New York: Daylight fireball spotted over city
A fireball travelling at 56,000 miles an hour entered the skies above Canada, with the moment caught on film. A woman called Bekka Gunner was being pulled on sled by a pack of huskies through the snow when she spotted the meteor in broad daylight.
Despite it being the middle of the day, the fireball can be seen flying through the sky above the Canada-USA border.
Meteor detecting sensors from the American Meteorological Society (AMS) picked up the space rock.
Analysis from the AMS revealed the meteor broke into the atmosphere 22 miles above the Earth’s surface, travelling at 56,000 miles an hour.
When meteors produce such an intense burst of light, they are called a bolide.
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The fireball’s blast was so strong it could be heard as far south as New York.
The AMS said: “Dozens of people contacted local media area about a loud boom heard at the time of the event in central New York.
“When a very bright fireball penetrates to the stratosphere, below an altitude of about 30 miles (50 km), and explodes as a bolide, there is a chance that sonic booms may be heard on the ground below.
“Traveling westward at 56,000 miles per hour (90,000 km/h), it broke into pieces at an altitude of approximately 22 miles (35 km), producing a bright flash reported by the public and caught in videos.”
Fireballs occur when a meteor or another space rock hits the atmosphere.
Air seeps into the pores of the rock, pushing it apart and causing it to explode.
The International Meteor Organisation (IMO) said: “Fireballs are meteors that appear brighter than normal.
“Due to the velocity at which they strike the Earth’s atmosphere, fragments larger than one millimetre have the capability to produce a bright flash as they streak through the heavens above.
“These bright meteors are what we call fireballs and they often strike fear and awe for those who witness them.”
Perhaps the most famous fireball in modern history came when a meteor exploded over Chelyabinsk in 2013.
The explosion, caused by a 20-metre meteor, was so powerful it smashed windows across the city and injured more than 1,000 people.
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