Monday, February 13, 2012

Loud Boom Heard Over South Carolina, Meteor To Blame?


Officials in Spartanburg County said a large boom heard by many people in the Upstate Monday morning may be a meteor. Law enforcement saw a large ball of fire that popped in the air around 1:45 a.m. Monday.  Viewers from Greenville to Cherokee Counties called 7 On Your Side saying they heard the noise and their homes shook.  No one was hurt. 
Even a handful of gravel that enters the Earth’s atmosphere at speeds much greater than the speed of sound (possibly at speeds of tens of thousands miles per hour) will create a spectacular light show and make noise; such particles would likely not survive the trip down as they would all burn up along the way.
Millions of these enter the atmosphere every day; most of the ones that cause sky flashes are only pebble/gravel sized and unlikely to survive the trip to land.

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