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By Alice Gibbs
Senior Reporter
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A passenger flying out of Brussels Airport on March 8 captured dramatic footage of a bright fireball streaking across the sky—an event later confirmed to have been a meteor seen across several European countries.
Denis Maltyzov, from Berlin, Germany, was aboard Brussels Airlines Flight SN2589 when he noticed an intense flash outside the aircraft window during takeoff. Maltyzov said the moment was initially "frightening", as he believed something may have exploded near the plane.
“The moment happened at around 18:53 during takeoff. I was filming a timelapse through the airplane window when suddenly a very bright object appeared and then flashed intensely, almost like an explosion of light,” Maltyzov told Newsweek. “For a few seconds I honestly thought something had exploded near our aircraft, which was quite frightening.”
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The fireball was widely observed across Belgium, Germany, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, prompting confusion and alarm among some witnesses, before scientists confirmed it was a natural astronomical event.
After the flight landed, Maltyzov said the aircraft’s captain suggested the flash may have been debris burning up in the atmosphere.
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In his post, where he shared the incredible footage “shot by shot,” Maltyzov wrote: “I’m still a bit shaken while writing this."
Describing it as an "intense burst of light," he wrote: "I was filming a timelapse through the window, so the moment was actually captured on video. For a few seconds I honestly thought something had exploded close to our aircraft. I fly quite often, but this is the first time in my life I’ve genuinely felt scared on a plane.”
And reflecting on the whole celestial event, he added: “A rock that traveled billions of kilometers through space and burned up right in front of my eyes.”
Maltyzov later learned that many people across multiple countries had reported seeing the same phenomenon at roughly the same time.
“I learned that many people across Belgium, Germany and neighboring countries had seen the same fireball at roughly the same time, which suggests it was a meteor entering the atmosphere,” he said. He also updated his post once he learned more about the event, noting multiple people "reported a massive fireball with a long glowing tail, followed by a bright flash and even loud booms as it broke apart in the atmosphere.”
The European Space Agency (ESA) later confirmed that a very bright fireball was observed at approximately 18:55 CET on March 8, moving from southwest to northeast across Western Europe.
According to ESA, the object glowed for several seconds before breaking apart in the atmosphere and was recorded by meteor cameras as well as mobile phones and other devices, and it was audible from the ground.
ESA’s Planetary Defense team said it is using available data to estimate the size and trajectory of the object, which it currently assesses to have been a few meters in diameter. The agency noted that objects of this size strike Earth’s atmosphere relatively frequently and typically pose little risk.
Similar meteor‑related booms and fireballs have been reported elsewhere in recent days. In the United States, a loud boom felt across northeast Ohio on Tuesday morning was also linked to a meteor, according to meteorologists.
The National Weather Service’s forecasting office in Cleveland said Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) imagery suggested the sound was caused by a meteor entering the atmosphere. Local outlet WOIO reported the boom occurred shortly before 9 a.m. and was heard and felt by tens of thousands of people across northeast Ohio and into parts of Pennsylvania and New York, with a station meteorologist saying the noise was produced when the object broke the sound barrier.
Maltyzov said he shared the video on Instagram where it has been viewed over 1 million times, but he did not expect it to capture so much attention.
“I shared the video simply because it was such an extraordinary moment and I realized I had accidentally captured it on camera,” he said. “I did not expect the reaction it received. It’s quite surreal to see so many people interested in something that happened completely by chance.”
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