A meteor strike flying through Lapland lit up the night sky, turning it into a bright day for a few seconds. It has been an eventful week for sky watchers as four other fireball events lit up the night sky in different parts of the world.
Aurora Borealis And Meteor Strike
On Nov. 16, a meteor stuck Finland, flying over Lapland where a camera captured the very moment that it lit up the night sky. The camera was intended for a live stream of the aurora borealis, but instead of ended up with dazzling footage of the bright meteor.
The short footage starts off with a scenic view of a Lapland cottage covered in snow and the sky partly illuminated with a greenish glow on the horizon. Before long, the meteor's light begins to show until it seen passing above the cottage, completely illuminating the night sky.
According to the founder of the Aurora Service Tours which hosts the live stream, he was in the cottage when he suddenly heard a loud bang and the cottage violently shook. He thought it was an earthquake or a tree falling on the roof of the cottage, but found out it was neither after looking outside. Minutes later, he received a phone call from his partner asking if he was alright after the meteor strike. Realizing that it could have been the source of the sound and the shaking, he checked the camera and found the footage of the meteor.
"What. a. night. Northern lights and a meteor burning up all wrapped together," he states in a Facebook post.
Four Major Fireball Events
It was quite an eventful week for skywatchers as there were four major fireball sightings in the United States, France, and Germany in a span of 10 hours. In fact, the American Meteor Society received 820 reports of the fireball in Germany, 20 reports on the fireball in France, 85 reports on the fireball in Arizona, and 34 reports about the fireball in Ohio.
New Video from last Tuesday's Fireball over DE
This event is now our #1 in terms of number of reports with 1962 reports so far.
More info about this event: https://t.co/5ohAYXTOzj - Src: Firefighters of Höchen, Germany pic.twitter.com/4V3b1Dk9C2— AMSMETEORS (@amsmeteors) November 17, 2017
Video footages of the fireballs immediately surfaced online but perhaps one of the most awe-inspiring views came from astronaut Pablo Nespoli who was able to capture a video of one of the fireballs from the International Space Station.
We see many meteors from the @Space_Station but I was never able to get one on camera... this time I got lucky and filmed a #fireball, a very bright and fast meteoroid falling to #Earth at about 40km/s! Can you spot it? #VITAmission https://t.co/gbMuhPqbL8 pic.twitter.com/YyZtUc22Oj — Paolo Nespoli (@astro_paolo) November 16, 2017
