A meteor seen breaking apart over India. (Photo: X)
Friday night in New Delhi saw absolute madness in the skies. Blinding meteor screamed across the city made everything else feel like someone flipped off the streetlights just for the show.
People in Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, and even way over in Aligarh, all craning their necks at the same moment.
It got better. Phones whipped out and soon videos started flooding socials.
A white-hot streak, then the thing just burst apart like overshaken soda, raining little sparks. People online were tossing around terms like “shooting star explosion” and calling it the brightest meteor they’d ever seen.
Apparently, astronomy nerds are calling it a “bolide,” which is just fancy talk for a meteor that’s extra dramatic shows up big, gets hot, then explodes like, “Here’s your money’s worth, planet Earth!” Most meteors are shy and fizzle out alone in the dark. Not this one. This one wanted headlines.
Okay, but was anyone in danger? Honestly, no. The pros say it’s basically space gravel burning itself out for clout. Some folks did mention a weird rumbling, but the authorities shrugged-no damage, no meteor-chunk souvenirs. Just a smoky aftertaste of adrenaline and maybe some sore necks from all that sky-gazing.
Fun tidbit: September’s apparently a party month for falling space rocks, but these massive, see-it-from-everywhere fireballs? That flash lasted, like, maybe a heartbeat, but somehow put every neon sign in the city to shame and if you missed it, well, tough luck. Not exactly something you can replay, unless you trust grainy smartphone footage.
Quick science lesson so you can sound clever at brunch: it’s just some space rock, minding its own business, crashes the Earth’s atmosphere, heats up like it’s running a marathon in Delhi summer, and burns up on the way down. Most end up as shooting stars for wishers.
Every once in a blue moon, a big one makes it to the ground, that’s when we call it a meteorite. But really, meteors are mostly a harmless, once-in-a-while reminder that the universe likes to show off.
Israel will reopen the Rafah Crossing after nearly two years, allowing limited, tightly controlled movement…
Trump says Iran wants a deal but warns time is running out, as US military…
More than 200 people died in a collapse at the Rubaya coltan mine in eastern…
