SPRINGFIELD: A bright greenish-blue fireball illuminated the night sky across several US states, including Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, South Carolina and Texas, captivating hundreds of observers.
The American Meteor Society (AMS) said the fireball was spotted shortly after 10:30 p.m. CDT on Sunday, with reports received from at least 15 states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Minnesota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.
According to NASA, the fireball first appeared over Tupelo, Mississippi, at 11:26 p.m. EDT before streaking roughly 300 miles across the sky and disappearing over the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri.
Several witnesses reported seeing the object break apart before it vanished from view.
Experts believe the object was a meteor rather than man-made space debris.
The dazzling fireball entered Earth’s atmosphere at an estimated speed of 56,000 mph (about 90,100 km/h) before burning up.
More than 500 witnesses reported the event to the American Meteor Society, with some uploading videos of the phenomenon which quickly went viral on social media. NASA’s all-sky camera network also captured the fireball from three separate locations.
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The meteor, believed to be a small fragment of a much larger asteroid, was likely too small and travelling too fast to survive atmospheric entry.
NASA estimates the object was only about 3 inches (8 centimetres) in diameter and weighed approximately 1 pound (453 grams). Despite its small size, it flared to around 16 times the brightness of Venus as it tore through the atmosphere.
Some say it most likely disintegrated completely, leaving no meteorites to reach the Earth’s surface.
However, scientists are analysing its trajectory to determine whether any fragments survived atmospheric entry and reached the ground.