Falling meteor lights up the night sky over China before ‘smashing into a villager’s house’ 

People in south-west China were left stunned as a blazing meteorite illuminated the night sky of Yunnan Province on Friday night.

Footage of the spectacular phenomenon shows the meteorite shooting across the sky in a flaming path as it enters the earth’s atmosphere at about 9:41pm.

The meteorite then smashed into a villager’s home, leaving a hole on its clay roof, according to state broadcaster CCTV. 

A blazing meteorite illuminated the night sky of Yunnan province in China on Friday night

A blazing meteorite puts up a dazzling light show for lucky witnesses in Jinghong city

A blazing meteorite puts up a dazzling light show for lucky witnesses in Jinghong city

The meteorite then smashed into a villager's home, leaving a hole on its clay roof

The meteorite then smashed into a villager’s home, leaving a hole on its clay roof

‘There was a loud noise,’ said Mr Yan, a villager in the autonomous prefecture Xishuangbanna. ‘It almost sounded like a plane.’

‘The entire sky lit up and it seemed that something was falling from the sky,’ he said.

The video, filmed by witnesses in Jinghong city, shows a bright white object accompanied by a fiery orange tail curving through the sky, putting up a dazzling light show.

The entire city skyline was seen lit up for a split second as the meteorite passed through the night sky.

The video filmed by witnesses shows a bright white object curving through the night sky

The video filmed by witnesses shows a bright white object curving through the night sky

The city is  lit up for a split second as the blazing meteor passes through the night sky

The city is lit up for a split second as the blazing meteor passes through the night sky

The cosmic rocks appeared to be around the size of an egg, and have a shiny black surface

The cosmic rocks appeared to be around the size of an egg, and have a shiny black surface

It ended up hitting the clay roof of a villager’s house in the suburbs, leaving bits of debris scattered in the area. 

Each cosmic rock appeared to be around the size of an egg, and has a shiny black surface with patches of grey substance showing underneath. 

The Xishuangbanna Earthquake Administration stated that the sighting has a 70 per cent chance of being a ‘small fireball meteor’, according to China News.

After preliminary investigations at the village, experts from Beijing confirmed the small rocks to be ordinary chondrites, according to the CCTV report. 

'There was a loud noise,' said Mr Yan, a villager in the autonomous prefecture Xishuangbanna

‘There was a loud noise,’ said Mr Yan, a villager in the autonomous prefecture Xishuangbanna

The clay tiles that were smashed into pieces by the falling meteorite on Friday night

The clay tiles that were smashed into pieces by the falling meteorite on Friday night

Ordinary chondrites are rocks that originate from asteroids and are called ‘ordinary’ as they comprise about 85 per cent of all meteorites that were found on Earth, according to Science Trends.

‘This chondrite is also a stony iron meteorite, meaning that it had flown through the atmosphere in a specific orientation,’ Beijing Planetarium senior engineer Zhang Baolin told CCTV.

‘This rock is in very good shape and condition and will provide great scientific research value,’ he said.

‘Meteorites found in such pristine condition are very rare,’ he added. ‘They are discovered perhaps only once every year.’



Read more at DailyMail.co.uk