There haven’t been any indications of military tests planned for that area, which has borders with Finland and is home to the Russian Navy’s Northern Fleet in Severomorsk. But there aren’t any astronomical details or news reports available either at this time on the nature of this celestial body. So we don’t know if it fully combusted in the atmosphere, landed in the sea or if any damage was done on the ground. Given Russia’s extremely large landmass, it would naturally see more than its share of meteors, meteorites and other similar natural phenomenon. Good thing so many Russians install dashcams and are able to provide these interesting videos.

We now know that these are not “stars” at all but are instead small bodies of solid materials travelling through space, called meteors. When meteors pass through the Earth’s atmosphere they generate heat because of the friction between air and the meteor’s surface and end up, burning up in a bright fiery train of light.  Most meteors are destroyed/burned up entirely as they enter our atmosphere with some very small particles surviving down to the Earth’s surface. Large meteors surviving the journey through the atmosphere are very rare.

Scientists believe that tens of thousands of meteors pass by Earth with thousands falling onto the surface every day, most ending up in our vast oceans and seas. The source of meteors is likely broken fragments of comets, which can break up into millions of pieces and continue to travel through space as a meteor shower. Meteors associated with comets often appear to travel in a set orbit through space. A meteor that reaches the surface of the Earth intact is called a meteorite.