Large meteorite sighted in Norway; researchers hunting for fragments

A large meteorite lit up the night sky over southern Norway on Saturday night, prompting a wave of reported sightings from as far as Sweden, according to local media.

Several witnesses contacted the police to say they had seen an extremely bright light and heard loud noises, the Norwegian broadcaster NRK and the newspaper VG reported on Sunday.

Some people even said they had windows or doors opened by the change in air pressure caused by the meteorite. A VG reporter described the spectacle as a ball of fire in the air that lit up the entire sky.

The glow of the celestial body was reportedly visible in large parts of southern Norway and even in Sweden at shortly after 1.00 am (local time).

Experts assume that parts of the meteorite must have landed west of Oslo.

Unknown size

Vegard Lundby from the Norwegian Meteorite Network told NRK that they are now working hard to find the stones, which are expected to weigh several kilograms to be valuable objects for research.

The size of the meteorite was initially unknown, but the eyewitness reports indicate it was considerably large and some suspect it could weigh several dozen kilos.

According to the VG report, experts assume that the meteorite came from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.