It Came From Outer Space....

On Wednesday, May 18, residents of the Central Tablelands could have been forgiven for thinking that they had entered the realm of science fiction when a large orange orb was observed hovering in the southern sky around 5pm. The Bathurst Observatory Research Facility was inundated with calls from concerned residents. The orange glow lasted for about an hour before fading to a dull white smudge. At times the changing light and hazy cloud made it appear that the object had flickering lights around the outer edge with a hole in the centre.

It turns out that the glow was actually a giant weather balloon which had been launched by NASA from New Zealand on Tuesday. The balloon is the size of 92 Goodyear blimps. Let's hope that this balloon has more success than the last one launched by NASA which lasted a mere 32 days before rupturing and coming to ground on the NSW/Queensland border.