Mystery object that plunged into sea ‘possibly a meteor’
THE super-bright light that many Capetonians watched drop from the sky on Friday evening was very likely a meteor, say astronomers from the SA Astronomical Observatory in Cape Town.
The sighting of the bright white light, some say with a red “tail” light, had some people fearing it was a helicopter crashing into the ocean, and several people alerted the National Sea Rescue Institute and other emergency services.
One caller told the Cape Times the light looked like a huge searchlight shining towards them as it fell fast.
Astronomer Shazrene Mohamed said yesterday: “It is quite likely that it was a meteor – either rock debris or space junk burning as it enters our atmosphere. The colour is typical as is the short duration.
“We also received several reports of the Friday sighting. Such events are not unusual. Whether it is noticed is just a question of where – in populated or unpopulated areas – and when – at night or during the day, when it is not so easily seen – it falls,” Mohamed said.
She said many tons of rock debris entered the Earth’s atmosphere every day, and when it did, the friction with the atmosphere caused the debris to catch alight.
Bruno Letarte from the observatory said there are very many “space rocks” in space, material which could have formed planets but did not.
“Several tons of these rocks fall on Earth every day. They’re mostly small and we don’t see them but they happen all the time. Twothirds of the Earth’s surface is covered by ocean, where they won’t be seen because there are no human beings.
“Many happen during the day when they won’t be noticed. What is unusual is for people to see them, and it is quite rare for anyone to have a camera ready.
“About one or two weeks ago there was a meteor seen in the UK and there are dozens of pictures of that one,” Letarte said.
Some callers had told the Cape Times that if it had been a meteor falling into the ocean, there would have been a noticeable tidal surge.
“That would happen only if it were massive and it did not burn up – then there would have been a tsunami and we were not be here today,” Letarte said.
Report meteor sightings at: http://www.saao.ac.za/publicinfo/sun-moonstars/faq/bright-meteorsightings-where-to-reportthem/.