While many in the UK were out looking for Comet NEOWISE on July 21, some Britons were treated to another astronomical display. A meteor travelled through the night’s sky, producing a large boom as it hit Earth’s atmosphere. The mesmeric fireball was described as “almost apocalyptic” by one spectator, as the International Meteor Organisation (IMO) received almost 40 reports from stunned onlookers.
Steve said: “Very bright with green flash part way through its flight.”
Michael added: “Lit up the whole sky. Very compact light leaving a neat and thick trail.”
Will stated: “Never seen one in my life and it was almost apocalyptic … I’m in slight disbelief at what I saw.”
Asteroids and meteors produce a bright explosion of fire when they hit the atmosphere as it is the first time the space rock has ever met resistance.
Air seeps into the pores and cracks of the rock, pushing it apart and causing it to explode.
The IMO said: “Fireballs are meteors that appear brighter than normal.
“Due to the velocity at which they strike the Earth’s atmosphere, fragments larger than one millimetre have the capability to produce a bright flash as they streak through the heavens above.
“These bright meteors are what we call fireballs and they often strike fear and awe for those who witness them.”
READ MORE: 50 TRILLION kilos of meteorites crash into Earth millions of years ago
NASA fears the asteroid, which is 500 metres in length and has the potential to wipe out a country on Earth, could hit our planet within the next 120 years, with the next close flyby in 2135.
The mission will give vital information on how to deflect asteroids from their collision course with Earth.
But NASA reiterates while there is a very small chance Earth could be impacted, “over millions of years, of all of the planets, Bennu is most likely to hit Venus.”