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Los Angeles Times
A bright
red and green light that appeared to plunge into the Pacific
Ocean on Monday night may have been a meteor, an astronomer
said.
About
30 people from Santa Barbara to Marina del Rey called U.S.
Coast Guard and law enforcement officials about 8:20 p.m.
to report what they thought was a meteorite, a flare or
a downed aircraft, authorities said.
Crews
in boats and helicopters equipped with infrared scopes were
sent to search for crash debris in Los Angeles Harbor and
Marina del Rey, but they found nothing.
Paramedic
Robert Johnson saw the brilliant burst of light in Sherman
Oaks while sitting around a bonfire with fellow firefighters.
"I
could see how people thought it was a plane," he said.
"There were flames coming out, but they were green
and large.
"This
thing was hot and just going before it disappeared below
the horizon," he said. "I thought it was going
to crash into something."
Troy
Powers, a museum guide at Griffith Observatory, said that
judging from the descriptions, "it could have been
a meteor."
"It
might have impacted the water, although that's pretty rare,"
he said. More likely, he said, "it was a meteor, between
the size of a naval orange and a basketball, about 40 to
50 miles high in the atmosphere."
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