BRIN Astronomer Confirms Meteor Fall Following Booming Sound in Cirebon

October 6, 2025 | 09:35 am

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A viral video on social media shows the alleged meteor falling in Cirebon, West Java on Sunday night, October 5, 2025. At least two recorded videos are circulating, depicting a fireball streaking down from the sky. The second video also shows a burst of fire on the side of the toll road, accompanied by narration alleging a meteor fell near the Ciperna Toll Road area on Sunday night.

Research Professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Thomas Djamaluddin, confirmed receiving information about the viral video on Sunday night. Initially, he commented, "But the information is incomplete to conclude the object."

About two hours later, Thomas confirmed that a celestial object, namely a meteor, had fallen. "I concluded that it was a fairly large meteor passing through the Kuningan - Cirebon Regency from the southwest at around 6:35 - 6:39 PM," he said.

He based his analysis on the testimony of residents, who reported hearing bangs in the Kuningan and Cirebon Regency areas. Another piece of information from the residents was the sound of a roar. "Some witnessed a fireball sliding, and there is CCTV footage at 6:35 PM," Thomas said, adding that vibrations were detected by the Cirebon Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) at 6:39 PM.

Thomas explained that the bangs heard by residents occurred as the meteor entered the lower atmosphere. The movement caused a shockwave in the form of loud bangs and was detected by the Cirebon BMKG. According to Thomas, the celestial object did not fall on land as shown in the viral video. "The meteor fell in the Java Sea," he said.

Meanwhile, according to the astronomy calendar on the SeaSky.org site, a Draconid meteor shower occurred between October 6-10, 2025, which is classified as minor because it only produces around 10 meteors per hour. The meteor shower is generated by dust particles left behind from the 21P Giacobini-Zinner comet. Draconid is an unusual meteor shower because the best time to observe it is in the afternoon. The peak of the meteor shower is on October 7.

Separately, Head of Forecasting, Data, and Information at BMKG Kertajati, Muhammad Syifaul Fuad, explained that from a meteorological standpoint, loud bangs could be caused by several factors such as lightning strikes, seismic activity, or landslides. However, he stated that the weather conditions in the Cirebon region and its surroundings at the time of the incident were reported as sunny with cloudy skies.

"Usually, the sound of an explosion or vibration can come from convective clouds due to lightning strikes. Based on the satellite image, there are no indications of convective clouds around the Cirebon region during the incident," he explained as reported by Antara. Fuad emphasized that until Sunday night, they had not recorded any extreme weather activity or significant meteorological phenomena in that area.

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