Latest news with #fireball
Yahoo
5 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
5 hours ago
- Science
- Yahoo
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@ This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Fireball and meteor: The difference, how to tell them apart
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
Residents express amazement after seeing mystery object streak across the sky
ATLANTA (AP) — More than 200 people across a half-dozen southern U.S. states have now reported witnessing a mysterious object streak across the sky on Thursday, but no one is certain exactly what it was. The object was likely either a meteor or space junk, with most sightings of the streak of light and fireball coming from Georgia and South Carolina around 12:30 p.m., according to a report from the National Weather Service office in Peachtree City, Georgia. People express amazement in witness accounts As of Friday afternoon, at least 215 reports of the object have poured into the American Meteor Society with many people expressing wonder and amazement in their reports. 'It was a bright fireball,' a woman in Bethlehem, Georgia, wrote. 'It did have a bright tail that disappeared with it, and left behind a smoke trail,' she added. 'I've never seen anything like it before.' A man in Milledgeville, Georgia, reported that 'I believe it hit the ground.' The roof of a Georgia home is pierced 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 in a brief statement on social media. 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. Broad daylight sighting is rare Meteors and other space debris frequently enter Earth's atmosphere, but it is rare for an object to be so bright it can easily be seen in broad daylight. Videos of the event showed clear skies on Thursday, allowing many to see the object falling. 'First time to ever see an event in daylight like this,' a man in Cumming, Georgia, north of Atlanta, said in his report to the meteor society. 'It was so bright in the middle of the day... brighter than the sun,' a woman in Dublin, Georgia reported. Bright fireballs are caused by friction as an object enters the atmosphere and slows down considerably. Almost all objects break into minuscule pieces before striking the ground, according to NASA.
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
Fireball may bring memories of past meteorites that fell in Florida
The American Meteor Society received nearly 150 reports of a meteor flashing through the daytime sky Thursday, June 26. Most of the reports were from Georgia and South Carolina, but a few reported seeing the fireball from Florida, Alabama, Tennessee and North Carolina. It's possible the "rock" that hit a Georgia home was meteorite associated with the fireball. Meteorites aren't very common in Florida, but there have been documented reports over the last 100 years, including three in this century, according to The Meteoritical Society. The NWS station in Peachtree City, Georgia, posted on Facebook, "It appears that either a meteor or space junk crossed the skies of north Georgia just before 12:30 p.m." June 26. The American Meteor Society logged more than 200 witness reports from North Florida up to North Carolina and Tennessee of a bright streak in the sky. Most of the reports were in northeastern Georgia and western South Carolina, at around 12:21 p.m. ET. Bill Cooke, the chief of NASA's Meteoroid Environments Office at the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, told The New York Times and local news outlets the meteor was about 3 feet in diameter and weighed more than 1 ton The Peachtree National Weather Service said "a citizen reported that a 'rock' fell through their ceiling around the time of the reports of the 'earthquake.'" "We are presuming that a piece of the object fell through their roof," the Peachtree NWS said. "Henry County EMA also reported that the object broke through the roof, then the ceiling, before cracking the laminate on the floor and stopping." While not as common as neighboring states, meteorites have been reported in Florida. The Meteoritical Society lists the following: Okechobee, 1916 2.2 pounds Eustis, 1918 1.1 pounds Bonita Springs, 1938 92 pounds Grayton, 1983 24.9 pounds Orlando, 2004 .39 pounds Tiger Tail, 2015 .08 pounds Osceola, 2016 In total, eight stones were found with a combined weight of 2.4 pounds A "confirmed fall" followed a "large daytime fireball (that) streaked across the sky in northern Florida" on Jan. 24, 2016. Designated as Osceola, eight meteorites were found in the Osceola Wildlife Management Area west of Jacksonville, with a combined weight of 2.4 pounds, according to The Meteoritical Society ➤ See photos A meteoroid is a rock in space. It becomes a meteor when it enters Earth's atmosphere and is commonly called a "shooting star" or "fireball." If it hits the ground, it's a meteorite, NASA said. "Scientists estimate about 48.5 tons of meteoritic material falls on Earth each day," according to NASA. "Almost all the material is vaporized in Earth's atmosphere, leaving a bright trail fondly called 'shooting stars.' "Several meteors per hour can usually be seen on any given night. Sometimes the number increases dramatically —these events are called meteor showers." The Bootid meteor shower is an unpredictable shower that peaks today, June 27, although it'll remain active until about July 2, according to The best times to catch the Bootid meteor shower are a couple of hours before dawn and after sunset, according to Forbes. Contributing: Eric Lagatta, C.A. Bridges, USA Today Network-Florida This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Fireball in the sky: List of meteorites that hit Florida
Al Arabiya
12 hours ago
- Climate
- Al Arabiya
Residents express amazement after seeing mystery object streak across the sky
More than 200 people across a half-dozen southern US states have now reported witnessing a mysterious object streak across the sky on Thursday, but no one is certain exactly what it was. The object was likely either a meteor or space junk, with most sightings of the streak of light and fireball coming from Georgia and South Carolina around 12:30 p.m., according to a report from the National Weather Service office in Peachtree City, Georgia. People expressed amazement in witness accounts. As of Friday afternoon, at least 215 reports of the object have poured into the American Meteor Society, with many people expressing wonder and amazement in their reports. 'It was a bright fireball,' a woman in Bethlehem, Georgia, wrote. 'It did have a bright tail that disappeared with it and left behind a smoke trail,' she added. 'I've never seen anything like it before.' A man in Milledgeville, Georgia, reported, 'I believe it hit the ground.' The roof of a Georgia home is pierced. 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 in a brief statement on social media. Dashboard and doorbell cameras across several states in the southeastern US states caught glimpses of the fireball that appeared to be plummeting straight down. Broad daylight sighting is rare. Meteors and other space debris frequently enter Earth's atmosphere, but it is rare for an object to be so bright it can easily be seen in broad daylight. Videos of the event showed clear skies on Thursday, allowing many to see the object falling. 'First time to ever see an event in daylight like this,' a man in Cumming, Georgia, north of Atlanta, said in his report to the meteor society. 'It was so bright in the middle of the day… brighter than the sun,' a woman in Dublin, Georgia, reported. Bright fireballs are caused by friction as an object enters the atmosphere and slows down considerably. Almost all objects break into minuscule pieces before striking the ground, according to NASA.
