Technology news and discussion on TalkFuse.
Meteor — described as ‘Biggest ball of fire’ by shocked witnesses — lights up sky over Tennessee, NASA says
A small fragment from an asteroid blazed across the sky over Tennessee on Thursday evening, drawing reports from startled witnesses. NASA said it vaporised in the atmosphere, showing how even a tiny piece of space rock can produce a dramatic fireball.
First seen above Robbinsville, North Carolina, at about 7.45pm, it travelled roughly 120 miles towards East Ridge, Tennessee, in under 10 seconds at around 47,000 miles per hour. It disintegrated about 25 miles above the ground; NASA estimated the fragment was two inches across and weighed less than half a pound. The agency tracked it with cameras in its All Sky Fireball Network and said it was not part of the Taurid meteor shower.
In short
- A small asteroid fragment lit up skies over Tennessee.
- It travelled about 120 miles in under 10 seconds.
- NASA said it was not part of the Taurid shower.
Explained simply
Meteors are streaks of light made when pieces of space rock enter Earth’s atmosphere and heat up. Most fragments burn away high above the ground; a particularly bright meteor is often called a fireball.
The rocks can come from asteroids, which orbit the Sun, or from debris left behind by comets. NASA’s All Sky Fireball Network uses cameras to record bright meteors and help estimate where they came from and how they moved.
A meteor that survives its passage through the atmosphere and reaches the ground is called a meteorite. Most small fragments disintegrate before then, so a bright display can be dramatic without posing a danger to people on the ground.