US EditionFireball ‘Bright as the Moon’ Lights up Sky over Japan
The fireball, as bright as the moon, was seen from Kagoshima to Osaka's Kansai Airport, spanning 124 miles, caused by meteoroids burning due to atmospheric friction.
- On Tuesday night, a large fireball briefly turned night into day across western Japan, illuminating Sakurajima Volcano and Kagoshima City while people reported feeling the air vibrate.
- Scientists explain that fireballs occur when meteoroids, ranging from fist-to-basketball size, enter Earth's atmosphere rapidly and burn brightly due to friction.
- University of Glasgow professor Luke Daily described the fireball as an "amazing, stunning — a beautiful live show in the sky," while Toshihisa Maeda, head of Sendai Space Museum, said it "was as bright as the moon," noting fireballs are larger and longer-lived than ordinary meteors.
- Scientists said recovering rock fragments would help determine meteoroids' origin and clarify solar system formation.
- Space.com noted it is unclear if the fireball was part of the Perseid meteor shower or a sporadic event, seen from Kagoshima to Osaka's Kansai Airport; Daily suspects an asteroid origin but cannot confirm due to probable sea landing.
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20 Articles
A bright fireball has crossed the skies of western Japan, where it has surprised residents and dazzled starwatchers, although experts claim that it is a natural phenomenon and not an alien invasion.On the Internet users have posted videos and photos of the extremely bright light ball, visible hundreds of miles away, shortly after 23.00 on Tuesday, local time, according to AFP. "A white light that I had never seen before descended from above and …
The phenomenon was recorded mainly in the regions of Kyushu and Shikoku, where the object lit up the night of this Tuesday. Apparently it would have been a "boil", as it is called this type of astronomical objects that are particularly bright, and whose dust burns upon entering the atmosphere.
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