Within the early morning hours of Wednesday (Aug. 2), a fireball streaked throughout southeastern United States skies. And due to stargazers within the space, the occasion was captured on movie.
The American Meteor Society acquired 74 stories of a fireball on the evening of August’s Full Sturgeon Moon from Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina. Primarily based on the stories, the fireball appeared to fly throughout the sky whereas heading southeast.
Some stories additionally said the fireball created sonic booms that had been loud sufficient to rattle buildings and wake observers. Within the footage above, the fireball was captured streaking throughout the sky by Invoice Stewart (aka AstroSeabee) in West Virginia and by David Tiller in Tennessee.
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“I’ve by no means seen something prefer it. The preliminary flash was sensible and brighter than the road gentle within the yard I used to be standing in,” an observer named Dustin L. wrote to AMS. “That is why I appeared up and noticed it. The growth moments later was sufficient to startle me.”
“Mild brilliance was sufficient to overpower present full moon in east [sic],” reads one other report submitted by a Jack W.
It was initially speculated that the fireball was probably brought on by the Perseid meteor bathe or one in all two different at the moment lively showers. Nevertheless, its path didn’t line up with the radiant of any of these showers, or the purpose within the sky from which a meteor bathe originates.
Because it seems, the fireball was probably a comet fragment, in accordance with meteor skilled Invoice Cooke of NASA’s Meteoroid Atmosphere Workplace. Cooke informed Spaceweather.com that the fireball was brought on by a comet fragment round 1 foot (30 cm) in diameter with a weight near 75 kilos (34 kg).
“It entered Earth’s ambiance about 50 miles above the Kentucky city of Krypton (sure, actually), transferring roughly southeast at 37,000 miles per hour,” Cooke informed Spaceweather.com. “The article traveled 65 miles by way of the ambiance earlier than disintegrating 30 miles above Duffield, Virginia.”
Cooke added that, primarily based on acoustic information recorded by the College of Western Ontario, the fireball produced an explosion equal to round 2 tons of TNT and at its peak was 5 instances brighter than the full moon.
The id of the comet answerable for the fragment stays unknown.
