“Fireballs” illuminate the sky in Mexico City, gushing out awe and lots of memes

Credit: Mikhail Nilov of Pexels
Bright objects, which initially looked like met stones, illuminate the sky above the Mexican capital at around 3am on Wednesday, spreading over plains, volcanoes and small towns.
It shot and fused into Mexico City with a burst of light, shooting a Latin American country and becoming the fuel for the memes that circulate on social media.
“No, the met stone that exploded last night is not an excuse to talk to your ex,” someone wrote to X.
Soon, the internet was flooded with pictures of fireballs edited with cartoon characters and political jokes.
Mexican scientists quickly realized that the object shaking the rocket across the sky was not a met stone. It was borido.
Borido, defined by NASA as a fireball, is “a very bright meteor that is spectacular enough to be seen in a very large area.”
Mario Rodriguez, a physician in space science at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, said it could be called a meteor, or a fragment of a meteor.
Bolido, like a coasting through the Mexican skies early on Wednesday, sets fire as they descend to Earth.
“As there is a lot of pressure on the object, they start flashing with their extended tails and emitting light,” said Rodriguez, one of a group of scientists studying the video that shocked many Mexicans. He said that unlike metstones that shock the Earth, bolides collapse into the atmosphere.
According to him, this particular meteor was about 1.5 meters (5 feet) long and poses no threat to the public.
©2025 Associated Press. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited. This material will not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Quote: “Fireballs” illuminate the sky in Mexico City and illuminate the adoration and generous memes (2025, April 17th) retrieved from April 17th, 2025 from https://phys.org/news/2025-04.
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from fair transactions for private research or research purposes, there is no part that is reproduced without written permission. Content is provided with information only.