Watch moment huge mysterious GREEN meteor blazes over city in front of shocked crowds lighting up night sky
INCREDIBLE footage captured the moment a green meteor lights up the night sky as it travels in a rare spectacle.
Onlookers were left stunned as the unearthly entity turned the pitch-black sky to a luminous green, visible across many cities in Turkey.
Amazing footage captured in Istanbul shows the mysterious meteor with a long tail hurling through the night sky.
Onlookers couldn’t tear their eyes away as they watch the once-in-a-lifetime display in astonishment.
As the meteor travels to the other side of the sky, its tail begins to spark out before eventually no longer being visible.
The sky returns to being pitch black as viewers look around at each other in disbelief.
Despite the footage being taken in Istanbul, the beautiful spectacle was visible in other Turkish cities like Bursa, Sakarya, Kocaeli and Çorum.
There was initially some speculation from viewers on what it actually was.
Some viewers believed they saw a rocket and others thought it was a satellite hurling to Earth.
The Turkish Space Agency (TUA) took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to settle the debate and confirm the meteor spotting.
They also explained why it had such a vibrant colour.
TUA said: “Colors formed when meteors enter the atmosphere; It varies depending on several factors, such as the chemical composition of the meteor, its speed, and the gases present in the Earth’s atmosphere.
“Different elements found in the meteor can create different colors when burning in the Earth’s atmosphere.
“For example, sodium can create a bright orange-yellow color, magnesium can create green or blue tones, and ionized calcium (Ca+) can create a purple color.
“Larger meteorids can release more energy at their entrance, creating more intense colors.
“Overall, these factors cause the appearance of a variety of colors, making each meteoric event a unique and visually impressive natural phenomenon.”
It comes after last month’s brief scare as two Asteroids zipped past – with one of them being bigger than 99% of asteroids near Earth.
The bigger of the two measured about 1.3 miles long and was reported to come closest to Earth at 21:14 BST / 16:14 ET on June 27.
“This asteroid’s orbit around the Sun is steeply inclined, which is unusual for such a large object,” the European Space Agency (ESA) explained.
What's the difference between an asteroid, meteor and comet?
- Asteroid: An asteroid is a small rocky body that orbits the Sun. Most are found in the asteroid belt (between Mars and Jupiter) but they can be found anywhere (including in a path that can impact Earth)
- Meteoroid: When two asteroids hit each other, the small chunks that break off are called meteoroids
- Meteor: If a meteoroid enters the Earth’s atmosphere, it begins to vapourise and then becomes a meteor. On Earth, it’ll look like a streak of light in the sky, because the rock is burning up
- Meteorite: If a meteoroid doesn’t vapourise completely and survives the trip through Earth’s atmosphere, it can land on the Earth. At that point, it becomes a meteorite
- Comet: Like asteroids, a comet orbits the Sun. However rather than being made mostly of rock, a comet contains lots of ice and gas, which can result in amazing tails forming behind them (thanks to the ice and dust vapourising)