Meteor in Murmansk

Footage has appeared on Youtube (from a Russian dash camera, of course!) of a huge fireball that crossed the sky over the northern Murmansk region last week.

According to a Russian astronomer, Sergei Smirnov, it was a “very bright meteor” and was travelling “many tens of kilometres above the ground.” Smirnov is the chief researcher at the Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory near St Petersburg.

He also said that “because the object’s flight ended in combustion and not in a collision with earth” it has to be a meteor and not a meteorite, so this isn’t a repeat of the incident last year when a huge meteorite hit Russia. Some of the medals awarded at the Sochi Winter Olympics included pieces of the meteorite that hit last year. Although scientists are certain that the meteor exploded in mid air and didn’t collide with the Earth, authorities are still looking for an impact site, potentially in Apatitsko-Kirovsky district, just in case.

This meteor illuminated the sky with a bright blue light that could be seen all across the Kola Peninsula and we’ve included the dashboard camera video below.

Enjoy!