VIDEO Shooting star explodes over China, produces incredible fireball show
The fireball was spotted on Wednesday over southern China. / Captured from Tweeter
By Park Si-soo
A small meteor exploded over China’s southwestern region of Yunnan Province on Wednesday evening, lighting up the dark sky with what observes called “incredible fireballs.”
The meteor is believed to have landed somewhere in the region. There are no reports of casualties or property loss, according to China’s state media Xinhua.
“We first heard a big bang and then saw a light,” villager Duji told Xinhua. “We thought it was an earthquake but did not feel the jolt.”
The fireballs appeared in the sky over Shangri-La County about 8 p.m., according to reports. One witness told MailOnline that the meteor lit up the sky for about five seconds. Another witness said the meteor landed in a small village about 25 miles from Shangri-La.
“The fireball was caused by a very small heavenly body, compared with an asteroid,” Wang Xiaobin, a researcher at the Yunnan Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told Xinhua. He said such an incident is “not unusual.”
NASA confirmed that a fireball explosion took place in the region. It said the explosion is believed to have generated 0.54 kilotons of energy, which is equivalent to the amount of energy released from detonating 540 tons of TNT.
Watch related footage at
https://sputniknews.com/art_living/201710061057991280-fireballs-explode-china-night-sky/