A German kite surfer has accidentally captured the moment a huge meteor enters the Earth’s atmosphere while he was filming a selfie video with a GoPro camera.
German man Dorian Cieloch from the German port city of Bremerhaven was kite surfing in nearby Wremen in Lower Saxony when the huge meteor burst into the sky behind him.
Video credit: CEN/KITE BUDDY
The man, who has his own kite surfing shop, was using a Go Pro camera for the shoot which took place during the afternoon, when he was testing products for his store.
He said: “What’s really funny is that at exactly the right time, I had my camera pointed towards me and was filming what was behind me, because I wanted to say something.”
Right at that very moment, the huge fireball that was also seen by hundreds of other people can be seen flaming down from the heavens.
Ironically, he did not even notice, not only when he was filming but also when he posted the footage on his YouTube channel.
He said: “Only after I had uploaded it did I see people commenting about what I had filmed and I thought to myself ‘wow, that is really a massive coincidence’.”
He added that he had also not heard anything when the meteor entered the atmosphere. In contrast, many other people not only saw it but also heard a loud bang.
Rudiger Jehn, who is an analyst at the European space agency (ESA), confirmed the authenticity of the video.
He said the video would also be shared with colleagues at NASA and added: “It was a really lucky accident.”
He said it was possible that the burning object was space debris from a previous mission to space that was burning up upon reentering the atmosphere, but added: “I personally believe that it was actually an asteroid that entered our atmosphere and was seen burning up.”
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Story By: Michael Leidig, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
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