A car-sized meteor lights up the sky above the United States; Look

American Meteor Society (AMS), a meteor Big and bright – the size of a small car – flew in the skies of the US states of Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana at 10:25 PM (24 a.m. Monday morning in Brazil). The object was classified as a “fireball” because larger and brighter than fragments that normally enter Earth’s atmosphere.

According to AMS, the scientific organization received more than 500 calls and multiple videos showing the event. On the website, “A few witnesses near the flight path reported hearing a delayed sonic boomindicates that meteorites from this fireball may have escaped from the ground”.

These “fireball” meteors are more common than you might think, but many go undetected because they fall over the ocean or in deserted places, according to AMS. The big repercussion of the phenomenon that occurred on Sunday was that it was visible in highly populated cities such as Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin and San Antonio.

Why fireball or bolide?

Most meteorites that have fallen to Earth are very small, almost the size of a grain of sand, according to AMS. Some, for example the size of a grapefruit, can produce a slightly larger, full moon-like glow, but the light only lasts for a few seconds. But the fireball—or bolide—that shot through the Texas sky was very different from that.

According to AMS, Sunday’s fireball was much bigger, reach the size of a small car. Experts say that its brightness is due to its excessive speed. Even slowly, meteorites travel at a speed of 16 kilometers per second.