Very bright fireball over Tennessee and North Carolina produces energy of 10 tons of TNT upon breakup

A very bright fireball was sighted over multiple U.S. states, including North Carolina and Tennessee, at around 05:15 UTC (00:15 LT) on Friday, August 30, 2024. The object broke up above the town of Altapass, North Carolina, producing energy equivalent to 10 tons of TNT. It is likely that meteorites have fallen in the Spruce Pine, Ingalls, and Altapass area.

A very bright fireball was sighted over North Carolina and Tennessee at around 05:15 UTC on Friday. A total of 168 sightings were reported to the American Meteor Society (AMS) by 21:45 UTC on Saturday.

The object was identified as a fragment of an asteroid and was sighted over Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.

It was recorded by multiple cameras in the region as well as the Geostationary Lightning Mapper aboard the GOES-16 spacecraft.

Data analysis by NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office (MEO) indicates that the fireball was initially observed at an altitude of 72 km (45 miles) above the Piney Flats, Tennessee, as it moved east of south at the speed of about 50 400 km/h (31 300 mph).

The asteroidal fragment weighed nearly 450 kg (1 000 pounds) and was just over 0.6 m (2 feet) in diameter.

The fireball had descended to an altitude of 32 km (20 miles) above the town of Altapass, North Carolina, before disintegrating.

It produced energy equivalent to 10 tons of TNT upon breakup, generating a pressure wave that propagated to the ground, causing the booms heard by many of the eyewitnesses.

According to MEO, it is likely that meteorites have fallen in the Spruce Pine, Ingalls, and Altapass area.

References:

¹ Fireball report 4759 – 2024 – AMS – August 30, 2024

² Very bright fireball over Tennessee and North Carolina – NASA/MEO – August 23, 2024

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