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A very rare daylight fireball was seen and heard over Eastern Cape, South Africa on Sunday, August 25, 2024. Initially thought of as space junk, it was later confirmed to be a car-sized meteor that entered the atmosphere between 06:30 and 07:00 UTC (08:30 and 09:00 LT). Reports of the following sonic boom were heard more than 200 km (124 miles) away from the site of the original sighting.<\/strong><\/p>\n What was initially thought of as space junk that fell over the Eastern Cape on Sunday was identified as a meteorite by the scientists at Wits University, Johannesburg, and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU).<\/p>\n The meteor entered the atmosphere somewhere between 08:30 to 09:00 LT, according to the Wits University website.<\/p>\n \u201cBased on scientific assessment, the incident is consistent with a rocky asteroid about the size of a car entering Earth\u2019s atmosphere at a very high speed,\u201d said Rager Gibson, a professor at the Wits School of Geosciences.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have reports that someone has found several fragments of a meteorite near Kirkwood in the Eastern Cape, over 100 km [62 miles] from Cape St Francis. This may indicate an exceptional fall area,\u201d Gibson added.<\/p>\n \n