A bright flash followed by a loud bang was reported across Luxembourg and neighbouring parts of Germany on Sunday evening, with witnesses suggesting a meteor may have crossed the sky over the Greater Region.
The phenomenon was observed shortly before 19:00, with numerous residents posting videos and photos on social media showing a glowing object leaving a fiery trail across the sky.
Several eyewitnesses said they saw a bright flash followed by a loud bang, fuelling speculation that a meteor or “fireball” entered the atmosphere above the region.
Meteorologist Philippe Ernzer also pointed to that possibility in a social media post, writing that a meteor had been seen crossing the sky at around 18:57 and asking witnesses whether they had captured photos or videos of the event.
Images circulating online appear to show the object travelling in a straight trajectory before burning out.
One video circulating online was reportedly filmed in Badem near Bitburg, just across the Luxembourg border.
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Authorities in Germany also received emergency calls from residents who had seen the phenomenon or heard the blast.
In the city of Koblenz, a celestial fragment reportedly struck a residential building in the Güls district. According to police, the object punched a hole roughly the size of a football through the roof of a house. No one was injured.
A spokesperson for the regional State Office for Fire and Disaster Protection said firefighters and police were deployed to the scene, but authorities indicated there was no further danger.
Meteorites rarely reach the ground. A meteor refers to the streak of light produced when a meteoroid burns up as it enters the Earth’s atmosphere. If fragments survive the descent and land on the surface, they are known as meteorites.
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Scientists say most meteorites originate in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and can be several billion years old, dating back to the early formation of the solar system.
Meteorite impacts on Earth are uncommon. In Germany, fragments were last confirmed to have fallen near Elmshorn in April 2023.
One of the most dramatic recent events occurred in 2013 near the Russian city of Chelyabinsk, where a meteor exploded in the atmosphere. According to the German Aerospace Center, the resulting shockwave damaged more than 7,000 buildings and injured around 1,500 people, mostly from shattered glass.
(This article was originally published by the Luxemburger Wort. Translated using AI and edited by Kabir Agarwal.)