ISS astronaut captures bright green meteor exploding over Cairo, Egypt

On September 2, 2024, at 20:12 UTC, NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick, commander of the SpaceX Crew-8 mission, recorded a beautiful timelapse footage of a dazzling green meteor explosion. The event was captured from the International Space Station (ISS) as it entered Earth’s atmosphere over Cairo, Egypt.

• The meteor disintegrated in Earth’s atmosphere and produced a bright burst of light. A high ISO setting was utilized to photograph the Milky Way Core, which also captured the meteor.
• Meteor tracking requires accurate timing, albeit the camera’s clock may be wrong by roughly 30 seconds.

NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick, commander of the SpaceX Crew-8 mission, documented the stunning meteor explosion on video. Dominick, a United States Navy test pilot, is well-known for his extensive photos from space.

A magnificent meteor outburst, or bolide, another name for a brighter-than-usual meteor, was captured as a bright green fireball in a time-lapse film on September 2 at 20:12 UTC. The timelapse, consisting of 20 images, was captured from the ISS’s Cupola module.

The time of the incident is critical for meteor tracking and analysis, but Dominick mentioned that the camera’s clock could be inaccurate by about 30 seconds. The meteor erupted as it entered the Earth’s atmosphere and was destroyed owing to friction and pressure, resulting in a brilliant flash of light visible from space. 

The meteor explosion was seen from the International Space Station (ISS) as it flew above Cairo, Egypt. The time-lapse showed the meteor speeding across the sky before exploding above the Mediterranean.

“Timelapse was set up over Northern Africa, which was very dark with lightning. I got greedy with ISO (25600), and when the time-lapse got to Cairo, the cities were overexposed,” Dominick wrote in his X post. “I was greedy because I wanted the Milky Way Core.  When I went to review the shots afterward, I found the bolide.”

A high ISO setting (25600) was utilized to photograph the Milky Way Core, which also captured the meteor. The timelapse was set up with a 1/2-second exposure, a 15mm lens, and a frame rate of 1 per second. The meteor’s brightness and explosion were captured amidst the darkness of Northern Africa, contrasting with city lights and lightning occurring over Cairo.

The timelapse, which shows a thorough picture of the meteor’s explosion, gave important information on the bolide’s magnitude and impact. Dominick’s recording stressed the tremendous visual implications of astronomical occurrences and their spectacular look from space.

“If you know about these type of meteors please chime in. I am curious to know more,” Dominick wrote further. “I will post the longer time-lapse over the Nile River later.”

Featured image credit: Matthew Dominick, commander of the SpaceX Crew-8 mission