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Fireball traveling 47,000 mph lights up sky over North Carolina and Tennessee
CBS News • • general
Key Points:
- A meteor traveling at 47,000 mph lit up the skies over North Carolina and Tennessee on Thursday night, starting about 50 miles above Robbinsville, NC, and dissipating 25 miles above East Ridge, TN, near Chattanooga.
- The fireball was captured by NASA's sky cameras located throughout the region, including sites in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and near the Tennessee-North Carolina border, allowing detailed analysis.
- NASA determined the meteor was a small asteroid fragment about two inches in diameter and weighing six ounces.
- The meteor was classified as a "fireball," an especially bright meteor visible over a wide area, but it was not associated with the currently active Taurid meteor shower.
