Fireball lights up the sky in China

A blazing meteorite illuminated the night sky Friday evening in southwest China's Yunnan Province.

The spectacular moment happened around 21:41pm local time. According to residents out in the streets of the province's Dai Autonomous Prefecture of Mr Xishuangbanna, they were awed by a dazzling light, which quickly took the form of a "flaming ball" accompanied by a thunder-like noise.

The fireball was in fact a bolide - an extremely bright meteor - according to the Yunnan Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The observatory's specialist in astronomy Zhang Mr Xingxiang explained that the blaze was created by the intense friction the meteorite experienced when it entered the Earth's atmosphere.

APTN

Contact Newshub with your story tips:
news@newshub.co.nz