Watch: Meteor Seen Over Texas, Sonic Boom Reported
A meteor was spotted in Central Texas at 9.22 p.m. local time (10.22 p.m. EST) Thursday. It was also reportedly seen in adjacent states. The entire sky was lit as the bright green, light yellow and white object passed over Texas.
A number of people who witnessed the space debris falling also reported sonic boom. Some also said it shook their windows. In North Texas, people spotted it breaking into orange fragments.
"Feeling the sonic boom from a huge meteor, it lit up the whole sky in the area of Granada Hills in Southwest Austin, Hamilton Pool road/RR12, and Wimberley,” Charissa Giles, a witness told KXAN. Another person named Carol Shepard in a mail to the website said, "My son and a hunting buddy were all excited about the 'biggest shooting star' they'd ever seen!"
Some also expressed their disappointment for missing the meteor.
“Extremely disappointed I missed the large meteor that passed over N. Texas this evening. Hopefully someone caught video,” Dez Hernandez, a Texas resident tweeted.
Some also asked NASA if it was conducting any test. “Doing these tests tonight by any chance? Two mysterious booms slightly inland from the coast this evening. Not sure if this or possibly the meteor being reported across Texas,” a resident tweeted.
A meteor is a particle broken off an asteroid revolving around the sun. The particle then burns as it enters the atmosphere and forms a “shooting star.” Though millions of such particles enter earth’s atmosphere every day, at times a cluster of them enter together and this phenomenon is called a meteor shower.
Meteoroids are usually very small, ranging from a dust particle to boulder size. When these particles enter the atmosphere they glow from the heat caused by friction between air particles. They then leave behind a trail of gas and melted particles as they break up around 30 to 60 miles from the ground.
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