MOSCOW, October 27. /TASS/. A bright object that was observed in the skies over Russia’s capital Moscow on October 27 could be an asteroid, the solar astronomy laboratory of the Space Research Institute (IKI) of the Russian Academy of Sciences said on Telegram.

"A preliminary study of its trajectory shows that there were some unusual things. <…> It should be noted that studying this information has brought more questions than answers," researchers said.

Calculations show that the space object was moving north of Moscow, from west to east, and was visible for at least 25 seconds between 6:32:15 a.m. and 6:32:40 a.m. Moscow time (3:32:15 a.m. and 3:32:40 a.m. GMT). Its speed is estimated at between 14 and 30 kilometers per second, which, if the preliminary assessment is correct, "makes it almost certain that it was an asteroid."

At the same time, scientists emphasized that the object’s nature remains not entirely clear at this point.

Numerous photos and videos were posted on social media on Monday morning, showing a bright fireball flying above Moscow and the surrounding region at about 6:30 a.m. local time (3:30 a.m. GMT). Eyewitnesses and astronomy bloggers speculated that it could have been either a small meteorite about 10-20 centimeters in size or a space debris fragment.