Stellar fireball crosses the Italian skies

Much more than a shooting star.A meteor with its long bright trail was spotted in the skies of central-northern Italy yesterday evening.Here's what it was

RIMINI – It crossed the skies of central northern Italy yesterday evening, Tuesday 4 June, around 9.30 pm to disappear after a handful of seconds.The lucky ones who noticed it wondered what it could be, since it was immediately clear that it was not a "simple" comet, but something brighter.It was in fact a fireball greenish yellow in color spotted in various locations, from Romagna to Frosinone, from Milan to Perugia.The meteocam ofGreen Ribbon Observatory Of Sorrento she managed to get it back.

(The star fireball crosses the screen at the top left)

WHAT WAS IT?

The term fireball (from Greek βολις, bolis, projectile) commonly indicates a high-brightness meteor of negative magnitude.It is a current but unscientific term, as astronomers do not distinguish meteors based on brightness.So the bright trail was most likely caused by the passage of a meteorite relatively close to our planet.The fiery object (called fireball) it lit up the skies with its large fiery tail for several seconds, from 2 to 4, and then completely disintegrated upon contact with the atmosphere.

The fireball it is therefore a rocky fragment of metal whose dimensions can vary and reach an extension of 100m in diameter:when these fragments collide with the atmosphere, they shatter and become visible as large bright streaks which are called meteors or racing cars and are able to create an extraordinary luminous trail.