Videos and photos of a mysterious fireball lighting up Monday morning (7 September) in Bangkok went viral online, with some speculating that a plane had crash-landed in the Thai capital. Soon social media sites were flooded with videos and numerous memes were posted online.

While the incident occurred at 8.40am local time, videos posted online showed a meteor-like object streaking the sky, before suddenly flaring up and then disappearing on the horizon, leaving behind a trail of smoke.

The Bangkok Post quoted Suparerk Karuehanon, an academic at the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand as saying that the trail of smoke was likely an astronomical event and not an air crash as some people had stated.

"People should not worry because they are no larger than 10 metres and most of them entirely burn up in the atmosphere," Karuehanon told reporters.

Later, the president of the Thai Astronomical Society Prapee Viraporn had confirmed that the phenomenon was a small meteor explosion. Viraporn said a similar incident had happened in Chelyabinsk, Russia, on 15 February 2013.

Meteors are bright flashy light seen in the sky, they occur when small chunks of interplanetary debris (meteoroid) burn up as they pass through our atmosphere. Meteor refers to the flash of light caused by the meteoroid. They usually burn up completely after entering the Earth's atmosphere and do not cause any harm or damage property.

Meanwhile, many locals perceived that a plane had crash landed in the surrounding area, and more than 100 people got together to help find debris of the object.

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