Angkasa confirmed that the mysterious bright light shooting across Sabah sky on Monday night was a meteor.
KOTA KINABALU: The National Space Agency (Angkasa) has confirmed that the luminous object across the atmosphere followed by a powerful explosion in Sabah on Monday night was a rock from outer space that entered the earth’s atmosphere due to the gravitational pull of the earth.
Angkasa in a statement yesterday said that the meteoric rock originated from smaller size asteroid fragments of less than 0.5 square metres.
“When entering the atmosphere of the earth at high speed, the rocks scrape with particles in the atmosphere and produce heat which causes them to burn and glow,” the statement said.
On Monday night residents in Kota Belud, Kota Marudu, Sepanggar, Tuaran as well as in Kota Kinabalu were both puzzled and fascinated by a flash of blue and red hues in the sky at 11.26pm. The episode lasted for about four seconds after which there was a loud noise.
According to the statement, the noise was probably due to the explosive heat in the atmospheric space, after which the meteor light disappeared.
The result of the explosions on the meteor rock would break into dust or small fragments that were likely to fall to the ground.
“As it is a common phenomenon, Malaysians especially those in Sabah, need not worry about what happened last night as 95 per cent of the meteors will be burnt and destroyed in the atmosphere,” the statement said.
Twitter and Facebook were also abuzz with views and theories on the flash of light in the sky.
Many puzzled netizens took to Twitter to share the incident which they claimed caused a powerful explosion, saying that the vibrations could be felt in Kota Marudu, Kota Belud, Tuaran and Kota Kinabalu.
“I thought it was thunder,” said one Twitter user M_N_R @ Mr_Ewnts90. On a Facebook post, Khairul Anuar said that “something passed”.
A local angler said it was a dark night and the flash of blue and red light came so quickly and disappeared in just four seconds.
“We were fishing and it was really dark. Suddenly the water changed colour and was of a lighter shade and when we looked up, there was a flash of blue and red in the sky,” said the angler who was with a group of fishing enthusiasts by the banks of a river in the area.
He said the luminous flash of light was both fascinating and fast, but it disappeared just as quickly.
Angkasa also advised the public not to disseminate information that had not been verified, through social media.
Sabah Meteorological Department director Azemi Daud earlier told The Borneo Post that the phenomena was of a meteor shower.
“What many people witnessed late last night (Monday night) of a bright light shooting across our sky is a meteor that often followed by a loud explosion once it hit the Earth’s atmosphere,” he said.
Azemi however claimed that the department was unable to confirm or pinpoint the location where it landed.
Meanwhile, Kota Belud police chief Superintendent Mohd Zaidi Abdullah said the district police had not received any report of the incdent from residents.
“Many people claimed to have heard a loud explosion but for now, we cannot confirm where it came from and what caused the noise,” he said.
Some neitzens claimed that the bright light and loud explosion were caused by maintenance work being carried out at the Sabah Oil and Gas Terminal (SOGT), but the notice for the works is dated for next week, August 24 to 29.
Others believed that the Royal Malaysian Navy was conducting a joint military exercise with their American counterparts as a US Navy ship had been docked near the Sepanggar Naval Base.
According to Sabah Stargazers, the mystery fireball was most likely a bolide passing through the sky.
“We are lucky because this bolide/fireball is not as big as the bolide/fireball that hit Russia in 2013.
“We will update more details on the bolide/fireball after getting more information as there is no reliable sources at the moment,” it said in Facebook account.
Sabah Stargazers is a non-profit organization, aiming to create awareness to the public about the importance of astronomy and preserverence of Sabah dark skies.
Referring to meteor terminology by American Meteor Society, bolide is the light emitted by a large meteorid or an asteroid as it is explodes in the atmosphere. It is a phenomenon that is not unusual.
In 2013, a small asteroid broke up over the city of Chelyabinsk, injured about 1,200 people.
The Borneo Post contacted the Malaysian National Security Council Sabah office and asked if there is any threat to the public, and an officer has confirmed that there is no alert issued with regards to the mysterious fireball.