WATCH: 'Shooting star', 'meteor-like' object spotted over Gauteng

WATCH: ‘Shooting star’, ‘meteor-like’ object spotted over Gauteng Photo: Supplied

WATCH: ‘Shooting star’, ‘meteor-like’ object spotted over Gauteng

What was the bright, shining travelling object over Gauteng on Sunday night? Could it be a meteor or a shooting star? Watch video here.

WATCH: 'Shooting star', 'meteor-like' object spotted over Gauteng

WATCH: ‘Shooting star’, ‘meteor-like’ object spotted over Gauteng Photo: Supplied

A bright, shining travelling object over Gauteng was captured by cameras on Sunday evening. 

DID YOU SEE THE ‘SHOOTING STAR’? 

Social media was abuzz with people claiming that the bright, shining travelling light captured on camera was a meteor.

SA Astronomical Observatory astronomer Daniel Cunnama said on Monday morning what Gauteng residents witnessed was likely pieces of an old rocket travelling in the sky. 

“It was identified as: Space junk reentry- 52796 the Russian SL-4 rocket upper stage used for the Progress MS-20 ISS resupply mission of 2022-06-03 decays over South Africa.” 

Cunnama
WATCH: 'Shooting star', 'meteor-like' object spotted over Gauteng a
Photo: Supplied

WATCH VIDEO: 

The object was spotted in the sky last night. Video:Facebook/Concerned Citizens South Africa

Last month we got to view the full Flower Moon temporarily turn red overnight.

WHY DOES THE MOON TURN RED DURING A LUNAR ECLIPSE?


According to NASA , the same phenomenon that makes our sky blue and our sunsets red causes the Moon to turn red during a lunar eclipse. It’s called Rayleigh scattering. Light travels in waves, and different colors of light have different physical properties. Blue light has a shorter wavelength and is scattered more easily by particles in Earth’s atmosphere than red light, which has a longer wavelength.

Last year South Africans were treated to a spectacular show in the sky on Tuesday evening as a large shooting star known as a bolide could be seen from all over SA.

This show was watched from all over South Africa.

LAST YEAR SOUTH AFRICANS WERE TREATED TO A SPECTACULAR SHOW

Cunnama explained that it is not a meteor shower but a bolide.

This spectacular show was watched from all over South Africa on Tuesday evening.

“A bolide is a single meteor breaking up upon entry.” 

Cunnama said the show tonight was completely unexpected.

“A bolide is a very bright meteor. We expect probably 10s of them per year, but we can’t predict when or where. They are from rocks of 1-10m across entering our atmosphere and breaking up.”

Cunnama

ALSO READ: Watch: Footage shows meteor falling from sky

He furthermore said it was a once-off event and said it could also be described as a shooting star.