Meteoroids are objects in space that may come from asteroids or comets that range in size from dust grains to small asteroids. If it comes close enough to Earth and enters its atmosphere, it vaporizes and turns into a meteor.
Sometimes, these streaks of light are called "shooting stars," but they are not really stars; and those pieces that reach the Earth's surface become the meteorites.
But every so often, meteors of sufficient size will make it through and explode above the surface, which causes a loud bang that can be heard in many areas startling the residents. In an earlier report by Science Times, residents of Seattle heard a loud sonic boom after the meteor exploded in broad daylight. It was dubbed as the "The Quarantine Boom of 2020."
A Ball of Light Explodes in Turkish Skies: Is it a Meteor?
On the Wednesday evening of May 27, residents of northern Turkey reported spotting a ball of light in the sky, which caused a spectacular light show. A video of the event was posted on social media, which looks like a meteor streaking across the night sky before it explodes in the air with a loud boom.
Bu akşam saat 20.30 civarı Trabzon, Artvin, Rize, Ardahan, Erzurum, Muş başta olmak üzere birçok ilde görülen #meteor 'un şu ana kadar çekilen en net görüntüsü pic.twitter.com/gbzHqgSitP — Corona Güncel (@Coronabilgi) May 27, 2020
The "ball of light" was visible in several provinces such as Artvin, Erzurum, Sivas, Tuncel, and Ardahan at around 8:30 pm local time, Turkish news website Daily Sabah reports. The video of the fireball showed in social media were recorded from Erzincan and Trabzon.
Filmed from multiple angles, the ball of light looks like an amazing sight showing that it exploded at a significant altitude. But this ball of light is not yet confirmed as a meteor. Meanwhile, meteorologists have assessed it as what is normally expected from a "meteor shower," reports the news outlet Hürriyet.
Moreover, its behavior is extremely consistent with rocks from space that have entered the Earth's atmosphere as most meteors do not usually reach the ground upon entering the planet's atmosphere, well, at least not intact.
Earth is Under Constant Bombardment of Space Rocks
It is estimated that millions of meteors and micro meteors enter the atmosphere every day. Most of them burn up before their existence is even known to humans. But a smaller number of larger ones are usually spotted. Several of them turn in bolides or the spectacular fireballs in the sky, just like the one that lit up the sky over Turkey.
According to NASA's fireball database, there are about 822 bolides since 1988, or an average of around 25 per year distributed randomly around the world. Most of them explode on Earth's bodies of water, as the planet is made up of 71% water.
The mechanism behind why space rocks explode in the skies is not yet clear, but experts believe that the atmosphere's thickness might have caused it. The air pressure in front of the rock as it falls through the sky builds up and causes high-pressure air to seep through minute pores and cracks in the object that increases the pressure inside, which spectacularly explodes several meters in the air.
A confirmation from experts is yet to be released whether the fireball that lit up the Turkish sky on Wednesday night was a meteor or not, but it certainly fits the profile.
