Brilliant Fireball Lights Up Japan's Sky

A remarkably bright fireball lit up the sky in western Japan, surprising residents. The phenomenon, observed shortly after 11:00 PM (local time, 5:00 PM Cyprus time) on Tuesday, was visible within a radius of hundreds of kilometers.

Yoshihiko Hamahata, a driver in Miyazaki Prefecture, described the light as "a white light, that I had never seen before," adding that it was so intense that he could clearly see the outlines of the houses.

Toshihisa Maeda, director of the Sendai Space Museum, stated that it was an extremely bright meteor, which likely fell into the Pacific Ocean. He also mentioned that some residents felt vibrations in the air. According to NASA, objects that create fireballs can exceed one meter in size.

A meteor is any luminous phenomenon that appears in the Earth's atmosphere upon the entry of a meteoroid.

Source: APE-MPE