A meteorite crossed the night sky Vermont on Sunday, March 7, creating a light show and causing explosions that shook the Earth as it burned the atmosphere.
The asteroid’s explosive passage through the atmosphere released the equivalent of 440 pounds (200 kilograms) TNT, suggesting that the meteor was likely 10 pounds 6 inches (15 centimeters) in diameter, according to the NASA
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The space rock plunged into the atmosphere at about 68,000 miles per hour, NASA reported, and appeared above the northern part of the state as a bright fireball at 5:38 PM, just before sunset.
A local news channel reported phone calls from around the state after the event, and residents of Vermont described a “loud roar and a rattling body vibration” as the meteor flew overhead.
According to eyewitness accounts, NASA estimates that the fireball first appeared 52 miles above Mount Mansfield State Forest, east of Burlington, the largest city in the state.
It then moved 53 kilometers northeast toward the Canadian border, disappearing 33 miles above the ground south of the city of Newport.
According to NASA, the shock wave was the result of the meteorite breaking due to atmospheric pressure.
As the bowling ball-sized chunk of a larger parent asteroid moved through the atmosphere at nearly 55 times the speed of sound, the pressure built for it and a vacuum created behind it. Finally, the tension of that difference caused the rock to explode.