(Pittsburgh) Residents of the greater Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area were treated to a special fireworks display on New Year’s Day: a meteor exploded into the atmosphere with a force similar to that of 30 tons of dynamite, according to the authorities.
Late Sunday evening, the NASA meteorite tracking site indicated, with a “reasonable” level of certainty, that the meteor’s speed of about 72,420 km / h put its size at about one meter in diameter and its mass at. almost half a ton (454 kilograms).
According to NASA, if the sky had been clear, the object would have been easily visible during the day, with a degree of brightness 100 times that of a full moon.
A nearby infrasound station recorded the meteor’s shock wave as it shattered, allowing these estimates to be made.
National Weather Service meteorologist Shannon Hefferan mentioned in the daily Tribune-Review that satellite data recorded a lightning strike over Washington County shortly before 11:30 a.m. on Saturday. The authorities then believed that a meteor “falling into the atmosphere” could be the cause.
According to Mme Hefferan, a similar event occurred on September 17 in Hardy County, West Virginia.
Residents of South Hills and other neighborhoods then claimed to have heard a loud noise and felt their homes shaking.
Allegheny County authorities had said there had been no particular seismic activity, nor thunder or lightning.