Meteor lays on rare flashy entertainment

Explosive event over Cape Town, Franschhoek and Hermanus this week

WHILE residents of Cape Town, Franschhoek and Hermanus were concerned about the loud sound and massive flash of light in the air on Wednesday night, the South African National Space Agency has confirmed that it was a meteor.

An “alert” was issued by the PanStarrs (Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System) in Hawaii, US, about the meteor.

According to scientists, meteors and meteorites usually ignite over oceans as 75% of the Earth is covered with water.

Dr Daniel Cunnama from the South African Astronomical Observatory said meteors don’t usually explode in the atmosphere over cities.

Cunnama explained that people were lucky to see this occurrence.

“Meteors don’t usually explode in the atmosphere over cities. Because it is so rare, it was incredible to see, and it left a trail that consisted out of material and dust.

“It sparked a lot of interest as a lot of people have called the observatory to find out about it,” he said.

Yesterday, social media pages were still abuzz about the occurrence.

Dr Mattia Vaccaria, a research scientist from UWC’s department of physics and astronomy, said many people had seen a massive, bright light in the sky on Wednesday night.

“It caused an alert among the people. The Pan-Starrs system in Hawaii issued an alert about it. Nasa co-ordinates efforts around the world to monitor such small objects. One can inspect all predicted close approaches, but yesterday’s event was probably due to an object too small to have been able to predict its close approach this way,” Vaccaria said.

Meteors explode if they enter the Earth’s atmosphere.

The South African National Space Agency said the meteor initially broke into two pieces. It broke up further in the atmosphere and did not reach the ground.

It was between 1m and 2m in diameter and could not be detected by telescope warning systems.

Meteors are made up of minerals that contains silicon and oxygen. They also contain nickel and iron.

In some parts of the world, people collect meteorites.

A meteorite is a meteor that exploded in the atmosphere but reached the surface of the earth. Some collect them and others make jewellery out of them.

But according to the National Heritage Resources Act Number 25 of 1999, all meteorites found on South African soil belong to the state.

It sparked a lot of interest, and a lot of people have called the observatory to find out about it. Dr Daniel Cunnama SA Astronomical Observatory