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Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Rare daytime fireball bright enough to be seen from orbit may have punched a hole in a house in Georgia
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. A large meteor that triggered a spectacular daytime fireball over the southeastern U.S. may have survived its dramatic passage through Earth's atmosphere to punch through the roof of a Georgia home. The fireball was spotted over the southeastern U.S. at 12:25 EDT on Friday, (1625 GMT), visibly flaring as the extreme heat of atmospheric friction overwhelmed the ancient chunk of solar system debris. Its descent was bright enough to be seen by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAAs) GOES-19 Earth observation satellite, using an instrument designed to map flashes of lightning from orbit. "Daylight fireballs are rare in that it takes a large object (larger than a beachball compared to your normal pea-sized meteor) to be bright enough to be seen during the day," said Robert Lunsford of the American Meteor Association in an email to "We probably only average one per month worldwide, so perhaps one out of every 3,000 reports occurs during the day." The meteor was first spotted 48 miles (77 kilometers) above the town of Oxford, Georgia travelling at around 30,000 mph (48,000 km/h), according to NASA Meteoroid Environment Office lead Bill Cooke, via CBS News. Lunsford noted that the fireball may have been associated with the daylight beta Taurid shower, which peaks in late June as Earth passes through the trail of cosmic debris shed by the ancient solar system comet 2P/Encke. Footage of the event led many to speculate that fragments of the meteor may have survived its bruising passage through Earth's atmosphere. The hours that followed saw photos circulate online purporting to show the damage that a fragment of the meteorite caused when it smashed through the roof of a home in Henry County, Georgia. "Being much larger than your average meteor also means that it has a better chance of producing fragments on the ground," explained Lunsford "We look for reports of sound such as thunder or sonic booms to have confidence that fragments of the original fireball survived down to the lower atmosphere and perhaps all the way to the ground. Therefore the photograph of the hole in the roof is probably associated with this fireball." If verified, the Georgia meteorite certainly wouldn't represent the first time that a daylight beta Daylight Taurid left a mark on our planet. Lunsford noted that a particularly large meteor that some scientists believe to be associated with the annual shower detonated in a powerful airburst 6 miles (9.6 kilometers) over Russian Siberia in June 1908. The force of the explosion sparked massive forest fires and flattened roughly 80 million trees in what has since become known as the 'Tunguska Event'. Editor's Note: If you capture a photo or video footage of a meteor and want to share it with readers, then please send it, along with your name, comments, and details of your experience to spacephotos@
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Fireball seen as meteorite streaks through sky over Georgia and South Carolina
A fireball, or a bright meteorite, was seen across the southeastern United States on Thursday and later exploded over Georgia, creating booms heard by residents in the area, according to NASA. The American Meteor Society said it received more than 160 reports of a fireball sighting from observers in Georgia and South Carolina at 12:25 p.m. ET. The meteor was first seen at an altitude of 48 miles above the town of Oxford, Georgia, moving southwest at 30,000 miles per hour, said Bill Cooke, a lead at NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. The fireball later exploded 27 miles above West Forest, Georgia, unleashing an energy of about 20 tons of TNT. Cooke said the fireball was 3 feet in diameter and weighed more than a ton (2,000 pounds). "The resulting pressure wave propagated to the ground, creating booms heard by many in that area," Cooke said in a statement. When a space rock enters the atmosphere on its own and burns up, it's called a meteor. It's a meteorite if it survives the trip and makes contact with the ground before burning up. Those that appear especially bright are called fireballs, according to NASA. This daylight fireball on Thursday could be a member of the Beta Taurid meteor shower, which includes meteors that are rarely seen and are typically active from late June to early July, peaking around June 25, said Robert Lunsford of the American Meteor Society. "I would estimate that we receive reports of one daylight event per month from all over the world," Lunsford told CBS News. "I would say one out [of] every 700 fireball events involves a fireball seen during daylight hours. So these events are rare, and most people go a lifetime without seeing one." A fireball during the evening was seen over vast sections of the eastern U.S. and parts of Canada in February 2024. Hegseth slams Iran strikes initial assessment that contradicts Trump's take Young Cuban girl asks Trump to lift travel ban stopping her from joining mom in U.S. Anna Wintour steps back from editorial role at U.S. Vogue
