ISS astronaut captures mysterious ‘exploding’ flash in space and people think it’s ‘something reentering the atmosphere’
A MYSTERIOUS bright flash was captured above Earth by an astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
The footage shows a split-second white and green explosion above the Mediterranean sea, completely dwarfing any nearby lightning strikes.
Nasa astronaut Matthew Dominick, who launched to the orbital outpost in March, sought advice from friends who say the blast was a meteor burning up in Earth's atmosphere.
In a post on social media platform X, Dominick wrote: "I showed this to a couple of friends yesterday to see what they thought.
"They both thought it was a meteor exploding in the atmosphere - a rather bright one called a bolide.
"Timelapse is slowed down to one frame per second for you to see it streaking and then exploding."
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Dominick had set up a timelapse on his camera over Northern Africa, which was very dark and experiencing lightning storms at the time.
A bolide, also known as fireballs, is an astronomical term for exceptionally bright meteors that can be seen over a very wide area.
"I think it is interesting to compare the size of the bolide blast to other objects in view like the Mediterranean, Cairo, or lightning strikes," added Dominick.
Jeffrey Smith, a data scientist at the SETI Institute and the principal investigator on the Asteroid Threat Assessment Project at Nasa, noted that only "a couple" bolides are spotted every year.
“Bolides are rare," he continued. "And due to the limited observational areas of ground-based systems, very few bolides are detected from the ground."
Smith added: “Bolide explosions are also very quick, typically lasting just a fraction of a second, so very fast detectors are needed.”
Why do meteors appear green?
Meteors can turn all sorts of colours when they burn up, depending on what they're made up of.
The chemical composition of a meteor can be the difference of it shining a blue-green, an orange-yellow, and even violet.
If a meteor burns a bright green or blue, it is because it has magnesium inside it.
If it burns an orange-yellow, it's composition features sodium.
If it's just yellow, it's made up of iron.
If it shines violet, it has a lot of calcium inside it.
If it's red, this is most likely the result of glowing air plasma, or atmospheric nitrogen and oxygen.
The meteor, captured on 2 September, was seen "streaking and then exploding" over the Nile river in Dominick's slowed-down timelapse.
Commentators on X were in awe, and space expert Gordon Osinski and astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy chimed in to agree the blast was caused by a large meteor.
However, some onlookers looked at the display through a more critical lens.
"Definitely something reentering the atmosphere," one person wrote.
"First time I've seen it happen in video from above rather than below."
The chances of the blast coming from a top-secret space plane, a classified rocket payload or even aliens are slim.
The fireball also appears similar to the much smaller, but equally as green meteor that flew over a girl's head in Portugal in May, and another that blazed over several cities in Turkey in July.
What's the difference between an asteroid, meteor and comet?
Here's what you need to know, according to Nasa...
- Asteroid: An asteroid is a small rocky body that orbits the Sun. Most are found in the asteroid belt (between Mars and Jupiter) but they can be found anywhere (including in a path that can impact Earth)
- Meteoroid: When two asteroids hit each other, the small chunks that break off are called meteoroids
- Meteor: If a meteoroid enters the Earth’s atmosphere, it begins to vapourise and then becomes a meteor. On Earth, it’ll look like a streak of light in the sky, because the rock is burning up
- Meteorite: If a meteoroid doesn’t vapourise completely and survives the trip through Earth’s atmosphere, it can land on the Earth. At that point, it becomes a meteorite
- Comet: Like asteroids, a comet orbits the Sun. However rather than being made mostly of rock, a comet contains lots of ice and gas, which can result in amazing tails forming behind them (thanks to the ice and dust vaporizing)