There were two strong explosions reported over Vinales and the Pinar del Rio area in western Cuba on Friday afternoon before small black stones fell to the ground, witnesses said. The largest fragment of about 11 centimeters (4 inches) was found in a small crater.

The meteorite had been seen flying over the Florida Keys earlier on Friday, according to the US National Weather Service in Key West.

Read more: Greenland: Massive 31-kilometer crater discovered beneath ice

Some witnesses said they saw a ball of fire in the sky and others said they felt the walls of their houses shake as they heard a loud noise in the sky.

The head of Cuba's Institute of Geophysics said a meteorite or meteorite fragments struck an area near the Mural of Prehistory in Vinales and that a team was heading to the area to take samples.

At the same time, people in the city of Matanzas, east of the capital, Havana, saw a sphere about a meter in diameter fall into the sea.

Read more: Piece of the moon sells for $600,000 at auction

Meteorites are solid pieces of debris from objects such as comets, asteroids or meteoroids that come from outer space and survive their passage through the atmosphere to reach the surface of the Earth.

Cuba has recorded six other meteorites, the last three in 1938, 1974 and 1994.

Summer is shooting star season You could almost set your clock to them Every summer, a large number of shooting stars burn up in our atmosphere. Their names derive from the constellations in our night sky where they appear. On August 12 most of the Perseids will come down, named after the constellation of Perseus. July 28 was already the high point of the Aquariids, named after Aquarius.

Summer is shooting star season That's how they come about The dates for the shooting star showers are the same every year, because they're in line with the solar calendar. Every year on the same day, Earth passes through trails of dust left behind by comets.

Summer is shooting star season Tiny particles - shining bright This is what happens when tiny dust particles enter our atmosphere and burn up. These meteors only have a diameter of one millimeter to one centimeter. The bigger they are, the more beautiful the shooting star appears in the sky.

Summer is shooting star season Not just in the summer There are also times in the winter when Earth passes through trails of comet dust. Then the chances of seeing a shooting star are good, as well — for example in November and December. That's when the Leonids (with their high point on November 17) and the Geminids (December 14) hit our planet.

Summer is shooting star season Getting away from the city lights The best place to observe the shooting stars is far away from artificial light sources, somewhere in nature on a warm summer evening, perhaps, provided there is not constant rain.

Summer is shooting star season For tougher nature lovers Those not afraid of putting on warm winter clothing and going out at night have another option: Enjoy the shooting stars on a cold winter night on top of a mountain. Clear skies and high pressure weather systems make for optimal conditions.

Summer is shooting star season Don't forget your wishes Even if you're watching shooting stars purely for scientific interest, don't forget to wish someone something good, when you see a meteor. Important: Don't tell anybody, though, otherwise your good intentions will not come true. Author: Fabian Schmidt



jm/bw (EFE, AP)

Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here.</s>Here's a picture of some of the fragments from the meteor that likely exploded over the province of Pinar del Río, near the town of Viñales, Cuba. #flwx #KeyWest #FloridaKeys #meteor https://t.co/QNAEr8cEVN — NWS Key West (@NWSKeyWest) February 1, 2019

@NWSKeyWest radar may have detected the meteor that affected western Cuba earlier today. At 121 pm, a signature was detected near Viñales, Cuba, at a height of over 26,000 ft above ground level. #flwx #KeyWest #FloridaKeys #meteor pic.twitter.com/R2JIlVwpsS — NWS Key West (@NWSKeyWest) February 1, 2019

A meteorite possibly struck western Cuba on Friday, according to the National Weather Service in Key West, Florida.The NWS said in a tweet that its radar "may have detected the meteor" near Vinales, Cuba. The service said on Twitter earlier Friday it received reports about a meteor being seen in the sky across the Florida Keys.Residents in Vinales, Cuba, heard a "large explosion" Friday afternoon. The explosion has not been confirmed to be from a meteorite, but the Cuban government is investigating.There were no reports of any injuries.In 2013, a meteor blast shook Russia's Urals region. Buildings lost windows and walls tumbled as the sonic wave from the explosion reverberated through the region.More than 1,000 people were injured, including more than 200 children, according to news reports. Many of them were hit by flying glass.</s>Residents and tourists in a town in western Cuba saw a flare pass through the sky and heard an explosion Friday in what officials said was a meteorite strike.Witnesses reported seeing a ball of fire and a smoke trail in a clear midday sky, and a rain of black stones fell on the tourist town of Vinales and other parts of Pinar del Rio province. Explosions were also heard and a smoke trail seen in Havana. There were no reports of damage or injuries."We were coming from the center ... and we saw a ball of fire cross the sky," said Spanish tourist Jesus Nicolas, 34, in Havana. "Sure it was a meteorite and a very big one."Amid speculation on social media, state media in Cuba denied that a plane had crashed and called it a "natural, physical phenomenon."Later Friday, a statement from Cuba's Ministry of Science and the Environment read on a nightly newscast confirmed that it was a meteorite strike.Efren Jaimez Salgado, head of the Environmental Geology, Geophysics and Risks department of Cuba's Institute of Geophysics and Astronomy, earlier told state newspaper Granma that preliminary information suggests a meteorite or meteorite fragments struck an area near the Mural of Prehistory in Vinales and that a team was heading to the area to take samples.Photos published showed small black stones which when split open had dark red veins.People in the archbishopric of Pinar del Rio confirmed that two strong explosions were heard and in rural areas of the province rumblings were heard and some houses shuddered.-----</s>Here's a picture of some of the fragments from the meteor that likely exploded over the province of Pinar del Río, near the town of Viñales, Cuba. #flwx #KeyWest #FloridaKeys #meteor https://t.co/QNAEr8cEVN — NWS Key West (@NWSKeyWest) February 1, 2019

@NWSKeyWest radar may have detected the meteor that affected western Cuba earlier today. At 121 pm, a signature was detected near Viñales, Cuba, at a height of over 26,000 ft above ground level. #flwx #KeyWest #FloridaKeys #meteor pic.twitter.com/R2JIlVwpsS — NWS Key West (@NWSKeyWest) February 1, 2019

Residents and tourists in the town of Vinales in western Cuba say they saw a flare pass through the sky and heard an explosion in what state media say may have been a meteorite.The ball of fire and smoke trails appeared in a clear midday sky Friday and residents said there was a rain of small black stones that did not cause any material or human damage in Vinales in Pinar del Rio province. People said they also heard explosions in Havana.Amid speculation on social media, Cuban state media denied that any planes had crashed, calling it a "natural, physical phenomenon."State-run Juventud Rebelde said a team of specialists from Cuba's Geophysics and Astronomy Institute had been sent to Pinar del Rio to study a possible meteor strike.</s>HAVANA, Cuba — Residents and tourists in the town of Vinales in western Cuba say they saw a flare pass through the sky and heard an explosion in what state media say may have been a meteorite.

The ball of fire and smoke trails appeared in a clear midday sky Friday and residents said there was a rain of small black stones that did not cause any material or human damage in Vinales in Pinar del Rio province. People said they also heard explosions in Havana.

Amid speculation on social media, Cuban state media denied that any planes had crashed, calling it a "natural, physical phenomenon."

State-run Juventud Rebelde said a team of specialists from Cuba's Geophysics and Astronomy Institute had been sent to Pinar del Rio to study a possible meteor strike.</s>A meteorite crashed down in western Cuba this afternoon following reports of an object seen streaking across the sky over the Florida Keys.

Locals say the impact rocked Viñales, Pinar del Río with a ‘large explosion’ that shattered windows in some homes. No injuries have been reported.

Several residents are now sharing images of what they believe to be fragments of the space rock.

Residents of Cuba and the Florida keys took to social media to report what they’d seen and share images of the black rocks they suspect are bits of the meteorite, such as the one above

THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF SPACE ROCKS An asteroid is a large chunk of rock left over from collisions or the early solar system. Most are located between Mars and Jupiter in the Main Belt. A comet is a rock covered in ice, methane and other compounds. A meteor is what astronomers call a flash of light in the atmosphere when debris burns up. This debris itself is known as a meteoroid. Most are so small they are vapourised in the atmosphere. If any of this meteoroid makes it to Earth, it is called a meteorite.

‘We’re receiving reports that a meteor was seen in the sky across the Florida Keys,’ NWS Key West tweeted Friday afternoon amid mounting questions from locals who saw the smoking object fly overhead.

‘It appears that a meteorite impact occurred in western Cuba, near the town of Viñales, Pinar del Río, earlier this afternoon.’

The impact occurred at around 1:20 p.m. local time.

Residents of Cuba and the Florida Keys took to social media to report what they’d seen and share images of the black rocks they suspect are bits of the meteorite.

‘Only in Cuba does an apparent meteorite crash and you happen to know the person who’s house was hit,’ Patrick Oppman, CNN’s Cuba correspondent, tweeted Friday afternoon after reporting that there were no known injuries.

While the exact source of the meteor is unclear, the American Meteor Society predicted meteor activity from a slew of radiants for this week.

The radiant is the area from which meteors appear to originate in the sky.

According to the AMS, this week was expected to bring as many as four meteors per hour for southern-latitude viewers, as seen from dark skies.

‘Hourly meteor rates for evening observers this week is near 3 as seen from mid-northern latitudes (45N) and 4 as seen from tropical southern locations (25S),’ the AMS forecast says.

‘For morning observers the estimated total hourly rates should be near 7 as seen from mid-northern latitudes and 10 from the southern tropics.'</s>A meteorite may have hit western Cuba on Friday, the United States National Weather Service said. "Radar may have detected the meteor that affected western Cuba earlier today. At 1.21pm, a signature was detected near Vinales, Cuba, at a height of over 7,900m above ground level," the service's branch in Key West, Florida, tweeted. There were no injuries from the reported incident, CNN's Havana bureau chief Patrick Oppmann wrote on Twitter. "Residents of Vinales, Cuba, heard a large explosion this afternoon and say a small meteorite may have hit the town," Mr Oppmann said. A video uploaded to YouTube shows a vapour trail from the purported meteorite. The photos released by Tele Pinar show blackened fragments of what are said to be pieces of the meteorite. Vinales is a popular destination for tourists located some 180km south-west of Havana.</s>A meteor broke apart over western Cuba on Friday, hurtling numerous pieces of various sizes to the ground in several towns in Pinar del Rio province, the state-run Granma newspaper reported.

One meteorite landed with a “loud explosion” in the town of Viñales, Granma said.

Researchers from several Cuban agencies, including the Institute of Geophysics and Astronomy, confirmed the meteorite strikes, Granma reported.

There were no reports of any injuries.

The US National Weather Service began tweeting about the event Friday afternoon, eventually saying that radar may have detected the meteor at 1:21 p.m. ET at an altitude of about 26,000 feet.

The service said on Twitter earlier Friday it received reports about a meteor being seen in the sky across the Florida Keys.

In 2013, a meteor blast shook Russia’s Urals region. Buildings lost windows and walls tumbled as the sonic wave from the explosion reverberated through the region.

More than 1,000 people were injured, including more than 200 children, according to news reports. Many of them were hit by flying glass.</s>A meteorite strike has hit just outside the city of Vinales in western Cuba.

The biggest pieces of rock were between 20 and 30 centimetres wide.

No one was reported hurt.

A loud explosion was heard in several localities in the western province of Pinar del Rio, said a member of the National Institute of Astronomy.

Many Cubans shared photos and videos of the meteorite on social media on Friday afternoon, soon after it fell at 2pm local time.

The meteorite was spotted by US weather officials earlier on Friday flying over the neaby Florida Keys.</s>A meteor has rocked the skies of western Cuba, exploding mid-air, shattering windows and raining charred meteorite rocks on people’s homes. Before its spectacular demise, the space rock was seen flying above Florida.

The meteor exploded near the town of Viñales, in the Pinar del Río province, Friday, with witnesses reporting hearing two loud blasts as it disintegrated. The body left a huge trail of smoke in the sky and showered the ground with small rocks.

The terrifying celestial event took place in the clear light of day, and locals managed to catch the sky spectacle on their mobile phones.

Local channel TelePinar’s reporter Fátima Rivera Amador was one of the first people to post what looks like pieces of meteorite. Close-up pictures of her holding charred rocks with whitish material on the inside have been shared on social media.

Just before the explosion above Cuba, the meteor was observed from the US. The National Weather Service in Key West said that it was seen over the Florida Keys, as far north as Marathon.

The explosion, which reportedly rattled some windows in the town, has also caused a great deal of confusion, with some outlets first reporting it as a crash of a large plane.

An “independent journalist” Ignacio Luis Gonzalez Vidal went even further and claimed that it was a military aircraft full of Cuban soldiers returning from Venezuela. No evidence to back up the bold claim was provided.
A meteorite strikes near the Cuban town of Viñales, in the western province of Pinar del Río, after sightings of a fireball over the Florida Keys. The last confirmed meteorite to hit Cuba was in 1994.