Shimmering greenish-blue sphere near Chivju

What was reported

At 06.05 on 13 August 1986 a University of Zimbabwe lecturer near Chivju (Chivhu) watched a perfect shimmering sphere, greenish-blue in colour, cross the sky from east to west trailing shining white light, with no sound. Conditions were excellent: clear sky, the object judged one to two kilometres off and five to seven thousand feet up, about the size of an average room, in view for some three seconds. Sgt Chari of the police confirmed the sighting, though he thought the thing considerably larger. Dr Willy Smith, running the report through his computer programme, identified it as very probably a bolide from the Perseid shower, whose peak of 11/12 August fell within range, on a slightly descending east-to-west path. Hind reproduces it as Figure 2.

What Hind made of it

Hind accepts Dr Willy Smith's identification of a bolide associated with the Perseid meteor shower, the date being well within the shower's range.

Explanation offered
Perseid bolide (Dr Willy Smith)

In their words

• Very likely the object was a bolide associated with the Perseid meteor shower.

Cross references

• Dr Willy Smith's computer programme, Florida
• Figure 2, spread 4

Connected

• Meteor boom over Harare, Marondera and Rusape, 1986Case fileSame window

  Both 1986 and both meteoric by Hind's own account: the 13 August dawn bolide at Chivhu (Perseid, per Willy Smith) and the boom with ground tremor across Harare, Marondera and Rusape. Not shown to be the same event; the Chivhu object was silent.

• Cases Not Previously Reported: Report from John Flanagan of Bulawayo (Honey Dew farm, Chivhu, 1954)Case fileSame place

  Chivhu: the 1986 dawn bolide and the 1954 formation are 32 years apart and unrelated; both happen to sit within 2.5 km of the Chivhu airstrip, whose opening date is not established.

Source

Cynthia Hind, UFO Afrinews No 1 (July 1988), spread 3-4

Nearby

Stories within 60 km

• The policeman outside Mvuma 1974 · 50 km