As of: January 31, 2024, 8:00 p.m
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Luminous phenomena like those in this photo fascinate observers.
© Matthias Balk/dpa
Weilheim - On Saturday at dusk, a brilliantly bright light flashed across the sky in the district.
Many people have seen this phenomenon.
The Weilheim science journalist and astronomy expert Helmut Hornung explains.
What did people observe on Saturday?
The Earth received a visit from space, because behind the luminous phenomenon at 5:29 p.m. there was a cosmic chunk that entered the atmosphere at high speed.
During its flight, which lasted a few seconds, this so-called meteoroid caused the air to glow and conjured up a trail of light in the firmament.
Cosmic particles usually only have the dimensions of dust grains.
Bodies that appear in the sky as bright fireballs or bolides are a few centimeters in diameter.
Some are even bigger.
Did Saturday's fireball fall to earth?
We do not know that, yet.
In any case, the tracer of the fireball on Saturday showed that the chunk was ultimately fragmented, i.e. broken.
Individual debris could have already landed on the ground.
Experts even believe it is possible that such meteorites are now somewhere in Bavaria.
The experts are currently evaluating the observation data.
There are more than 340 eyewitness reports, including from Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and Croatia.
The images from video cameras that belong to the European Allsky 7 network are also valuable
Do fireballs like this happen often?
In fact, according to the US space agency NASA, 1,000 to 10,000 tons of meteoritic material fall to Earth every day, most of it into water or uninhabited areas.
There are also cases in which meteorites break through house roofs.
The last dramatic event was in February 2013. At that time, an approximately 17 meter large asteroid exploded near the Russian city of Chelyabinsk and around 1,200 people were injured by broken windows and flying parts of buildings.
But something like that is very rare.