Mysterious 'boom' in south Texas was meteorite strike, officials say
NASA said the meteor was traveling at a speed of about 27,000 mph and energy equivalent to 8 tons of TNT.
Video from a home camera captured the boom and the birds reacting. Residents described windows rattling and an earthquake-like shake. Two pilots also reported sightings.
(CNN) -- A blast in the sky over South Texas was a meteorite strike, officials said, clearing up confusion over the sudden explosion that puzzled concerned residents.
"We believe we've solved the mystery of the loud explosion," Hidalgo County Sheriff Eddie Guerra said at a Thursday news conference.
Many residents reported hearing a ground-rattling blast in the Lower Rio Grande Valley near the city of Mission Wednesday afternoon, officials said.
This NASA shot taken from the GOES-16 satellite shows the fireball of a meteor that struck Wednesday around 5:30 p.m. local time near McAllen in south Texas. NASA officials said the meteor was traveling at a speed of about 27,000 mph and it had an energy of 8 tons of TNT. It broke into fragments at an altitude of 21 miles. (GOES-16 satellite)
Authorities believe a meteor struck at around 5:28 p.m., which caused a "large explosion or a boom within the city," said Mission Police Chief Cesar Torres.
Two pilots flying near Houston reported seeing an apparent meteor, Guerra said, citing a report he received from the FBI.
NASA experts from the Johnson Space Center said they "believe the object was a meteoroid about two feet in diameter weighing about 1,000 pounds. The angle and speed of entry, along with signatures in weather radar imagery, are consistent with other naturally occurring meteorite falls."
While meteor strikes are not unusual, Guerra wanted to reassure people who have been concerned after multiple objects over U.S. airspace were shot down in recent days.
"Obviously with all these incidents close, you can imagine what our constituents' and our citizens' fears were," Guerra said.
The National Weather Service in Brownsville, Texas, said a satellite system designed to measure lightning strikes detected the apparent meteor. There were no storms in the area at the time.
"It can frighten our residents, and we want to make sure that we give as much information to our residents to help them feel safe and secure here in our local community," said U.S. Rep. Mónica de la Cruz, who represents the area.
Earlier this month, U.S. military fighter jets shot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon over the Atlantic Ocean off the Eastern Seaboard, defense officials said. Many Americans were in awe as they tracked the balloon from Montana all the way to the Carolinas.
Several days later, a U.S. fighter jet shot down another airborne object over Lake Huron, the Pentagon said. It followed the downing of an unidentified object over northern Canada, one day after an object had been shot down over Alaskan airspace by a U.S. F-22.
The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
Report a Typo
