MEXICO CITY (AP) — Round 3:00 a.m. on Wednesday, a vibrant object, initially showing to be a meteorite, lit up the skies over Mexico’s capital, stretching plains, volcanoes and small cities.
Movies of a ball of fireside taking pictures over the Latin American nation and dissolving in a burst of sunshine over Mexico Metropolis struck awe in lots of — and rapidly grew to become the gasoline for memes circulating on social media.
“No, the meteorite that exploded final evening is not an excuse to speak to your ex,” somebody wrote on X, over a gif of dinosaurs strolling by way of a meteorite shower.
Quickly, images of the obvious meteor edited with cartoon characters and political jokes flooded the web.
However scientists throughout Mexico have been fast to notice that the item rocketing throughout the skies was not a meteorite; it was a bolide.
Bolides, outlined by NASA as fireballs, are “exceptionally vibrant meteors which can be spectacular sufficient to be seen over a really broad space.”
Mario Rodríguez, a physician in area science with the Nationwide Autonomous College of Mexico, mentioned it may be described as a meteoroid, or a fraction of a meteor.
Bolides just like the one which coasted over Mexican skies early Wednesday catch hearth as they descend to earth.
“Because of the nice strain on the item, they start to flash with a stretching tail and emit mild,” mentioned Rodríguez, considered one of a bunch of scientists finding out the movies that shocked many Mexicans. He mentioned not like meteorites, which influence Earth, a bolide disintegrates within the environment.
This explicit meteoroid, he mentioned, was round 5 toes in size and posed no menace to the general public.
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