7-ton meteorite exploded in the US sky

Theo APOn March 17, many people in many US states saw a bright “fireball” even though it was about 9am. When it exploded in the sky, many people panicked due to the loud sound.

The American Astronomical Society said it has received many reports from across states such as Wisconsin, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia or Ohio. The US Space Agency (NASA) later confirmed that a meteorite with a diameter of nearly 1.83 meters and weighing about 7 tons entered the atmosphere.

“This object really looks like a fireball, but it is a meteorite, or a small asteroid,” astronomer Carl Hergenrother, director of the American Astronomical Society, told Science Alert. “There are so many objects being launched that a lot of times what you see burning up are just satellites re-entering the atmosphere. However, usually they don’t glow particularly brightly like meteorites.”

“There may be a few small pieces left, but most of it has burned up in the atmosphere,” said meteorologist Brian Mitchell of the National Weather Service in Cleveland.

Mr. Hergenrother said that normally meteorites fall somewhere in the US about once a day, but smaller pieces of space dust can fall 10 times an hour. Scientists currently track meteors through a network of special cameras that record the night sky, but more and more people are recording images with mobile phones and security cameras at other times of the day.

Late last year, a meteorite, likely a comet fragment, burned up in the atmosphere, creating a green glow above the Great Lakes region. In July 2022, a green fireball appeared above New Zealand. In November of the same year, another meteorite fell into Lake Ontario, becoming the smallest asteroid ever measured with a diameter of only 40-60 cm.