© Ivan Abilev / YouTube
The glowing object was clearly visible from the city of Ekaterinburg in the Sverdlovsk region, as well as near-by towns and communities on Tuesday night, local media reported.
Several videos now being shared online show a bright flash, followed by a brief moment of daylight. "I thought it was a star, but it wasn't! As it fell it glowed red and yellow, and behind it there was a small trail that glittered from lilac to red, yellow and orange," eyewitness Aleksandr Bortstev said in describing the dazzling phenomenon to local news website E1. He said the flash lasted for about 6 or 7 seconds. Some witnesses claimed that they heard what sounded like explosions.
The people of the area are no strangers to such phenomena - this is the second spectacular meteor residents have witnessed in a week. On Saturday, a bright blue-and-white meteor traveled through the night sky of Sverdlovsk and the neighboring Chelyabinsk region. One of the witnesses described the speed of the meteor as "monstrous."
Comment: The other meteor fireball within the past week over the Russian Urals is reported here: Fast moving meteor fireball captured on dashcam over Russian city A few weeks ago another meteor fireball was filmed over Ekaterinburg, Russia.
It was recently the fifth anniversary of the Chelyabinsk meteor which NASA Planetary Defense Officer Lindley Johnson referred to as "a cosmic wake-up call." See: Five Years after the Chelyabinsk Meteor: NASA's efforts in planetary defense.
Recently NASA created a 'Planetary Defense Coordination Office' with a view to track meteors headed toward Earth, and "redirect" potentially dangerous asteroids as part of a long-term planetary defense goal.
However, asteroid 'redirection' or 'deflection' remains just theoretical. A more accurate way of looking at it is that NASA is funding deflection and redirection of the topic of space threats by 'getting the message out' that 'everything is just fine'.
As Fireball Numbers Increased Again in 2017 it is well worth remembering what can come out of the sky, without any warning at all: