Meteor ‘As Bright as the Moon’ Seen Across Japan

A fireball, most likely an exceptionally bright meteorite, streaked across the sky of western Japan yesterday, surprising both residents and amateur astronomers, CE Report quotes ANSA.

Videos shared online show an extremely bright ball of light, visible from hundreds of kilometers away shortly after 11:00 p.m. local time on Tuesday (4:00 p.m. in Italy).

There were numerous eyewitness accounts in the media and on social media.

Toshihisa Maeda, director of the Sendai Space Museum in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, stated that it was an exceptionally bright meteorite, which appears to have crashed into the Pacific Ocean. “People reported feeling the air vibrate,” he told AFP.

This flying object “was as bright as the Moon.” According to NASA, objects that cause fireballs can exceed one meter in diameter.