Strange white light in Bangkok sky

Strange white light in Bangkok sky

A mysterious bright light seen streaking across the sky over Bangkok and nearby provinces on Monday night was not an Iridium flare as initially announced by the Thai Astronomical Society.

Two videos of the unidentified meteor-like object were circulated online, drawing many comments and assumptions from social media users.

The Thai Astronomical Society previously posted a comment on its Facebook page saying the incident was a flare caused by the Iridium 30 satellite - one of the communication satellites making up the low-orbit Iridium system.

On Tuesday afternoon, the agency posted a message on its homepage saying the object that pierced the night sky in Thailand last night was a fireball identified as a bolide - a very bright meteor that usually explodes in the atmosphere.

However, the agency insisted that the Iridium flare did take place on Monday night.

"They were two unrelated phenomenons but coincidentally happened almost at the same time," the Thai Astronomical Society commented.

Video credits: K Jane and Stablethreelegs Tiger


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A mysterious bright light seen streaking across the sky over Bangkok and nearby provinces was captured on video on Monday night.

Two videos of the unidentified meteor-like object were circulated online, drawing many comments and assumptions from social media users. Some of them claimed the object was a fireball - a brighter-than-usual meteor.

The Thai Astronomical Society later posted a comment on its Facebook page saying the phenomenon was a "flare" caused by the Iridium 30 satellite - one of the communication satellites making up the low-orbit Iridium system. The flare was at its brightest at 7.53pm.

A satellite flare is caused by the reflective surfaces on satellites reflecting sunlight directly onto the planet below and briefly appearing as a bright light.

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