Last Saturday, locals of northeastern Australia were able to witness the cosmic spectacle of a green fireball meteor blazing over their skies.
Green Fireball Meteor Blazes Over Australian Skies
Per Live Science, the strong flash was visible even from miles away and the strong banging sound left local inhabitants stunned by the spectacle.
The Cairns Airport in Queensland was able to capture the rare explosive sighting using its cameras. The bursting meteor, called a bolide, was seen at 9:22 p.m. (local time).
News.com.au adds that the epic sighting was visible across several suburbs. Residents from Barcaldine in the west all the way to Cooktown in the north got to witness the rare spectacle. Further footage taken through smartphones, security cameras, and dash cams also reveals that the bright flash was visible from Normanton, which is roughly 370 miles west of Cairns.
The explosive sound was most clear over Croydon town, roughly 60 miles east of Normanton. This suggests that the blast took place overhead somewhere, Live Science notes.
Astrophysicist Brad Tucker from the Australian National University mentioned to the Guardian that the rock could have had a size of 0.5 to 1 meter. This makes it comparatively smaller compared to typical meteors. It was also moving at a speed that reached as high as 150,000 kilometers per hour.
Watch the moment a fireball, believed to be a meteor, lit up the night sky over Australia as it fell to Earth. pic.twitter.com/knS5qW5mrn
— CBS News (@CBSNews) May 23, 2023
ALSO READ: Cosmic Light Show: Burning Meteor Blazes Over European Skies [WATCH]
Bolide Meteors
According to the American Meteor Society, bolides refer to meteors that blow up over the atmosphere of the Earth. Their burst can be attributed to a buildup of friction that eventually makes the rock shatter with a force strong enough to cause a sonic boom.
Dr. Tucker also explains that the meteor does a belly flow in essence. The friction just builds up and makes the object glow. The rock then hits a certain breaking point that leads to a strong flash and sonic boom.
Live Science notes that, in most cases, bolides release a yellow or white light. The rare green flash in the recent cosmic spectacle was due to the high metal concentration within the meteor.
Such bolide incidents tend to take place across the atmosphere of the Earth quite frequently. From July 2017 to January 2022, there were roughly 3,000 bolides that astronomers were able to pick up, per NASA Earth Observatory. However, ground observers only get to spot a few of these events each year. This is because such events typically take place above oceans or in densely populated regions.
Fireball meteors can also emit a similar green light. These meteors are extremely bright ones that end up breaking apart over the atmosphere but do not burst with the same level of strength.
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