VIDEO. What is this “ball of fire” which crossed the sky in the south of France and why a call for witnesses is launched ?

Une météore de ce type a traversé le ciel du sud de la France mardi 16 janvier au matin. Illustration MAXPPP

Ce mardi 16 janvier au matin, une étrange boule venue de l'espace a illuminé le ciel. Elle a foncé dans le ciel à très basse altitude.

Some were lucky enough to see it, others were a little panicked. This Tuesday, January 16 at 7:46 a.m. at daybreak, a "ball of fire" rushed into the sky over the south of France.

It was visible from the Pyrénées-Orientales to the Basque Country on both sides of the border between France and Spain. 

An extraterrestrial body

This ball of fire is in fact an extraterrestrial body, therefore coming from space which, upon penetrating the atmosphere, caught fire. Hence the brightness released during its passage.

It would be a "large diurnal racing car",  therefore a meteor, a body which causes a luminous phenomenon by entering the earth's atmosphere at high speed.

GRAN BÓLIDO DIURNO #SPMN160124F REGISTRADO SOBRE #LLEIDA Y #TARRAGONA a las 6h46m41s TUC (7h47 CET). Con decenas de testimonios visuales, así lo captó Cèsar Guasch @MeteoSantMateu desde Sant Mateu, #Castelló/#Castellón. Pasa al listado
🔖https://t.co/Jl0sTvjrSv
Informa @ice_csic pic.twitter.com/rRe8JeiZ8K

— Red Investigación Bólidos y Meteoritos (SPMN) (@RedSpmn) January 16, 2024

2) TAMBIÉN CAPTADO DESDE ZUCAINA/SUCAIZA por Vicent Ibàñez @vicent_ibanyez. En palabras de nuestro coordinador @Josep_Trigo "Un evento cometario ámpliamente observado que tras su completa ablación en la atmósfera no ha dejado rastro alguno"
Enviarnos reportes a 📨spmn@ice.csic.es pic.twitter.com/zwWfIWeFXL

— Red Investigación Bólidos y Meteoritos (SPMN) (@RedSpmn) January 16, 2024

Fast speed

This ball literally rushed into the sky: its speed is between 10 and 20 kilometers per second, as reported by France Bleu.

Retrace your trajectory

As numerous testimonies have emerged, particularly on social networks, after the passage of this ball which some claim to have seen green in color, scientists are calling for help to be able to reconstruct the trajectory of this racing car.

The phenomenon recorded by the Fripon network launches an appeal via its Vigie-Ciel website: "If you have observed it, don'hesitate you don't have to send us an online observation report. It's quick, fun, doesn't require skills in science or astronomy, and it can be very useful to us to reconstruct the trajectory of the object!"

The extraterrestrial object was surely disintegrated in mid-flight, but if its precise trajectory were reconstructed, this would make it possible to identify the point of impact with the Earth. it exists.