Meteor/meteorite made a big boom this morning!

[Andy Resnick]

https://apnews.com/article/meteor-cleveland-fireball-astronomy-89d1cd3e060774ff897512cb811710d7

Made for interesting discussions in class today! Nearly everyone heard it, hardly anyone knew what caused it.

 

[DaveC426913]

Saw that, pretty cool.

Just a three hour drive from me.

 

[DaveC426913]

Approx. 6ft diameter, 7 tonnes, moving at ~40,000mph..

Exploded about 30-40 miles above Valley City, OH with a force of about 250 tons of TNT.

The blue arrow is called the Chicken Little Trajectory, according to the legend.

https://fireballs.ndc.nasa.gov/skyf...erts&utm_campaign=NASASocial&linkId=920502932

Wow! it was reported all the way from Montreal, ON to Rockford IL to Williamsburg VA. A 600 mile radius!

 

[DaveC426913]

The farthest distance a sound was reported is 60miles away, due East, in Niles OH, just north of Youngstown.

I am dubious about the veracity of that report, since:
- the report said the sound was not delayed. Makes me wonder of it was just a nearby rumbly truck.
- several other reports at the same distance, and even closer, reported either 'no sound' (red) or 'unknown' (yellow).

 

[DaveC426913]

All the data you could want.
https://fireball.amsmeteors.org/members/imo_view/event/2026/1828

 

[DaveC426913]

Cobbled this hi-rez map of the impact zone in case anyone's in the Medina OH area and feels like going rock-hunting...

It looks like that because it is pulled from this lo-rez, opaque map:

 

[Astronuc]

I saw some dashcam video this morning. Pretty cool!

Apparently NASA reported a 7 ton meteor.

From the AP cited by Andy Resnick in the OP:

The meteor was first seen about 50 miles above Lake Erie, near Lorain. It traveled more than 34 miles (55 kilometers) through the upper atmosphere before fragmenting over Valley City, north of Medina, NASA said in a statement from Bill Cooke, who leads the agency’s Meteoroid Environments Office in Huntsville, Alabama.

It unleashed an energy of 250 tons of TNT when it broke apart, causing the boom. Staff at the National Weather Service in Cleveland also heard it and felt the vibrations. They had no early reports of any debris being found.

I like the comment: "A 7-ton meteor that sped across the Cleveland sky at 45,000 miles (72,420 kilometers) per hour . . . ."

 

[DaveC426913]

From the AP:

"It unleashed an energy of 250 tons of TNT when it broke apart, causing the boom."

This came up when I mentioned it elseweb.

Somebody said "A meteor exploded."
And some cleverbum retorted with "It didn't explode. That bang was it entering the atmo at 40,000mph."

I was about to correct him, when I had pause for thought. Sure, there would have been a sonic boom, in addition to the disintegration. I assume that the energetic disintegration would have been the main contributor to the noise and the sonic boom would be secondary. So I think I was right to correct him.

 

[Andy Resnick]

Cobbled this hi-rez map of the impact zone in case anyone's in the Medina OH area and feels like going rock-hunting...

View attachment 370297

It looks like that because it is pulled from this lo-rez, opaque map:
View attachment 370298

If it wasn't 1) during the workweek and 2) effing freezing cold, I would probably give it a try- thanks for the maps!

 

[DaveC426913]

If it wasn't 1) during the workweek and 2) effing freezing cold, I would probably give it a try- thanks for the maps!

OTOH, if you found one, you
1) wouldn't have to work anymore, and
2) could move somewhere warm.

 

[DaveC426913]

Medina , Ohio:

 

[AlexB23]

So this fireball have broken up and landed? When should we expect to see the first pieces recovered?

 

[davenn]

OTOH, if you found one, you
1) wouldn't have to work anymore, and
2) could move somewhere warm.

material is already being found by some of my fellow meteorite collectors

 

[DaveC426913]

So this fireball have broken up and landed? When should we expect to see the first pieces recovered?

Someone on Twitter/X claims to have found a "magnetic" remnant on their deck in North Royalton - way outside the projected impact zone.

Shared pic of a rock that seemed about the size of a walnut, but I can't attest to the veracity of the report.

 

[AlexB23]

Someone on Twitter/X claims to have found a "magnetic" remnant on their deck in North Royalton - way outside the projected impact zone.

View attachment 370326

Shared pic of a rock that seemed about the size of a walnut, but I can't attest to the veracity of the report.

Nice

 

[DaveC426913]

New impact map just dropped.
The red/yellow zone is from NASA, the white zone is from NASA data but of unknown (to me) provenance. I have combined them here:

Here is the original. I am at a loss to explain why the two datasets have zero overlap.

 

[Astronuc]

material is already being found by some of my fellow meteorite collectors

In Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia? Perhaps somewhere in the Ohio River Valley?

"magnetic" remnant

So, Iron or Iron-nickel?

 

[DaveC426913]

So, Iron or Iron-nickel?

Alas, I got the report second-hand (I don't have a Twitter/X account) so I can't check any deets.