On Monday night, hundreds of residents of the city of Saint Louis (Missouri, USA) reported a bright flash in the sky.
The glow was due to a celestial body that is part of the meteor shower of the northern Taurids, says a local media.
Many users of the Network shared the images.
According to the US Meteorite Society, the Taurids are known for the brightest fireballs they produce.
They appear from the remains of the Encke comet that passes near the Earth every year during the last quarter of the year.
Bill Cooke, a meteor expert at NASA described that phenomenon for Space.com: “The Taurids are rich in fireballs, so if you see one it can be very bright and will leave you speechless.”
Most meteor showers come from small fragments that burn when they enter Earth’s atmosphere, but calculations indicate that Encke comet debris could produce meteors large enough to resist entering the Earth’s atmosphere and reach to the surface of our planet.
However, Cooke points out that these meteorites of Encke comet have not yet been found on Earth, so it is unknown the size they could reach if they did not completely disintegrate upon entering the atmosphere.
Watch the viral footage posted to Twitter below:
I was watching an @EarthCam camera from St. Louis, Missouri about 30 minutes ago and saw a #meteor! pic.twitter.com/PVAvIGlALF
— David Vergel (@DavidVergel97) November 12, 2019
Meteor flying overhead from east to west in O’Fallon, MO this evening just west of St. Louis. #stlwx #mowx pic.twitter.com/0IX2fppoEd
— Tom Stolze (@ofallonweather) November 12, 2019
Source: ActualidadRT
