Huge, dazzling fireball burns across western sky above Tokyo

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A brilliant fireball lit up the night sky as it streaked through the western sky over Tokyo on Jan. 20 at about 8:30 p.m. and could be seen over a wide area.

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The meteor continued shining brightly for more than five seconds at a magnitude of minus 10, almost as bright as that of the waxing moon.

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Since the night skies were clear in many prefectures stretching from Tokyo, the fireball could be readily spotted by many people looking up into the sky. 

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At the same time, the meteor was captured by a camera installed by The Asahi Shimbun at the Kiso Observatory of the University of Tokyo in Nagano Prefecture.

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According to a report sent to the meteor observation Sonotaco Network, operated by sky watchers, the fireball traveled from south to north above Yamanashi Prefecture.

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The report said that since it likely burned up in the atmosphere, there is little probability that a meteorite will be found. 

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Last July, another fireball was seen above the Kanto region and a portion of it, which did not burn up in the atmosphere, fell to the ground in Chiba Prefecture. The fragments were dubbed the “Narashino inseki (meteorite).”

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According to the National Museum of Nature and Science, three such meteorites have been found in Narashino and Funabashi cities in Chiba Prefecture.

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