A small space rock reportedly caused a sonic boom in Japan, as it plummeted into the earth's atmosphere and burned up in skyrocketing speed. At the time of its entry into the atmosphere, the space rock was brighter than Venus, and it apparently produced green and purple hues in the skies.
According to a report published in Japan Times, the bright meteor entered the earth's atmosphere on Thursday night. As the meteor entry resulted in a loud sonic boom, several panicked residents called up authorities and local police stations to enquire what had actually happened.
Space Threat Continues
"The explosive sound is probably caused by shockwaves. It is very rare for the sound of a fireball to be registered," Fujii Daichi, a curator who specializes in astronomy at a science museum in Hiratsuka City told NHK.
The National Astronomical Observatory revealed that meteors used to enter the skies quite often, but there are only a very few cases where these extraterrestrial rocks trigger the sonic boom on the earth's atmosphere.
Interestingly, the meteor incident apparently happened on July 2, widely celebrated as world UFO day. As the news about the sonic boom in Japan surfaced online, many conspiracy theorists started claiming that an alien space ship has crash-landed on the earth's surface, and this entry has resulted in this loud sonic boom.
NASA's Planetary Defense Weapon
As threats from deep space continue to bother scientists, NASA, the United States space agency is currently busy developing a planetary defense weapon to protect the earth from possible devastating events like asteroid hits.
Using this planetary defense weapon, NASA aims to deflect an approaching asteroid from its collision trajectory. However, several space experts believe that the only possible way to destroy an asteroid is by nuking it. But nuking asteroids could create a radioactive rain that will harm lives on earth.
