A burning meteor in the morning sky over Thailand

A burning meteor in the morning sky over Thailand

On Monday, the Thais were stunned by a meteor sweeping across the daytime sky, and social media immediately caught up with this phenomenon.

Footage from the camera on the dashboard of a single car in Bangkok captured a fireball, followed by a bright white flash, which was also visible throughout the country.

“It was the middle of a clear day, and there was a fast, bright light coming down,” said Porjai Jaturongkhakun, who recorded what was happening on the way to work with the DVR.

“I usually see shooting stars at night, but I have never seen such a day,” said the 30-year-old AFP satellite engineer.

Porjai was one of those Thais who managed to shoot a dramatic incident on his camera on the dashboard of the car - these shots and eyewitness accounts quickly spread to social media.

“It must have been a meteor, I’m sure of it, because it happened quickly and very brightly,” Voravit Tanvuttibundit told AFP on Monday, an adviser to the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand.

“This is normal, but the meteor was particularly large and very bright this morning,” explained Voravit, adding that he also witnessed a meteor around 8.40 am (0140 GMT). The country is imbued with superstition, many took the meteor strike as a bad omen.

“It was a bad sign, foreshadowing chaos in the country and the government,” writes Facebook user Dilok Jantaradilok.

What we often call “shooting stars” is actually tiny pieces of space rock that enters the atmosphere at a speed of about 60 kilometers (37 miles) per second and burns.

In October 2013, many Russian DVRs captured an amazing moment when a meteor weighing 10,000 tons exploded over the Urals, scattered over a large area and wounded more than 1,000 people.

The strength of this meteor explosion was equivalent to 30 nuclear bombs dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima during World War II.

Accessibility and ease of use of DVRs are becoming ubiquitous in many parts of the world, which in particular helps to resolve insurance disputes.

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