Blue Meteor Crosses the Sky, Singaporeans are Shocked

JAKARTA – A rare natural phenomenon occurred in Singapore’s polluted skies on May 24 2024. A blue meteor flashed by at night.

Russel Su (21) just finished his evening running routine in the Queenstown area at around 23.50 Singapore time. When he looked up at the sky, he saw streaks of bright blue light streak across the sky.

Fascinated, he initially thought the flying object might be a drone that caught fire and was about to crash. “Its shape is exactly like the comet in the recent viral video from Portugal. I’ve seen several shooting stars in low light conditions. But, nothing as spectacular and big as this,” said the man who works as a freelance model and actor to Asia. One, Monday (27/5/2024).

According to the website of the United States space agency NASA, meteors are a form of rock that enters the Earth’s atmosphere at high speed and burns up.

President of the Astronomical Society of Singapore Soh Kim Mun agreed that the meteor was bright enough to resemble a fireball, an astronomical term for a meteor that is very bright and spectacular enough to be seen over a wide area. “Perhaps the meteor was brighter than the full moon next to it. It’s rare to see a single meteor this bright,” said Soh, who added that he had only witnessed such an event once.

According to him, Singapore’s sky, which has a high level of pollution, has severe light, making it difficult to see a single meteor. In fact, the appearance of the meteor is very clear. Moreover, meteor showers usually have predictable paths and times. This time, Soh estimated that the phenomenon showed a small, random meteor that might have crossed the earth’s path and burned up in the atmosphere.

One of the Facebook users, Priyanka Vijoy, uploaded a meteor video to the platform. He described this incident as a rare and thrilling experience.

Akidah Selamat was busy with his cell phone at Yishun Central when he saw the sky glow in his peripheral vision. “I immediately looked up and saw a burning object with a long tail crossing the sky,” said the quality control officer.

In Sembawang, Charlotte Lee (23) was fishing with friends when the meteor, which she described as a green flare with an orange tail, streaked across the sky for about five seconds.

“I didn’t manage to see a meteor shower at the end of April, so seeing it unexpectedly was really cool,” said Lee, referring to the Lyrids meteor shower which is expected to peak in Singapore on the evening of April 22.

Meteor Rain they usually occur annually or at regular intervals as the Earth passes through trails of debris left by comets, according to NASA. The sighting in the Singapore sky came after people in Spain and Portugal had similar experiences on May 18, 2024.

(msf)