Witnesses across much of northern Italy, as well as parts of France, Switzerland, and Germany have reported observing a bright fireball slightly before 7.40 pm local time (slightly before 540 pm GMT) on Wednesday 5 October 2022. The fireball is described as having moved from southwest to northeast, entering the atmosphere to the northeast of Lucca and disappearing somewhere around Castiglione dei Pepoli. A fireball is defined as a meteor (shooting star) brighter than the planet Venus. These are typically caused by pieces of rock burning up in the atmosphere, but can be the result of man-made space-junk burning up on re-entry.
Objects of this size probably enter the Earth's atmosphere several times a year, though unless they do so over populated areas they are unlikely to be noticed. They are officially described as fireballs if they produce a light brighter than the planet Venus. The brightness of a meteor is caused by friction with the Earth's atmosphere, which is typically far greater than that caused by simple falling, due to the initial trajectory of the object. Such objects typically eventually explode in an airburst called by the friction, causing them to vanish as an luminous object. However, this is not the end of the story as such explosions result in the production of a number of smaller objects, which fall to the ground under the influence of gravity (which does not cause the luminescence associated with friction-induced heating).
