KARACHI: In the wee hours of Monday, the skies above Karachi lit up with a mysterious object falling from the sky resembling a thunderbolt. People took pictures and videos with their cell phones. Some who just couldn’t help it also added a pinch of extra sensation by resorting to Artificial Intelligence to generate an image of a quiet town about to be hit by a meteorite leaving behind a bright silver-blue trail.

That image made many question the genuineness of the incident. The image, incidentally, also became more popular than the actual pictures and footage taken at the time. According to the real videos, something bright fell from the sky and disappeared with a flash. Someone closing their gate after letting out the car caught it on camera, someone driving on a main road also caught it on the dash cam. A little before Sehri time, many were awake and alert to not miss the rare occurrence.

According to astronomy photographer Adeel Shafiq, the incident was very much real along with all the videos shared by those lucky enough to have caught it on camera. “So far I can only identify one photograph that I can tell was AI-generated,” he told Dawn.

“We have witnessed so many meteors and meteor showers that we identify the pattern and be sure that the videos are genuine,” said Mr Shafiq, who is also a member of the Karachi Astronomers Society.

Asked if all meteors are this brought, he said that it wasn’t the case. “But perhaps this one was bigger in size, maybe two to three metres long. The light generated from it was its burning from the friction generated as it enters the atmosphere,” he said.

Pointing out the difference between a meteor and a meteorite, he said. “Many are calling it a meteorite but a meteorite is one that hits the ground. A meteor is one that burns up in the air. It doesn’t fall to the ground.”

“It may not be a common occurrence in a city such as Karachi but we see lots of meteors in remote areas where there is hardly any population or city lights as well as from observatories,” he said. “The people of Karachi also are so busy in their work on the ground that they are not used to gazing upwards in the sky,” he laughed.

Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2025