Overview

• The flash streaked across the sky at about 23:08 local time on August 19, with sightings captured from Kyushu to neighboring prefectures.
• Japan’s Kagoshima meteorological office called it probably a fireball or meteorite, and astronomers described an exceptionally bright meteor that fragmented in the atmosphere.
• Witnesses in Kagoshima reported a sonic‑boom‑like sound, consistent with breakup of a high‑speed meteoroid.
• Preliminary assessments point to a terminus over the Pacific south of Kyushu, and no fragments have been recovered.
• Authorities report no injuries or damage, and researchers are compiling citizen videos to triangulate the trajectory and estimate size and speed, with some comparisons to Chelyabinsk used only as a scaling reference.