Meteor over Brazil
© Screen Capture
A large meteorite crossed the Brazilian night sky and became extinct at an altitude of 67 kilometers, just one kilometer above the cities of Nova Petrópolis, Canela and Gramado, in the south of the neighboring country.


Comment: 'Became extinct'?! What a strange turn of phrase, given what meteors will likely do to us some day...


This was reported this Saturday by the Heller and Jung Space Observatory, which recorded last Thursday how the bolide (a type of meteorite with a very intense brightness) fell in the Hortensias region, in a sect of the mountain ranges of the state of Rio Grande do Sul.


As explained by the professor Carlos Fernando Jung, from said observatory, the meteorite entered the Earth's atmosphere at a latitude of 106.4 km and exploded at a latitude of 67.1, just one kilometer from the cities of Nova Petropolis, Canela and Gramado.

This explosion was registered by two cameras of the observatory, located in Taquara, which allowed establishing that the phenomenon had a speed of 44.8 kilometers per second, reported the medium G1RS.
"The impact of Taquara's proximity to this region (from mountains)produced an intense glow when it exploded. " indicated the professor, who in turn added: "Although we are in the Lyrid meteor shower period, the registered meteorite does not belong in this rain. The original rain is the Phi Ophiuchids that will reach its highest point on May 11."