It was a strange light that crossed the sky this Tuesday, January 16 at 7:46 am. As day broke, a real “ball of fire” was seen by residents of southern France.
The lucky ones could see it on the Franco-Spanish border, from the Pyrenees-Orientales, to the Basque Country.
Extraterrestrial body
This fireball is actually an extraterrestrial body. It came from space and caught fire as it entered the atmosphere. Hence light is emitted during its passage.
It would be a “large diurnal bolide,” hence a meteor, a body that enters Earth’s atmosphere at high speed and causes a bright event.
The “ball of fire” literally rushed into the sky: its speed is between 10 and 20 kilometers per second, as reported by our colleagues from France Bleu.
A call for witnesses to rearrange his route
As numerous evidences have emerged, especially on social networks, after the passing of the ball, in which some claim to have seen the color green, scientists are calling for help to be able to retrace the path of this “bolide”.
A call for witnesses was launched by Fripone Network on its Vigie-Ciel website: “If you’ve observed one, don’t hesitate to send us an online observation report. It’s quick, fun, requires no skill in science or astronomy, and can be very useful for us to reconstruct the object’s path!”
What does it mean to know this information? The extraterrestrial object certainly disintegrated mid-flight, but if its exact trajectory were reconstructed, it would make it possible to identify the point of impact with Earth if it existed.