Amazing video shows huge fireball blazing over Europe
A large, bright meteorite fell in Europe on Sunday, with some observers saying they could hear the rock’s explosive descent from the ground
A massive fireball appeared in the evening sky over Europe on Sunday, leaving at least one German city covered in debris and sparking an investigation into the size of the object.
European Space Agency planet defense teamJoe, who is leading the investigation, currently estimates that the fireball was a few meters in diameter. Apparently the event could be heard from the ground, and the fireball was visible glowing for about six seconds. According to the agency, a house was damaged by debris falling from the meteorite, but no injuries were reported.
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For comparison, a large meteorite that fell on Chelyabinsk Oblast in Russia in 2013 was 18 meters in diameter. It exploded while landing about 30 kilometers (18.6 mi) above the ground, filling the surrounding area with debris and causing a shockwave that broke windows of homes, injuring several people. Scientists estimate that it had approximately the same explosive power. 440,000 tons of TNTAccording to NASA.
Because of the timing of Sunday’s event and the direction of the meteor’s fall, the European Space Agency does not think it would have been caught by any of the large-scale telescopic sky surveys designed to scan these objects.
It is unclear where the fireball came from; These fallen space rocks are often debris from passing comets and asteroids. When these rocks rapidly enter Earth’s atmosphere, they burn—the larger the rock, the more intense the burning. If a piece of a meteor survives the journey through the atmosphere to hit the ground, it becomes a meteorite. Unless they are very large, meteors usually break up in the atmosphere, as the fireball that struck Europe on Sunday did.
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