 SYDNEY
(Reuters) - Australian authorities were baffled on Wednesday by
overnight reports of bright lights and booming noises in the sky
which shook some houses and prompted fears of falling space junk
or meteorites.
Police said
they received numerous reports of ``explosions in the sky, sonic
boom-type noises and flare-type lights'' over a two hour period
on Tuesday night from residents along a 124 mile stretch of the
country's east coast.
``There was
a huge bang which shook my house,'' one resident of Bateman's
Bay, 177 miles south of Sydney, told Australian Broadcasting Corp
radio.
``I thought
the house next door had blown up,'' he said.
Police said
they had contacted meteorology, air safety, emergency, and defense
experts, but were unable to come up with any official reason behind
the unusual night sky action.
A number of
small grass fires were also sparked around the nearby capital
of Canberra at about the same time, they said.
``No debris
has been found,'' a police spokesman told Reuters.
The noise
and lights prompted fears the accident prone Mir Space station
could be making an uncontrolled return to earth after Russian
space officials lost contact with the 130-ton craft for 24 hours
until late on Tuesday.
The craft,
which remains safe in orbit, is to be dumped in the Pacific Ocean,
900 to 1,200 miles off Australia, in late February.
Australia's
Deep Space Communications Complex said a small meteorite was the
most likely explanation for the sightings.
``That would
cause a sonic boom and would also cause some good flares around
it,'' operations supervisor Ian Warren told domestic news agency
Australian Associated Press.
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