A meteor crashed onto Australian soil on Saturday, May 20, leaving a large streak of light to light up the skies in the country’s east.
Passers-by managed to notice a rare phenomenon. On the evening of Saturday, May 20, a meteorite crashed into Earth in eastern Australia, leaving a thick green trail behind. According to the Canberra Times, the light was seen across most of Queensland, including Cairns.
In columns for the Australian daily, Macquarie University astrophysics professor Richard de Gregg explained that “the color of the fireball was a chemical reaction.” According to him, “the green color you see is associated with nickel burning in the atmosphere, but copper and iron are also possible because they also burn green.”
These colors appear when a meteor breaks through the atmosphere, which then turns into a meteorite.
meter long object
On videos posted on social media, there is a shimmering and stretching light, while the meteorite itself did not present any unusual properties.
Also according to Professor Richard D. Griggs, the meteor “which we identified this weekend was a ball of fire about one meter in diameter”, admitting that it was “a little bigger than what we normally see”. But according to him “far” from the scale that might cause concern.
