Article Posted on : - Dec 22, 2009

A File Photo of a Meteor falling on Earth.

BEIJING (BNS): Scientists are searching for a giant bright meteoroid which landed in Beijing last Wednesday.

According to a Chinese English-language daily, China Daily, on-lookers had a crystal view of a fireball-like meteor falling off the sky on 16th December, 2009.

Beijing Planetarium has captured a small video footage of the whole phenomenon where the bright star with a glowing tail landed in west suburban Beijing.

"If this meteorite can be recovered, it can become one of the biggest discoveries in Beijing," said Li Xin, a researcher with the Beijing Planetarium, as per the news report.

Scientists have estimated an approximate location of the landing in the Baihuashan mountainous region near the Beijing border.

According to international meteorite guidelines, If a meteorite is observed while falling and recovered from the place of fall, its called a 'fall' meteorite. Therefore, this discovery will be viewed as a 'fall'.

A meteoroid is a rock-sized particle of debris in the Solar System. The visible path of a meteoroid that enters Earth's atmosphere is called a meteor. If a meteor hit the ground and survives impact, then it is called a meteorite.

A meteor is a bright streak of light that appears briefly in the sky. Observers often call meteors shooting stars or falling stars because they look like stars falling from the sky.