At 11:20 am ET on January 1, 2022, residents at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was surprised with a loud boom and bright flash over the city. Authorities immediately started their investigation, and then on Monday, NASA confirmed that the explosion came from a meteor that was about three feet in diameter and was traveling at 45,000 miles per hour as it passed through the atmosphere and exploded.
Videos of the explosive event were also shared on various social media sites, showing the bright flash and the loud sound of the explosion. NASA said that the meteor explosion was equivalent to 30 tons of TNT simultaneously exploding.
New Year's Day in Pittsburgh Met With a Bang
In a tweet after the explosion on Saturday, Allegheny County officials wrote that the county 911 officials received reports of the loud bang and bright flash. NASA has confirmed the meteor explosion, noting that the event was not caused by strong lightning.
Local news outlet Pittsburgh's Action News 4 reported that if it were not for the cloudy weather, the explosion would have been visible in the daytime sky, which they estimated could be 100 times brighter than the full moon.
Residents in suburban Pittsburgh were shocked by the meteor exploding because they felt their homes shaking and rattling with a loud noise that rang out across the region. One resident, 42-year-old Jill, said she was sitting on her couch when there was suddenly a loud boom. She recalled that it was as if the house was exploding.
National Weather Service Pittsburgh also wrote in a tweet on Saturday that the flash does not appear to be part of a lightning event; instead, the closest explanation would be a meteor explosion above Pittsburgh.
In an interview with The New York Times, Pittsburgh Weather Service meteorologist Chris Leonardi told the news outlet that the meteor likely exploded or vaporized when it entered the Earth's atmosphere. After NASA's confirmation of the unexpected event, many people have turned to social media to share their experiences.
Other Incidents of Meteor Explosion
This rare event also happened in other places across the US. For instance, New York City saw an eruption of blue light in 2018 in what they initially believed to be an unidentified flying object but turned out to be an explosion of a transformer at a Con Edison substation. In 2015, scientists said that a 500-pound meteor streaked over the skies of western Pennsylvania, which triggered the sonic boom.
Moreover, an incident last October that shook homes in New Hampshire was thought to be caused by an earthquake by an aircraft passing. But satellite imagery showed that a meteor exploded in the atmosphere just above the state.
In Pittsburgh's case, no one ever saw anything or evidence pointing to an earthquake, which means a meteor explosion remains the best theory to explain the unusual event in the area.
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