Mysterious meteor seen over the Netherlands causes damage in Germany

Many sightings of a mysterious fireball travelling through Dutch skies were reported in the early evening on Sunday, March 8. Parts of what is most likely a meteor have landed in Germany, causing damage to several houses.

Fireball seen in Dutch skies most likely meteor

At around 7pm on Sunday evening, anyone in the Netherlands who was looking at the skies might have seen a fireball for about eight seconds, reports NH Nieuws. From Rotterdam and Utrecht to Haarlem and Lelystad, many videos were shared on social media showing the object over Dutch cities.

Dutch police also received many reports about the fireball, with some thinking they saw a missile, possibly because of the war in the Middle East, or a plane crashing, while others thought it was a comet. The object was not seen by the Dutch Air Traffic Control’s radar, probably because it was at a very high altitude.

Joost Hartman from the Netherlands Meteor Working Group and space expert Rob van den Berg believe the mysterious fireball is most likely a meteor, a piece of rock or metal from space. A kind of explosion is seen in videos, which is normal when space debris enters the Earth’s atmosphere. 

Space debris causes damage to German houses

According to NOS, German police have reported that parts of the potential meteor landed in Rhineland-Palatinate, where some houses experienced damage from debris. "If an object the size of a brick, a football, or a skippy ball enters the atmosphere at high speed, that piece of debris can break up," explained Hartman.

While residents in the Netherlands and Belgium also saw the meteor, no damage has been reported outside of Germany. The exact nature of the “fireball” will only be determined once the space debris is investigated in the coming days.

"In principle, a meteor is a natural space rock. But you only know that once you've found it,” said Van den Berg. “A piece of a crashing satellite shows the same light trail."