NASA Scientist Confirms Fireball, Boom Was Likely Meteorite

February 20, 2017

A NASA scientist has confirmed the source of a bright light and booms across the North Escambia area  about 9:15 Saturday night was likely a meteorite dropper at least the size of a basketball.

“Took a look at the eyewitness reports – there is a lot of scatter, but I was able to use a software tool developed by a colleague to derive a ground track. The fireball first appeared to the NE of Mobile and moved westerly at about 56,000 miles per hour. The best reports indicate that it broke apart above U.S. 43 north of Mobile, and the reports of sound indicate it probably penetrated fairly low into the atmosphere before fragmenting, perhaps as low as 14 miles altitude,” Bill Cooke, lead of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office located in Huntsville, AL, wrote in a Facebook post.

The object’s average brightness was about that of the full moon, with reports of it being seen as far away as extreme North Alabama and Arkansas.

“A search of the Doppler weather radar in the area may be helpful in determining if there were meteoritic particles falling to the ground,” he said.

NorthEscambia.com received reports of distant “shooting start” sightings from Saturday night Panama City to Pensacola, and more fireball-like descriptions from readers either side of a line from Bay Minette to Atmore to Bratt to Flomaton to Brewton. Many of those residents also reported a boom or explosion that rattle windows and shook their homes.

Pictured: A green glow that was reported along with the meteorite Saturday night as seen from Godwin Lane in Pensacola. NorthEscambia.com photo by Kelly Senft, click to enlarge.

Comments

8 Responses to “NASA Scientist Confirms Fireball, Boom Was Likely Meteorite”

  1. Bob on February 21st, 2017 3:45 pm

    @debugger:

    That was the Loc-Nar: pure evil in a concentrated form. Or a green gumball eaten by Hannover Fiste before Captain Stern ejected him into space. Awesome movie!

  2. Zach on February 21st, 2017 3:15 pm

    Strange because I witnessed this and it was traveling North not west.. my house faces North. I guess the meteorite decided to change direction??? Can they do that?

  3. deBugger on February 20th, 2017 10:19 pm

    “meteorite”? “green glow”?

    Anyone remember “Heavy Metal: the Movie”?

  4. Lee on February 20th, 2017 7:56 pm

    Nerd fact of the day…Not a meteorite until it’s confirmed to have survived it’s fall through the atmosphere and landed on the ground. Until then it’s a meteor.

  5. Bob on February 20th, 2017 4:13 pm

    Saw it while coming home on 97A. It lit up the partially foggy sky; but could see it fragment, looking much like a roman candle.

  6. Sarah Palleson on February 20th, 2017 1:57 pm

    That’s a pretty cool story. I wish there was more pictures of it. Like security camera footage.

  7. David Huie Green on February 20th, 2017 11:12 am

    Mach number 84.9 is about 56,000 mph

  8. Carolyn Bramblett on February 20th, 2017 6:32 am

    Great story and follow-up. Thanks.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News