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Bolide: Rare bright meteor lights up night sky in Norway
A huge rare meteor has been seen lighting up the night sky in Norway.
The meteor - called a bolide - was so large and bright, it was visible from much of the south of the whole country!
According to the Norwegian meteor network, it burned up in the atmosphere around 40 miles above sea level.
It was part of the annual Northern Taurids meteor shower, which experts say can produce bright fireballs.
What happened?
Image source, Getty Images
The unusually bright meteor was visible from large parts of southern Norway when it lit up the sky on Saturday evening.
As the meteor burnt up, a flash shimmered in multiple colours across the sky, leaving many people puzzled as to what it could be.
Eyewitness Per Skram told Norwegian broadcaster NRK: "It suddenly became bright, so I thought at first it was a car driving on high beam. But then I looked up at the sky and there was a massive light that shot across the sky with a long, blue tail behind it."
In fact, people were so confused by the bright light that many called the police!
Morten Bilet, from the Norwegian Meteor Network explained: "It was very powerful, and burned up completely in the atmosphere."
The organisation said that many people had associated the meteor with the Leonid meteor shower, which is currently active, however this particular meteor came from a different meteor shower - the northern Taurids.
"The Taurids do not produce as many meteors as the Leonids but the Taurids occasionally produce very powerful meteors, like this one," it added.
What is the difference between a bolide and a meteor?
Image source, Getty Images
A meteor is space rock that falls into the Earth's atmosphere, heating up as it goes.
The rock gets so hot that a visible glow is created around it - this is actually its heat.
So, what we see isn't actually the falling rock...it's the glowing heat around it, racing across the sky!
However there's no need to worry, the meteors we might see have almost no chance of hitting the Earth.
A bolide is a name given to a meteor that is exceptionally bright, especially ones that explode in the atmosphere.