A mysterious fireball descended across Bangkok's northern skies - a phenomenon awesomely caught on a local's dashcam Monday morning.
The sighting wasn't unnoticed by other residents, though.
"In Bangkok, reports came from many different localities, including the Khlong Tan intersection, Phetchaburi road, Victory Monument and Vibhavadi Ransit, Rama 9, Sukhumvit and Rama 4 roads," Bangkok Post reported. "Netizens in Kanchanaburi in the western part of the country also said they also saw the flaming object pass over."
The deputy governor in Kanchanaburi has since confirmed there were no reports of aircraft crashing into the area. An astronomer was cited as saying that the fireball might just be a meteor.
"An official at the Bangkok Planetarium, however, said there had been no reports of a meteorite landing. Most meteors completely burn up in the atmosphere. If one did crash to earth, it would probably be noticed," the publication went on to report.
An official speculated that the burning object may be a "burning balloon."
Meanwhile, Porjai Jaturongkhakun, who uploaded the video, said he noticed the fireball had a trail of smoke as it descended, Mashable noted.
It was later confirmed, via satview.org, that the fireball was "space debris."
"Space junk Flock 1B-11 object number 40459U was due to burn through the atmosphere on its way to earth about that time," the site was noted as saying by the Bangkok Post.
"It looks like an asteroid traveling to Earth and grazing through the air and it turned into a fireball," Deputy Director of National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand, Saran Poshyachinda, was noted by CNN as saying, adding that the said object was estimated to have "burned up about 100 kilometers (62 miles) above the ground."
He believed the object was not heavy and merely weight about "a few kilograms."
Such sightings are not very rare. However, those involving large fireballs are, with the Chelyabinsk meteor one of the most recent examples. It memorably streaked across Russia in February 2013 and was aid to be brighter than the sun, The Telegraph recalled.
In the wake of the Bangkok fireball sighting, the video footage of which has since gone beyond 2 million hits on YouTube, netizens have since injected some humor into the phenomenon. A meme of the event associated the fireball with the young Superman arriving on earth. Another likened the event to an alien attack.
Have you seen a falling fireball lately? Tell us about the experience!
WATCH:
- Contribute to this Story:
- Send us a tip
- Send us a photo or video
- Suggest a correction
