Suspected Meteor Falls Over Cleveland
Jared Rackley via AP
Residents across the Cleveland region were startled Tuesday morning when a loud boom rattled houses and was accompanied by a bright streak in the sky that many believe was a meteor. The flash was visible even though it occurred around 9 a.m., and witnesses hundreds of miles away reported seeing the glowing fireball.
According to the American Meteor Society, reports of the sighting came from a wide area stretching from Wisconsin to Maryland. Astronomer Carl Hergenrother, the organization’s executive director, said the object appears to have been a fireball, meaning a meteorite originating from a small asteroid.
Hergenrother explained that with the large amount of equipment launched into space today, bright streaks in the sky are sometimes caused by satellites reentering Earth’s atmosphere. However, he noted that those objects usually are not as bright as what was seen Tuesday.
Based on early observations, Hergenrother estimated the object may have been roughly the size of a softball or basketball, possibly larger, and likely entered the atmosphere at speeds of many tens of miles per second.
Employees at the National Weather Service office in Cleveland reported hearing the boom and feeling vibrations in their building, which led them to suspect a meteor event as well. As of the initial reports, there were no confirmed discoveries of debris on the ground.
Ralph Harvey, a professor of earth, environmental, and planetary science at Case Western Reserve University, said the sound residents heard was probably caused by the meteor breaking apart in the atmosphere rather than striking the ground.
Meteorologist Brian Mitchell of the National Weather Service said some small fragments could have survived, but much of the object likely burned up before reaching the surface.
Events like this are not especially rare. Hergenrother said meteors enter the atmosphere over the United States roughly once each day, while smaller particles of space dust fall much more frequently, sometimes as often as ten times an hour.
Scientists monitor meteor activity using specialized camera networks designed to record the night sky. In recent years, however, more sightings have been captured by members of the public using cellphones and home security cameras. Hergenrother noted that these devices have led to a growing number of videos documenting meteor sightings.
About Post Author
