Brilliant Midnight Fireball Lights Up Sky Over Northeast China

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It turned night into day.

What appears to be a dazzling meteor lit up the sky over northeast China on Friday (Oct. 11), appearing as a brilliant fireball in surveillance videos of the event.  

The meteor occurred at about 12:16 a.m. Beijing Time, turning night into day and casting dark shadows as it streaked through the sky, according to the state-run CCTV. Videos of the fireball were captured by surveillance cameras in the city of Songyuan in the province of Jilin, as well as by many residents across northeast China, CCTV reported. 

The meteor also visible from Heilongjiang Province, the news agency reported.

Video: See China's fireball of Oct. 11, 2019!
Related: Falling Fireballs Crashed in Chile. They Weren't Meteorites

A meteor lights up the midnight sky over the northeastern China provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang in this dashcam and surveillance camera video views taken on Oct. 11, 2019. (Image credit: CCTV)

Scientists with the Purple Mountain Observer, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, are reviewing videos to study the fireball, but there have been no reports of any meteorites found on the ground from the fireball, CCTV reported.

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Tariq Malik
Tariq Malik
Editor-in-Chief

Tariq is the Editor-in-Chief of Space.com and joined the team in 2001, first as an intern and staff writer, and later as an editor. He covers human spaceflight, exploration and space science, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com's Managing Editor in 2009 and Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering education and city beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. In October 2022, Tariq received the Harry Kolcum Award for excellence in space reporting from the National Space Club Florida Committee. He is also an Eagle Scout (yes, he has the Space Exploration merit badge) and went to Space Camp four times as a kid and a fifth time as an adult. He has journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to the This Week In Space podcast with space historian Rod Pyle on the TWiT network. To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik.