People in western Japan have reported seeing what appeared to be a ball of light falling from the sky on Tuesday night.
One expert says it was an exceptionally bright meteor known as a fireball.
Many people in Kagoshima and Miyazaki prefectures posted on social media that they had seen a ball of light in the sky at around 11 p.m.
NHK cameras at Kagoshima, Fukuoka, and Matsuyama airports captured footage of a bright light shooting down at around 11: 08 p.m.
Maeda Toshihisa, the director of the Sendai Space Museum of Satsumasendai in Kagoshima Prefecture, says fireballs are phenomena caused by dust, asteroid fragments, and other objects in space burning up when they enter Earth’s atmosphere.
Maeda says the ball of light was undoubtedly a fireball. He says it probably lit up the sky like it was daytime and may have fallen into the sea as a meteorite.