Recordings of multiple sightings of the bright light also show the visible plume it left as it streaked down from the sky.
Social media lit up in Japan on the night of June 18, with Japanese users posting images of a fireball seen hurtling towards earth, visible for several seconds as it streaked through a vast stretch of night sky. Eyewitness reports came in from the Kanto and Tohoku regions of Japan between 10:50 p.m. and 11:00 p.m., with many posting pictures of the trail of cloud it left behind.
空を見上げたら隕石みたいに光る物体が落ちて来たんだけど pic.twitter.com/UJC6TbAA6K
— ディウボ゙ォウイィ (@herecomesdooboy) June 18, 2016
The plume, brightened by the light of the moon, showed the path that the apparent meteor took as it made its way through the atmosphere.
バイト先の人が隕石隕石騒ぎだしたから何言ってんだってなったけど雲がマジっぽい pic.twitter.com/0zXqvSNorH
— メガメガネタテヤマチノ (@machigai1) June 18, 2016
About ten minutes after the incident, the trail began to dissipate.
https://twitter.com/manabn/status/744183332645134336While a number of excited eyewitnesses weren’t quick enough to photograph the actual incident, reports described it as a greenish light which looked like a soccer ball hurtling across the sky. Fortunately, a number of drivers were able to capture footage of the bright light on their car dashboard cameras.
▼ This video footage of the fireball was taken in Yokohoma City, Kanagawa Prefecture.
いまさ、車運転しててさ目の前の空に隕石的なもの見えて疲れてるのかなぁとか思ってドラレコ見返したらマジだった pic.twitter.com/2TCZKWvNyl
— じょん (@Halt_HN) June 18, 2016
▼ This footage, taken from the dash cam of a car travelling on the Chūō Expressway in Yamanashi Prefecture, captures the moment the meteor streaked through the night sky.
昨晩の火球 中央高速上り山梨県走行中に遭遇、実際はもっともっと鮮やか!お祈り事しちゃった! #隕石 #火球 pic.twitter.com/eoT3C48K44
— 山田 茂宏 (@ShigehiroYamada) June 19, 2016
With a distance of approximately 130 kilometres between Yokohama and Yamanashi Prefecture, the fireball was visible to people over a large area. While officials are yet to make any announcement regarding the incident, a number of users on Japanese forums are confident that this was a meteor, citing characteristics such as the long plume left behind, the fact that it was visible to the naked eye for between one to five seconds, and the fact that it displayed a greenish hue, which suggests the burning up of the cold space rock as it travelled through the earth’s atmosphere.
Source: ITMedia
Top Image: Twitter/@herecomesdooboy
Leave a Reply