A meteorite crossed the night sky over Vermont on Sunday, March 7, creating a light show and causing explosions that shook the Earth as the atmosphere burned.
The asteroid’s explosive passage through the atmosphere released the equivalent of 200 kilograms TNT, suggesting that the meteorite was probably 10 kilograms 6 inches (15 centimeters) in diameter, according to GODMOTHER.
The Nazi World War II bomb explodes in London
The space rock crashed into the atmosphere at about 42,000 miles per hour, NASA reported, and appeared in the northern part of the state as a glowing ball of fire at 5:38 p.m., just before sunset.
A local news station reported calls from across the state after the event, and Vermont residents described a “loud roar and body vibration” as the meteor passed over their heads.
According to eyewitness accounts, NASA estimates that the fireball first appeared 84 kilometers above the Mount Mansfield State Forest, east of Burlington, the largest city in the state.
It then advanced 53 kilometers northeast to the Canadian border, disappearing 33 miles above the ground south of Newport.
According to NASA, the shock wave was the result of the meteorite breaking due to atmospheric pressure.
As the larger-sized pieces of a larger parent asteroid moved nearly 55 times faster than sound through the atmosphere, pressure built up in front of it and a vacuum formed behind it. Eventually, the stress of the differential caused the rock to explode.