Was it a UFO, satellite, rocket or an aircraft? It could be any - or none - of these options. All across Singapore yesterday evening (7 Jan), a green flash of light was seen blazing across the sky at about 7.40pm and has left many eyewitnesses puzzled.
STOMPers spotted the strange phenomenon from all corners of Singapore, like Kranji, Bedok, Clementi, Ang Mo Kio, Newton and Aljunied.
All eyewitnessses said that it lasted for less than ten seconds.
One of them was 50-year old Tommy Wong, who spotted it from Kranji Turf Club at about 7.40pm. He said: "It was like a green streak of flame spotted over the sky. It was so silent."
According to Goh Si Guim, who saw "a mixture of green and an orange fiery tail" from Bidadari cemetary at Aljunied, told STOMP that it was travelling in an east-west direction and seemed to disintegrate towards the west.
The 44-year-old perfusionist, who had a pair of binoculars on hand, had a closer look. He described: "At first, it was a single green streak. When it broke up, there were just a few orange specks leaving a fiery trail."
People at Bedok Jetty were also taken by surprise by the sight. Quak Hiang Whai, who was there with his family, said: "It looked like something had burst through the atmosphere."
"It can't be a shooting star because I've seen them before. This one looks too big and fiery and was too close to be one," he continued.
At Newton and Ang Mo Kio, more STOMPers like Zhang Wanjun and Peng Song also witnessed the sight. Both said that it looked like a shooting star, with Peng Song even making a wish after that.
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The mysterious green flash has been the talk of town since it was sighted yesterday evening (7 Jan) by STOMPers all across Singapore. STOMP spoke to experts who gave their take on the mysterious green light that blazed across our skies.
Although the meteorological service did not have any information about this phenomenon as it was too small to be reflected on satellite pictures, it is not stopping astronomy researchers and fans from making their own deductions.
Director of the Singapore Science Centre, Dr Chew Tuan Chiong, said: "I did not see the flash of green in our sky yesterday, but it does appear to fit the description of a green flash, especially since it occurs around sunset."
He continued: "The phenomenon of green flashes, though not common, is very well known. It can happen both at sunrise and sunset. It comes about because of scattering (by particles in the air), and refraction (where the atmosphere acts like a lens), of sunlight."
But it seems even the experts cannot agree. Albert Lim, president of the Astronomical Society of Singapore(TASOS), said that the bright light sighted was actually a fireball.
He said: "We can't be 100 per cent sure, but I'm 99.9 per cent sure that it is a fireball."
According to him, what eyewitnesses saw was actually a bolide, which is essentially a very bright meteor that has exploded, as observed by several committee members of TASOS.
Members of TASOS have also had similar sightings in countries like Thailand. Mr Lim said that bolides, though rare, would probably have occurred in Singapore before.
One STOMPer, who declined to be named, echoed both experts' comments and even came up with a few theories of his own.
The astronomy fan said: "It could be a foreign object of the environment, like a fireball. Once an object like that enters the atmosphere, it will disintegrate and become flares of light."
"But there are also other possibilities because I've read that people spotted different colours, so it could be more than one object. It could also be a refraction of some object that is on Earth," he continued.
The picture seen here is not the actual streak, but merely a graphic representation of it based on descriptions given to us by STOMPers. But if you have pictures, STOMP wants them!