This was a very unusual meteor that lit up the sky over the city of Sorocaba, in the city of Sao Paulo in Brazil, on Wednesday. It exploded two times in a row. The bolide may be seen in the snapshots by the Centauri Astronomy Club camera.

Physicist Marco Antonio Centurion, in command of the club that makes up the Brazilian Meteor Monitoring Network (Bramon), observed the phenomena at about 7:17 p.m. local time on April 20. Centurion’s home is within walking distance of the station.

The meteor spanned six seconds in the sky, exploding twice in a sequence, impressing the physicist.

“It’s not a rare phenomenon, but it’s quite unusual and we got a very clear record,” explained Centurion.

Meteoro registrado em Sorocaba/SP pela estação BRAMON MAC1, comandada pelo membro do Clube Marco Centurion, nesta última quarta-feira (20/04) pic.twitter.com/Nt2ZpVSuum

— Clube de Astronomia Centauri (@clubecentauri) April 22, 2022

There are two possibilities for why the double explosion occurred. First and foremost, since the space rock would be dense, and second, because it would be larger in overall dimensions. Meteors are typically the size of a coin and disintegrate completely in the atmosphere.

When a space rock slams into the atmosphere, it collides with the gases that make it up at great speeds. The meteor is heated by friction until it explodes.

“Probably, the first layer exploded and there was still mass left, which also glowed and generated the second explosion”, pondered Centurion.

A similar explosion occurred earlier this year in the Rio Grande do Sul. Despite the fact that BRAMON has captured numerous meteors since 2020, this is the first time a double explosion has been captured at such a wide-angle. One camera is oriented northeast, and the other is pointed west towards the club station.

The shots will now be examined and compared to other evidence of the same event. As a result, the meteor’s passage can be “triangulated” and its route determined. The Centauri Club is a NASA Space Place program that is well-known for its meteor-monitoring efforts.

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