Loud Boom, Bright Flashes Startle Indonesia’s Gorontalo: What Was It?
Fireball Over Gorontalo Sends Shock Wave Across the Night Sky
Kabarsaji.com – A powerful nighttime flash and a thunderous boom startled residents across much of Indonesia’s Gorontalo Province shortly after midnight on Saturday, September 12, 2026. The dramatic event, which lit up the sky and shook nearby homes, was caused by a large meteor entering Earth’s atmosphere at extraordinary speed.
Thomas Djamaluddin, an astronomy professor at the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), identified the object as a bolide: an especially bright fireball created when a sizeable meteor races through the atmosphere. Footage from residents, closed-circuit television recordings, and vibration data gathered by the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysical Agency (BMKG) supported that conclusion.
The event unfolded at roughly 12:20 a.m. local time, though video and sensor readings captured slightly different moments during the meteor’s passage and the arrival of its shock wave.
Why the Meteor Produced Such a Loud Explosion
Meteors can travel at more than 11,000 meters per second, equivalent to about 39,600 kilometers per hour. That speed is vastly beyond the approximately 340 meters per second, or 1,240 kilometers per hour, associated with the speed of sound.
As the object plunged into denser layers of the atmosphere, friction and compression heated it intensely, making it visible as a brilliant streak or flash. Its supersonic movement also generated a shock wave, which was responsible for the loud boom heard by residents.
“The sound of the boom was caused by the effect of a shock wave when the meteor entered the atmosphere at high speed, exceeding the speed of sound,” Thomas said.
A shock wave from a fast-moving object can arrive after the light has already been seen. Light travels almost instantly across the distances involved, while sound and pressure waves move far more slowly. This is why a person may notice a bright meteor first and hear its rumble or explosive crack moments later.
In this case, the wave was strong enough to make window panes vibrate in some locations. The experience led residents to compare the sound with heavy thunder or the impact of a very large object falling nearby.
Clouds and a Terminal Flash May Explain the Repeated Bursts of Light
Some recordings appeared to show several flashes rather than a single burst. Thomas said the meteor’s light likely passed through cloud formations, where reflections created the impression of multiple flashes.
The strongest burst may have been a terminal flash, the intense final glow that can occur when a meteor breaks apart or explodes after extreme heating and pressure. Such an event can briefly transform a dark sky into a strikingly bright scene, especially when the object is relatively large.
While most meteors burn up high in the atmosphere and pass unnoticed, a bolide can be visible over a broad area and may produce sound effects significant enough to alarm people on the ground. The Gorontalo event illustrates how a short-lived astronomical occurrence can feel immediate and disruptive to communities below it.
Why Cameras and BMKG Sensors Logged Different Times
Residents’ CCTV recordings placed the flashes at about 12:15 a.m. BMKG’s Telaga station in Gorontalo detected vibrations at around 12:18 a.m., while equipment in Kotamobagu recorded them at roughly 12:20 a.m.
The differences do not point to separate incidents. CCTV systems are not always set to precisely calibrated time, while the shock wave itself required time to travel from one location to another.
Thomas said the two-minute interval between the Gorontalo and Kotamobagu measurements reflected the movement of the atmospheric pressure wave. That also helps explain why there were no comparable accounts of the bright flash or booming sound from North Sulawesi.
“That is why there were no reports of the booming sound or bright flashes in North Sulawesi. The roughly two-minute difference was the time it took for the shock wave to travel from Gorontalo to Kotamobagu,” Thomas said.
An Object Estimated at About 10 Meters Across
Thomas estimated that the meteor measured around 10 meters in diameter. The estimate drew on a comparison between the vibrations from the Gorontalo event and an earlier incident in Bone, South Sulawesi, linked to an asteroid of similar size.
That size estimate refers to the incoming object before its destructive journey through the atmosphere. Objects entering at such speed experience enormous forces, and the visible fireball does not necessarily mean material reached the ground. The available evidence identifies the event as an atmospheric meteor phenomenon rather than an impact on land.
For people who witnessed it, however, the scientific explanation did little to lessen the surprise of the moment. Kayla Rahman, a resident of Gorontalo Utara, said everyone in her home was still awake when the sound arrived.
“We happened to all still be awake. At around 12:22 a.m. local time, the boom was very clear and briefly caused everyone in the house to panic,” Kayla Rahman said.
The Gorontalo fireball was a vivid reminder that Earth’s atmosphere regularly intercepts material from space. Most of it burns away harmlessly and invisibly, but occasionally a larger, faster object produces enough light, noise, and vibration to turn an ordinary night into a memorable celestial event.
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