Flaming meteor turns sky green in Argentina (video)
No, it wasn't the Northern Lights... a meteor lit up the sky and turned it green, putting on its own display for the lucky Argentinians who witnessed it.
The object could be seen clearly from Argentina's capital Buenos Aires, while others reported seeing it over neighbouring Uruguay.
See also: 'Fireball' meteor lights up sky over Loch Ness
The spectacle reportedly lasted about 10 seconds, and witnesses said no sound was heard.
Pictures and footage of the event quickly went up on social media.
According to RT News, jokes about the origin of the phenomenon abounded, with the most viral "suggesting that the celestial object was none other than the ball Argentinian striker Gonzalo Higuaín infamously kicked high above Chili's goalposts at the recent finals of the Copa América football championship".
One user on YouTube joked simply: "Kryptonite".
Not sure exactly what a meteor is? Or why is looks like it's burning?
Here's an explanation from Wikipedia:
"A meteoroid is a small rocky or metallic body travelling through space. Meteoroids are significantly smaller than asteroids, and range in size from small grains to 1 metre-wide objects.
"Objects smaller than this are classified as micrometeoroids or space dust. Most are fragments from comets or asteroids, whereas others are collision impact debris ejected from bodies such as the Moon or Mars.
"When a meteoroid, comet or asteroid enters the Earth's atmosphere at a speed typically in excess of 45,000 mph, aerodynamic heating produces a streak of light, both from the glowing object and the trail of glowing particles that it leaves in its wake.
"This phenomenon is called a meteor, or colloquially a "shooting star" or "falling star".
"A series of many meteors appearing seconds or minutes apart, and appearing to originate from the same fixed point in the sky, is called a meteor shower.
"If a meteor withstands ablation from its atmospheric entry and impacts with the ground, then it is called a meteorite."
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