A mysterious object is heading for Earth blazing bright enough to light up the sky.
Astronomers spotted a mysterious flying object falling from space about 2 meters, or close to 6.5 feet in diameter. Calling it WT1190F, observers hypothesized that the object is most likely a piece of a man-made rocket abandoned in space and will pose little danger to the people on Earth once it finally makes its landing.
"This is too low to be a natural space rock, but it is compatible with being a hollow shell, such as the spent upper stage of a rocket," the European Space Agency (ESA) said.
If the falling object does turn out to actually be man-made debris, it could be something from recently made rockets or even a lost piece of history from earlier Apollo models. This piece would then be similar to the relics of the Skylab station that rained debris all over Australia in 1979.
The parts of the object that will not be burned by the atmospheric pressure should land harmlessly about 100 kilometers, or nearly 62 miles, off Sri Lanka's southern coast on Nov. 13 at around 6:20 a.m. GMT (1:20 AM EST).
"The show will still be spectacular, since for a few seconds the object will become quite bright in the noon sky," the ESA's Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre said.
ESA astronomer Marco Micheli added that the event would be the perfect opportunity to test scientists' readiness for possible atmospheric entry occurrences in the future involving asteroids, which he believes have near similar circumstances in terms of discovery and impact as WT1190F.
Since discovering the falling object and its predicted arrival on Earth, scientists all over the world are organizing campaigns to observe the object's approach and impact.
Scientists still find it significantly challenging to predict where falling debris such as WT1190F will exactly land on Earth, so observers are excited for the opportunity to study this phenomenon.
But for some observers, especially those who believe in other life forms existing in outer space, skepticism remains about whether the approaching object is merely just an old piece of space junk.
"First things first before anybody shouts, this could very well be space junk, BUT the big question is, [will] we ever know?" UFO International Project said in their website, adding that unless deep-sea investigating equipment is brought in, no one will ever really know what the flying object really is.
