QUEZON CITY, Philippines (May 2026) — A sudden flash of light streaking across the sky above Mayon Volcano turned heads Sunday night, and now scientists have an explanation.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) captured the event on its Ligñon Hill camera at 10:33 PM on May 25. The Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA) confirmed the following day that what people saw was a meteor entering Earth’s atmosphere, producing the kind of brilliant streak commonly known as a shooting star.
Why it looked so dramatic
Meteors enter the atmosphere at extreme speeds, and the friction generated by that plunge heats them so intensely they essentially vaporize. That heat also ionizes the surrounding air molecules, creating the glowing streak visible from the ground. Most meteors burn up completely at altitudes between 60 and 100 kilometers above sea level, well before reaching the ground.
Space rocks that are large enough to survive atmospheric entry and land on the surface are classified as meteorites. While meteors actually enter Earth’s atmosphere every day, the overwhelming majority never make it that far.
The Mayon Volcano backdrop made Sunday’s sighting particularly photogenic, with the volcano’s iconic cone silhouetted against the night sky as the meteor passed overhead.
So is this something to worry about?
Not particularly. PhilSA noted that tracking meteor trajectories is not straightforward, and that scientists globally rely on radar networks, optical cameras, and computational modeling to study them. There was no indication this event posed any threat.
