Residents of the capital and interior of São Paulo report seeing a flash in the sky around 5 am this Wednesday (3), followed by a light trail towards the ground.
“It seems to be a meteor of the bolide type. They are quite common, they occur all the time because the Earth is hit by tons of interplanetary matter daily, but as most of the Earth is water, the bolides occur in the sea and end up not being recorded”, explains astronomer Marcelo De Cicco, coordinator of the Exoss meteor study project linked to the National Observatory.
For a meteor to be classified as a bolide, it is necessary that the intensity of its brightness is equal to or greater than a brightness analogous to that of the planet Venus, according to De Cicco.
The astronomer says that the fall of a meteor like the one recorded this Wednesday can happen anywhere on the planet and that there is nothing to indicate the existence of a place more prone to records like this.
On social networks such as Twitter, users reported seeing the meteor fall. Jhonatan Willian said he saw a flash followed by a trail of light. “It was about 5 am and I think I saw a meteor or shooting star, I don’t know. It was really beautiful.”
“I don’t know what I just saw in the sky, but it was one of the most bizarre moments of my life. I was sleeping, I woke up out of nowhere, I went to the bathroom, I came back and I looked out the window for ten seconds and suddenly there was a huge flash, looking like a meteor, reported Jaque Braz, also on Twitter.
“Today I went out for a run around 5:10 am and I saw a flash falling from the sky here in the city of São Carlos”, stated Junior Montalvão.
“In São João da Boa Vista there was also this flash”, said Carlos Eduardo Bonif.
A resident of Campinas posted on social networks a video that would be from the moment of the flash.
“The flash was a meteor, I saw it whole, lit up in the sky, ripped and exploded in the atmosphere. Greatest experience I will remember,” said Allan Theodoro.
