Moment of a meteor entering Earth’s atmosphere as a flaming fireball is captured by search cameras

A meteor lit up the night sky over the ocean near Australia, appearing as a flaming fireball and then crashing over the ocean – and the astonishing scene was captured on camera.

A research vessel was traveling the waters off the coast of Tasmania at the perfect time, allowing its streaming cameras to take images of the meteor as it entered Earth’s atmosphere.

The bright flash, which glowed green with the naked eye, was spotted at 9:30 p.m. local time on Wednesday.

Reports of the sighting flooded the media, but the only cameras to capture it were those aboard the CSIRO RV Investigator.

CSIRO Travel Director John Hooper, who was on the ship, said it was fluke after seeing the footage.

“ What we saw looking at the live images amazed us, the size and brightness of the meteor was incredible, ” Hooper said.

“ The meteor crosses the sky directly in front of the ship then shatters – it was amazing watching the footage and we were very lucky to have captured everything on the ship’s livestream. ”

While the event was exciting, Glen Nagle, CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science, stressed that it reminds us “that space is far from empty”.

“More than 100 tons of natural space debris enters the Earth’s atmosphere every day,” Nagle said.

“Most of them remain invisible because they occur in an unpopulated area like the Southern Ocean.

He went on to explain that meteors enter the atmosphere at a tremendous speed, which ranges from 25,000 mph to 160,000 mph, transforming their kinetic energy into other forms like heat, light and sound.

In space, these objects are asteroids that follow their own path.

However, the path may change if they get too close to Earth due to the gravitational pull of our planet.

“When they enter our atmosphere, they become meteors – and their entry can be visually spectacular,” Nagle said.

At the time the vision was captured, RV Investigator was in the Tasman Sea about 100 km south of the Tasman coast.

The vessel and crew completed a Huon Marine Park seabed mapping project for Parks Australia.

This region of the ocean is teeming with wonderful creatures, majestic underwater mountains, and stony coral thickets – and it looks like the area is a prime spot for skygazing as well.

On Thursday morning, residents of the coast flooded local media with reports of the meteor.

However, no one appeared to have any footage or footage from the event – expect the research team.

“Cameras are everywhere, in our pockets and around our cities, but they need to be pointed at the right place at the right time – RV Investigator was there at this time,” Nagle said.