Scientists find meteorite in Texas from fireball that exploded with the force of 8 tons of TNT
Scientists have found a meteorite from a 1,000-pound space rock that exploded over Texas with the force of 8 tons of TNT this month.
At any given moment, the Earth is being bombarded by pieces of organic space debris known as meteoroids. Fortunately, most meteoroids are tiny, with a typical size ranging from a grain of sand and a pebble, and they don't typically pose a threat to the planet or the life on it.
But on Feb. 15, a much larger meteoroid slammed into Earth's atmosphere, and fragments of it rained down across Texas. NASA's Johnson Space Center confirmed the event in a statement, which noted that the meteoroid likely measured about 2 feet (0.6 meters) across and weighed about 1,000 pounds (454 kilograms) when it entered the atmosphere.
Related: What Are Meteorites?
The event took place in the skies above McAllen, Texas, a town about 60 miles [96] west of Brownsville along the Mexico border. Around 5:30 p.m. CST (2330 GMT) on Feb. 15, local law enforcement agencies received reports of a loud boom, and Houston Air Traffic Control received meteor reports from two aircraft, per Hidalgo County Sheriff Eddie Guerra.
The following day, NASA issued its statement confirming the event, with NASA Meteor Watch sharing additional details in a Facebook post. The meteoroid was traveling about 27,000 mph (43,452 kph) and exploded with the force of 8 tons of TNT at an altitude of about 21 miles (34 km). (For comparison, the largest non-nuclear warhead ever detonated by the U.S. military, the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast, exploded with the force of 11 tons of TNT.)
While most meteors burn up before their fragments reach the surface, the Feb. 15 meteor produced several meteorites (fragments of space rock that reach the ground), according to NASA. The American Meteor Society confirmed that planetary science researcher and meteorite hunter Robert Ward discovered the first meteorite from the event near El Sauz, Texas.
The event marked the third large meteor event in three days; on Feb. 13, a three-foot (one-meter) asteroid lit up the night skies in France and England, while on Feb. 14, a fireball was recorded over southern Italy.
NASA notes that once they're on the ground, meteorites cool quickly and generally don't pose a risk to humans. If you find a suspected meteorite, NASA asks you to report it to the Smithsonian Institution, which maintains the national collection of meteorites.
Follow Stefanie Waldek on Twitter @StefanieWaldek.
WATCH | Door cam records crashing of half-ton meteor in Texas
A door cam installed in the backyard of a person's house in Texas McAllen recorded the crashing of a part of a meteor.
In the footage of the door cam shared by Twitter user @disdikmark, a loud boom of the meteor crash can be heard in the backyard. As per reports, the object that caused the loud boom was a half-ton meteor (454 kg) which crashed in the area. The Twitter user, while posting the video, wrote in the caption, “You can hear the meteorite explosion."
After the video was shared, NASA confirmed the crashing of a meteorite like an atmospheric fireball near McAllen, Texas around 5 pm EST on February 15. As per NASA experts, the object that fell was a meteoroid which roughly weighed 1,000 pounds and had a diameter of about two feet.
"The meteor seen in the skies above McAllen is a reminder of the need for NASA and other organisations to increase our understanding and protection of Earth, to combine scientific and engineering expertise to advance human space exploration, to integrate terrestrial and planetary research for furthering our understanding of the solar system, and to promote successful space missions by mitigating risk,” the NASA added.
After the video of the meteor crashing was shared on Twitter, it received more than one lakh views. The clip has also received several likes and comments.
WATCH | Meteor lights up the sky over English Channel
One user wrote, "Oh my goodness!!!! Hope everyone is ok!!! Thanks for sharing." "The birds. When wildlife flees, you know something bad is happening," said another.
A third user stated, "My parents live in mission on Bentsen road, mile 9, and my dad and brother were outside the house, and they heard like a thunder sound."
(With inputs from agencies)
Fragment of 1,000-pound meteor that exploded over Texas could reveal new insights about our solar system
A hefty meteor weighing around the same as a grand piano recently exploded in the skies above Texas, potentially showering the surrounding area with smaller fragments. One of these meteorite chunks has already been recovered and could help reveal more about our cosmic neighborhood, experts say.
The meteor, which was likely a small asteroid, entered Earth's atmosphere on Feb. 15 at around 5 p.m. CST and broke apart in a burst of flames about 21 miles (33.8 kilometers) above the city of McAllen. This type of space rock is known as a fireball meteor because of the bright flash given off as it breaks apart, due to friction between the fast-moving object and the air in the atmosphere.
"Based on analysis of preliminary information from several sources, NASA experts believe the object was a meteoroid about two feet [0.6 meters] in diameter weighing about 1,000 pounds [454 kilograms]," representatives from NASA's Meteor Watch wrote on Facebook. The meteor was traveling at around 27,000 mph (43,450 km/h) when it exploded and released the equivalent energy of around 8 tons (7.3 metric tons) of TNT, they added.
The meteor’s size and speed suggested that fragments had likely reached the ground without burning up completely, NASA representatives wrote.
On Feb. 18, Robert Ward, a meteorite hunter based in Arizona, recovered a fragment of the meteorite near El Sauz, Texas, after tracing the debris' trajectory using data from a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weather radar, according to the American Meteor Society (AMS).
Related: Extremely rare fireball meteor may have sparked a blaze that burned down a California home
"When samples such as the remnants of this event are collected and studied, they enhance our understanding of the origin and evolution of our solar system," NASA representatives wrote.
There are likely more fragments scattered in the same area as Ward's fragment. If someone finds one on land they own then that person owns the fragment, but if you find it on public land you should contact the Smithsonian Institute, which manages the National Meteorite Collection, NASA representatives wrote.
In a weird coincidence, the recent fireball arrived exactly 10 years after the Chelyabinsk meteor, which was around nine times larger than the Texas fireball and exploded over Russia Feb. 15, 2013, with the equivalent force of around 30 Hiroshima bombs, Mike Hankey, operations manager at AMS, told Live Science in an email.
The recent fireball was also the third fireball meteor detected worldwide in as many days: On Feb. 13 a meteor exploded in the skies above France, and on Feb. 14 a space rock broke apart above Italy, according to AMS. What's more, all three produced meteorites that have been recovered by experts, which is very rare, Hankey added.
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