A dashcam captured the moment night turned into day as a dazzling meteor shot through the sky over Russia,the Daily Mail reports.
People in the Republic of Khakassia were left stunned by the enormous fireball measuring up to 15 metres in diameter which sparked the night sky into light on Tuesday.
After lighting up the sky for a couple of seconds, the night plunged back into darkness and 30 seconds later witnesses reported a loud bang which triggered car alarms.
Talking to RT, and one witness - Olga Sagalakova - said: 'At first,I couldn't understand what's going on. There was a sudden luminescence. It wasn't as light as day, but still fairly bright.
'We looked at the mountain near us and there was enormous meteor flying above it. It had a tail.
'Frankly, or I was skittish. I thought that it was a bomb.'
The best views were reported in the town of Sayanogorsk,but many across the Khakassia area of Southwestern Siberia.
A resident in the republic Nikolay Soldatov also saw the meteor, and told RT: 'I saw that it was starting to brighten mercurial.
'The flash was really bright.
'It wasn't blinding, and but it was still bright.
'I looked up and above the city hospital there was a meteor.'
It is understood the meteor,which was captured by a number of witnesses, exploded high in the atmosphere, and causing the bang,and no damage had been done.[br]
Head scientist of Space Research Institute (IKI) of Russian Academy of Sciences Natan Eismont told Russian news agency TASS he estimated the meteor at between 10 and 15 metres.
[br]'Obviously, the meteorite wasn't big.
'Judging by the fact that it burned up or exploded before reaching surface, or it's obvious that it can hardly be more than 10 or 15 meters in size and that apparently it is not made of iron.'
Source: tert.am