People in the southern region saw a bright light object in the sky entering our atmosphere at about 8.30p.m. What they saw was different colour lights. Most of it was green and yellow due to its elements reacting to the heat. The bright light and sound which was heard was because of an explosion caused by a meteor said, Colombo University Physical Science Department Prof. Chandana Jayaratne .
He said the explosion was known as a ”fireball explosion” and occurs after an astroid enters the earth’s atmosphere.
“The astroid could be a size of 50 centimetres. Every astroid enters the earth’s photosphere at a speed of 65 kilometers per second. With that speed one side of the astroid gets heated up due to friction and the other side does not, therefore causing an explosion,” Prof Jayaratne said. “The explosion could have caused damage, but fortunately it broke into small pieces. People should not touch parts of the astroid because those astroid can contain radiation, which cause harm to the human body and my contains unknown bacteria,” he warned.
The light of the astroid was seen not only in the South but in several parts of the country. Army and Navy didn’t detect any incidents or receive any complaints regarding this incident.Military Spokesman and Army Media Director Roshan Seneviratne, said they were yet to detect any incident.
