Meteorite explodes in the sky of Australia։ Cameras capture the moment of the explosion

Cameras at Cairns Airport in the Australian state of Queensland captured how a meteor exploded in the sky, lighting up the night sky with bright green light.

As News.com.au informs, the explosion took place on Saturday at 21.22 in the evening and was observed from a number of settlements.

According to the Guardian, residents of the small town of Croydon, located about 500 km west of Cairns, reported on social networks that they also heard the sound of a huge explosion.

Dr Brad Tucker, an astrophysicist at Australian National University, told Guardian Australia the rock was likely between 0.5 and 1 meter in size, making it a smaller to average-sized meteor, and was likely travelling up to 150,000km/h. 

Earlier this year, a meteorite discovered hours ago exploded on February 13 in the direction of La Manche, parts of which fell into the La Manche strait. Although the meteorite was small, it could still damage buildings or people if it fell in a densely populated area. Scientists consider that meteorites with a diameter of more than 100-140 meters pose a potential threat to our planet.

Even small meteorites, however, can cause destruction if they reach the Earth, and in order to prevent such scenarios, scientists constantly study the universe, so that in such cases they can warn of a possible danger in time.

However, there are so-called potentially planet-killing asteroids that are difficult to detect because they "hide" in the light of the Sun and telescopes cannot capture them. One such asteroid (2022 AP7) was discovered in November 2022.