Fireball lights up Japanese skies

Tokyo: A flashing fireball dashed across the skies of western Japan, shocking residents and dazzling stargazers, though experts said it was a natural...

Tokyo: A flashing fireball dashed across the skies of western Japan, shocking residents and dazzling stargazers, though experts said it was a natural phenomenon and not an alien invasion.

Videos and photos emerged online of the extremely bright ball of light visible for hundreds of kilometres shortly after 11:00 pm (1400 GMT) local time on Tuesday.

"A white light I had never seen before came down from above, and it became so bright that I could clearly see the shapes of the houses around us," Yoshihiko Hamahata, who was driving in Miyazaki Prefecture, told NHK.

"It seemed like daylight. For a moment, I didn't know what had happened and was very surprised," he told the public broadcaster.

８月１９日23時過ぎに熊本市北区で目撃した火球。 そういえば運転中だからドラレコ撮れてるかもと思って確認したら思いの外しっかり撮れてた。#火球 pic.twitter.com/fPefaylHE1