By MASANOBU HIGASHIYAMA/ Staff Writer
July 30, 2022 at 08:00 JST
A large fireball is captured with a fish-eye lens over Minamimaki, Nagano Prefecture, at 2:48 a.m. on June 29. (Provided by Jun Koike, a member of the Nippon Meteor Society)
Amateur astronomers have a hunch that meteorite fragments remain from a huge fireball that shot across the Kanto region around Tokyo early June 29 and are asking the public to be on the lookout for charred bits of rock on streets and roofs.
They estimate that fragments weighing as much as several dozen grams in total may have survived the fiery journey through Earth’s atmosphere.
Based on wind direction and speed at the time, an analysis of footage taken of the event suggests that remnants might be found in Tokyo’s Katsushika and Sumida wards as well as the capital’s Taito and Chiyoda wards, according to meteor monitoring group SonotaCo Network.
The group is credited with predicting the fall point of the so-called Narashino meteorite reported in July 2020, leading to the meteorite’s discovery.
It said the fireball was seen streaking over Shizuoka and Nagano prefectures as well as Tokyo at 2:48 a.m. on June 29.
Daichi Fujii, a curator at the Hiratsuka City Museum in Kanagawa Prefecture, said the fireball flew from west to east and gave off a bluish white light as it broke into tiny pieces.
“An explosive sound caused by a shock wave was also heard,” he said.
A succession of posts was then uploaded on social media about the “searchlight-like traveling ray.” One observer likened the fireball to “fireworks set off from a bank,” while another described the meteorite’s shock wave as “frightening because it rattled windowpanes.”
Photos and videos of the phenomenon from more than 20 cameras were shared with SonotaCo Network, allowing the group to thoroughly analyze the material.
The findings show the fireball flew northeast from Suruga Bay to Tokyo over Kanagawa Prefecture. The Japan Meteorological Agency apparently detected the shock wave.
Based on the brightness of the meteor, it was projected to have weighed between 3 and 4 kilograms when it entered Earth’s atmosphere after veering off from an orbit around Mars.
It emitted a strong burst of light for about 10 seconds. SonotaCo Network estimated that as much as 50 grams of the meteorite have survived impact.
When a fireball appeared above the Kanto region on July 2, 2020, SonotaCo Network said there was a strong “likelihood of it crashing in Chiba Prefecture.”
Pieces of the meteorite weighing 63 grams and 70 grams were found in the prefecture’s Narashino city, earning it the nickname of the Narashino meteorite.
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