The ‘meteorite’ was filmed breaking up and a loud explosion was heard.
It’s not every day that you get to see a meteorite whizzing through the sky in a fiery ball which can be a spectacular display.
However, Zoë van der Merwe and her friends MC Ferreira and Stephen Sharp managed to capture what looked like a meteor in the Earth’s atmosphere on Sunday morning.
It is understood the trio were walking on the beach in St Francis Bay in the Eastern Cape when they saw the space rock, according to Snow Report SA and Van der Merwe’s mother Annie de Beer.
“They filmed what seems to be a meteorite breaking up and a loud explosion to go with it. The video was shot near St Francis and there are reports that objects fell into the ocean near Jeffreys Bay.”
Watch: ‘Meteorite’ whizzes through the sky
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Meteorite explosion?
Several people on Facebook also shared their experiences of witnessing the meteorite in other areas saying they heard a loud bang and that their houses shook after the explosion of the meteorite when it broke up in the Earth’s atmosphere.
The South African National Space Agency (SANSA) is yet to confirm if the sighting was in fact a meteorite.
Asteroid
Last week, rocket scientist Dr Eloy said asteroid debris from a moonlet that was partially exploded by a NASA spacecraft could soar across the skies of Earth and create a stunning light show.
Peña-Asensio, from the Polytechnic Institute of Milan, made the claim after studying the effects of the 2022 mission.
“Their [the rock pieces] small size and high speed will cause them to disintegrate in the atmosphere, creating a beautiful luminous streak in the sky,” the expert told Universe Today of the potential outcome.
What is a meteor?
According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a meteorite is a solid piece of debris from an object, such as a comet, asteroid, or meteoroid, that originates in outer space and survives its passage through the atmosphere to reach the surface of a planet or moon.
When the object enters the atmosphere, various factors like friction, pressure, and chemical interactions with the atmospheric gases cause it to heat up and radiate that energy.
It then becomes a meteor and forms a fireball, also known as a shooting star or falling star. Astronomers call the brightest examples “bolides”.
Meteorites vary greatly in size. For geologists, a bolide is a meteorite large enough to create a crater.
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