us instantly. I rushed to the window and soon saw the mushroom cloud rising, this would be within the first minute. My wife joined me and at that moment we saw one, possible a double meteor pass across the sky at approx 20 degrees to the horizon just above the cloud travelling sw to ne. I have been interested in astronomy for many years and know exactly what a meteor looks like. For the record its a meteor if it does not touch ground and a meteorite if it does.
Did radar spot anything or astronomy groups monitor the shower?
The time and direction makes it possible that the meteor I saw was from the Geminid meteor shower but I have not been able to confirm that this regular meteor shower has a reputation for fragments large enough to reach the ground.
Some people have reported the sounds of a plane shortly before the explosion but the police have insisted that it could not be a plane. If those people are sure that they heard something it could easily have been a meteor as witnesses have often stated that meteor can make all kinds of noises.
Meteors often fragment as they enter the atmosphere so it is possible that evidence might be found in the vicinity.
I repeat that the odds are against this explanation and it is much more likely to be human error or mechanical failure but I know what I saw and the odds of seing a very bright meteor within a minute of our largest peacetime explosion are very long also.