Mysterious explosion turns Russian night into day

A dashboard camera in Russia has captured the moment the night sky was briefly transformed into brilliant daylight – but no one knows for sure what caused it to happen.

The November 11 video shows a driver cruising along a relatively quiet highway near the city of Yekaterinburg when night suddenly becomes day for around 10 seconds.

Planetary science expert Dr Trevor Ireland from Australian National University said the phenomenon was likely caused by an asteroid or comet no bigger than a small child.

"It was certainly a good light show," he said.

"Given there was no reported damage, it looks like it burnt out in the upper atmosphere so it was likely an asteroid or comet no bigger than a metre to begin with."

But a second video has emerged casting doubt on the theory the explosion was of interstellar origin.

The second angle shows a small dot as the light subsides, suggesting it may have been caused on the ground.

On February 2013 a 20-metre meteorite the equivalent of 30 Hiroshima nuclear bombs exploded over the southern Russian town of Chelyabinsk, less than 200 kilometres from where the possible atmospheric phenomenon occurred.

The Chelyabinsk meteor temporarily glowed 30 times brighter than the sun leaving people within a 100 kilometre radius with skin and retinal burns.