Suspected Meteorite: Northern Europe Marvels at Mysterious Blue Light

First there was a bluish glow, then a bang and a shockwave. Residents across northern Europe marvelled at the mysterious phenomenon, which is believed to have been a meteorite crashing into the Baltic Sea off the coast of northern Germany over the weekend.

A mysterious bluish-green flash of light followed by a loud bang alarmed residents across northern Germany, Denmark and southern Sweden on Saturday night and prompted dozens of people to call the police.

"There was a dull thunder and I felt pressure in my chest," said one eyewitness in the northern German city of Rostock.

Authorities made checks and quickly ruled out the possibility the fireball had been a plane crash. A spokesman for the German Aerospace Center said: "It was probably a meteorite. That at least would explain the shockwave and the bang."

A meteorologist for the Meteomedia weather service on the Baltic German island of Hiddensee said: "That definitely wasn't a weather phenomenon, it was something astronomical."

Experts said the meteorite probably fell into the Baltic Sea not far from the port city of Rostock.

cro -- with wire reports