Did an asteroid enter Earth over China? Bright fireball and explosion reported in Guangdong

Residents of China saw a fireball streak through the sky on Wednesday night. A loud noise followed it, triggering panic, with people speculating whether an asteroid had hit Earth. Now, a researcher has said that it was a fireball meteor, China News Service reported. The space rock made such a powerful entry that it was seen not only in Maoming in South China's Guangdong Province, but also in the Hainan Province.

Reports suggest that the fireball was seen at 9:33 pm local time on Wednesday and was accompanied by a loud boom. Several people in Maoming saw the meteor, which was so bright that it turned the night sky into day.

Chinese observatory officials have confirmed that the cosmic visitor over Maoming was a fireball meteor, also known as a bolide. This type of a meteor is several notches brighter than a regular meteor.

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It left a stunning trail behind it which changed colours - from being a bright orange-yellow to blue-green.

Residents of Maoming reported the incident on social media, expressing shock and awe at the strange visitor from space. However, no injuries were reported because of the meteor. Experts told Chinese media that it entered from the northeast and went towards the southwest.

Where did the fireball meteor land?

Right now, the fate of the fireball meteor is not known. Reports suggest that it could have landed in the South China Sea.

Meteoroids regularly enter Earth's atmosphere, but not all of them are as bright or noisy as this one. Most of them burn up in the upper atmosphere and vanish. But fireball meteors undergo friction and rapidly heat up, which generates an intense flash of light. Such meteors also trigger a loud sonic boom.

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Bolides are not limited to meteors. They are also linked to comets and asteroids. As they enter the atmosphere, intense heat and pressure are released, which leads them to explode.

Tunguska event of 1908

China witnessed a large-scale cosmic explosion over 100 years ago in Tunguska. In 1908, a large asteroid or comet entered Earth over Siberia, causing a bright fireball and shockwave. An area of 2,150 square kilometres was flattened, with over 80 million trees destroyed. It was 1,000 times stronger than the Hiroshima atomic bomb.