4.01.2022
Scientists say a meteor that caused an earthshaking boom across suburban Pittsburgh on New Year’s Day exploded in the atmosphere with an energy blast equivalent to an estimated 30 tons of TNT
PITTSBURGH -- A meteor that caused an earthshaking boom over suburban Pittsburgh on New Year’s Day exploded in the atmosphere with an energy blast equivalent to an estimated 30 tons (27,216 kilograms) of TNT, officials said.
NASA's Meteor Watch social media site said late Sunday a “reasonable assumption” of the speed of the meteor at about 45,000 mph (72,420 kph) would allow a “ballpark” estimate of its size as about a yard in diameter with a mass close to half a ton (454 kilograms).
If not for the cloudy weather, NASA said, it would have been easily visible in the daytime sky — maybe about 100 times the brightness of the full moon.
A nearby infrasound station registered the blast wave from the meteor as it broke apart, enabling the estimates.
National Weather Service meteorologist Shannon Hefferan told the Tribune-Review that satellite data recorded a flash over Washington County shortly before 11:30 a.m. Saturday and officials believed it was due to a meteor “falling through the atmosphere.” Hefferan said a similar event occurred Sept. 17 in Hardy County, West Virginia.
Residents in South Hills and other areas reported hearing a loud noise and feeling their homes shaking and rattling. Allegheny County officials said they had confirmed that there was no seismic activity and no thunder and lightning.
Quelle: abcNews
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quivalent to '30 tons of TNT': Meteor explodes in Pennsylvania on New Year's Day
On New Year's Day, people in southwestern Pennsylvania heard an explosion around 11:20 a.m. EST.
An initial tweet by the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh said the most likely explanation was a "meteor explosion."
People all over Pittsburgh took to social media, saying the boom was incredibly loud and shook their house. Others posted footage capturing the crackling sounds of the explosion.
The National Weather Service Pittsburgh noticed a flash captured by its satellite's Geostationary Lightning Mapper in neighboring Washington County.
"This flash does not appear to be connected to any lightning activity in the area. One possible explanation is that a meteor exploded at some level above the ground," the weather service said in a post on Facebook.
On Monday, meteorologist Myranda Fullerton of National Weather Service Pittsburgh confirmed with USA TODAY that the flash was indeed a meteor, according to NASA.
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A Facebook post from NASA Meteor Watch said that a "nearby infrasound station registered the blast wave from the meteor as it broke apart."
The energy of the explosion was equivalent to "30 tons of TNT" and the meteor was likely about a yard in diameter with a mass of close to half a ton, according to estimates by NASA.
If it wasn't so cloudy, the meteor would have been blindingly bright, with crude estimates from NASA indicating that the meteor was 100 times the brightness of the full moon.
If That Was a Meteor Exploding Over Pittsburgh Saturday, It Wasn’t the First Time
Similar events occurred in 2015 and 1938 over the skies of Western Pennsylvania.
Pittsburgh began 2022 with a bang, literally
Less than 12 hours into the new year, a loud boom was heard over a large portion of the Pittsburgh area. I heard it myself from inside my home in the North Hills and chalked it up to some last-minute neighborhood fireworks or perhaps a freaky clap of thunder. I was wrong on both counts.
It didn’t take long calls to come into Allegheny County 911 and the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh. The county tweeted a short time after the event that it was not an earthquake.
By 4 p.m., experts at the weather service offered up the likely explanation that it was an exploding meteor.
Weather Service meteorologist Jenna Lake tells the New York Times that nobody reported seeing anything “below the cloud deck,” which was about 2,000 feet above the ground. The meteor explosion will remain the best theory as to what happened “unless someone finds some rocks in their backyard,” Lake said.
It’s not the first time the cosmos delivered a surprise from the skies above Western Pennsylvania.
Early on the morning of Feb. 17, 2015, a 500-pound meteor streaked through the sky above parts of Butler, Clarion and Armstrong counties, triggering a sonic boom, according to the Post-Gazette.
More than a half-century earlier, a huge fireball lit up the early evening sky above Chicora in Butler County on June 24, 1938.
Scientists studied the event and determined the 625-ton meteor exploded about 12 miles above the earth’s surface. The research noted that had the meteor gotten closer to earth before disintegrating, damage to Pittsburgh — and the loss of life — would have been catastrophic. Only four fragments of the meteor have been found.
Quelle: Pittsburgh Magazine.
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NASA: Exploding Meteor ‘Likely Culprit’ In Pittsburgh’s New Year’s Day Boom
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – An exploding meteor with the same energy as 30 tons of TNT is the “likely culprit” in a boom heard and felt across the Pittsburgh region on New Year’s Day.
READ MORE: A 'Booming' Start To 2022: Possible Meteor Explosion Felt Throughout Pittsburgh Region
Social media lit up with people questioning the loud boom, reporting windows rattling or things in their homes shaking. Satellite lightning maps, which can pick up meteors, show a quick, tiny green blip around 11:30 Saturday, which lines up with the timing of the boom.
NASA posted on its Meteor Watch Facebook page Sunday saying that a lightning mapper on a satellite picked up a strong meteor signature around the same time. A nearby infrasound station registered the blast wave as the meteor broke apart, and from the data, NASA estimates the blast had the energy of 30 tons of TNT.
NASA said the object’s size was about a yard in diameter with a mass close to half a ton. If it hadn’t been cloudy, NASA said a fireball would have been easily visible, about 100 times brighter than the full moon.
The NWS and Carnegie Science Center said a meteor shower is expected to peak Sunday into Monday and the two could be connected.
Quelle: KDKA