A Tucson driver captured dashcam video of a meteor burning up as it entered Earth’s atmosphere over Arizona early Thursday morning. NASA estimates that the asteroid was moving at about 40,200 miles per hour (64,700 kilometers per hour).
Advertisement
It was last seen heading due South over the Tonto National Forest.
Just before 4 a.m., the sky lit up and then what looked like a giant fireball exploded over the Salt River Indian Reservation.
The NASA Meteoroid Environments Office (MEO) monitors the small rock (meteoroid) environment near Earth in order to assess the risks posed to spacecraft by these bits of tiny space debris.
The Meteoroid Environment Office has a network of cameras across the United States to monitor the sky in search of objects brighter than the planet Jupiter.
“No fireball, but the entire sky flashed bright as if it was changing from night to day in an instant”, one person reported.
Viewers have also shared numerous pictures and video with us over social media, showing what appears to be a meteor falling in the sky.
Video footage shows the skies went from dark to instantly bright – and then grew even brighter.
‘I thought somebody was breaking into the house, ‘ she said.
Advertisement
It produced a loud boom that awoke people sleeping in Phoenix. A loud boom accompanied the light.
