That loud boom over the Southeast? It was likely a fireball
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios
Thursday's loud, rolling rumble — and, for some, a sudden flash and white streak in the sky — might have been a fireball from a meteor passing over metro Atlanta.
Why it matters: More than 100 people from Georgia and parts of South Carolina and Florida reported to the American Meteor Society a potential fireball around 12:30pm.
Driving the news: Mike Hankey, operations manager at the American Meteor Society (AMS), told Axios that metro Atlantans likely experienced a "daytime fireball" that caused a sonic boom.
- "This is usually indicative of a meteorite dropping a fireball, but not always," Hankey said.
- AMS is NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies' recommended organization for reporting fireballs.
Catch up quick: Around 12:30pm on Thursday, people using social media across metro Atlanta reported what felt and sounded like a repeat of May's earthquake in Tennessee, felt as far south as Middle Georgia.
- However, the U.S. Geological Survey's earthquake monitor showed no nearby seismic activity.
Yes, but: According to atmospheric scientist Matthew Cappucci, what appeared to be a meteor passed over Atlanta's east side, exploded and possibly scattered fragments in South Carolina.
- WSB-TV chief meteorologist Brad Nitz posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the spectacle was probably "rock, dust, or debris from a comet's trail that enters the [Earth's] atmosphere."
- "The friction creates heat and we can see it burn up in the sky."
Stunning stat: Meteor events occur probably once a week, Hankey said. But meteor events on Thursday's scale are rare, likely happening 10 to 20 times a year globally.
- "For the U.S., we might get three to five like this each year."
The intrigue: Roughly 10 meteorites are recovered every year, but most go unfound.
By the numbers: People have found 28 "unique and classified" meteorites in Georgia, according to Hankey.
- "Six of these have been 'witnessed falls,' meaning people saw it as it fell vs, a farmer dug it up with a plow, with no context of when it fell."
What's next: Henry County emergency officials are investigating reports of potential meteorite damage to one house, WSB-TV reports.