A fireball slid across the New England region of the United States (note: the region in the northeast corner of the continental United States, bordering the Atlantic Ocean and bordering Canada, including six U.S. states) and the Canadian night sky on Sunday (March 7), releasing an energy equivalent to about 440 pounds of TNT.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Meteor Observatory reported Monday (8) that local residents witnessed a meteor streak over Vermont and Massachusetts, and that the space rock “shattered violently, creating a pressure wave that shook buildings and produced a sound that could be heard by people near its trajectory. “
According to the agency’s observations, the meteor, initially thought to be either an asteroid fragment, appeared at about 5:38 p.m. EDT Sunday, moving at 47,000 mph, but further analysis reduced its speed value to 42,000 mph.
“As the object …… penetrated deeper into the atmosphere, pressure developed in front of it, while a partial vacuum formed behind it. At an altitude of about 30 miles, the pressure difference between the front and rear exceeds its structural strength.” NASA Meteor Observatory wrote.
According to the report, the meteor appeared at an altitude of 52 miles above the Mount Mansfield State Forest in the “Green Mountain State,” moved northeastward, traversed 33 miles in the upper atmosphere, reached Beach Hill and burned out 33 miles above it. The “Green Mountain State” is Vermont’s nickname.
In addition, the pressure waves from its breakup may have caused a slight oscillation that could have been captured by the infrasound station.
“We measured infrasound from three nearby stations, and based on signal amplitude and duration, the fireball shattered (produced) with an energy of 440 pounds (200 kilograms) of TNT,” the government organization wrote, “and we combined this energy with velocity to obtain the mass and size of the object — 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms) and 6 inches (15 centimeters) in diameter.”
The American Meteor Society (AMS) from New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts and Canada received more than a hundred sighting reports, WMUR reported.
The fireball was captured by a webcam at Burlington International Airport, as seen in a video of the event posted by Twitter user Jeremy LaClair, and confirmed by other witnesses with their own accounts.
Facebook user Shannon Lemley-Willis shared that she heard a “boom” in Johnson, Vermont.
“The kids were playing outside and said it was a ‘big truck crash,'” she said. She said.
“I saw it clear as day in Watertown, Massachusetts.” Vermont Facebook user Dan Nystedt wrote, “I think it must have been something much larger than a standard ‘meteor’ to have such good visibility when it wasn’t quite dark yet.”
“My Home is in Colchester (Colchester). I saw it from my window at home looking east towards Mt Mansfield.” Mathew Hourigan said on Facebook that he “heard a sonic boom” and that it was “super bright white and split into pieces.”
Loretta King (Loretta King) shared on Facebook, “I was driving home from my sister’s house in St. Albans (StAlbans) when I saw this through my car windshield.”
St. Albans, located in northwestern Vermont, is the county seat of Franklin County.
Carla Sanders wrote in a Facebook post, “My son Andrew saw this over Maine. First it was a small meteor, then a fireball.”
According to the American Meteor Society, a “fireball” is a meteor with a brightness greater than -4, or the brightness of Venus in the morning or night sky.
A meteor is a streak of light seen when an asteroid or meteoroid enters the Earth’s atmosphere. According to NASA, if an asteroid or meteoroid does not burn up before impact, it is called a meteorite.
Recent Comments