More than 200 people reported seeing the meteor, which was particularly big and bright, when it passed through the atmosphere around 10:52 p.m. local time, according to the American Meteor Society.
The organization claims that several witnesses who were close to the flight path heard a delayed sonic boom, suggesting that meteorites from this fireball may have survived all the way to the earth. Oklahomans and Louisianans both claimed to have seen the fireball.
It was what?
An abnormally huge meteor was the fireball that folks in Texas observed slicing across the sky. Surprisingly, the majority of meteors are tiny—roughly the size of a sand grain. A softball- or grapefruit-sized meteor can emit as much light as the full moon when it enters Earth’s atmosphere, but only for a brief period of time.
The fireball from last night, according to the American Meteor Society, was much, much larger. Before it impacted the atmosphere and began to burn up, the meteor was reportedly the size of a small vehicle, according to their early calculations.
The fireball entered the sky around Cistern, Texas, and its flight concluded just a few miles west of Austin, according to the organization’s computer-generated initial trajectory. It’s probable that some of the meteor’s fragments made it to Earth because numerous witnesses claimed to have heard a sonic boom shortly after it appeared in the sky.
Although fireballs are common, most of them are invisible to humans. This is due to the fact that they can be seen in the sky above bodies of water or unoccupied terrain. The fact that the fireball was visible from numerous sizable cities, including Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, and San Antonio, is what attracted so many skywatchers to observe it on Sunday night.
It’s hardly shocking that the fireball appeared at that same moment. That’s due to the impending arrival of three different meteor showers. Later this week, the Southern Delta Aquariids and Alpha Capricornids will peak, and the second week of August will see the climax of the Perseid meteor shower.