On Thursday evening, a mysterious flying object over southern Germany caused a stir.
Is the glowing fireball a meteorite?
Stuttgart - The residents of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate were amazed when they looked into the clear night sky yesterday evening.
From Bad Kreuznach to Lake Constance, a brightly glowing ball of fire could be observed moving at great speed along the sky.
Fireball in the sky: hot discussions on social networks
A lively discussion developed in the social networks about what exactly it might be.
One user first thought of a fireworks, but then revised his opinion on Twitter: “The trajectory was so straight that it was then clear.
I was just waiting for a bang. "
I just saw a falling #meteorite in a light green color.
Time: 20:23 CEST, 18:23 UTC, Bad Kreuznach, Rhineland-Palatinate
- Axel (@ dh5at) October 7, 2021
At first I thought of a fireworks, so bright and big.
The trajectory was so straight, however, that it then became clear.
Just waiting for a bang.
- Karl Maier (@maierschorsche) October 7, 2021
However, the flight path of the fireball cannot only be narrowed down to the two southwestern federal states.
In the Rhine-Main area near Frankfurt, isolated eye reports also indicated a sighting of the flight object.
Expert: There is a lot to be said for a cosmic object
But what exactly is the fireball?
It could be both a boulder and simple space junk, explained Andreas Eberle from the Stuttgart observatory to the
SWR
.
A large part of the eyewitness reports, however, suggest a clear origin of the flight object, according to the expert.
“From the reports I got, the direction of flight was probably from east to west, which rather speaks against the fact that it was space junk.
Accordingly, there is much to suggest that it was a cosmic object, certainly the size of a soccer ball or larger. "
