The ten pound stone exploded with the force of 440 pounds of TNT.
Dramatic entrance
On Sunday night, a meteor shot over Vermont before exploding in such a powerful explosion that people could hear it from miles away as it shook cars and buildings below.
The fireball, NASA Meteor Watch later announced on Facebook, was likely a chunk of a fragmented asteroid flying over Mount Mansfield State Forest at 42,000 miles per hour before exploding. The explosion was claimed CBS News, but otherwise it appears to have passed without incident, unlike one that landed in France last month.
Break apart
The rock itself probably weighed only about 10 pounds and was six inches wide, but the explosion it caused when it fell apart released as much energy as 440 pounds of TNT, according to NASA.
The blast itself likely occurred when the atmospheric pressure in front of the meteor and the reduced pressure of the vacuum behind it built up and became too much for the space rock to withstand, resulting in a violent fragmentation.
Sonic Boom
Multiple stations on the ground even recorded vibrations caused by the explosion, as if it had triggered an earthquake, all of which helped locate and reconstruct the meteor’s structure, as they could not personally inspect it.
“A nice little firework, courtesy of Mother Nature,” NASA wrote.
READ MORE: Meteors hitting Vermont exploded so “violently” it shook buildings, says NASA [CBS News]
More about meteors: Scientists: Life on Earth likely started in meteor craters
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