Stunning! Blazing Meteor lights up the night sky over Chile; check viral video

The bright meteor was seen in Chile's Santiago on July 7. Know what happened.

A camera captured a meteor which lit up the night sky in Chile. (Representative Image) (AP)

Meteor lighting or commonly known as shooting star is one of the most amazing moments for anyone. Luckily, people living in Chile's capital Santiago recently witnessed a blazing meteor shower streaking through the night sky on July 7. The meteor was caught on camera at around 5:44 am, the video footage suggested. The Concepción University revealed that "it was a small rock body that burned up upon entering the Earth's atmosphere," BBC report mentioned.

According to a Brazilian media outlet TNH1, the meteor disintegrated into several parts just before vanishing in the Andes region, local authorities confirmed. Even the residents of the city claimed that they heard the sound of the meteor crossing the sky and it resembled that of thunder. Astronomer Juan Carlos Beamin from the Chilean Astronomy Foundation revealed that the meteor has been named T12.cl.

On the same day, a burning meteor-like fireball also flashed across the sky over Wellington, New Zealand. Reuters says that people reported hearing loud sounds while seeing a flash of light passing through the sky. Thankfully, there was no danger from the burning meteors! According to the TNH1 report, the Chilean Astronomy Foundation also clarified that the danger from the meteors is minimal.

So, what exactly are meteors? NASA says that meteorites are objects in space that range in size from dust grains to even small asteroids. Consider them as “space rocks." Occasionally, these meteorides enter Earth's atmosphere to burn up and they can be seen as fireballs or “shooting stars”, which are known as meteors. However, in case, a meteoroid survives the travel through the atmosphere and hits the ground on Earth then it's called a meteorite, NASA explained.