For just a few seconds, the sky over Puerto Rico provided an extraordinary image in the early hours of Saturday: a meteor disintegrating as a commercial airliner completed its descent toward Ponce.
The phenomenon occurred around 12:00 am, when flight JBU1714, coming from Fort Lauderdale, Floridawas approaching the Mercedita airport, where it would land about 18 minutes later.
From the perspective of the images captured in the west of the island, the glowing meteor looked close to the aircraft’s path, although both were at very different heights.
“It was a sporadic meteor, not related to any meteor shower, and was caused by a space rock containing sodium, which was seen fragmenting in images we captured from the west of the island,” explained in written statements Eddie Irizarry, vice president of the Caribbean Astronomy Society (SAC).
The educational organization indicated that space rocks begin to disintegrate when they intercept the planet and come into contact with the densest layers of the atmosphere, generally between 48,000 and 63,000 feet high.
According to the SAC, flight path records reflect that the plane was at about 16,000 feet at the time the flash occurred.
“It is possible that the meteor was visible from the aircraft,” Irizarry added.
The SAC clarified that there are no documented cases of meteors that have hit airplanes in mid-flight. Although an incident of that nature would be extremely unlikely, the entity maintained that it is not completely impossible.
Those who wish to learn up close what the fragments of space rocks look like will be able to observe several meteorites this Saturday during a free educational activity of the SAC at the Caguas Botanical Garden.
The exhibition will begin at 7:00 p.m.