A bright green meteor streaked across the southern coast of Tasmania, Australia, and researchers caught the fireball on camera as it broke up over the ocean. The meteor lit up the night sky at 9:21 p.m. local Tasmanian time.
A livestream camera on the research vessel Investigator, which is operated by Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, captured incredible views of the fireball as it descended from space and disintegrated above the Tasman Sea.
“What we saw on reviewing the livestream footage astounded us; the size and brightness of the meteor was incredible,” John Hooper, CSIRO voyage manager on board Investigator, said in a statement. “The meteor crosses the sky directly in front of the ship and then breaks up — it was amazing to watch the footage, and we were very fortunate that we captured it all on the ship livestream.”
Here is an update by The Guardian:
“Many meteors were once asteroids, travelling through space on their own trajectory. This changes as they pass close to Earth, where they can be affected by its gravitational pull,” Glen Nagle, a researcher from CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science, said in the statement. “As they enter our atmosphere, they become meteors — and their entry can be visually spectacular.”
Post Your Comments