What is that? A comet? A meteorite? No, it’s the Russian satellite that fell to Earth. It was watched by curious Uruguayan and Brazilian astronomers and astronomers. They were amazed by the fireball covered with fire that crossed the night sky. It was the Cosmos satellite. It was launched by the Soviet Union in 1983. Its striking re-entry into the atmosphere was recorded in videos.
Luminous object
There was the typical tranquility of the southern summer on the coasts and in the countryside of Uruguay. This was abruptly interrupted on the night of January 3. Tourists and locals watched as a fire-covered bolide streaked across the night sky.
The phenomenon was recorded by a woman in the town of Quebrada de los Cuervos. It is a protected tourist area among the sierras in the department of Treinta y Tres, in eastern Uruguay. While filming, several witnesses to the event asked each other questions. It was not clear if it was a comet or some kind of aircraft.
But it was neither. The Uruguayan astronomer Gonzalo Tancredi spread the fact on his Twitter account. He also explained what it was about.
“Several reports of a bright phenomenon in the sky of Uruguay. It was the entrance of the Russian satellite Cosmos 1437 (Id 13770)”.
Fire in the air
The Uruguayan astronomy professor Juan Ceretta corroborated what Tancredi said. He explained that the device “burns due to friction with the air” when it enters the atmosphere.
The Russian satellite that fell to Earth was spotted from southern Brazil. One of the best records was made by the Brazilian Meteor Observation Network (Bramon). It has images of the moment when the satellite disintegrated as it returned to Earth.
Cosmos 1437 ended its useful life 39 years after it was placed in orbit. It launched on January 20, 1983 from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in the then Soviet Union. Its re-entry into the atmosphere was already planned.
It poses no risk to the population. Much of its structure evaporated during its atmospheric re-entry. The most resistant pieces will probably fall into the ocean.
