Faizel Patel – 25/08/2021
Several people have witnessed what looked like a meteor in Pretoria and several other areas across the province including two other African countries.
Social media was abuzz with the sighting with many people posting videos of what looked like a light streaking across the sky.
The so-called meteor was apparently spotted in Pretoria on Tuesday with other sightings also reported in Johannesburg, Limpopo, the North West, Mpumalanga including in the neighbouring countries of Botswana and Zimbabwe.
Gauteng Weather tweeted that the SA Astronomical Observatory had confirmed a large meteor/fireball comprising of one to ten metre rocks around 1,648°C, which explode on entry into the earth’s atmosphere just after 6pm on Tuesday,
According to Earthsky.org, year, from around July 17 to August 24, Earth crosses the orbital path of Comet Swift-Tuttle, the parent of the Perseid meteor shower.
“Debris from this comet litters the comet’s orbit, but we don’t really get into the thick of the comet rubble until after the first week of August. The bits and pieces from Comet Swift-Tuttle slam into the Earth’s upper atmosphere at some 210,000 km per hour, lighting up the nighttime with fast-moving Perseid meteors.”
Did you see the meteor anywhere in SA last night? Please tweet your pictures and videos to @radioislam
☄️BREAKING: SA Astronomical Observatory confirms large #meteor/fireball (???? below) @ 18:21 on Tuesday
????VISIBILITY: GP, LP, NW, MP,????????&????????
????COMPOSITION: 1-10 metre rocks of around 1,648°C, which explode on entry into atmosphere
????DYK
Meteor: Disintegrates
Meteorite: Hits ground pic.twitter.com/pRgww9tJfX— Gauteng Weather (@tWeatherSA) August 25, 2021
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