Georgia science museum studying meteorite seen over metro Atlanta
The Tellus Science Museum has acquired part of the unusual meteor that blasted across the metro Atlanta area last week.
Its entry was so intense that it triggered the Geostationary Lightning Mappers (GLM) aboard NOAA's GOES satellites—devices normally used to detect lightning.
The outer space rock was the 29th meteorite documented in Georgia and the second time one ever hit a home.
CARTERSVILLE, Ga. - A piece of outer space rock that fasciated people across the Southeast last week is now a part of Georgia's Tellus Science Museum's collection.
The museum announced that it has acquired the recovered meteorite that shot through the sky on June 26 before part of it landed in Henry County.
MORE: Why the daytime fireball meteor that blasted over Atlanta was a rare sight
The backstory
NASA says the meteor entered Earth's atmosphere at 12:25 p.m. EDT on June 26, first appearing 48 miles above Oxford, Georgia. Traveling southwest at an estimated 30,000 miles per hour, the object disintegrated at an altitude of 27 miles above West Forest, unleashing energy equivalent to about 20 tons of TNT.
The breakup produced a powerful pressure wave that reached the ground, creating loud booms and tremors that startled residents. According to NASA, "some large windows may have vibrated or even cracked." The fireball was caused by an asteroidal fragment approximately three feet in diameter and weighing over a ton.
Its entry was so intense that it triggered the Geostationary Lightning Mappers (GLM) aboard NOAA's GOES satellites—devices normally used to detect lightning. Doppler radar also picked up falling debris above Henry County.
Witnesses across Georgia and neighboring states—including as far south as Macon and as far north as Upstate South Carolina—reported seeing a flash of white light followed by what many described as an "earthquake." However, the U.S. Geological Survey confirmed no seismic activity occurred. Officials say the shaking was the result of a sonic boom.
Local perspective
A resident of Henry County, Georgia, reported a rock coming through their roof around the time they heard the sonic boom from the fireball. It left behind a hole in the ceiling about the size of a golf ball and a crack in a laminate floor at the home southeast of Atlanta, according to the National Weather Service office in Peachtree City, Georgia.
"We are presuming that a piece of the object fell through their roof," the weather service said.
Dashboard and doorbell cameras across several states in the southeastern U.S. states caught glimpses of the fireball that appeared to be plummeting straight down.
What they're saying
"We're very fortunate to have this piece," said Amy Gramsey, Tellus' director of curatorial services. "A meteorite hunter found the specimen on Friday, June 27, in Henry County. It's a 150-gram chondrite meteorite—a stony-type meteorite containing small mineral granules."
Officials with the Tellus Science Museum say that last Thursday's fall was the 29th meteorite documented in Georgia and the second incident of one hitting a home - the first being in MAy 2009 in Cartersville.
"Meteorite landings like this are pretty rare," said Tellus' astronomy program manager Karisa Zdanky. "Space rocks and other debris enter Earth's atmosphere often, but they usually burn up before reaching the ground – which is the requirement to be called a meteorite. It's uncommon to have a meteor so bright and so big that it can be witnessed in the day and produce such sizable meteorite fragments."
What's next
The new specimen has not been named yet, but Tellus staff are expecting it to be on display for the public by the end of the summer.
The Source
Information for this story came from previous FOX 5 reporting and a press release by Tellus Science Museum.
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