Chile had a population of 19 million people back in 2020, with roughly 5.6 million of them living in Santiago, the country’s capital. It seems that residents of the capital of the South American country were recently lucky enough to spot an imposing meteor hurtling through the atmosphere and above their heads.
We could say that those living in Chile were lucky enough that the meteor arrived during the nighttime. It would have been a lot less spectacular if it came when the Sun was illuminating the skies. The event was incredibly bright and imposing.
Sky News Australia’s YouTube channel brings footage of the majestic event:
The space object was just a small chunk of rock, although it might have appeared as many of us imagine aliens would do when they travel to Earth. We hate to disappoint those hoping for aliens, but it’s not the case this time. Probably some other day.
The shiny object burned up in the atmosphere due to air friction, as usually happens with asteroids and comets. Next time you feel that the world has left you down, you can think about the existence of our protective atmosphere that prevented many “Super Chicxulubs” from impacting our planet.
For those unaware, the asteroid that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs long ago was named “Chicxulub.” That was a space rock measuring about 10 kilometers in diameter. It means that Chicxulub was way too large for the Earth’s protective shield to be able to handle.
