A meteor streaked through Earth’s atmosphere on Tuesday morning (July 16), causing a loud bang that reverberated over parts of New York City and New Jersey, NASA said.
Initial estimates suggested at the beginning The meteor was traveling northeast. The meteor passed over the Statue of Liberty at about 11:17 a.m. ET before disintegrating over midtown Manhattan. These estimates, based on accounts of a fireball in the sky, a boom and earthquakes, suggest that the meteor entered Earth’s atmosphere over Upper Bay and descended toward the city at about 34,000 mph (54,500 km/h).
But with the increasing number of people applying, Event Reports Throughout the day, NASA updated the meteor’s modeled path. “We now have the meteor originating over New York City and moving west into New Jersey,” NASA Meteor Monitoring Program representatives wrote in an email. Posted on FacebookThe speed has increased slightly to 38,000 mph. [61,200 km/h]”.”
The meteorite was small, probably no more than 1 foot (0.3 meters) in diameter, William CookNASA’s Meteoroid Environment Program Manager said: ABC7 New YorkHe said it turned into a fireball due to the heat generated by its high speed, adding, “We expect to see meteors at night.” [but] Not during the day, so this is a rare daylight fireball.
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A Northford, Connecticut resident shared footage of the fireball with the American Meteor Society. The video shows a short white streak shooting across the blue sky.
The fireball did not produce any meteors, according to ABC7 New York — meaning no fragments of the space rock reached Earth — and there were no reports of damage or injuries associated with the event.
While some people saw the fireball with their own eyes, others only heard a loud bang. ABC7 in New York reported that residents of Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens and northern New Jersey reported a loud roar accompanied by shaking. “The dog jumped out of his skin and the cat scurried under the couch,” Stephen Bradley of Park Ridge, New Jersey, told ABC7.
Meteorologists told ABC7 in New York that warmer temperatures Tuesday morning may have helped the meteor’s sound travel farther than expected. Sound waves move faster through warm air than cold air because air molecules at higher temperatures have more energy and vibrate faster.
But Cook said the loud sound may have come from a completely unrelated source, such as military activities that were happening at the same time in New Jersey.
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