The image of a meteor exploding twice in the sky of Sorocaba, inside the city of São Paulo, was recorded at 19:17 on Wednesday (20). The explosion caused an intense light.
The record was set by physicist Marco Centurion, who does volunteer work in meteorite research and monitoring by the Bramon (Brazilian Meteorite Monitoring Network), and maintains a monitoring station in his home.
In an Instagram post, Centurion said the meteor trajectory analysis and other data is being done by Bramon.
The physicist believes that the double explosion occurred because the meteorite had a denser mass or because it was larger than an ordinary celestial body.
“The average size of a meteor is equal to a penny. When it enters the atmosphere, it collides with a layer of gases in the atmosphere and heats up until it explodes, turning into dust. In this case, most likely, the first layer exploded and a glowing mass remained and generated the second explosion.”
Pramon Volunteers are scattered all over Brazil and keep their cameras and telescopes pointed at the sky and working every night. After recording, the player analyzes the captured images and shares them.
Almost nothing escapes these strange gazes at the sky. On April 3 this year, a small asteroid exploded over the state of Amazonas, forming a large fireball in the central region of the state. Fragments from this meteorite may have reached Earth.
This year’s first famous meteor shower, Lyrids, has been active since April 14. But last night (22) reached its climax. That is, when more luminous paths of the phenomenon (known as meteors) can be seen crossing the sky.
Although they are most intense in the Northern Hemisphere, where up to 20 meteors can occur per hour, Lyrids are also visible from Brazil. Here, this number was between 10 and 15 – in the far north of the country, the chances of being able to observe increased.
* With information from Estadao . content
