Rumbling Meteor Lights Up Norway, a Bit Possibly Landing near Oslo

OSLO, July 25 (Reuters) - An "unusually large meteor" briefly lit up southern Norway on Sunday, creating a spectacular sound and light display as it rumbled across the sky, and a bit of it may have hit Earth, possibly not far from the capital, Oslo, experts said.
OSLO, July 25 (Reuters) - An "unusually large meteor" briefly lit up southern Norway on Sunday, creating a spectacular sound and light display as it rumbled across the sky, and a bit of it may have hit Earth, possibly not far from the capital, Oslo, experts said.
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Rumbling Meteor Lights Up Norway, a Bit Possibly Landing near Oslo

OSLO, July 25 (Reuters) - An "unusually large meteor" briefly lit up southern Norway on Sunday, creating a spectacular sound and light display as it rumbled across the sky, and a bit of it may have hit Earth, possibly not far from the capital, Oslo, experts said.
OSLO, July 25 (Reuters) - An "unusually large meteor" briefly lit up southern Norway on Sunday, creating a spectacular sound and light display as it rumbled across the sky, and a bit of it may have hit Earth, possibly not far from the capital, Oslo, experts said.

An "unusually large meteor" briefly lit up southern Norway on Sunday, creating a spectacular sound and light display as it rumbled across the sky, and a bit of it may have hit Earth, possibly not far from the capital, Oslo, experts said.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

Reports of sightings started arriving around 1 a.m., with video circulating on social media showing at least one bright flash lighting up a marina at Holmestrand, south of Oslo.

The Norwegian Meteor network on Sunday was analyzing the video footage and other data to try to pinpoint the meteor's origin and destination.

Preliminary data suggested a meteorite may have hit Earth in a large wooded area, called Finnemarka, just 60 km (40 miles) west of the capital, Oslo, the network said.

"This was crazy," the network's Morten Bilet, who saw and heard the meteor, told Reuters.

The meteor travelled at 15-20 km per second and lit up the night sky for about five to six seconds, Bilet said. The summer sky was dark, with the days starting to get shorter from the end of June.

"What we had last night was a large rock travelling likely from between Mars and Jupiter, which is our asteroid belt. And when that whizzes in, it creates a rumble, light and great excitement among us (experts) and maybe some fear among others," Bilet said.

There were no reports of damage or people being particularly frightened, as was the case in 2013 when a meteorite streaked across Russia and exploded over Chelyabinsk Bilet said.

For those nearest, it was likely more of a "spooky" event, he added.



Vatican Strikes Solar Farm Deal to Become the World’s First Carbon-Neutral State 

Pope Leo XIV (C) rides on the Papamobile as he greets the faithful during his weekly General Audience in St. Peter's Square, in Vatican City, 30 July 2025. (EPA)
Pope Leo XIV (C) rides on the Papamobile as he greets the faithful during his weekly General Audience in St. Peter's Square, in Vatican City, 30 July 2025. (EPA)
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Vatican Strikes Solar Farm Deal to Become the World’s First Carbon-Neutral State 

Pope Leo XIV (C) rides on the Papamobile as he greets the faithful during his weekly General Audience in St. Peter's Square, in Vatican City, 30 July 2025. (EPA)
Pope Leo XIV (C) rides on the Papamobile as he greets the faithful during his weekly General Audience in St. Peter's Square, in Vatican City, 30 July 2025. (EPA)

Italy agreed Thursday to a Vatican plan to turn a 430-hectare (1,000-acre) field north of Rome, once the source of controversy between the two, into a vast solar farm that the Holy See hopes will generate enough electricity to meet its needs and turn Vatican City into the world’s first carbon-neutral state.

The agreement stipulates that the development of the Santa Maria Galeria site will preserve the agricultural use of the land and minimize the environmental impact on the territory, according to a Vatican statement.

Details weren’t released, but the Vatican will be exempt from paying Italian taxes to import the solar panels, but won’t benefit from the financial incentives that Italians enjoy when they go solar.

Italy, for its part, can use the field in its accounting for reaching European Union clean energy targets. Any excess electricity generated by the farm beyond the Vatican’s needs would be given to the local community, officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the agreement was not public.

Vatican officials have estimated it will cost under 100 million euros ($114 million) to develop the solar farm, and that once it is approved by the Italian parliament, the contracts to do the work could be put up for bids.

Vatican foreign minister Archbishop Paul Gallagher signed the agreement with Italy’s ambassador to the Holy See, Francesco Di Nitto. The Italian parliament must approve the arrangement since it has financial implications for the territory, which holds extraterritorial status in Italy.

The Santa Maria Galeria site has long been the source of controversy because of electromagnetic waves emitted by Vatican Radio towers located there since the 1950s. The once-rural site some 35 kilometers (20 miles) north of Rome is dominated by two dozen short- and medium-wave radio antennae that transmit news from the Catholic Church in dozens of languages around the globe.

Over the years as the area became more developed, residents began complaining of health problems, including instances of childhood leukemia, which they blamed on the electromagnetic waves generated by the towers. The Vatican denied there was any causal link but cut back the transmissions.

Pope Francis last year asked the Vatican to study developing the area into a vast solar farm, hoping to put into practice his preaching about the need to transition away from fossil fuels and find clean, carbon-neutral energy sources.

Pope Leo XIV visited the site in June and affirmed that he intended to see Francis’ vision through. Leo has strongly taken up Francis' ecological mantle, recently using a new set of prayers and readings inspired by Pope Francis’ environmental legacy.

In the 1990s at the height of the controversy over the radio towers, residents sued Vatican Radio officials, claiming the emissions exceeded the Italian legal limit, but the court cleared the transmitter. In 2012, the Vatican announced it was cutting in half the hours of transmission from the site, not because of health concerns but because of cost-saving technological advances in internet broadcasting.