"Judging from the color of the fire meteor, it indeed could be a stony meteorite," Pan Weining said.
When a meteor body enters the Earth's atmosphere and burns at high temperatures, the flame can vary in color due to the different metal components it contains, similar to the principle of a metal's flame test.
Different metals may produce different colors when they burn, so some fire meteors appear green as they streak across the sky, while others are yellow or other colors when they fall and burn.
The fire meteor last night, however, did not emit any distinct color as it burned in the sky; if anything, it was somewhat white.
A few years ago, Pan Weining and others attended an outdoor event where they witnessed a fire meteor of a similar color, which turned out to be a stony meteorite once it hit the ground.
Of course, it's not absolute, and only after finding it and subjecting it to testing by an inspection agency can its composition be determined.
