What is a fireball, and how often does rare event occur? See known SC meteorites
The American Meteor Society received over 160 reports in the Southeast − including South Carolina and Georgia − of a fiery object streaking through the skies on June 26.
The object, identified later on as a fireball, "exploded 27 miles above West Forest, Georgia, unleashing an energy of about 20 tons of TNT," according to CBS News.
Bill Cooke, a lead at NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office, confirmed the fireball, observed before 12:30 p.m., was 3 feet in diameter, weighing more than a ton.
No injuries have been reported due to the fireball, although a home in Henry County, Georgia, was struck by debris suspected to be related to the meteor.
Here's the difference between a fireball and meteor.
Per FossilEra, a meteor is often called a "shooting star" or "falling star" since they appear as a streak of light, produced when a meteoroid enters Earth's atmosphere and vaporizes due to the intense heat caused by friction with air. A meteor is a visible atmospheric phenomenon that results from the meteor's swift entry and disintegration, meaning it is not a physical object.
A fireball is a meteor that is significantly brighter than normal meteors, outshining planet Venus. Ground-level rumbles known as sonic booms occur when a fireball explodes, according to EBSCO. Only a small number of meteors that enter the Earth's atmosphere are classified as fireballs.
Each day, several thousand meteors of fireball magnitude occur in the Earth's atmosphere, and the majority of them are difficult to observe since they take place over the oceans and uninhabited regions, with many masked by daylight, per the American Meteor Society. Fireballs that occur at night have less of a chance of being seen because there aren't as many people outside to notice them.
"Additionally, the brighter the fireball, the more rare is the event. As a general thumb rule, there are only about 1/3 as many fireballs present for each successfully brighter magnitude class, following an exponential decrease." said the American Meteor Society. "Experienced observers can expect to see only about 1 fireball of magnitude -6 or better for every 200 hours of meteor observing, while a fireball magnitude -4 can be expected about once every 20 hours or so."
Meteorites are fragments of space rocks like asteroids or comets that survive passing through Earth's atmosphere, landing on the surface. Before entering the atmosphere, they are called meteoroids, and can vary in size from tiny dust grains to large asteroids.
The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources listed the following records regarding meteorite occurrence within the state on their website:
1843: Achondrite, Bishopville
1844: Octahedrite, Ruff's Mountain, Newberry County
1849: Ataxite, Chesterville
1857: Octahedrite, Laurens County
1880: Octahedrite, Lexington County
1933: Chondrite, Cherokee Springs
The Greenville News reached out to NASA for a comment for this story, but did not receive a response.
Nina Tran covers trending topics for The Greenville News. Reach her via email at ntran@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Fireball and meteor: The difference, how to tell them apart
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