Russian astronomer Naroenkov identified the celestial body that alarmed Kyiv

“It was small – less than a meter”

It seems that “heavenly punishment” indeed descended on Ukraine. More precisely, – the space “wanderer” – a meteoroid. Russian scientist, senior fellow at the Institute of Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Sciences Sergey Naroenkov recognized the object of his numerous observations from a video circulating on the network.

A bright flash in the sky, which many Kievans observed on April 19 at about 10 p.m., made a lot of noise. The head of the Kyiv city military administration, Sergei Popko, in particular, said that it was a fallen American satellite.

NASA hastened to refute this message, saying that their satellite RHESSI, which should go out of orbit in the coming days, is still in space. This was followed by the arguments of the military that the air defense systems could “blaze” in this way.

Disputes seem to have been resolved by astronomers.

– Judging by the videos, it was an ordinary small meteor, – Sergey Barabanov told us. – The main indication that the outbreak was of natural origin is the threefold illumination of the sky and their scale.

– What are they connected with?

– Flying through the dense layers of the atmosphere, the cosmic body heats up, often splits into separate fragments, which usually flare up not simultaneously, but in turn.

As for the meteor, we can only say that it was small in size – less than a meter. Most of it, most likely, burned up in those very dense layers of the atmosphere.

Could something have fallen to Earth?

– If any pebbles have fallen, they can be millimeter-sized.

– On the night of April 21, astronomers predicted the peak of the Lyrid meteor shower. This “alien” could be involved in it?

– It is not excluded, but we, alas, have no opportunity to check it. It could also be a sporadic meteoroid that accidentally flew up to Earth.