The Fireballs Aotearoa network of astronomers and other field scientists in New Zealand has repeatedly received inquiries about green anomalous meteors that have “rained” the country one after another.
One of the strange objects glowing green crashed into New Zealand – Photo: Greg Price
This team of scientists specializing in the recovery of fallen meteorites has identified the mysterious blue glowing objects originating from a very large meteorite, which exploded in the sea near Wellington on July 7, creating an explosion. sound near the lower side of the South Island.
Another suspicious event was a small fireball that was photographed above Canterbury 2 weeks later.
But if they are meteorites, the green glow is very unusual.
A treatise published on The Conversation by Dr. Jack Baggaley, professor emeritus of the University of Cantebury, who was part of the research team, suggested that some objects may be rich in nickel and iron. When the meteorite hits the atmosphere at speeds of up to 60 km/s, a huge amount of heat will be released quickly, and at the same time, iron-nickelizes more, creating a green light.
The bright blue color is recorded in the same way as the blue light of the aurora, although the mechanism is different.
In addition, when the Canterbury meteors hit on July 22, the erratic winds in the atmosphere slightly twisted the light trail, giving the objects a pale yellow tail due to the continuous sodium atoms being excitation in an ozone-related catalytic reaction.
In general, the meteorite falling towards New Zealand is real, but not the intense bombardment, just the fanciful blue color that makes it feel like they are very powerful attackers.
