Residents from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, New York, and even Quebec in Canada saw a massive fireball that flew across the Vermont sky.
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NASA researchers claim the fireball had a speed of 42,000 miles per hour before breaking up some 30 miles above the sea.
Various residents from across East Coast reported seeing a white fireball with a yellowish-green tail behind it. Residents in Vermont reported hearing an explosion and experiencing hefty shock waves.
The fireball allegedly released 440 pounds of TNT after its explosive journey through the atmosphere. This indicated that the meteor weighed about 10 pounds and had a diameter of around 6 inches. This was according to NASA Meteor Watch and the updates they provided on social media about the meteor.
What Was That Bright Light Moving Fast In The Sky?
After hearing loud booms as the meteor flamed through the blue sky, news organizations in Vermont reported receiving scores of phone calls from readers and viewers. According to the Burlington Free Press, some netizens compared the meteor's flight to that of a firing range.
Local news station WCAX said Burlington Airport's camera recorded the fast-moving object. NASA mentioned that it was expecting to obtain the video of the celestial movement.
Chris Hrotic, a writer on NASA's initial post about the incident, told LiveScience NASA had posted information to Facebook about the event. Hrotic said he was lucky enough to hear and see it along the Missisquoi River at the Missisquoi Wildlife Refuge in Swanton, Vermont, right before sunset.
According to the commenter, no noisy boom was discovered, as had been recorded by others. However, he heard a roaring sound that caused the commenter to look up at precisely the right time. Hrotic described it as "completely magnificent" and "very light."
Fireball over northern Vermont Eyewitnesses in the NorthEast and Canada are reporting seeing a bright fireball this... Posted by NASA Meteor Watch on Sunday, 7 March 2021
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Fireball Over Vermont and Other Parts of Northern America Explained by NASA
According to NASA, the space rock slammed into Earth's atmosphere at a speed of about 42,000 mph. At 5:38 p.m. EST, it erupted over the state's northern portion as a brilliant kind of fireball. This was just when the sun was beginning to sink. According to experts, the item was about the size of a bowling ball.
According to NASA, the shock wave was caused by "meteor fragmentation," which occurred as a result of the friction it encountered in the atmosphere. This particular bowling ball-sized chunk of another larger parent fireball was said to have traveled through the atmosphere at about 55 times the speed of sound. According to reports, pressure rose up in front of it, causing a vacuum to build behind it. It was later said that the differential's tension caused the rock to explode.
According to The Boston Globe, the American Meteor Society got 110 accounts of a fireball seen over New England and Canada, including those in Massachusetts.
Newsweek said NASA classified the meteor as a "fireball." Fireballs usually have a brightness greater than negative four, or the brightness of Venus in the morning or evening sky. The flash we see as a comet or meteoroid crosses Earth's atmosphere is known as a meteor, also known as a shooting star. Just about 5% of a meteoroid's initial mass arrives on Earth as a meteorite.
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