Very bright meteor illuminates night sky over Hokkaido, Japan
Image credit: NHK
A very bright meteor was seen and recorded over Hokkaido, Japan at 11:56 UTC (20:56 local time) on October 19, 2018. The event lasted several seconds before the object disintegrated.
Fumitake Watanabe, an engineer at an observatory in the city of Nayoro, said the fireball appears to have been caused by an object such as a fragment of an asteroid burning up in the Earth's atmosphere.
"Judging from the light, the object appears to have burned up before reaching the Earth's surface," Watanabe said.
Very bright fireball over Hokkaido, Japan on October 19, 2018. All images courtesy NHK
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