Residents across northern China captured footage of a fireball streaking across the sky. Experts said it was relatively large and was very likely to have left meteorites on the ground.
According to CCTV News, a streak of light lit up the night sky over northern China during the evening rush hour last Friday (6 November). Many people captured the moment, from Beijing and Tianjin to Shijiazhuang in Hebei, Taiyuan in Shanxi and Zhengzhou in Henan.
Li Xin, a research fellow and director of the science education department at the Beijing Planetarium, said fireballs generally glow at altitudes of about 30 to 100 kilometres. Commercial aircraft, which typically fly at around 10 kilometres, would not be affected.
Li said the footage suggested that the fireball was very likely to have left meteorites on the ground. In such cases, most meteorites land in remote areas, and he advised people against venturing into the mountains to search without a clear idea of where to look. Anyone who finds a suspected meteorite in the wild should first record its coordinates and take photographs, then contact an astronomical research institution as soon as possible. (Video source: Reuters)
