A meteor exploded over Georgia on Thursday, June 26, creating a breathtaking fireball visible across the southeastern United States. The American Meteor Society fielded over 200 reports of the event, which lit up the sky around 12:25 PM Eastern time, with witnesses from Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
NASA confirmed the fireball was triggered by an asteroidal fragment weighing over a ton and hurtling at more than 30,000 miles per hour. It disintegrated 27 miles above West Forest, Georgia, unleashing energy equivalent to 20 tons of TNT. The explosion generated sonic booms that echoed through the area, while Doppler weather radars picked up falling meteorites.
The National Weather Service received numerous reports of shaking and rumbling, although no seismic activity was detected. Residents described a blinding flash and a booming sound, with one individual in Henry County even sharing photos of a rock that crashed through their ceiling. Interestingly, the fireball may be linked to an annual meteor shower called the Beta Taurids, which is suspected to be the cause of the famous Tunguska incident of 1908, where a massive area of the Siberian forest was flattened.