On the night of May 31, around 10:20 pm, A sudden blue-green illumination of the night sky surprised some inhabitants of Colombiain regions such as Bogotá-Cundinamarca, Boyacá and Tolima.
The glow was recorded in videos from security cameras, which from that moment began to intrigue astronomy experts and fans and filled social networks with comments in which some users expressed their astonishment.
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What is known so far is that the event was caused by a meteoroid (a small fragment of rock or metal that moves through space) that was incinerated upon entering the Earth’s atmosphere (called a meteor) and shone with an intense turquoise blue color, capturing the attention of numerous witnesses.
According to experts, these sightings are not only impressive from a visual point of view, but also have great scientific value. It is because of that Colombian astronomers work to calculate the trajectory and characteristics of the object, using data provided by witnesses and camera records.
Citizen science
These citizen science projects can greatly benefit from the descriptions and data provided by the general population.
According to astrophysicists such as Professor José María Madiedo, from the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia IAA-CSIC, “the bolide was a rock that had broken off from a comet, and that entered the atmosphere at a speed of 161,000 kilometers per hour and that drew an almost level trajectory, with an inclination of only about ten degrees with respect to the horizontal,” he told the newspaper La Vanguardia.
These types of events underscore the importance of collaboration between the scientific community and casual observers to improve our understanding of celestial phenomena.
Your collaboration can be crucial for the analysis and understanding of this fascinating phenomenon.
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