Fireballs
A rock from an asteroid hit the Earth's atmosphere early Thursday morning at about 126,000 km/h, creating a large fireball over Madrid that could be seen across Spain. This is not an unusual event: besides space objects like this one, which disintegrate before reaching the ground, every year around 17,000 meteorites fall to Earth, according to the Madrid Planetarium.
The phenomenon, which took place at around 3.56am local time, was captured and recorded by the Southwestern Europe Meteor Network (SWEMN) from the La Hita meteor observation station in La Puebla de Almoradiel in Toledo. The fireball was recorded as part of the SMART project, an initiative of the Andalusia Astrophysics Institute (IAA-CSIC) that continuously monitors the sky in a bid to record and study the impact of different objects from the solar system on the Earth's atmosphere.
Eyewitness reports were posted on social media about the phenomenon that was observed shortly after 8:30 p.m. in regions including Kanto, Tokai and Kinki.
A video taken by an NHK camera in the western prefecture of Osaka shows a ball of light streaking across the sky for several seconds at around that time.
Fujii Daichi, a curator who specializes in astronomy at the Hiratsuka City Museum, near Tokyo, said he believes it was a fragment of an asteroid that burned up in the Earth's atmosphere.
Footage of the event was captured by a back garden security camera.
The film shows the black of night suddenly turn bright as a streak of light ventures through the sky.
Dozens of people headed to the International Meteor Organisation (IMO) to report their sighting.
Mary told the IMO: "It seemed so big and close. I waited after it to pass and believed I would hear something but didn't.
During this period, the meteor is incinerating as it encounters Earth's thick atmosphere approximately 50 miles (80km) up.
Sydney residents flocked to Twitter to share their excitement at spotting the meteor.
Ron Sweeney tweeted: "Did anyone see a meteor/comet/piece of junk flash east to west across the Sydney sky tonight?
"Very visible and appeared to be low in the sky with no sound."
The suspected bolide was accompanied by a loud roar that was heard minutes after the sky was tinted green, orange or blue .
This spectacular phenomenon, as published by 'El Faro de Vigo', has been seen and heard in Vigo, Pontevedra, O Grove, Ourense, Sanxenxo, Lugo, Chantada, Santiago, Ponferrada or León.
A video was uploaded to YouTube:
Observers reported that the fireball showed a striking and colorful wake, while others even perceived a sound.
"The detail that it emitted a sound is extremely interesting, because as we know light travels faster than sound, but on several occasions a simultaneous sound with a meteor has been recorded. It is known as an electrophonic meteor, "said Eddie Irizarry, vice president of the SAC, in written statements.
The event was recorded in the framework of the SMART project, operated by the Southwestern Europe Meteor Network (SWEMN), from the meteor-observing stations located at Calar Alto (Almería), Sierra Nevada (Granada), and Sevilla.
A video was uploaded to the AMS website.
WFMY News 2 is continuing to reach out to officials about the "booms," and this article will be updated as we learn more.
In terms of location, viewers reported hearing the sounds in Forsyth, Yadkin, Stokes, Davie, Rockingham, and Surry counties.
On social media, descriptions of the boom's impact range from simply hearing the noises to people's homes shaking. Viewers shared what they heard on the WFMY News 2 Facebook page.