A meteor possibly traveling at speeds of up to 40,000 mph lit up the sky across multiple states. A South Carolina expert explains why it was so widely seen.
COLUMBIA, S.C. — You may still be wondering about that fireball that lit up the sky on Thursday afternoon.
Matthew Whitehouse, observatory manager at the South Carolina State Museum, said the fireball, assumed to be a meteor, could have been up to three feet in size and traveling around 40,000 mph.
So, how could something so small be seen across multiple states?
“I know, in a lot of videos, the meteor looks like it is kind of ascending down like this,” Whitehouse said. “But, in reality, it’s way up in the atmosphere, which is why we can see it over such a large distance.”
Whitehouse said meteors like this are not uncommon.
“It’s just a little bit unusual to have it happen over such a populated area,” Whitehouse said. “Most of the time, these things happen over the ocean.”
As for where or if it landed, officials said pieces appear to have ended up in a Georgia neighborhood, causing minor damage but no injuries. According to Henry County Emergency Management in Georgia, a piece of meteorite fell through someone’s roof.
“I bet their neighbor is like, ‘Thank goodness it wasn’t me,'” Lexington resident Will Walsh said. “No, I do feel terrible. I am glad everyone is OK, but that is a little scary.”
“You always see kind of random videos of stuff you don’t understand unless you are a scientist, and watching it be so close to home hits a little close to home in a weird way,” Walsh added.