Meteor Fireball Blasts Over Yunnan Province in China
Some Chinese witnessed a fireball streak across the night sky on Wednesday night, as they celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival. The fireball was reportedly bright and moving at a quick pace, tearing through southwestern China around 8 p.m. in Lijiang, Yunnan Province.
As per NASA's report, a fireball had indeed entered the Earth's atmosphere around the time of the incident, traveling at 9 miles per second and with a total impact energy of 0.54 kilotons, which was equivalent to a dynamite explosion.
Over on Twitter, user Quan Zhi Ye shared the following about the incident, "Bolide over Yunnan, China at about 8 p.m. local time, Oct. 4. CNEOS reports a 0.54kt event. Likely to have meteorite falls."
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Locals who were celebrating the festival and observing the full moon noticed the giant fireballs across the sky over Shangri-La County in Yunnan, with one eyewitness saying that two of the meteors they spotted were small and one was large. It took around five seconds before the fireballs disappeared.
After the incident, several residents posted video clips of the phenomenon on Chinese social media, showing some meteors turning into a giant ball of fire. One worker at the Desti Youth Park Hostel in Shangri-La also recounted how some burning rocks suddenly appeared across the sky while they were observing the full moon on Wednesday night.
According to the worker, the meteors seemed to have landed in a small village outside of Shangri-La after lighting up the sky for a few seconds. This was supported by a local villager, who said that after the fireball landed, they heard a huge bang and the ground started shaking. The bang was so loud that his pigs got frightened and ran out of their sty.
Since the beginning of this year, NASA has recorded around 20 fireballs across the world.
