Users on social networks have described the moment in which a meteor entered Santiago de Chile. The phenomenon illuminated the night of the early morning of this July 7 in the southern capital and was captured on video.
The phenomenon was recorded around 5:43 a.m. this Thursday, July 7 (local time). According to authorities, the meteor disintegrated into several pieces before hitting the ground.
Juan Carlos Beamin, an astronomer from the Chilean Astronomy Foundation, explained that it was the T12.cl meteor and added that this phenomenon is understood because “a stone, or a small rock, enters the atmosphere and due to friction with the air it burns and shines. We are talking regarding speeds of 10 thousand kilometers per hour”.
The Chilean Astronomy Foundation also reported that these stones, in general, are the remains of comets or asteroids that break off and that, in some way, the earth intersects with them.
The Foundation clarified that the danger of these elements is minimal, except when their dimensions exceed those of a soccer ball: “If it manages to survive the earth’s atmosphere and reaches the ground and land, a crater can already be produced, in that case it would be called a meteorite,” said astronomer Sandro Villanova.
